Key Highlights:
- The PlayStation 6 will not be a purely RDNA 5 based console, using hybrid techniques.
- In reality, this barely makes a difference in the slightest.
- With console exclusivity dying out, there’s not much point to upgrade.
The PlayStation 6 is almost upon us, and Sony’s next generation console isn’t shaping out to be anything special, truth be told. We’ve barely tapped into the potential of the PS5 (which is already over 5 years old at this point), which makes gunning for a PS6 seem like a tremendous waste of time.
That being said, the tech here is quite impressive, being built on top of AMD’s RDNA GPU architecture, aiming is essentially singular APU package. Recent leaks seem to point at the PS6 lacking RDNA 5 compute units, but realistically speaking this should barely make a difference.
The PlayStation 6 Will Not Be True RDNA 5
Speaking on the NeoGAF forums, leaker KeplerL2 recently spoke on the potential hardware configuration of a PlayStation 6. Of particular importance here was a mention that the PS6 would not be comprised of only RDNA 5 units, hinting at a some kind of hybrid architecture.
This coupled with up to 30 GB of GDDR7 system memory, sure makes it sound quite powerful, at least on paper.
Interestingly enough, hybrid architectures aren’t anything new in the world of consoles. We’ve seen weird, and often wacky solutions, and this is just another way of shipping cost effective products, since a fully featured RDNA 5 console might be too expensive to mass produce.
This Barely Matters
It should be kept in mind here that not even the PlayStation 5 never made use of full RDNA units either, opting to combine RDNA 1 CUs with Ray Tracing units to achieve a bit more tuned performance.
Despite all that, the PlayStation 5 still remains a very capable console, and one that can play modern games beautifully (although this extends to the nature of the port sometimes).
Also Read: Metal Gear Solid 4 Finally Makes Its Way Out Of The PS3
Even five years after its release, there are barely a handful of true PS5 exclusive titles. Most heavy hitters and system sellers such as Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and Stellar Blade eventually made their way to the PC, making buying a console kind of pointless for the more patient gamer.
As such, having a next gen that promises more powerful hardware and superior performance over what is already an adequately performing game does seem kind of a pointless affair.
Heck, even the PlayStation 5 Pro seems like bad value these days, so what is realistically stopping potential and existing consumers from leaving the ecosystem for good?
The Age of Exclusivity Is Over
Console exclusivity has come to an end, and we’re slowly seeing it be phased out. Most games make their way over to PCs now, which has become sort of the de facto gaming platform.
PC gaming is a lot more accessible than it used to be, and with the advent of devices such as the Steam Deck and SteamOS, gaming is a lot more hassle free these days.
That being said, consoles are not really dying out anytime soon either. We will still have consoles, although their popularity and reach will be quite limited now.
