This console generation has passed by in what feels like no time at all. We were still stuck in the haze of the pandemic when the PS5 and Xbox Series X arrived on the scene at the tail end of 2020, and ever since, it feels like our perception of time hasn’t quite recovered.
It isn’t helped that video games have long left this concept of traditional console generations behind as pure exclusives are abandoned in favour of multi-platform releases, while so many games can now be streamed or accessed on a variety of different services and devices. You also need to consider the current state of triple-A development and how the sort of big hitters we’d expect to be playing every few years back in the PS3 era now only come about once a decade, leaving remasters, ports, and live-service titles to pick up the slack.
PS6 Is Going To Be Here Before We Know It
By the end of this year we will be five years removed from the original launch of the PS5, and I’d argue we still don’t have the games to justify its existence. So where do we go from here, and should we already be excited about what the PS6 might have to offer?
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier recently claimed on ResetEra that neither The Witcher 4 from CD Projekt Red or Naughty Dog’s upcoming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will be launching next year, meaning the earliest we might see them is in 2027. This isn’t surprising. We’ve only seen a highly polished cinematic teaser from each game without a single piece of gameplay, and chances are they were intended as high-profile marketing events alongside ways to attract top talent to come and work on the projects. Assuming they were just one year away from release is foolish, no matter how excited we might be for them.
There’s a possibility that I’m frightened about the PS6 because, as I get older, the passage of time marches on faster and faster. But I also don’t want to spend $700 on it.
That being said, both games are definitely going to be cross-generation experiences, albeit with prettier visuals and improved performance on the PS6 version. Once again, this is an unfortunate reality of the medium in modern times that games cost so much and take so long to make, that releasing a high-profile game like this onto a single platform and hoping it will break even is impossible. You need to spread things as far and wide as possible.
Live-service behemoths like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Roblox are going to call every new console home no matter what. That’s just how they operate. But things are different with titles like Intergalactic and The Witcher 4, both of which will inevitably be held as torch-bearers for the next console generation and face unrealistic expectations in a landscape where visual realism has long reached a plateau.
It’s all the above iterative boosts to graphics and performance that mainstream players might not even notice, especially if it concerns features like PSSR or AI-upscaling that you want to make as easy to understand as possible. But when the PS6 does roll around with all the extra bells and whistles, will your average joe feel compelled enough to buy it, or will they still feel like their PS5 does the job?
But Sony’s Next Console Is Going To Have So Much More To Prove
When a new console used to break cover back in the day, the proof was in the pudding. You could look at a new trailer or new game and know within just a few seconds that this was the next big thing. There would be experiences to be had on this new console that couldn’t be found anywhere else, and you would be sincerely missing out if you didn’t take the plunge. But for almost a decade now, that hasn’t been true.
This whole conversation isn’t dissimilar to the arguments made about the PS5 Pro and how, despite being the most powerful console on the market today and providing a superior time with the games you play on it, it’s ultimately not something the majority of people want or need.
Even now, thanks to a deluge of PC ports and an inconsistent release schedule, I can count the number of worthwhile PS5 exclusives on one hand, and depending on your tastes, you might have fingers left over. Even when you put lifestyle games aside, designed to absorb every single piece of free time its players have, the state of things is still awful.
The triple-A scene has been diluted down to a handful of big releases each year, while double-A games barely exist at all, stifling creativity and innovation as bigger budgets and more time are put into games that are too big to fail. PS6 isn’t going to change that. It feels destined to continue the status quo unless Sony learns the right lessons and strives to take risks or try something new. I struggle to recommend a PS5 to everyone almost half a decade after its release, so how can I have this same conversation about the PS6 next year?
The Witcher 4 and Intergalactic will both likely be great games, and I’m eager to see them on a shiny new console in a couple of years. But do they truly need a new generation of very expensive and arguably inaccessible hardware in order to exist? I don’t think so, and it reminds me just how grim and unsustainable game development and consumer habits have become. PS6 is going to be fighting an uphill battle, and it’s scary to think that it’s only two short years away.
$450 $500 Save
$50
- Brand
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Sony
- Storage
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825 GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
- Resolution
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Max 8K (4k at 120 Hz playable)