One of the big selling points of next-gen consoles like the PS5 or Xbox Series X is support for games running at 120fps on TVs and monitors that include 120Hz modes. While we’ve already seen a number of new Xbox and PS5 games running at 120fps, some existing games are only being updated with 120fps for the Xbox Series X, and not the PS5.
Both Call of Duty: Warzone and Rocket League, for example, only include support for 120fps on the Xbox Series X. Activision has not commented on why only Warzone on the Xbox Series X has this support, but Rocket League developer Psyonix has revealed to Eurogamer that it’s more complicated to enable on the PS5 side.
“Enabling 120Hz on Xbox Series X|S is a minor patch, but enabling it on PS5 requires a full native port due to how backwards compatibility is implemented on the console, and unfortunately wasn’t possible due to our focus elsewhere,” explains Psyonix in a statement to Eurogamer.
The PS5 is capable of running existing PS4 games at 120fps, but there’s clearly more work involved for developers to enable it. In the short term, this could mean we’ll see more instances of games running on the PS5 without 120fps, but appearing on Xbox Series X with the higher frame rate.
It’s only been easier for developers to implement this on the Xbox Series X side because Microsoft built 120Hz support into the Xbox One years ago. The Xbox One X and Xbox One S were also updated to support variable refresh rates back in 2018, alongside an option for 1440p video output. Sony has only just started supporting 120Hz with the PS5, but the console still doesn’t support a 1440p mode.
The 120fps support won’t be an issue in the long term, as more developers will be building native PS5 games. But as developers continue to release cross-generation games for Xbox One and PS4 then there’s likely to be a mix of what’s supported. There are signs this could improve, though. Bungie is planning to update Destiny 2 on December 8th with 120fps support on both the Xbox Series X and PS5 for its crucible mode.
