With the PlayStation 5 Halfway Through Its Life Cycle, Will the Next-Gen See Sony Opt for a Cloud-Streaming Device?

The PlayStation 5 launched back in 2020, and it was an instant hit. While the console was initially plagued with supply issues, Sony eventually pushed through that too. The weird thing is that for two years of its life cycle, this console mostly depended on cross-platform titles. Only in 2023 did fans start seeing a steady supply of games that took full advantage of its power. And this was almost at the halfway point of its life cycle.

Usually, a video game console’s life cycle is around eight years. PlayStation 5 very recently crossed it is third and entered its fourth. So the question arises: what’s next for this console and what’s next for the PlayStation brand as a whole?

Sony seems to have some big plans in mind for the PlayStation 5 and future generations.

The PlayStation 5 might be three years old, but sales keep on rising. This success can be credited to exclusives like God of War: Ragnarok and Spider-Man 2. Both of these games are two of the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation titles of all time. And in the coming years, things will only get better with new games like Silent Hill 2 Remake and Wolverine approaching.

It looks like PlayStation 5 will reach its peak during its fourth year. But a lot more would happen during this fourth year. For one, Insider Gaming suggests that Sony’s Project Cronos would finally take shape. It is a new cloud-based system specifically designed to take advantage of the PS5’s faster SSD. It would run on a completely redesigned storage solution based on PCIe, which leverages NTB and the PS5 I/O co-processors.

This would make download speeds better, and online speed would improve tenfold. But one thing that would get an insane boost would be cloud streaming. Sony is also setting up around 28 data centers to allow for a better PS5 cloud stream. This simply points to the fact that Sony would welcome its next generation with an expertly laid out cloud streaming environment.

This is indeed a great initiative, and it surely would help them gain a bunch of new consumers. But it has to be seen if the PS6 would just be an online-only console or if it would just give gamers the option to choose from both physical media and the cloud and download only titles.

An online-only future can be a hit-or-miss thing for any platform holder.

While cloud streaming sounds like an interesting and attractive prospect, it can be pretty hit-or-miss. This kind of service requires gamers to always be online, and that’s not always possible. Sometimes people are out of connection range, sometimes Internet providers come across issues, and sometimes the Internet gets disconnected. For such times, an offline option needs to exist.

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Maybe Sony has a plan for that too. It would have to be seen, though, as for now, gamers who prefer playing games offline can relax and enjoy what they have. Microsoft has similar plans in mind, while they have a cloud streaming service available, they have consoles for offline play. Let us see what direction Sony goes in.

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