Rumours are starting to circulate about the possibility of a new PlayStation console launching next year. Industry analysts have said they expect PS5 hardware with computing power in excess of 10 Teraflops, putting it in the same performance bracket as nVidia’s brand new $699 GTX 1080 Ti graphic card. That kind of capability would equate to a top-of-the-line VR experience for PS VR.
The story started this week from Macquarie Research’s Damian Thong, before being included by financial reporters at Barron’s in ‘Asia Stocks To Watch’. In his original article, Thong speculates that, “While we have tempered expectations to account for rivalry with Microsoft/Xbox and PC gaming, we note that the success of PS VR (which has reached 915K units sold) highlights the health of the ecosystem. We expect Sony to launch a >10 TFLOPS ‘PS5’ in 2H18 to secure the installed base.”
Will They/Won’t They?
Of course, this is pure conjecture and Sony itself has previously queried whether there will ever be another PlayStation, considering iterating on the current platform instead.
XBox is taking a similar approach with its Project Scorpio console due to launch this year. While Microsoft is referring to it as, ‘The most powerful console ever’, they’re also adamant that it is still an XBox One.
With 6TFLOPs, they’re not lying, but it may not be a long-lived claim to fame if Sony nearly doubles that figure the following year with a PS5 or PS4.5 - or whatever they want to call it. And that, right there, could be the reason why we think there may be some truth to the rumours.
Say It Like We See It
We call bullshit on both manufacturers and say that these much-touted ‘end of generation cycle’ announcements are nothing more than dressing up a commitment to ongoing backwards compatibility. This is great for consumers keen to continue enjoying an established library of content, but let’s just call a spade a spade, shall we...
