Samsung has exciting news almost two years after its initial announcement in October 2021: the company is about to launch the first game that supports the new HDR10 Plus Gaming standard. This groundbreaking game is called “The First Descendant,” a free-to-play third-person shooter developed by Nexon. Gamers can get a taste of it during its open beta phase, starting on September 19th.
HDR10 Plus Samsung Gaming – A Revolution in Gaming Graphics
Samsung’s announcement didn’t specify which gaming platforms will support HDR10 Plus Gaming, but it’s likely to be on PC. Neither Sony nor Microsoft has announced support for this new HDR format on their consoles. On the PC side, Nvidia has already added support for HDR10 Plus Gaming to its RTX and 16-series graphics cards in November 2022.
One of the key advantages of HDR10 Plus Gaming is its ability to automatically adjust a game’s brightness and colors based on your monitor or TV’s capabilities, similar to what Sony’s PS5 offers with select Sony Bravia TVs. This automatic calibration should result in better detail in highlights and shadows, as well as more accurate color representation. This process replaces the sometimes tricky manual calibration that involves adjusting sliders until you can barely see a logo on a white or black background. Samsung also highlights that HDR10 Plus Gaming boasts low latency and is compatible with variable refresh rates.
To take advantage of this new technology, you’ll need both a compatible PC and a display that supports HDR10 Plus Gaming. Samsung’s high-end TVs and Odyssey gaming monitors are already on board, and certain Amazon, Panasonic, TCL, and Vizio TVs are compatible, according to Nvidia’s press release from last year. However, HDR10 Plus Gaming might not be as widely supported as Dolby Vision, its competitor in the HDR space.
HDR10 Plus has been around for a few years, offering an open and royalty-free alternative to the Dolby Vision HDR standard. Both formats provide dynamic metadata, resulting in more accurate colors and better highlights and shadow details on compatible displays. Xbox consoles already support Dolby Vision for gaming, although early examinations found minimal advantages over standard HDR10.
Despite the “world’s first” language in the announcement, Samsung had mentioned specific games in relation to HDR10 Plus Gaming before. In late 2021, it stated that titles like Saber Interactive’s “Redout 2” and “Pinball FX,” along with “Happy Trails” and “The Kidnapped Princess,” would showcase the technology at CES 2022. However, it remains uncertain whether these titles eventually supported the standard upon their release.
As a bonus, in addition to HDR10 Plus Gaming, “The First Descendant” will also support Nvidia’s DLSS 3 upscaling technology, further enhancing the game’s performance and visual quality.
