Industry insider Tom Henderson has a new scoop on the long-rumored PlayStation 5 Pro console. According to his sources, Sony is indeed making preparations for a mid-generation console refresh.
The project is apparently codenamed Trinity, which isn't uncommon for Sony (PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR also had Matrix-themed codenames, Neo and Morpheus). Trinity has reportedly been in development since early 2022, with the goal to deliver a working development kit in the hands of studios later this year, towards the latter half of November.
As for the public release, Henderson maintains that the targeted launch date for the PlayStation 5 Pro is November 2024, as suggested in a previous report. The new rumor also says the PS5 Pro will enable 'accelerated ray tracing' capabilities, an 8K 'Performance Mode', and an improved and more consistent frame rate at 4K resolution.
While it is doubtful that many games could run well at 8K even on a PlayStation 5 Pro without dropping a lot of their graphics features, the other two targets seem feasible. Accelerated ray tracing would definitely be welcome, as both PS5 and Xbox Series X hardware are weak in that regard.
The report doesn't delve deeply into the technical specifications of the PlayStation 5 Pro. However, it does say that its memory will run at 18000 MT/s, up from the PS5's 14000. It also mentions 30 WGP, or Work Group Processors, which should translate into 60 Compute Units, up from the PS5's 36. We also know that Viola is the codename of the SoC that AMD is preparing for Sony's hardware.
If the PlayStation 5 Pro console is coming out next year, there's a solid chance it will support AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3, which may indeed be a significant boon to any game's frame rate smoothness. FSR 3 was announced in November 2022 as AMD's answer to DLSS 3 (Frame Generation). According to AMD, it will use 'interpolated frames' to double the performance. However, there's no release date for its PC implementation other than a generic 2023 window.
With FSR 2, we’re already computing more pixels than we have samples in the current frame, and we realized we could generate even more by introducing interpolated frames. This has allowed us to achieve up to a 2x framerate boost in the process.
Henderson could not provide any information on the PlayStation 5 Pro pricing. He also said he doesn't have any information on the rumored PS5 Slim, which he believes doesn't exist as originally believed and will simply replace the regular PS5. You can read more about that in yesterday's report.
If a PlayStation 5 Pro does indeed launch next year, it'll be interesting to see what Microsoft's answer will be. Phil Spencer famously said they don't have any indication the industry wants a mid-generation refresh this time around.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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