PS5 Could Get Variable Refresh Rate Support This December, a Year After the Console’s Launch

The PlayStation 5 launched last year bringing a variety of technical advancements over the PS4 with higher resolution and refresh rate support, but one feature that has been missing on the console is variable refresh rate (VRR). The feature has been requested by many PS5 owners for months now to no avail, and with so many games targeting 60fps and getting 120 Hz support, it looks like VRR may be headed to PS5 consoles this December.

Robert Zhon, the president of US retailer Value Electronics, recently spoke in an interview with YouTube channel Whisper Status 74 about Sony’s roadmap for adding VRR support to its Bravia lineup of smart TVs, which is on track for December of this year.

“I spoke a little bit on the side of the long-awaited upgrade to variable refresh rate on the X900H, and X90, and X95 and all of the 2021 TVs,” said Zhon. “That’s still on target for December of this year. What they’re waiting for is- HDMI is gonna be updating their specs for CEC (consumer electronics control). The CEC link is gonna be changing, and so is the eARC. Sony’s engineers are gonna wait for that, so that there is one firmware update.”

The topic of PS5’s lack of VRR was also brought up on Digital Foundry’s latest DF Direct Weekly episode, where it was implied that Sony may be waiting to update its TVs first and then bring the feature to its console. Along with VRR, the PS5 also doesn’t support 8K resolution output, despite the label on the exterior of retail packaging for the console.

VRR’s absence on PS5 has been frustrating, especially with the feature coming in handy in games which occasionally dip below their target frame rate on the Xbox Series X|S consoles and of course, PC. While most cross-gen games have been getting performance updates to increase their frame rates to 60fps (and beyond), there are times when certain games aren’t able to reach that target, if only momentarily. VRR is especially useful in those scenarios by mitigating artefacts such as screen tearing.

Regardless of whether or not Sony adds VRR support to the PS5, the consoles have been flying off the shelves thanks to a combination of large demand, a chip shortage, and enticing upgrades to existing games.

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