Currently, the livestream for the presentation of the new PlayStation 5, which is set to be released in winter, is ongoing. However, the content shown was mainly intended for developers. Most gamers seem rather bored in the chat.
What kind of stream is this? The Game Developer Conference was supposed to be happening at this time. This is a trade fair for developers, where many innovations from the industry are discussed. This naturally includes the next-gen console PS5.
However, the event was canceled due to the coronavirus, just like E3 2020 and numerous other fairs. Accordingly, Sony is now broadcasting the content that was intended for the fair as a livestream.
What is the problem? The content shown was primarily aimed at developers and less at gamers themselves. Therefore, the presentation was very technical. From presentations aimed at players, we are used to events being designed accordingly, with many images and the technology explained simply.
One of the most well-known gaming journalists in the world, Jason Schreier, already predicted this in a tweet.
Half of the chat is asleep, even though it’s actually exciting
What’s happening in the chat? Alongside some scattered discussions about the contents of the livestream, one phrase dominates the various livestream chats: “ZzzzZZz”.
The reason for this is the very technical and unentertaining nature of the livestream. There isn’t much to see, no effects and no screaming. Everything revolves around dry facts – which is of course very exciting for the original audience, the developers.
In the stream, some users referred to the livestream as a lecture or suddenly felt like they were back in university. They were expecting something different.
What exactly is happening in the stream? The description of the event quite accurately reflects what the livestream consists of:
PS5 Lead System Architect Mark Cerny gives a deep insight into the system architecture of the PS5 and how it will shape the future of gaming.
This already doesn’t sound like entertainment, but rather like pure information. However, one can actually gain good insights into the specifics of the console that a regular gamer hardly perceives.
Even though there are jokes about the moderator on Reddit and in the chat, he is doing a good job. Cerny explains the specifics of the system architecture understandably, doesn’t trip over his words, and speaks clearly. He simply had a different target group than the one present in the Twitch chat.
It probably should have been communicated more clearly what the origin of the presentation was. This would have allowed the viewers to better adjust to what was shown and have different expectations.
Throughout his career, he developed arcade games for Atari, products for Sega and Crystal Dynamics, and assumed the role of Lead System Architect for the PS4 in 2008.
These are the most important infos from the stream in a compact form
We watched the livestream for you and will soon publish a detailed analysis from our hardware expert. Until then, we have summarized the most important information regarding graphical performance, CPU, and more.
What are the highlights of the PS5?
One highlight of the PS5 appears to be the SSD hard drive. At 5.5 gigabytes per second, it is incredibly fast. In the stream, an example was shown where the PS4 could load 1 GB of data in 20 seconds, while the PS5 processes it in 0.27 seconds – not just 1 GB, but 2.
The SSD is said to outperform that of the Xbox Series X, even though the Xbox SSD brings a bit more storage capacity (PS5 has 825 GB, Xbox has 1 TB). The importance of the SSD for game implementation also took a big part of the presentation.
Additionally, the new CPU is said to no longer be a “console CPU” but actually designed for PCs. It is an eight-core processor based on AMD’s Zen 2 architecture, but with a clock speed of 3.5 GHz. The Xbox is at 3.8 GHz, whereas Microsoft does not rely on Turbo Boost technology as Sony does and prefers predictable performance. Thus, the PS5 will be the first console with a boost mode. How this will impact comparisons is still unclear.
Moreover, the presentation highlighted the PS5’s resistance to heat.
- You can find the complete specs of the PS5 in the extensive overview from our colleagues at GamePro.de
What about the TeraFLOPS?
The rumors surrounding the graphical performance have been confirmed. The PS5 will have only 10.28 TeraFLOPS. This value indicates the operations per second. The higher the value, the faster the calculations.
This places it significantly below the Xbox Series X, which will get 12 TeraFLOPS, but significantly above the PS4 (1.84 TeraFLOPS). In terms of clock speed, both consoles are equal at 1.825GHz. Ultimately, however, the Xbox achieves higher raw performance and thus enables higher FPS if the potential is exploited. Interestingly, the currently strongest PC graphics card from AMD, the 5700 XT, has only 9.75 TeraFLOPS. This highlights the ambitions of the new console generation and its future viability.
What exactly TeraFLOPS mean from a player’s perspective will be explained by our colleagues at GamePro:
Backward compatibility yes, but not for all games
The backward compatible mode, referred to as “PS4 Legacy Mode”, was also mentioned.
However, the new generation will only be able to use PS4 games and will not go further back. Also, not all PS4 games will be playable at launch.
In a survey, you told us what was most important to you when deciding to purchase next-gen consoles. Backward compatibility reached second place:
Has the new design been revealed?
No, fans are still eagerly waiting to see what the PS5 will actually look like. There were no new information about the release either. This would of course be a particularly important info for consumers – one wants to know what they will put in their living room.
The release is still targeted for winter 2020. Xbox, by the way, countered shortly after with a more specific release date for the Xbox Series X – but with a retraction afterwards.
