We’ve spoken about the PS5 reaching 100 million units shipped worldwide, even as Sony prepares to bring a new generation of its iconic console to the table in the near future. The company has even confirmed that development of the new console is moving along at a steady pace, with significant progress expected over the next fiscal year.
That doesn’t lock in a release date, though, and with a very healthy 127 million active users, and quarterly PS4/PS5 games reaching 88.2 million, we can’t help but wonder what the PS6 is going to have to do if we’re to be convinced to upgrade to a pricier machine instead of just running with the solid one we already have.
The PS5’s success, then, does give Sony a huge potential audience to carry it into a new generation of consoles, but it’s got to give all those players reasons that are convincing enough to justify an upgrade. What could those features look like? What would games for the PS6 need to do to ensure players have enough FOMO to make the transition?
We’ve thought long and hard about these questions. Here’s what we’ve got to say.
A Generation Of Great Games
Let’s begin by taking stock of what the PS5 has managed over the time it’s been in play. Has the current-gen console managed to deliver enough experiences to define a rather significant generation for Sony and the PlayStation brand?
Let’s look at a few exclusive titles for the console. Astro’s Playroom immediately comes to mind thanks to how it came preloaded with our shiny new unit, and it did a great job of dazzling us with its next-gen visuals while the gameplay made excellent use of what the DualSense was capable of. As a sort of introduction to the console’s best features, this one certainly deserves time in the spotlight, and that’s without factoring in Astro Bot.
That one was quite a hit, and for good reason. It was Sony’s way of looking back at a long history in the gaming space, with nostalgia and an entertaining gameplay loop blending very well to make for an experience that made full use of the PS5’s considerable capabilities.
Returnal and Saros were impressive additions to that lineup of exclusives, each bringing a very good implementation of improved visuals, better framerates, ray tracing, and a gameplay loop that certainly had us hooked from the very beginning of each experience. They’re both marks of how innovative ideas could be brought to life on Sony’s hardware with a level of quality that stood out.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine were obvious heavy hitters with a lot of mass appeal behind them, each of them using the PS5’s tech to present very immersive and engaging worlds, great stories courtesy of Insomniac, and addictive combat loops that worked very well to allow us to indulge our superhero fantasies.
Horizon Forbidden West is among our favorites, given how it raised the bar for Aloy’s story while setting up a sequel that should be very interesting to see, thanks to the game being very likely to make its debut on the PS6 (more on that in a bit).
Each of these games has one common thread between them: they made good use of the PS5 to bring us experiences that continue to stay with us long after we’ve rolled the credits on them. It’s easy to forget that gaming is ultimately about the memories you create with your choice of platform, and the PS5 has given us that in spades.
That brings us to our examination of what it still has to offer in what could potentially be its final year at the top of Sony’s food chain.
Entertaining Across Generations
Sony talking about healthy PS4/PS5 game sales is a detail we’d like to look into next, as it’s evidence that a current-gen console can exist alongside a new one. It’s already been done, and the pandemic certainly helped the PS4 gain an extended lease on its lifespan.
And while Sony has acknowledged a slowdown in hardware sales, we don’t think that’s a bad thing in and of itself, considering that the PlayStation platform itself is seeing steady growth. It’s just a sign of a console generation that has reached maturity, and we’re not discounting the possibility that there are gamers who want to wait and see what the PS6 is bringing before they decide whether to go next-gen or not.
Either way, it would make sense for Sony to sustain the PS5 just as it did for the PS4, with the console still being able to run new games, but with obvious differences in what’s on offer in comparison to the PS6. It’s an approach that worked quite well to keep us all happy and playing the latest games, with some compromises on older consoles.
With that being said, we’re also cognizant of the fact that the PS5 was certainly an upgrade from the PS4, and the decision to upgrade felt like a no-brainer at the time, thanks to 60 fps and ray tracing making such a huge difference to how games looked and felt. Yes, being forced to choose between visual fidelity and performance was an annoyance, but the PS5 Pro has done well to alleviate that frustration as a mid-gen upgrade for those who wanted it.
There’s also the addition of QSSR and PSSR to the PS5 and PS5 Pro, respectively, which has introduced upscaling into the mix. We’ve spoken about how that could be a major distinction between the PS6 and Project Helix before, and we think it could be quite the differentiator between the PS5 and its younger sibling whenever that one makes its way to the shelves of stores.
But will whatever the PS6 brings to the fray manage to justify a price tag that’s likely to be hefty? Is upscaling going to be enough of a differentiator, especially when the PS5 has brought the technology to its own offering? We’d say no, and the new console must also bring more ambitious simulations, increasingly interactive environments, better performance, and, last but not least, games that make good use of all those bells and whistles to make the PS6 an attractive if expensive option to consider.
Sony’s proven track record is a factor, but we believe it’s going to have to earn its keep this time around, given how the PS5 continues to be a very solid offering in a market that’s increasingly price-conscious in a world where manufacturers are forced to pass on the higher cost of components onto potential buyers.
The PS6 needs to change the way we play just as well as the PS5 managed to achieve at the beginning of its life cycle, and do it in such a way that makes its price tag feel like we’re paying a premium for an upgrade that makes sense to us. The transition is certainly a fine line for Sony to walk, but it isn’t too hard to be cautiously optimistic about the PS6’s chances when it finally steps into the light.
The games themselves are going to play their part in its success, and developers are going to have to create experiences that work well with older hardware while doing enough to make playing them on a new machine worth it. Once again, though, Sony’s lineup of first-party studios is more than capable of achieving that, but we’d still advise waiting to see if they can do enough to justify an upgrade.
The Creation and Communication Of Value
We don’t think an expensive console is going to be written off just because of its price, and with the PlayStation brand being as strong as it’s been over the last six to seven years, the PS6 is going to enter a very competitive space backed by a lot of goodwill from the gaming community.
But we’re all quite aware of how fickle fame can be. We certainly want to play whatever exclusives come up. The sequel to Forbidden West is a great example, thanks to the cliffhanger that was set up and the potential to create a new take on Aloy’s world that could potentially be the best one yet.
Apply that sentiment across all of Sony’s first-party exclusives, and it’s easy to see why a lot of us aren’t even going to hesitate before picking up a shiny new console. But there are some of us who might be considering sticking with our existing machines until the PS6 Pro eventually comes along.
The PS6’s feature list, spec sheet, price tag, and potential exclusive offerings are all factors that Sony must already be looking to balance out in a way that makes its new offering one we can’t refuse when it comes along. But can the PlayStation brand afford to leave some of us who’d like to wait behind?
We think not. It isn’t going to be as easy to justify the PS6 as it was with the PS5, but if anyone can pull it off in a way that creates value across the new console’s supply chain, Sony is certainly among the brands we’d say is capable of achieving the feat.
There’s still a long time to go before we learn if everything we’ve said turns out to be an accurate summation of its potential. But we’re quite eager to see how the next generation of PlayStation charts a course into the future of gaming for both Sony and for us.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
