Sony is making it tremendously easy for developers to harness the raw 8K might of Sony’s next-gen PlayStation 5 console.
In a recent interview with Dengeki Online, Sony exec Shuhei Yoshida confirms developers are smoothly transitioning their games onto the new high-end PlayStation 5. This strongly indicates the system shares the PS4’s architecture and games-making tools, even if the PS5 uses AMD’s new RDNA 2-powered Navi and Zen 2 CPU SoC.
Sony has gone through great lengths to ensure a kind of software and OS synergy between the two systems.
The PlayStation 5 might have full next-gen hardware, but it still borrows from the PS4 in an iterative fashion, mainly with native PS4 backward compatibility support, operating system functionality, and games-making toolsets.
It’s extremely important that Sony make it easier than ever for developers to scale their games for both PS4 and PS5, complete with the latter’s exclusive new enhancements like ray tracing lighting effects, 8K gaming output, and variable rate shading tech.
A good and flexible software pipeline is essential for devs pushing the PS5’s hardware to its limits–being able to take code for games made on PS4 and scale them properly for the new PS5 is critical, especially since the PS4 will live alongside the PS5 for roughly three years after release.
That means devs could release two versions of their games: one for the current-gen, and one for next-gen.
All of the hardware–the 8-core, 16-thread 3GHz Zen 2 CPU and Navi 20 GPU, the super-fast SSD that might have customized ReRAM tech, and the GDDR6 RAM–is directly controlled by Sony’s new flexible game-development scaling tools and operating system.
The tools will also allow devs to hit new performance threshold variances, including 4K 60FPS, 1080p 120FPS, 1080p 60FPS, and maybe even heavily upscaled 4K 120FPS, all with ray tracing, new clever rendering tricks like variable rate shading, native 4K textures, and new hardware methodologies like using the SSD as VRAM included.
Read Also: Sony solves PS5’s biggest issue
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard developers praising the PlayStation 5’s ease-of-use.
Sony’s Jim Ryan says devs are giving lots of positive feedback on the PS5’s devkits (those crazy stackable, v-shaped devkits) when it comes to scaling and flexibility.
“One thing that makes me particularly optimistic is, what we’re hearing from developers and publishers, is the ease in which they are able to get code running on PlayStation 5 is way beyond any experience they’ve had on any other PlayStation platform,” Ryan said in GamesIndustry.biz interview.
Making the PS5 so easy to develop games for solves a multitude of issues surrounding a next-gen console. It means PS4 game backward compatibility will be smoothly handled, complete with enhancement patches to harness the PlayStation 5’s power. It also means developers will have to spend less time on decoding and deciphering the new hardware, leading to more time on optimizing their games for the platforms.
Sony is expected to reveal the PS5 in a special event in February 2020. The console will release in Holiday 2020, and it may cost $499.
Check below for more info:
PlayStation 5 specs and details:
- Custom SoC with second-gen Navi GPU, Zen 2 8-core, 16 thread CPU
- Navi, Zen SoC uses new AMD RDNA 2.0 architecture
- Ultra-fast SSD
- Support for 4K 120 Hz TVs
- Ray-tracing enabled
- 8K output support (for gaming)
- Plays all PS4 games
- Separate games that ship on BD-XL Blu-ray discs
- New controller with extensive haptic and tactile feedback
PlayStation 5 Coverage:
- PS5’s SSD is ‘exceptionally powerful,’ may beat Xbox Series X speeds
- DualShock 5 renders show new trigger design, USB-C, ergonomic shell
- PlayStation 5 to support 8K gaming, Sony confirms
- New PlayStation 5 renders show off radical different design, again
- Leaked PlayStation 5 ad prices console at $1,000, is totally fake
- Sony seeks a new Head of Strategy for Worldwide Studios
- Leaked PlayStation 5 devkit photos show new DualShock controller
- PS5, Xbox Scarlett SSD may use Optane-like ReRAM to supercharge speeds
- NVIDIA G-Sync monitors to improve PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett
- PlayStation 5: Everything We Know So Far
- PlayStation 5 confirmed to have 8C/16T Zen 2 CPU from AMD
- PS5, Project Scarlett may use Samsung’s 6th gen V-NAND NVMe SSDs
- PS5 backward compatibility confirmed, will play PS4 games
- Sony’s next-gen PlayStation 5 has 4K 120Hz output support
- PS5, Project Scarlett to hit over 10TFLOPs of power, sources say
- PS4 will be supported into 2022, to live alongside PS5
- Sony: ultra-high-speed SSD is ‘the key’ to next-gen PS5
- PS5 dev kit rumor: ‘ultra-fast RAM’, Navi GPU with 13 TFLOPs
- PlayStation 5 rumored to ship with 2TB of super-fast SSD for $499
- Insider: PlayStation 5 dev kit faster than Xbox Scarlett right now
- PS5 cartridges aren’t real, patents are for Sony kids toys
- PS5’s SSD may benefit PS4 games the most
- PS5 powered by Navi in 2020, AMD making Navi with Sony input
- Cloud-powered PlayStation controller may let you play free game demos
- Gran Turismo 7 is a PlayStation 5 launch title: launches Nov 20, 2020
- PS5 confirmed to support 8K video, ray tracing, all on Navi
- PlayStation 5 rumored to cost $499, launches November 20, 2020
- PlayStation game demos are coming back with Sony’s ambitious new plan
- PS5 controller: Built-in mic, USB-C, no lightbar, ergonomic design
- PlayStation 5 concept video shows totally new design
- Sony solves PS5’s biggest issue
- Sony: PS5 development going according to plan
- New Viking Assassin’s Creed may be next-gen console launch game
- AMD working on ‘secret sauce’ for next-gen Xbox/PlayStation
- The first real photo of a PlayStation 5 dev kit appears
- Next-gen PS5/Xbox Scarlett open-world game: ‘best real-time graphics’
- Sony restructures workforce to prepare for PS5
- PlayStation VR 2: built-in cameras, wireless, ready for PS5
- PS5 games will ship on 100GB Blu-ray BDXL discs
- PS5 and Xbox Scarlett will both handle ray tracing differently
- PlayStation 5 could feature AI-powered ‘PlayStation Assist’
- Sony won’t abandon singleplayer story-driven games on PS5
- PS5 rumor: GPU is nearly as powerful as RTX 2080, GPU clocked at 2GHz
- PlayStation 5 rumored to be unveiled on February 12, 2020
- Sony to raise PS5 cost thanks to U.S. tariffs
