Since Xbox One uses Direct X could this be a feature that the next gen Xbox uses? I don't know much about this tech but it sounds interesting. It is being called " The Future Of Gaming "

What Does This Mean for Games?

DXR will initially be used to supplement current rendering techniques such as screen space reflections, for example, to fill in data from geometry that’s either occluded or off-screen.  This will lead to a material increase in visual quality for these effects in the near future.  Over the next several years, however, we expect an increase in utilization of DXR for techniques that are simply impractical for rasterization, such as true global illumination.  Eventually, raytracing may completely replace rasterization as the standard algorithm for rendering 3D scenes.  That said, until everyone has a light-field display on their desk, rasterization will continue to be an excellent match for the common case of rendering content to a flat grid of square pixels, supplemented by raytracing for true 3D effects.

Thanks to our friends at SEED, Electronic Arts, we can show you a glimpse of what future gaming scenes could look like.

Project PICA PICA from SEED, Electronic Arts

  https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/directx/2018/03/19/announcing-microsoft-directx-raytracing/

Looks like Nvidia and AMD are on board. 

Introduction to NVIDIA RTX and DirectX Raytracing

https://devblogs.nvidia.com/introduction-nvidia-rtx-directx-raytracing/

To coincide with the announcement, Nvidia announced “RTX technology” for enhanced DXR support in upcoming Volta graphics cards, as well as new ray tracing tools for its GameWorks library that can help developers deploy the technology faster. Likewise, AMD said it’s “collaborating with Microsoft to help define, refine and support the future of DirectX 12 and ray tracing.” And top gaming engines like Unity, Unreal, and Frostbite are already planning to integrate DirectX Raytracing.  

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3263746/components-graphics/microsoft-directx-raytracing-dx12-features-hardware-software.html

NVIDIA RTX Real-Time Ray Tracing Tech Demo From Remedy Entertainment


View on YouTube



NVIDIA RTX Technology, Volta-architecture GPUs, the GameWorks SDK, and the Microsoft DirectX Raytracing API make real-time ray tracing a reality for games. Check out this Northlight-engine tech demo from Remedy Entertainment for an early look at how real-time ray tracing can vastly improve the quality of lighting and shadowing in games.

The problem is Raytracing is suuuuuuuper demanding.

if you use large amounts of it, the demand is so high, you end up with a worse looking game, than if you had just focused on makeing a game without (because of having to make compromises for weaker hardware).

Tbh I dont think raytracing for PS4 or XB1 atm is going to do much of anything (their too weak to use it effectivly).
Next gen either, maybe the one after?

Yes maybe next gen we could see abit of it, used right on a console.

I'd rather have rubbish ray tracing, than high quality SSR.

Also:
Vulkan is also getting its own ray tracing via AMD's GPUOpen.
https://gpuopen.com/announcing-real-time-ray-tracing/

This is another huge part of why I don't want next gen consoles until 2022. Ray Tracing is next gen rendering, it has been aroudn for ages, but it is just becoming a feasible technique in games now. I believe Tim Sweeny from Epic said one time that real time ray traced global illumination should be possible on around a 25TFLOPs GPU.

Between Memeroy, Storage, and the ability to implement new rendering techniques like this, next gen needs to holdoff a few more years. Bring on PS4 Premium and XBO Z in 2019-2020 for those that want current gen games at 4K. Let next gen consoles blow, us, away with brand new tech, and things truly unachieveable on PS4 and XBO.

I think for quite some time going forward this will probably be limited mainly to PC enthusiasts... It definitely sounds like the sort of thing that could one day clearly separate this generation of consoles from the next.

Well, I don't know if the manufacturers would want to wait that long, they probably want to pump them out earlier to get more sales.

No Switch port?

That Remedy demo is disappointing already, the need to denoise even specular reflections just dampens any momentum behind the technology ...

The numbers ain't looking good either since spending 4-5ms per ray (need more than 1 to get a high quality noise free image) on a single with a Titan V sounds like it's out of reach even for real-time use cases even for top end hardware of today and probably next generation ...