Sony’s New PS5 Firmware May Make Your Games Slightly Faster

Sony’s latest PS5 system firmware update allows some games to run slightly faster, at least in some scenarios. In a new video from Digital Foundry, it was discovered that an increase in performance, which affects both the launch model of the console 1000 series and the recently released model revision of the 1100 series, appears to accelerate the l execution of some games up to three percentage points.

Digital Foundry founder Richard Leadbetter compared benchmarks in Control the ultimate edition and Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition using the previously released PS5 firmware as a benchmark against the current September system software update. The accompanying graphic sequences of the video showed DMC5SE cut scenes and ControlPhoto mode (which unlocks the in-game frame rate, capped at 30 fps during gameplay) runs at a fluctuating rate of 1 to 2 fps higher on the PS5 using newer firmware.

During his testing, Leadbetter said each game played 1-3% faster with a 1% margin of error. He added that ray tracing and unlocked frame rates appeared to be a “common component” in their occurrence. Digital Foundry didn’t mention any other games that have unlocked frame rates below 60fps, as the powerful PS5 console doesn’t have many. That leaves to interpret the exact power of this firmware update that maybe opens up to PS5 games on all levels.

While faster performance for gaming might seem unusual for a hardware-side system update, the case of Sony’s new firmware is just the latest example. Microsoft initially launched the original Xbox One in 2013 with 10% of the device’s overall GPU processing time reserved for “system processing,” which left space for the mandatory integration of Kinect as well as ‘to the function of jump between the applications of the hardware, the mode Snap.

Sony representatives did not immediately respond to questions about the latest PS5 firmware update and its impact on gaming performance.