Several especially intriguing rumors about Sony’s next-generation console surfaced over the weekend.
It appears that Sony is already working on 2D and 3D graphical assets intended for both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 6, and they are being described as AAA-grade. That could point to another cross-generation period for the company, much like the way some PlayStation 5 titles still ended up on PlayStation 4. Sony also reportedly wants to continue expanding the social applications available across its platforms, described internally as next-gen social apps, although that kind of language tends to appear every time a hardware transition comes around. Video streaming and multitasking, in the same spirit as PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, are said to be evolving further for PlayStation 6, with the same team still leading that work.
Sony is also said to be developing a next-gen game with another studio, although the identity of that studio remains unknown. The project reportedly features immersive third-person horror shooter mechanics and runs on Unreal Engine 5. The wording does not necessarily suggest a straightforward shooter that merely happens to take place in a horror setting, but it clearly points toward gameplay built around shooting systems. Motion capture is expected to play a central role, and some form of player progression system is also planned. It remains unclear whether Firesprite’s Project Heartbreak, rumored to be Until Dawn 2, is still alive, but development on this mysterious next-gen horror shooter was reportedly ongoing between last August and October. Because both projects are built in Unreal Engine 5, it is possible they are aimed at PlayStation 5, PC, and eventually PlayStation 6 as well.
PlayStation has steadily expanded its cloud gaming ambitions across the last few hardware generations, and that apparently is not going to change with the next one. Sony Interactive Entertainment reportedly has no intention of moving away from cloud streaming, which makes sense given that PlayStation Cloud support has spread across nearly every major new release in recent years. The work is not limited to broadening software support either. The service itself is also expected to receive significant technical upgrades. Development of the hardware backbone for next-generation cloud streaming servers has reportedly been underway for three to four years. PlayStation 5 currently relies on 4th-generation PCIe NVMe storage server technology, while the next generation is expected to move to 5th-generation solutions, and that is likely what PlayStation 6 will use as well, echoing earlier comments from AMD leaker Kepler_L2.
Sony, unsurprisingly, also appears ready to use artificial intelligence across all kinds of internal workflows. The company seems intent on continuing to back AI as a tool for advancing real-time graphics, something that was hinted at through the LinkedIn profile of one of PlayStation’s lead researchers.
Source: MP1st
