@NavalHistorian It's kind of both: the CPU handles everything that happens on and off screen, but from a logic standpoint. Imagine you close your eyes and an agent from the game's Matrix starts narrating everything that's happening at any given moment. This is the CPU. Now, imagine that there's another agent that listens to that description and simply paints the frames without really thinking about the logic. That's the GPU.

If the CPU agent can't describe the action quickly enough for the GPU agent to render it, then it doesn't matter how fast the GPU is. You're CPU-bound.

And to answer your second question, the reason Sony opted for a rather small performance bump on the Pro's CPU side is probably a mix of compatibility/stability/reliability and cost. I mean, they could have moved to a better manufacturing process node and got a bigger frequency bump, but that would have made the console much more expensive. Or they could have moved to a newer architecture, which would dramatically increase R&D costs and ultimately raise the price as well, while posing compatibility risks with existing games.

You see, the GPU is way easier to scale, which explains why Sony (and Microsoft) opted for proportionally beefier GPU bumps for the PS4 Pro, the Xbox One X and the PS5 Pro.

"I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who would have happily taken a graphical hit to have GTA 6 run at 60fps. I might be one of them!"

It's not a graphics issue. It's a simulation issue. The game has been designed around the PS5's CPU, and there's no graphical compromise that would make 60 fps possible. Or even 40, for that matter.

GTA VI apparently has no performance headroom. It's probably optimized to the bones. That's why it looks like nothing we've seen before (both visuals and gameplay).

• On 30 fps, frame time is 33 ms.
• On 40 fps, it's 25 ms.

The Pro CPU is clocked 10% faster than base. If there's no headroom, you simply won't sustain 40 fps. Remember:

• CPU: world simulation and logic.
• GPU: rendering.

@nessisonett Technically, "gen AI" describes AI systems capable of producing new content based on patterns learned during training. That content can take many forms:

• Text and natural language.
• Computer code.
• Images and illustrations.
• etc.

What you call (modern) "AI assisted debugging" is as "gen AI" as generating art assets. The underlying technology may differ (LLMs, Diffusion models, etc.), but most AI models these days are multimodal in nature, combining multiple technologies to achieve the desired results.

You could refine that distinction and say you're against using AI to generate content trained on protected IP. But even then, you'd be in muddy waters somewhat, because source code is as copyrighted as art.

@atthegates I'm afraid you don't understand why consoles are always cheaper than PCs.

Firstly, they're machines architected from the outset to be good at one thing only: living-room gaming. Sony can afford to invest millions in R&D to design custom components, and arrange them in a hyper optimized way. The same goes for the OS and SDK.

So, in a like-for-like scenario, a game will usually perform better on a console when compared to an equivalent PC.

But it doesn't stop there. Economies of scale also play a massive role in guaranteeing consoles are cheaper. Sony sources components in bulk, by the millions, and naturally gets a lower price.

And finally, Sony doesn't need to make a profit on console sales, because the lion's share of PlayStation's revenue comes from the content and services line (games, PS+). Yes, the subsidization days may be behind us, but not making a profit is enough to guarantee PCs will always be substantially pricier. The Steam Machine is an emblematic example.

It's pretty basic business logic, and it all points to the gap in prices between consoles and PCs to only get larger.

@asdfghjklz Wait, what?? You got it all wrong. I listed the advantages of consoles over PCs. You sound like you're disagreeing with me while fully agreeing with everything I said lol.

@atthegates You're missing the point. I meant "cost comparatively to a PC", which was your original question.

The ramageddon will only widen that gap.

@atthegates "What are the advantages of owning a ps6 over a pc now?"

• Exclusive games.
• Convenience.
• Ease of use.
• Cost.
• Games optimization (fixed platform).
• PS Plus (games catalog).

Off the top of my head. Not limited to.

The sheer volume of major releases in this year's September and October is not just because of GTA VI. Even without it, 2026 would have been an outlier.

Considering big games usually take 4 to 6 years from conception to release, this is still the result of covid overinvestment.

We're still going to see a lot of rightsizing, and the releases cadence should decelerate sharply in the next few years.

@WaveWitch I agree in part. VR hasn't taken off as a mainstream proposition, and I can see why. It's not just form factor or technical specs. It's friction, comfort but, mostly, the abstraction model.

Sitting on a couch in front of a TV while controlling a character on screen is a tried-and-true abstraction model that just works. VR is awesome, but it raises a number of abstraction issues that haven't been fully addressed yet. You're supposed to embody the game character but, to this day, it feels janky and disconnected. And motion sickness is a symptom of that. "Grow your VR legs" is not something most people are willing to do.

Driving in VR with a racing rig is the closest one can get to that 1-to-1 abstraction promise. Add a motion simulator, and you might get to the wholly grail. But again, not mainstream at all.

I'm not saying VR is dead. VR gaming is dead as a mainstream proposition, but VR will live on in many ways: in gaming, as a niche market; in corporations, as an invaluable tool in certain scenarios; and, maybe, as a primary way to interact with digital content, as Meta VR Glasses seem to bet on. I still believe in that use case, but it's impossible to predict when it will catch on.

@Boxmonkey There's a massive disconnect between games developers/media and the general audience. Gamergate was the beginning of that realization, but it's much worse now.

It's been a wild ride. PSVR2 is by far the most fun and excitement I've had with gaming since the original PlayStation.

I don't use it all that often these days, but it's priceless to have it at the ready to occasionally play a few races in GT7. It's admittedly something you have to be in the mood for but, when it hits, it's the best experience in home entertainment one can have, provided you pair it with a decent racing rig.

Nothing comes even close.

@wilky Yes, everyone is still figuring this thing out in real time. It will be years before it settles down.

And you're right: there are many facets of human labor that are not easily replaced by AI. What people seem to miss is that, at the end of the day, AI is much more of an add-on than a replacement.

Sure, many tasks that are done by people today will be done by AI. But jobs won't disappear, they'll morph. What I try to alert people to is that the blind anti-AI attitude is a shot in the foot.

It's not that AI is coming for your job. It's AI-literate people that are.

@wilky If you're as good as you say you are, you'll not be replaced by AI. In fact, you'll be unstoppable with AI.

@DennisReynolds Selling well is not the same thing as selling well enough.

@PuppetMaster
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/10/ghost-of-yotei-dev-sucker-punch-hit-with-layoffs-as-leadership-eyes-next-playstation-project

"After carefully observing the challenges in the market..."

@PuppetMaster Ranking in the top 10 is indicative of relative performance. You're missing the point here: Sony has been relying largely on third-party live-service games microtransactions to keep PlayStation afloat. That's why they've invested a fortune trying to create their own.

Traditional games simply don't sell as well as they used to, unfortunately. GTA VI might be the exception that proves the rule but, again, GTA Online will be the true driving force over the long run.

@PuppetMaster "This gen Sony isn't consistent when comes to announcing sales numbers."

Why do you think that is? Because the numbers aren't great.

Notice the pattern: while the PS+ subscribers base was growing, they were pretty consistent with the reporting. Until the numbers began decelerating and they announced they weren't sharing those anymore.

And here's one prediction that will prove the theory: for as consistent as they've been with reporting PS5 console sales, they will not share PS6 sales numbers at some point, maybe even from the start of the generation. They'll pivot to some bs metric like MAU just like Microsoft.

"we don't have a concrete number in terms of unit sales"

And that is a data point in itself. If Sony were happy with the sales, they would have already released the numbers.

I mean, it obviously sold well. But I don't think it sold well enough. Depends on the yardstick.

This "Wolverine is a hit" narrative reeks of corporate propaganda.

"Marvel’s Wolverine Helped PlayStation Claw Big Gains in September"

As many have already pointed out, GTA VI's marketing campaign has probably contributed a lot more to that console sales spike than Wolverine.

A lot more.

@Deadlyblack "How about we just wait until the consoles are fully revealed, specs and all, before we start making comparisons"

Where's the fun in that?

"Sony will go to market with both its PS6 console and accompanying handheld in 2027"

I think a simultaneous launch doesn't make sense. These are quite different products with divergent marketing strategies.

This is nothing like Series X/S, which are power variants of the same product.

Every new tool is abused, but the market corrects itself. AI generated images, for instance, remind me of the "drop shadow" fever of Photoshop's early days.

An "AI filter" will be innocuous in a short while. It's like having a toggle that allows the user to filter games in which the developer used the internet to create.

I'm pretty sure many of the people complaining about the projected PS6 price are the same that say that "it's too early for the PS6".

Well, you got what you wished for, so stop complaining. Your PS5 will be supported for years and years to come.

And us enthusiasts will also get what we want: a substantially more powerful system that will run the same games at better framerates, with better image quality and more features.

@nessisonett "There’s bots under posts about genocide, does that invalidate the actual post?"

Are you saying that the bots commenting under Sony's social media posts don't invalidate the actual post?

@ShogunRok "by fully embracing the "magic" of AI, they can reduce paid jobs to the absolute minimum and deliver maximum profit"

I urge you to look into what happened to radiologists when AI took over that industry. It's one of the earliest examples of mass AI adoption and it's quite revealing.

The language used and the points raised in this article are quite revealing. I thought you guys were out of touch, but this is beyond bubble hivemind.

@ChromaticDracula "this person doesn’t think we can live without AI. Meanwhile the human race has been here for…. :: checks notes :: 300,000 years"

The same goes for electricity, computers, the internet, cars, airplanes, air-conditioners, TVs, fridges...

I could keep going, but I'll assume you've got the point.

@DoubleDip "When the AI slop games start dropping left and right we'll be dreaming of the good times when we could play concord instead."

They already are. You're just not aware.

And I'm not talking about indies.

@get2sammyb Let's not pretend that art as a means of self-expression and commercial art are the same thing. Only the former is truly the "human endeavour of art" as you put it. The second exists primarily to generate revenue and will adopt whatever paths are the cheapest and quickest.

"I’m feeling increasingly confident I won’t want to interact with this in any way".

So prepare to not interact with every game that comes out in a few years time.

We've moved up the ladder of abstraction. Assembly, C++, frameworks, and now AI. It's really no different.

Get used to it.

@get2sammyb "It'd be a huge concern for one of Sony's best studios if this completely bombed no?"

You're totally right. What rubbed people the wrong way is the tone of the article. I can see you were trying to present a balanced and nuanced perspective, but it ended up sounding overly defensive and corporate bootlicking.

@djlard Saying that using AI for work is lazy is as naive as saying that using the internet for communication is lazy. AI slop is no different than Google slop. It's a tool that is as good as you make it.

As a dev, I'm at least ten times more productive with AI. I work about the same amount of time, but I deliver about 10x. Is my output worse for it? I don't think so. In fact, it's much better, because frontier AI is better than 99.99% of programmers out there when it comes to simply writing code. People are better at higher level tasks though, such as deciding what to build and how to architect it.

We've moved up the abstraction ladder, and that is great. There are hobbyists out there still writing assembly code, but that doesn't mean that everyone should.

@nomither6 You misunderstood what I said: I made a point to differentiate "unattractive" and "unappealing". I'm not sexually attracted to Kratos, even though he *looks" appealing to me. He's aspiring from a pure aesthetic perspective.

Again, Faye is neither.

@TDHorizon All valid arguments, but my point was more from the comercial perspective. Most people don't rationalize as deeply as you're doing. They glance at a bland character on the cover and go "meh, next".

@nomither6 I know it may be hard to separate, but I was referring to the way those characters look, which is the focus of the article.

Everything gets politicized and conflated, but being disingenuous never helps.

Sure, there are racists, sexists, whatever. And people do immaturely complain about characters not matching their own sexual preferences.

But there's an important nuance that escapes people that get caught up in the political black hole: there's a big difference between complaining that a character is unattractive and unappealing.

Kratos is not attractive. But he's super appealing. Faye is neither.

Same goes for Intergalactic and even Horizon.

That latter criticism is totally fair and not political at all.

@Nalodart Which goes to show how reality and perception of reality are two different things.

Let's focus our development efforts on our biggest IPs, but also let's strip these IPs of what make them sell.

TLOU
GOW
Uncharted
Just not Horizon, 'cause Aloy is a cultural touchstone.

Brilliant.

@Nalodart You're missing the point. All I'm saying is that there are political warriors on both sides. Yes, it used to be much louder on one side and now it is louder on the other.

Newton's third law of motion.

@Rangers420 And Push Square is usually a very welcoming place when it comes to Sony's first-party. Makes you wonder how this game will be received when it comes out.

You can judge people's taste and opinion all you want, but it won't prevent them from having those opinions and act upon it.

Sony should be very nervous.

@Nalodart "If they released the same trailer with a generic bearded white guy as the lead with the same look and writing and everything the hate wouldn’t be no where near this level."

You sure 'bout that? 'Cause I remember Days Gone getting a lot of hate for having a (bearded) straight white male as the protagonist.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

@Boxmonkey "This is blatant propaganda. Sony have absolutely no problem splashing hundreds of millions on games like concord, marathon, wolverine and many many others."

Because why learn from your mistakes?

@kuu_nousee I was looking forward to play that on the Pro, but I don't see a "Pro enhanced" badge on the PS Store. Any word on that?

It might still benefit from more stable framerates and higher resolutions if it employs dynamic res, but it would be cool to have at least PSSR instead of whatever upscaler they're using there.

"Part of me wonders whether this is all corporate streamlining aimed at some kind of impending sale".

That would explain a lot of the movement around Asha Sharma. It really feels like she was brought in with the mission of selling Xbox.

Now, who would have the will but, mainly, the means to buy it?

"they eliminate used games sales"

That, by itself, overshadows any advantages that physical media might have for devs and publishers. Combined. By far.

@8th_Observer Oh, sweet summer child.

@8th_Observer That explains a lot.

@8th_Observer Yeah, so did Jim Ryan, right?

@8th_Observer I didn't say "devs", I said "people". Halo Studios deserves the axe from top to bottom.

And btw, Phill and Sara did lose their jobs, didn't they? Well deserved, if you ask me.