PlayStation 6: Sony reportedly chooses AMD chip to keep older games playable

In a major win for people who like playing older games, Sony ’s forthcoming PlayStation 6 console will reportedly feature an AMD chip that will allow it to run previous titles.

AMD is believed to have clinched the coveted contract to supply the processor for the upcoming PS6, beating out chip titans Intel and TSMC in a fiercely contested bidding war, Reuters reports.

PS6 release date

The revelation is the latest tidbit on the highly-anticipated new console, which is believed to be in active development. Sony expects to launch the next-generation hardware in 2028 at the earliest, according to court documents from the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition case.

The Japanese firm released the PS4 and the PS5 in 2013 and 2020, respectively. The eight-year gap between the PS5 and PS6 would be the biggest one between Sony’s console generations.

Will the PS6 be backwards compatible?

AMD won the contract over its rivals after lengthy negotiations, partly due to Sony’s concerns about maintaining backwards compatibility with older PlayStation games. The decision was reportedly made in 2022.

AMD’s partnership with Sony began with the PlayStation 4 and continued with the PlayStation 5 . Transitioning away from its chips would have been costly and taken up more engineering resources. More importantly, it could have come at the expense of offering older games, a feature that many players have come to expect from newer consoles.

Barring the PS4, all of Sony’s consoles since the PS1 have offered some form of native backwards compatibility. This was achieved through a combination of hardware and software emulation.

The PS5, for instance, is able to play the vast majority of the PS4 library. Although it does not run PS3, PS2, or PS1 games, PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers can access a curated selection of classic games from previous generations by either streaming or downloading them.

A PS6 that can harness the full range of PlayStation’s back catalogue would be a gamer’s dream.

PS6 price

While there’s no official information on the PS6 yet, there is speculation that it could follow a divisive trend set by Sony’s latest console upgrade. Announced last week, the more powerful PS5 Pro costs £700 and can only play digital games out of the box. The latest version of Microsoft’s top-of-the-range Xbox Series X also costs £550.

Given this pattern, it’s possible that gamers could be facing a future where next-gen consoles cost £700 or more. On the plus side, they should still be far cheaper than a gaming PC with similar specs.

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