One of the biggest technological advancements of the PlayStation 5 is drawing the attention of developers and fans alike. One such game maker, who just happens to be the co-creator of the original Halo and the upcoming shooter Disintegration, has even said the hardware’s solid-state technology “will make a huge difference.” Former Bungie art director and Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto spoke to VideoGameChronicle about his studio’s upcoming game and the ways that solid-state technology will affect the development process going forward.
A metric ton of new details came out in regards to the PS5’s internal architecture thanks to Mark Cerny’s streamed GDC talk that aired last month. Cerny spoke of the hardware’s potential and gave examples, such as the PS4’s HDD taking approximately 20 seconds to load 1GB of data, whereas the SSD for the PS5 will allow 2GB to load in 0.27 seconds. It was also noted that the PlayStation 5 will host 825GB of internal storage on a solid-state drive.
And despite the PS5 and Xbox Series X both having these high-powered, custom SSDs, the PlayStation’s is reportedly double that of the Series X in regards to raw throughput based on its particular custom architecture and design. VGC questioned Lehto on this power jump, saying that he’s excited about the prospect of that much raw power. “It will make a huge difference and open up the door for more expansive content that can stream a lot faster. Players won’t be waiting on load screens and we won’t have to hide loading behind cinematics and that kind of thing.”
The jump in hardware power highlights just how long the most recent console cycle has been and the number of leaps in progress made in that time. “These platforms have been around for what, seven years? Developing for them is like developing for machinery in the stone age,” said Lehto.
Of course, a lot of this is the type of conjecture that consumers are used to hearing before the hardware even comes close to being in the hands of fans. It seems like only yesterday that outlets talked about the PlayStation 2’s emotion engine allowing your console to talk to your kitchen or control military missiles. Well, that second one is definitely true, but all the same, there’s a lot of hyperbole in talking up new hardware. Only time–and a PS5 release date–will truly tell if the power is a major jump or just more talk.
