Overwatch Quietly Rolls Out Xbox Series X and S Enhancements

Blizzard has quietly rolled out Xbox Series X and S enhancements for Overwatch, but PS5 hasn't received the same treatment. The news was revealed in the game's March 9 patch notes over on the Blizzard forums, in a post which details a series of new performance mode optimizations coming to the game for next-gen Xbox players. Players are now able to switch between three different graphics option modes to suit their preferred playstyle:

• Resolution: Series X: 4K @ 60Hz, Series S: 1440p @ 60Hz – "This mode prefers higher-resolution output at the cost of some image-quality"
• Balanced: Series X: 1440p @ 60Hz, Series S: 1080p @ 60Hz – "This mode prefers image-quality at the cost of resolution"
• Framerate: Series X: 1440p @ 120Hz, Series S: 1080p @ 120Hz – "This mode prefers higher frame-rate at 120 frames-per-second at the cost of both image-quality and resolution"

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/19/overwatch-2-55-new-details"] These modes take advantage of the extra horsepower of the Series S and X to deliver higher resolutions and framerates, allowing users to play Overwatch at native 4K or 120 FPS on consoles for the first time. Bear in mind that you'll need a 120hz or Variable Refresh Rate-compatible TV to take advantage of the 'Framerate' option. Blizzard hasn't revealed any upgrades in the pipeline for the PlayStation version of the game, which means PlayStation 5 players will be stuck with the PlayStation 4 version of the game for the time being (although PS5 hardware does naturally offer some in-built improvements). We've contacted Blizzard for comment on whether PS5 will be getting its own enhancements. In other Overwatch news, the game recently made our list of the 25 best modern PC games. Here's our big interview with Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan about Overwatch 2, the forthcoming sequel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.