Finally, after a truckload of speculations and what-to-expect specs from insiders, Sony has finally revealed a bit of information about the PlayStation 5. Wired's Peter Rubin spoke with Mark Cerny where the lead system architect divulged several vital aspects of what he called Sony's "next-gen console."
While Cerny's point may not encapsulate what the PlayStation 5 would be by the time it reaches the market, he did mention key information about the PlayStation 4's successor. For one, Cerny said the PS 5 "won't be landing in stores anytime in 2019." This holds true to a number of predictions that gave the console a three-year window for its release. Sony has also sped up the deployment of devkits for game developers to have more time to tweak their creations to coincide with the PS 5.
Another tidbit Wired wrote is that Cerny sees the PlayStation 5 will be more of a "revolution that evolution." The PS 5 CPU will be based on a third-generation AMD Ryzen alongside 8 cores of its 7mm Zen 2 microarchitecture. Its GPU meanwhile is a custom Radeon Navi that supports "ray tracing," a technique Hollywood uses to create visual effects.
Ray tracing on the PS 5, the website added, will add more depth "to simulate complex interactions in 3D environments." It will radically improve visual gameplay in such a way that ray tracing can render light more accurately. Cerny also said the AMD chip comes with a custom unit for 3D sound as a dividing line for gamers who want more punch in audio.
Gamespot meanwhile reported another key feature of PlayStation 5. It said that just like what rumors are suggesting, the PS 5 would be backwards compatible as its architecture is loosely based on the PS4. They also noted that the PlayStation 5 wouldn't be an "all-digital device," meaning that it can run physical discs.
Virtual Reality is a factor Cerny wasn't keen on exposing. There have been buzzes flying around that Sony is working on a new VR headset, Cerny was tightlipped on the matter. However, he said that the current PSVR would be compatible with the new console.
The PlayStation 5 will also come with a Solid State Drive or SSD. According to Cerny, the SSD in the PlayStation 5 is something that is "specialized," and them granting the request of game developers. To demonstrate, Cerny loaded Insomniac's Spider-Man on a PS4 Pro and one on a PS 5 devkit. The former's load sequence tallied to 15 seconds while it took less than a second on the former: 0.8 to be exact.
Sony is taking a hard pass on this year's E3, so it's an on-point fact that gamers will have to wait a little longer. This is also true when PlayStation head John Kodera said on May 2018 that the PlayStation 5 was still "three years off." For now, the gaming community will just have to wait, but at least they already have a glimpse of what's to come.
