If you’re looking to upgrade your gaming console and you already have a PS5 or Xbox Series X, you may not be able to find one that exceeds current standards in the coming months or years. Instead, it’s more likely the biggest upgrades or changes will be related to the games themselves, while hardware progression becomes somewhat stagnant.
That’s according to Shawn Layden, former chairman of PlayStation Worldwide Studios. “The leap from PS1 to PS2 was dramatic,” Layden said in an interview with Eurogamer. “You’re not going to see another PS1 to PS2 jump in performance—we have sort of maxed out there.”
Layden calls the PS5 a “fantastic piece of kit, but the actual difference in performance… we’re getting to the realm, frankly, where only dogs can hear the difference now.” Going forward, he doesn’t believes consoles will make big technological leaps at all.
“I mean, what would that leap look like? It would be perfectly realized human actors in a game that you completely control. That could happen one day. I don’t think it’s going to happen in my lifetime,” Layden said, adding: “We’re at a point now where the innovation curve on the hardware is starting to plateau, or top out. At the same time, the commoditization of the silicon means that when you open up an Xbox or PlayStation, it’s really pretty much the same chipset. It’s all built by AMD.”
Instead of encouraging gamers to buy new hardware by flaunting major advancements, it’s more likely Sony will continue to keep its games exclusive to its devices to keep fans loyal. While Microsoft has put some of its games on PlayStation, Layden doesn’t see a reason why Sony would do the same in return.
Last month, Sony decided to unlock its existing PlayStation Portal handheld a bit by letting gamers who don’t own a PS5 use the device by logging in with their PlayStation Plus subscriptions. This move certainly makes PlayStation-only games more accessible to more people, but the device itself didn’t impress us all that much when it came out last year.
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Rumors also surfaced last month that Sony might make a new handheld, but don’t necessarily expect any industry-breaking tech with the release. One of the main appeals of the new device supposedly in development is that it could enable cellular data connections so you can finally take your PS5 games out of your house and onto your commute or vacation. That may or may not excite PlayStation fans.
“The real competition will be on its content,” Layden said. “And content should be the competition for publishers, not which hardware you get behind. I think we’re at a point where the console becomes irrelevant in the next… if not the next generation then the next next generation definitely.”
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About Kate Irwin
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