Sony’s next console, presumably the PlayStation 6, is confirmed to be “a few years time” away, according to Mark Cerny, the lead architect for the PS5 and PS5 Pro. In a joint YouTube video, Cerny and Jack Huynh, SVP and GM of AMD’s computing and graphics group, revealed co-developed advancements in graphics technology that will power the future console generation. The executives cautioned, however, that these technologies are still in their “very early days” and “only exist in simulation right now.”
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The core of the partnership focuses on dramatically simplifying how future GPUs handle high-intensity graphics tasks like upscaling, ray tracing, and the super-realistic path tracing techniques. Cerny stated that the “current approach has reached its limit.”
To address this, Sony and AMD are integrating components of AMD’s next-generation RDNA architecture. Huynh introduced Radiance Cores, which are dedicated hardware accelerators (theoretically similar to Nvidia’s RT Cores) specifically designed to handle ray tracing and path tracing.
These Radiance Cores will deliver a significant speed boost to performance, effectively freeing up other GPU components to quickly process shaders and textures. The GPU technology is also expected to benefit from new AI-assisted upscaling technology, such as Neural Radiance Caching, which will likely be incorporated into the next iteration of AMD’s FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) framework.
Another key area of improvement is compression, which is essential for increasing the available bandwidth needed to run future games at peak fidelity.
Sony is moving beyond the Delta Color Compression technique used in the PS5 and PS5 Pro. Its next hardware will utilize a more efficient technique called Universal Compression that compresses everything in the pipeline. Huynh claims this innovation will enable the GPU to deliver “more detail, higher frame rates, and greater efficiency.” This increased compression efficiency should also allow the GPU to run more effectively in low-power modes.
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These improvements in stress reduction and power efficiency have clear implications beyond the PS6. The advancements could directly benefit the rumoured next-generation PlayStation handheld console allegedly in development.
The work by Sony and AMD to reduce the computational burden on GPUs could be applied to any form factor. By reducing power consumption without sacrificing performance, these new techniques provide the key ingredients necessary to run graphically demanding games on a portable device, building on the efficiency strides Sony already made with the PS5’s Power Saver mode.
This proactive reveal by Sony demonstrates its commitment to ensuring the GPUs in its upcoming devices—whether the PS6 or a new handheld—are as capable as possible for the next era of gaming.
