PS5 Confirmed Backward Compatibility

[Bofferbrauer2]

Neodegenerate said:

Article out today on the hardware of the PS5. 

https://www.wired.com/story/exclusive-sony-next-gen-console/

The specific line on BC:

Because it’s based in part on the PS4’s architecture, it will also be backward-compatible with games for that console. 

Also confirmed it will not be out in 2019, so all but assured for 2020.  The hardware itself appears to be much more beefy than I anticipated it would be.  Now has me wondering if we are going to run into another PS3 pricing situation with Sony next gen.

The hardware bits:

The CPU is based on the third generation of AMD’s Ryzen line and contains eight cores of the company’s new 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture. The GPU, a custom variant of Radeon’s Navi family, will support ray tracing, a technique that models the travel of light to simulate complex interactions in 3D environments. 

The AMD chip also includes a custom unit for 3D audio that Cerny thinks will redefine what sound can do in a videogame.

On VR:

“I won't go into the details of our VR strategy today,” he says, “beyond saying that VR is very important to us and that the current PSVR headset is compatible with the new console.”

And an SSD that, for Spider-Man at least, improved loading by 18x.

It was obvious ages ago, that the PS5 would use AMD again. Only AMD can bring a complete package these days powerful enough for a console (ARM, Samsung and Qualcomm could only for a handheld right now).

However, that does not automatically mean there will be backwards compatibility. It just means that technically, there won't be any problems to it like there were with the Cell. But it doesn't necessary mean that Sony will actually implement it. Keep in mind that they said in the past that BC was an often asked, but rarely used feature, so not sure if they really will implement it.

Don't expect an SSD for the PS5, that won't happen. HDD are still much cheaper per Gigabyte, so they will certainly use those to stay in budget. For comparison, a 2Tbyte HDD costs about 60$, a 2Tbyte SSD however around 250$ for the cheapest ones. That's still way too much for them to consider using SSD right now. Maybe in a couple years, but 2020 would still be too soon for an SSD to be worthwhile for them.

Last edited by Bofferbrauer2 - on 16 April 2019