The next console on our most-wanted list is the next Nintendo Switch. But 2024 could also bring a PlayStation 5 Pro, with new tech that will let developers push frame rates and visual fidelity.
Long-standing game journalist Jeff Grubb has claimed the PS5 Pro is incoming on the Game Mess podcast, which is available to view on YouTube.
“That PS5 Pro leak is almost certainly real, based on what I’ve heard,” Grubb said.
When is the PS5 Pro out?
This rumour suggests the updated PS5 may be announced soon as September 2024, less than a year after the UK launch of the PS5 Slim on November 29. And around four years after the original PlayStation 5.
What will the PlayStation 5 Pro offer?
Some proposed specs were leaked earlier in December, including a next-generation AMD RDNA 3 graphics chipset.
However, the most interesting stuff is found in a recent patent filing.
It suggests Sony is working on a proprietary alternative to Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology. This lets a game developer render graphics at a lower resolution, and upscale them to a much higher one. It allows for prettier graphics effects at higher frame rates.
DLSS uses previous frames of image data to often make the picture look as sharp as, or at times even better than, visuals natively rendered at the higher resolution.
This could be a major boon for market leader Sony, if Microsoft does not have a comparable feature in the works.
The usual patent caveat applies: just because a technology is patented, it does not mean a company is seriously considering applying it to a real-world product.
Current consoles, including the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, do support and use upscaling technologies already. But having a potentially superior solution in this area is notable.
AMD has said it is working with Microsoft on optimising its FSR 3 upscaling on Xbox consoles. This includes frame generation tech, where entire images are constructed on-the-fly.
As part of Microsoft’s legal fight with the US’s Federal Trade Commission, we got a glimpse of a cylindrical Xbox console in September. However, this was an All-Digital console, a refresh of the Xbox Series X with no significant boost to its performance.
