Digital Foundry's guide to PS4 Pro game upgrades

Quote: The PlayStation 4 Pro upgrades are arriving en masse - to the point where it's very difficult for us to keep up here at Digital Foundry. We'll be taking a look at as many games as we can, and since many of the enhancements are simple resolution boosts, we've decided to put together a single reference article that contains video analysis and a breakdown of the key enhancements.

[freshslicepizza]

some good upgrades but a very small list of games

[MasterCornholio]

The list will grow extremely fast due to Sonys policies.

[freshslicepizza]

show me their policies. sony cannot force developers to add any significant benefits. the only policy they have is their own which they said starting in early 2017 all 1st party games will get pro upgrades. there is no policy for everyone else other than the games must work on the pro system.

[ziggurcat]

@moldy:

how many times do you need to be told that devs are mandated to have a Pro mode for any game released from October 2016 on? Sony can't force devs to have a Pro mode on any game released *prior* to October 2016 - it is up to the devs if they want to update their game if it was released before October 2016.

"From October 2016, every PS4 game will come with a "base" mode and a "Pro" mode, making it compatible with either console. Players will be able to keep the games bought on PS4, and although the Pro supports 4K, the games won't have to."

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/...

[ziggurcat]

@moldy: you asked for their policy. well, here it is:

http://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-...

[freshslicepizza]

@ziggurcat
"devs are mandated to have a Pro mode for any game released from October 2016 on"

that does not mean they have to do anything. sony cannot force developers to do anything extra other than all games must work on the pro. some sites claim all games must run at native 1080p, but mark cerny said otherwise,

https://www.engadget.com/20...

"Requiring all titles to run at 2160p on PS4 Pro makes no more sense than requiring all titles to run at 1080p on the standard PS4," Cerny said. "The titles are going to use the increased graphical power in a number of ways. Some developers will favor quality over resolution, some will favor resolution over quality. We don't want to have any sort of rules that have to be followed."

[ziggurcat]

@moldy:

Except in the side I linked it says that all games from October on should support the Pro - meaning it has to have a "Pro" mode, and "base" mode. Also, it saying that it has to support the regular PS4 just means that there can't be any specific games exclusive to the Pro. and the Pro mode doesn't automatically mean 4K - it can just be solidifying/increasing the frame rate, bumping resolution to 1080p if it's less than that on the vanilla version or improving the AA/adding other effects.

All games automatically work on the Pro anyways, so there no such thing as "making sure it works in the Pro." There isn't a single game out right now that doesn't run on the Pro.

Edit: nice spin on Cerny's words, too. Alll he's saying there is that devs wouldn't be forced into making their game 1080p on the Pro. The Pro mode can be any improvements the devs want to make.

[G20WLY]

^Moldy, you know not everything has to be desperately spun into a negative. This list is produced by Digital Foundry and they've made it quite clear that they'll look at "as many as they can" - that is not to say ALL.

Even the digital games that can be downloaded from PS Store show that there are over 50 games RIGHT NOW that are enhanced by PS4 Pro. How is that not many after 2 weeks, especially given that most of these were retro-updated requiring extra work by devs? ANY future game takes ~0.2% extra effort to duel develop for Pro. That's another way to say all games will feature Pro upgrades going forwards.

Do let me know how you rate each of the 50+ Pro-upgraded games currently available, won't you?

[DigitalRaptor]

Moldybread has been getting CRUSHED in his arguments as of late.

Good job from all of us. I'm sick of the fraudulent members of this community feigning concern and their own sense of balance, only to use as ways to push their agendas. I mean if that wasn't the case we wouldn't be judging a guy with proven double standards, who cares more about supporting Xbox fans and trolls than agreeing with facts purported by known Sony fans, and who senselessly attacks Sony fans for simple things like talking about PSVR's launch lineup and attacking them for relating it to something that was never even uttered or hinted at.

[Skillz1215]

yo why are you always on Sony forums when your the biggest hater towards the PlayStation brand? Don't you have anything else better to do?

[freshslicepizza]

you have no idea what a hater is and all you are doing is showing how sensitive you are over criticism. how many exclusives, i say exclusives because so many say how important they are, are on the ps4 pro that offer any significant upgrade over the regular ps4 AVAIABLE NOW?

[UCForce]

@moldybread And do you think they can done that fast ? It need to be slow and steady. Otherwise, it will rush.

[DigitalRaptor]

Not a hater? Well a concern troll & huge hypocrite then.

Sounds like the right amount of games for a launch console to me (this is not even CLOSE to the entire list), but here you are being obtuse, as usual whilst pretending that you're not simply here to ruffle feathers and cause pointless and inconsequential arguments. I mean if you actually CARED and your words match the "concern" that you feel for anything and everything Sony related, then you would have done your research. But frankly, you just don't give a hoot other than to project negativity on to the Pro.

You've already done some massive amounts of spin, and lied, just to project said negativity, for no other reason but to try and balance out the fact that you want it to be perceived as negative. Time to just admit that you're not really here to contribute in any meaningful way.

[joab777]

Yeah, but there's some good ones and even Darksiders has it now.

I really want TW3 but it already looks pretty good on 4K. Skyrim is stunning.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

No shit. The console is less than a year old

Edit: soryy I meant to say weeks

[ziggurcat]

less than a year? it's been just barely over two weeks.

[GNCFLYER]

It's a brand new iteration of the PS4. It needs time to shine.

[MasterCornholio]

"show me their policies."

Ziggucat already did but you chose to ignore them.

"sony cannot force developers to add any significant benefits."

With an install base if over 45 million PS4s owners they can. Plus it's extremely easy for developers to include a Pro mode into their games so there's no reason not to.

[kraenk12]

Oh Moldybrain

Why don't you just give in and buy a Pro?! We're all tired of your constant spinning.

[deadfrag]

Hope Nixxes patch Rise of the Tomb Raider soon,because the latest patch worsen the game on the Standard and Pro PS4s.The game feels very bad due to the stuttering case by the introduced frame-pacing issues.It was so good with patch 1.04!I frankly don't recommend playing the game or even update to 1.5 patch its night from day difference in gameplay smoothness .

[ShowanW]

Thats a well done list on Digital Foundry's part.

Hopefully after rough patches are completely ironed out there will be no need for a list...

[Espangerish]

I'm hoping developers will follow the infamous example. 4K support at standard frame rate or same visuals at 1080p with an enhanced frame rate.

[Obscure_Observer]

Same here, man! :)

[pyroxxx]

I cannot wait for fallout 4 patch,.. hope they do performance/reso type of options. Shadow of mordor actually runs faster at higher reso/ downsampling, than all bells and wistles in 1080p,.. or at least feels smoother to me. (ps: incredibly playable game,.. combat is just that fun)

[XStation4pio_Pro]

i feel like this is the same list i've seen since launch. when is the next wave coming in?

[kevnb]

Any new game that comes out, I doubt there will be waves of old games though.

[G20WLY]

Check out the Pro section on the PS Store. There are over 50 games listed with Pro enhancements and they're updating it weekly.

[kraenk12]

Don't confuse the fake concerned ones with facts.

[XStation4pio_Pro]

Ah sweet. That is exactly what I was hoping for. I saw the psvr section but must have missed Pro (or it was added since last time I looked)

@kraenk: wtf is your deal? i own a ps4 pro and want to know what games will be optimized beyond the ones i have or have known about already. read thru my comments, more importantly - relax. not everything is a conflict.

[G20WLY]

Yeah, I don't think it was there at Pro launch, just popped up since, but seems they're keeping it up to date for a while. I reckon the section might disappear once all games come with Pro patch, but for us early adopters it's useful right now to see what games you have or might be getting soon that have Pro features.

[mad-dog]

Do they keep up with patches? Since many games that run worst are now running better.

[Pathogenic]

I'm sure in time more games will come supported with HDR but not right now. I expect most developers will go after resolution and frames per second before HDR comes into play (Third Party) mostly. First Party companies I can see them doing HDR, Resolution and Frames Per Second all in one. This is a problem going forward which Sony has clearly stated to all the developers and us that it's based on what that company wants to do. They can pick or choose what they want to implement into the games.

This is why some people are so hesitant to buy the PRO because of this "Picking & Choosing" Scheme in which a developer can decided what to include as a feature. Too be honest I agree but then I disagree because you are still getting something instead of nothing which is why I find that most people don't research correctly before buying these products. Like PSVR, HDR is just in it's infancy stage it will get better as time goes on. It's honestly just how much faith do you have in the studio you support as a fan that they will deliver a full featured experience.