Don’t expect it anytime in 2019, but the next PlayStation console is well on its way—and it’s packing ray-tracing support and a loadtime-killing solid-state hard drive.
The console wars are about to fire up for another generation kids.
With E3 just over a month away and details of one of Microsoft’s new consoles coming out less than 24 hours ago Sony have deemed it time to offer an exclusive to Wired detailing just how fantastic their yet to be named (it’ll be the PS5) console is going to be.
Mark Cerny, the PS4’s system architect cum game designer (he’s behind Knack & Marble Madness – one of those was good) is returning to spearhead the PR train revealing details most people could’ve surmised themselves.
The new PS5 will include backwards compatibility, a true first for the Sony console, 8K support (if you can throw A$10k at a TV), an AMD Ryzen 7nm Zen 2 based CPU as well as an AMD Radeon Navi GPU, a new 3D audio system and faster SSD system (probably PCIe 4.0 based) that was demonstrated loading a previously 15 second long section of last year’s Spider-Man in 0.8 seconds.
It seems like one of the major points Cerny was making centred around the new console’s ray-tracing abilities that he attributes to only being available in US$10k+ systems and a first for consoles when it comes to the PS5. Raytracing is a hard sell and something that engine makers will need to incorporate and support, which I’m sure Sony are working hard on to achieve, but just ask Nvidia how well that marketing tactic has gone with their RTX 20 Series launched last year. (Spoiler alert – not well)
Lastly the console is definitely not coming out until 2020 and even then not likely until October/November for the holidays. It will still have some form of physical media and for those of you thinking Death Stranding is coming out soon, they make a strong point it’s likely to be a PS5 launch title but you’ll get a shittier PS4 version as well to make you want to upgrade.
Source: Exclusive: What to Expect From Sony’s Next-Gen PlayStation