This week, Sony finally unveiled the PS5’s full specs. On top of this, it also revealed new details on the console’s backward compatibility support. That said, like the reveal itself, much of the talk post information dump has been about the console’s advanced and custom SSD, which according to one developer, is a big reason why it’s one of the most revolutionary consoles ever designed. And it’s warranted. The PS5’s SSD is a game changer, and according to Sony‘s Mark Cerny, one of the many benefits of it will be drastically smaller patch install times.
Many seem to miss this point, but during the presentation, Cerny, the console’s lead architect, promised that patch install times will be greatly reduced. According to the tech wizard, there will be “no need to make brand new files with the changes incorporated into them.” This means patch installs will be a breeze compared to what they are now, or, as Cerny puts it, this means “no installs as you know them today.”
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Not only will the SSD mean downloading patches will be quicker, but patch sizes themselves should be, theoretically, much smaller. Why? Because there will be far less data replication being used. The SSD will allow for such fast in-game streaming that developers won’t need to fall back to classic data replication methods, which result in these huge installs you’ve been seeing.
Of course, for now, this is nothing more than a promise. In other words, don’t take Cerny’s word to the bank just quite yet, but if there’s someone who knows what the PS5 is capable of, it’s him.
The PlayStation 5 is set to release worldwide sometime later this year. At the moment of publishing, there’s still plenty we don’t know about the console, but we do have a growing list of confirmed games.
Meanwhile, for more news, media, rumors, and leaks on all things PS5, be sure to take a second and peruse all of our past and recent coverage of the console — and everything related to it — by clicking right here. In the most recent and related news, it looks like the console won’t have backward compatibility support with PS3, PS2, and PS1.
