As soon as we knew what it looked like, the Playstation 5 was already the subject of a huge amount of memes on the internet making fun of its nonstandard design and size. However, according to Sony, the Playstation 5 size is for a very specific reason: in this case, for ventilation.
While it’s likely not as powerful as the Xbox Series X, the Playstation 5 is a high-performance console that is designed to run games at high framerates at high resolutions. Doing all of that causes the console to put off a lot of heat, which in turn requires a lot of ventilation.
This is all according to Matt MacLaurin, Vice President of User Interface at Sony, who gave the explanation on LinkedIn. The explanation also fits in with how this generation of consoles is designed to be more competitive with PCs, where ventilation and heat dispersal are also very important.
This helps to not only explain the Playstation 5 size, but also its design. The main feature of the console is the large black box in the center, kept in by the two white pieces. While some criticize the design, it’s likely such an arrangement is necessary to allow all the necessary ventilation.
Considering the huge variety of games that the Playstation 5 will be getting, going by the games showcased at its reveal event, it’s likely all of that ventilation will be necessary for Horizon Forbidden West, Ratchet and Clank, the Demon’s Souls remake, and more to look truly stunning.
The Playstation 5 size has already been shown to be bigger than any other Playstation console before it, so hopefully all of that size will be put to good use when it releases. However, we still have no idea when the console will actually release, though we’ll hopefully find out sometime in the near future.
