PlayStation 5 Has the Potential to Kill the PC Gaming Industry
Sony's PlayStation 5 is expected to be more powerful than some of the graphics cards currently on offer and could make PC gaming obsolete. | Source: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP
By CCN.com: Sony is expected to pack the PlayStation 5 with high-end specs, but the latest leak indicates that the Japanese giant is going to hit it out of the park. HotHardware reports that one of PS5’s engineering samples that’s being tested reportedly runs at a graphics card clock speed of 2 GHz, according to well-known hardware information provider Komachi.
https://twitter.com/KOMACHI_ENSAKA/status/1160962528760832011
If this is true, the PlayStation 5 could turn the gaming PC into a relic of the past.
PlayStation 5 is faster than some graphics cards
The PlayStation 5’s 2 GHz GPU (graphics processing unit) clock speed means that it packs an impressive compute speed of 9.2 teraflops based on the RDNA architecture, according to Twitter user Is A Parrot. A teraflop refers to the computing power of a processor based on its mathematical capability. So a higher number means that the processor is capable of handling more calculations every second.
HotHardware adds that NVIDIA’s RTX 2070 and RTX 2080 graphics cards are capable of hitting 9.2 teraflops and 10.1 teraflops, respectively. The PlayStation 5’s test samples indicate that it is faster than AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT graphics cards as well.
So the PS5 could be faster than some of the mainstream graphics cards that users buy to power their gaming PCs. That could be a problem for the traditional PC gaming industry, as the PlayStation 5’s combination of hardware and pricing could accelerate the shift in preference toward console gaming.
The PS5 can deliver a telling blow to the PC gaming industry
NVIDIA’s website lists the RTX 2080 for $799, while the RTX 2070 goes for $599. Sony hasn’t revealed its pricing strategy for the PlayStation 5 just yet, though there are wild suggestions that it could be sold for $800 or even $1,000.
The PS4 was launched at a price of $399 after Sony learned a hard lesson by pricing the PS3 at a bewildering $599 back in 2006. So Sony can be expected to price the PS5 at a price that’s not much higher than the current generation.
This is why gamers could buy consoles instead of gaming PCs, which could run into thousands of dollars based on specs and costly graphics cards. Assuming that Sony launches the PlayStation 5 at the price of an RTX 2070 and equips the console with 4K graphics and a solid-state drive for faster load times, it would be easier for users to simply save themselves the pain and cost of building a PC.
What’s more, the PS4 already has keyboard and mouse support , and it won’t be surprising to see the functionality make its way into PlayStation 5.
Newzoo reports that console gaming is already growing at triple the rate of PC gaming. The trend could continue with Sony’s next-generation console thanks to its powerful specs and cutting-edge pricing when compared to graphics cards.
