Sony has confirmed details about their next generation PlayStation console via an interview with Mark Cerny as posted by Wired. The PlayStation 5 (for lack of a better confirmed name right now) will be truly next-gen, supporting 8K graphics, 3D audio, solid state drives, and backwards compatibility with PlayStation 4 titles.
This new console is more than just a boosted version of the PS4 – which is what the PS4 Pro has essentially been – and is instead entirely new hardware. The system will feature an eight-core CPU based on AMD’s third-gen Ryzen line, plus a custom GPU based on AMD’s Radeon Navi hardware. This will bring ray-tracing graphics to a home console for the first time – what this means in layman’s terms is that the console will support full 8K resolution, assuming that the user also has a television that can support it.
The 3D audio capabilities will come from the new AMD chip, which will feature a custom unit built specifically for this feature; the result will supposedly lead to more immersive gaming via what is essentially a surround sound experience.
“As a gamer, it’s been a little bit of a frustration that audio did not change too much between PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4,” Cerny told Wired. “With the next console the dream is to show how dramatically different the audio experience can be when we apply significant amounts of hardware horsepower to it.”
The PlayStation 5 will perhaps most importantly feature solid state drives (SSDs) as the main hard drive. This will help improve load time and gameplay overall, especially as games are getting bigger every year. The backwards compatibility feature is likely also notable to many existing Sony fans who aren’t looking to get rid of their existing PS4 library of games – this is something that will be possible, as the PS4 and PS5 are closer in terms of hardware than the PS3 and PS4 were.
There’s no release date for the PlayStation 5, though Cerny said that it would not release in 2019. However, developers already have access to the development kits for the hardware, which would point to a potential 2020 launch.
