With the launch of Xbox One X, we have ushered in a new era of console gaming in which a console can run games at native 4K. While PS4 Pro is a powerful console, but it is not powerful enough to compete with Xbox One X and that is why we will discuss the things we want in the upcoming Sony PlayStation 5.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has noted that it intends to continue with console business for a foreseeable future and is already considering the direction for PS5.
“Our game subsidiary is discussing which direction to take — how to use a big platform like the PlayStation going forward. Generally speaking, I don’t think it is a good idea to drop consoles entirely since we seek to offer the platform worldwide.”
PlayStation 5 – Things We Want
While Sony Interactive Entertainment has been very vague about the next iteration of PlayStation but, there have been many hints throughout the last year about the next PlayStation and here is out Wishlist for the next PlayStation aka PlayStation 5.
Release
While there is a lot of debate regarding the Sony PS5 release, there are two schools of thought that dominate overall. One claims that either the Sony PS5 will be coming out this year or that at least we will get an official release date for the Sony PS5 before the end of the year.
The other view is that the console will not be coming out this year at all and that will can come out sometime before 2020, which is a huge period of time and this is more of a wild guess rather than a speculation.
If indeed Sony wants to delay the release of the upcoming console then it could be so that 4K TVs and gaming monitors become cheaper and that a larger portion of the market adopts the new resolution before launching a console for the 4K market segment. That would make sense as people would have more reason to switch to a 4K compatible machine, rather than thinking of getting a new display when buying the Sony PS5.
PlayStation 4 launched back in 2013 and PS4 Pro launched in 2016, however, with the launch of Xbox One X one might assume that Sony might speed up its process for PS5 in 2018. However, according to industry analysts and development studios, PlayStation 5 will not release before 2019.
According to Michael Goodman, director of digital media strategies at Strategy Analytics, it is very unlikely that Sony would announce or release PlayStation 5 next year as it would undercut the PlayStation 4 Pro market which launched less than a year ago.
“My original thought was that you’re going on four-year cycles, not two-year cycles. I’m skeptical that they will launch a new console in 2018 after a two-year time frame. I don’t think it is going to move to a two-year cycle. [Sony] still has to pay back R&D. I mean there is a lot of expense that went into building the Pro. Are you going to undercut that market before it has made money?”
Also, Ubisoft has noted that it doesn’t expect the PS5 to launch before 2019.
Sony launched PlayStation 4 Pro last year and Microsoft Xbox One X this year, we think we still have a minimum of two years in front of us before something new is coming. But that’s our perception, we don’t have any confidential information on that front.
Although 4K displays are getting cheaper, they are not mainstream yet and you cannot blame the company for making this kind of a decision.
Specs
PS4 Pro features 4.2 Teraflops of computational power along with 8 GB RAM and slightly higher clocked AMD Jaguar processor. For PlayStation 5 we want a system to be at least 6 TFLOPs which is the same computational power of Xbox One X, as Xbox One X is capable of running games at native 4K.
While Sony has not revealed any plans for the PlayStation 4 but, has hinted that the next version of PlayStation will feature a discrete GPU instead of an APU. If this indeed is true then we can expect the console to run games at Native 4K.
As for the processor, we would like to see a higher clocked CPU compared to the current AMD Jaguar processors in Xbox One and PlayStation 4. A higher clocked processor is important due to the fact that a lower clocked CPU can bottleneck the GPU causing the performance to drop which is true for some Xbox One X games.
As for the RAM we would like to see Sony to make the RAM at least 12 GB and with a discrete GPU and higher clocked Processor, we would be seeing a perfect console to run games at native 4K/60 FPS.
Target Resolution
There has been quite a debate on console’s target resolution following the launch of Xbox One X as not all are convinced that console manufacturers need to develop 4K capable console as the majority of the gaming community uses 1080p and 1440p TVs and monitors.
However, there are some developers who would like to develop games or in some cases have developed games for the theoretical PS5 ,case and point, Polyphony Digital claims that Gran Turismo Sport will run at 8K on PlayStation 5 as the devs have developed the game with a theoretical PS5.
According to Kazunori Yamauchi, “It takes six months to create a single car. It’s over-specced for PS4 Pro. So we are building for future versions of the console rather than the one we see today”.
While the upcoming console should support 4K in light of all that the Xbox One X is capable of, it all comes down to when the console will be coming out. If the console is indeed going to come out this year then I doubt that it will be ready for native 4K gameplay.
On the other hand, if it is coming out at a later date after 2018 and before 2021 then that gives people plenty of time to adopt 4K and for the 4K displays to become mainstream. All in all whether or not the Sony PS5 supports 4K gaming depends on what Sony thinks is the right move and whether or not enough 4K display adoption is there in the market.
Backwards Compatibility
While Sony has dominated the console market this generation but, fans have raised concerns over the lack of backward compatibility of PS3 and PS2 games on PlayStation 4 and Microsoft has been quite ahead in terms supporting backward compatibility as there over 100 games from previous generations playable on Xbox One through backward compatibility.
Being able to play PS4 or PS3 games on PlayStation 5 will be a very good idea and will very convenient for Sony console users. Also, given that Polyphony Digital has developed GT Sport with a theoretical PS5 in mind we can expect the console to be backward compatible.
One of the interesting speculations made by industry analysts is that the console will support backwards compatibility out of the box which means that the Sony PS5 will run older titles that came out for the PS4. Why is this important? Because gamers have a library of games and have spent hundred if not thousands of dollars and you do not want to have all that go to waste when you have spent all that time and money on video games.
The Xbox One X supports older titles and I think that Sony will also make the same move. This is what Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter believes. The following is what he had to say:
“Will it play games that were made for the PlayStation 4 Pro? That’s the question. I think it will. So I think they will build a console that will backward compatible with the PS4 Pro,”
I think this would be the logical way to go and the logical step forward for the company.
Subscription Free Online Multiplayer
As a owner of both PC and PS4, I have noticed that console players need to have PS Plus subscription in order to play online games except for free-to-play title as opposed to PC where players don’t have to have any kind of subscription to play online titles and we would like to see that implemented for PlayStation 5 too, however, chances for that are very slim.
The reason why we want a ‘Subscription Free’ online multiplayer for the upcoming PlayStation console is that not everyone can afford to have a PS Plus subscription on top of a $60 game.
New Sony PS5 Controller
As of right now, we are not sure what the new controller will look like and what features will be added to the new version but it is a rumor that there will be a new controller that will come with the new console so that is something to look forward to.
What we do know is that there will be no drastic change and that it will be based on the classic design so players will be used to the ergonomics from the get-go. This is something that I am looking forward to as I have never been a fan of the PS4 controller and it will be interesting how Sony can improve the design and functionality without changing too much.
Is there anything you would like to add that we missed? Do you agree with our Wishlist for features in PS5? Let us know in the comments.
