PS5 Variable CPU Frequency Offers More Flexibility, Opines Dev

Both the PS5 and the Xbox Series are making some impressive improvements over their predecessors from a hardware perspective – as they should – that have quite a few developers more than a little excited about their potential, and what they will be empowered to do with their games in the coming years.

The Moonwalls’ Marcin Makaj – developer of the upcoming adventure thriller Commander ’85 – is similarly optimistic about the two upcoming consoles, and spoke to us about this briefly during a recent interview. After clarifying that he doesn’t yet have access to next-gen development kits and that his opinions are based on his “knowledge from presentations and the internet,” when asked about the difference between the processors implemented in the PS5 and the Xbox Series X – with the former using a variable frequency, as opposed to the latter – Makaj said that though the PS5’s approach is more flexible, he doesn’t see much of a difference between the two.

“Both of them are a good step forward in CPU performance,” he said. “The Simultaneous Multi-Threading can make a big difference – an increase in performance is always a desirable thing, but besides the difference in PlayStation 5’s more flexible approach, I honestly don’t see a clear winner here.”

Makaj also spoke with us about the GPUs of both the consoles, and the difference in clock speeds for both (12 teraflops for the Xbox Series X to the PS5’s 10.28), stating that based on his experience developing for the PS4 and the Xbox One, where he found the former to be easier to develop for, he expects the PS5 to once again be more developer-friendly.

“According to my experience in developing games for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, usually I got better performance results on PlayStation 4, and I think it will stay the same for the next-gen consoles,” he said. “Having more power is always a great thing, as it opens new possibilities in terms of graphical quality.”

The Moonwalls’ Commander ’85 is due out for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC at an as-of-yet undetermined date. Our full interview with Makaj will be going live soon, so stay tuned for that.