Sony’s PS6 Rumored to Launch with a Built-In Disc Drive-A Lesson Learnt from PS5 Pro

Sony’s PS5 Pro was launched with excellent features like visual enhancements and technical improvements, but its high price tag received a lot of criticism. PS5 Pro was also criticized for its missing Optical Drive, as without it you are left no option to play physical copies of games on your console. Also, Sony had to deal with global connectivity issues after the launch of PS5 Pro and to solve this issue they really needed to come up with a new age console like the rumored PS6, that would balance contemporary gaming trends with the traditional requirements.

Motivation Behind Launching A PS6 Console with an In-Built Disc Drive

PS5 Pro was not launched in regions like India because of the regulatory issues related to 6GHz Wireless Band (Wi-Fi7) that the console uses. There are some rumors that Sony is trying to work on the feature and is planning to release the product in regions where these regulatory issues are present. While, PS5 Pro is on it way to another launch in certain regions, there have been some rumors on the upcoming PS6 that would address the ‘Missing Disc Drive’ issue. The motivation behind building a PlayStation 6 console with such specifications comes from diverse internet connectivity challenges in more than 180 countries of the world.

Purely Digital PS6 Console- Not a Smart Option for Sony

After the launch of PS5 Pro, Sony has reached an understanding that launching a purely digital PS6 console is not the right option. PS5 Pro came with advanced features like improved Ray Tracing, PSSR technology, and a bigger storage, but all this is only available with the games that fall in the category of ‘PS5 Pro Enhanced Games’. Also, this came with a heavy price of $899, if we add the price of the Disc Drive to the price of the console. This was not received well by most of the users, as they could not find a good enough reason to upgrade from their PS5 console to the PS5 Pro console.

Now, in a revealing conversation on the Kiwi Talkz podcast, former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden discussed the real issues involved in launching a purely digital PS6. Sony has a vast market and it covers almost 170 countries of the world, where you find diversity in terms of internet connectivity. A lot of countries are still struggling with limited or unreliable internet connectivity. In such countries like India, lot of users would find downloading a Digital copy of the game a really cumbersome task. Also, the physical copy of the game is mostly available at a cheaper price during sales, promotional events, and sometimes you even have the option of purchasing a cheaper second-hand copy of the game. Sony is not like Microsoft, where the focus is mainly on countries who hold a strong internet infrastructure, and this definitely includes countries like the United States.

Sony needs to cater to a broader audience with diverse interests, and this also includes the fans who regard the physical copies of the games owned by them as a real treasure. PS5 Pro comes with the option, where you can choose to add a disc drive to the console, but most of the users would think of it as a marketing strategy focused on forcing them to purchase an additional disc drive. So, based on the podcast with Shawn Layden one can assume that Sony is planning to launch the upcoming PS6 console with an in-built disc drive.

PlayStation 6- Rumored Specifications

There has been a lot of buzz on the web about Sony’s rumored PS6 console, which is supposed to launch in 2027. PS6 will reportedly feature a UDNA graphics architecture, which would be an evolution of RDNA 5. The new upcoming next-gen console by Sony will be built in collaboration with AMD, and combined with a 3nm fabrication process and GDDR7 memory, the new console will deliver significant improvement in graphics quality with lower energy consumption. Collaboration of Sony with AMD for building the PS6 console gives it access to 3D V-Cache technology that will increase the on-chip memory of the device. This will solve the issues the players faced with old consoles, as PS6 will have shorter loading times, smoother gameplay and improved performance while playing demanding AAA titles.

The next-gen console by Sony would be designed by taking the future into perspective. To enhance the capabilities of PS6 console, Sony is reportedly working on integrating machine learning capabilities directly into the GPU. This enhancement would improve features like PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), which is a tool that helps in enhancing image quality. PS6 console is also rumored to feature a next-gen CPU, and AMD’s Zen4 or Zen5 architecture could be the answer. This would allow the console to provide a balanced performance with CPU and the GPU working at similar levels.

Sony’s rumored PS6 console is something that could change the way we play AAA games. Now, with more and more technically challenging games being launched, players really need a next-gen console like PS6 that delivers exceptional performance.

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