The PlayStation 6 may need the PlayStation 5 Pro to exist to deliver the expected technological leap for a few reasons, including the fact that producing faster and more complex CPUs and GPUs to increase console performance and features is no longer entirely possible.
Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter recently went over why the mid-generation refresh console launching next month innovates the console space in a way that will be essential for future hardware by introducing machine learning in the console space. With the PlayStation 4 Pro, Sony offered a system featuring a GPU that was double the size of that of the base model for only $100 more. Today, the company cannot do the same with $250, but it is achieving similar results with the PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution upscaler, which is powered by dedicated hardware.
Future consoles such as the PlayStation 6 and the next Xbox are likely going to follow suit, as the cost per transistor has changed a lot over the years, and big size increases for GPUs are very unlikely to happen. With the help of AI, however, it is possible to achieve amazing results with only a modest increase in hardware size and power. Developing AI-powered tech, however, takes time. Back when NVIDIA introduced AI in the PC gaming space with the RTX 2000 series and DLSS, nobody believed the technology would amount to anything. Same with ray tracing, which looked like a novelty and nothing more. Years, research, and investments turned everything around, and today, the upscaler has become one of the most transformative changes for gaming in a very long time, and NVIDIA managed to bring path tracing into the gaming space.
A similar amount of time and research will be needed to bring console AI-powered technologies to the same level as NVIDIA DLSS, if not even beyond, and thus, Sony definitely did the right thing releasing the PlayStation 5 Pro with its AI-powered PSSR upscaler and dedicated hardware. The technology definitely has room for improvement and the time from now until the PlayStation 6 releases will make sure things will be at a whole different level by the time the next-generation system launches while also giving developers the time to get used to these new technologies, and use them to their full potential in their games.
The PlayStation 6 has yet to be officially revealed. The only things we know about it are that it will be powered by AMD once again and that it will be backward compatible.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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