A new update for Bluepoint’s 2020 remake of FromSoftware’s seminal classic Demon’s Souls has added a power saving mode. This is something that Sony announced back in July as an effort to work towards its net-zero targets, but some are speculating that it could have a secondary motive – one that hints towards Sony’s future hardware ambitions.
This IS the latest piece in the puzzle of rumours about a potential handheld console, and alongside some recent remarks made by those at PlayStation, a picture of what the PS6 might look like is beginning to take shape.
Demon’s Soul Update
Previous rumours around the PlayStation 6 have focused around the idea that it will feature a hybrid home/handheld design in a similar vein to the Nintendo Switch. As with all rumours, the details vary, with some saying that the most powerful version might not be handheld but with less powerful versions (in a similar model to the Xbox Series X/S approach) sacrificing power to gain handheld versatility.
This is why the update for Demon’s Souls might be more than it appears to be. If Demon’s Souls (and other games afterwards) can be equipped with a lower power mode that could enable it to run at 30fps instead of 60, then it could be easily played on these less powerful models right away when they’re in the hands of the consumer.
What Will the PS6 Look Like?
While speculation about future consoles is an inevitable part of gaming discourse, Mark Cerny – PlayStation’s lead console designer on previous devices – has recently “confirmed” the existence of this future hardware for the first time.
On the one hand, there’s almost no need to confirm the existence of these future consoles when they feel like an inevitability, but at the same time, such a confirmation seems to hint that its ultimate reveal might not be too far in the future.
In a video posted on the PlayStation YouTube channel, Mark Cerny states: “Overall, it’s of course still very early days for these technologies, they only exist in simulation right now. But the results are quite promising and I’m really excited about bringing them to a future console in a few years’ time.”
The technology in question was in relation to Sony’s collaboration with AMD – Project Amethyst – which itself was focused around the role of machine learning in graphical improvement.
The standard lifespan of a console is around seven years, and with the PS5 releasing in 2020, it makes sense that you could expect to see the next iteration around 2027. However, this has recently gone from speculation to something perhaps more concrete, as the leaker Moore’s Law is Dead has spoken about Sony’s plans to begin manufacturing the PlayStation 6 in 2027.
Again, this is still just a rumour, but alongside the other rumours and even official remarks, it does paint a picture of the leadup to the next console generation taking place sooner than many might expect.
