Recent rumors suggested that the PlayStation 6 could slip well past the usual late-2027 or early-2028 expectations because of the current economic climate. Now, however, one prominent leaker is arguing the exact opposite and claims Sony is already laying the groundwork for its next generational jump.

Over the last few weeks, there have been reports suggesting that the PlayStation 6 might not arrive until well beyond the late-2027 or early-2028 window because of broader economic pressure. Moore’s Law is Dead, though, says the opposite is true. According to the leaker, the console may be much closer than many expect because Sony is already actively preparing for the next generation. In his view, the current work around power-saving mode points very clearly in one direction: it looks like a Trojan horse for PlayStation 6 handheld support. By revisiting a diagram from Sony’s developer documentation tied to power-saving mode in existing games, he argues that the thread management guidelines for that mode line up almost perfectly with the leaked specs of the handheld, namely four Zen 6c cores, giving eight threads for games, plus two low-power Zen 6 cores handling up to four system threads.

Using fewer threads, by itself, would not create especially meaningful power savings compared with simply running at lower clock speeds. That is why the leaker believes these guidelines only make real sense if power-saving mode is actually a compatibility layer for the rumored handheld. Another leak he sees as a strong sign that the PlayStation 6 is not far off, and that the handheld is genuinely in development, is the arrival of PlayGo. Introduced to PlayStation 5 SDK 13 only a few weeks ago, PlayGo is Sony’s equivalent to Xbox Smart Delivery. It allows developers to split assets and texture packs by console type so that each system downloads only the files it will actually use.

PlayGo and Power Saver Mode May Both Be Pointing to the Handheld

“Up until now, developers had to include the higher resolution textures and higher detail assets of the PlayStation 5 Pro in every PlayStation 5 download, regardless of whether the console was a PS5 Pro. But that’s no longer the case! Now, developers can specify downloads for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro, and PlayStation 5 Power Saver Mode. Yes, Power Saver Mode is getting its own asset and texture packaging! This would only be done if this ‘mode’ were the basis for a new console that might require adjustments! Using smaller textures doesn’t save any energy,” the leaker said, arguing that all of this looks like preparation for the next generation rather than a simple quality-of-life update.

On top of that, Sony has reportedly informed developers that legacy PlayStation Network support for older PlayStation 4 game implementations is being phased out, with studios encouraged to move toward cross-generation SDK support instead. Taken together, the leaker sees all of these backend moves as part of a broader shift toward the PlayStation 6 and its handheld counterpart. He also claims that both systems were designed from the start to be cheaper to manufacture than the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro.

Because cooling and power delivery could reportedly be much cheaper, he expects the base PlayStation 6 to launch below the price of the PlayStation 5 Pro. He goes even further by suggesting that if Sony releases a home SKU built around the handheld’s APU, that model could come in below even the base PlayStation 5. For now, though, all of this remains leak-based speculation rather than official Sony confirmation, even if the developer-side changes are giving the leaker plenty of material to build his case.

Source: WCCFTech