Skip to main content

The PS5 Pro holds the key to the PS6’s success

The hero of Shadow of the Colossus stands in a temple.
Sony

When the PlayStation 5 Pro was revealed, the big buzzword to come out of the presentation was PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). This was PlayStation’s “secret sauce” intended to sell the $700 upgrade to new customers and existing PS5 owners alike. Similar to AI upscaling seen in technology like DLSS, PSSR allows games rendered at a lower resolution to be upscaled using AI to appear more detailed. For the PS5 Pro, this means removing the need to choose between a performance mode that prioritizes frame rate and a resolution mode that sacrifices frame rate for a clearer picture.

PSSR is the first time any kind of AI upscaling has been used on consoles … and will be key in PlayStation’s success for its true next-generation console.

Recommended Videos

Sidestepping the graphical arms race

With rare exceptions, new game consoles have mainly sold themselves based on providing a graphical leap above its predecessor. This was clear as day going from 8- to 16-bit systems, and perhaps at its peak going from 16-bit to 3D, but has since hit a level of diminishing returns. PS5 games are undeniably better looking than PS4 games of the same scale, but the differences are in the margins.

Spider-Man climbs up a building in Spider-Man 2.
Sony

Despite the gap in graphical fidelity shrinking from generation to generation, the cost to produce them only seems to rise. I don’t pretend to know the ins and outs of game development and budget allocation, but I don’t think it would be too outlandish to suggest that squeezing out as much visual detail and fidelity plays a major role in the exorbitant budgets we’re seeing for AAA releases. It takes a lot of talented artists to craft a world as detailed as the ones in games like Horizon Forbidden West and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. That also forces developers to do a bit of a balancing act in how far they can push the visuals while still getting adequate performance. As much as the hardcore crowd loves to champion higher frame rates, it is much harder to market a game based on how it feels versus how it looks.

PSSR could be a way to ease the pressure on teams to hit that rising bar of visual expectations without compromising FPS and overall performance. We’re already getting a glimpse of that with the PS5 Pro effectively running games in Performance Pro mode and upscaling the game’s visuals to match what it would be in Fidelity Mode. We won’t see the true fruits of this power until it is the baseline with the PlayStation 6, but it demonstrates the potential perfectly. Instead of making compromises on performance and visuals, developers can focus more of their resources on achieving their vision and allow PSSR to “scale” the graphics up to a level that wouldn’t otherwise be technically possible. That would still allow PlayStation to tout its newest console as having the best graphics without putting that strain directly on developers’ shoulders.

There is a limit to how low-detail an image can be and still look good when upscaled, but it significantly reduces one bottleneck from the equation.

The rise in budget and development time go hand in hand. If PSSR is as easy to work with and effective as it promises to be, the hope would be that it could help ease those issues, even if it’s in just one small way. If teams are able to make games a little more efficiently without sacrificing quality, it could be a little step away from the industry’s current state where a single flop can mean the end of a studio.

While that’s all great for developers, players reap just as much benefit from PSSR. Looking at the PS5 Pro as a bit of a beta test, we see how effective it is at artificially boosting image quality. Is it perfect? No, but I don’t believe it has to be. Most of us aren’t going to notice if some foliage in the distance has a touch of artifacting or some shadows look odd in the heat of battle. Plus, being AI, the idea is that PSSR will only get better over time. If that works as I hope, we could even see a generation where games that come out at launch remain on par graphically with games released years later as the technology gets more advanced.

During this generation, we’ve been hearing about how untenable the current AAA development cycle is. Team size, budgets, and development time are approaching the point where selling anything less than multiple millions of copies would be a catastrophic failure. There is no ideal solution to this problem — it’s a systemic issue that comes from corporate greed and the chase for infinite growth — but PSSR could be one small piece that helps ease a crisis.

Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
Quiz: Can you tell the difference between these PS5 and PS5 Pro screenshots?
A PS5 Pro that's floating in front of a gray background. It's turned to the side.

Ever since the PlayStation 5 Pro was first revealed, I've seen a common refrain from some skeptics: "I don't see a difference!"

I was in the same boat when Mark Cerny introduced the console in a YouTube video back in September. A compressed YouTube stream just isn't the best way to communicate a console that both increases resolution and frame rate. I only started to see just how different the PS5 Pro looks compared to the base model once I could see them side by side in my own home. It took me some time -- and a lot of eye straining -- to spot some of the finer details outside of its more obvious AI-upscaling benefits, but I was able to see them eventually. The PS5 Pro does improve image quality, but is the bump enough to justify a $700 purchase?

Read more
Stardew Valley 1.6 has finally arrived on consoles and mobile
Special Orders board in Stardew Valley.

Stardew Valley console and mobile players will want to start a new farm soon. The long-awaited 1.6 update is finally available for all platforms on Monday, bringing with it a new farm type, more dialogue with NPCs, new events, and too many other things to count.

The 1.6 update launched for PC players on March 19, so console and mobile players have been waiting almost eight months for the release. In July, developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that it was taking longer than expected. The following month, he wrote in another post that the ports have been the "primary focus" for the team. He had even stopped working on the Stardew follow-up Haunted Chocolatier to get the console and mobile updates finished.

Read more
I have a theory on how the PS5 Pro could actually outclass PCs
The PS5 Pro suspended in air.

Without a doubt, the PlayStation 5 Pro is the most powerful game console we've ever seen. It's set to launch next week, promising "45% faster rendering" on the back of a beefier graphics card and faster memory. It won't be enough to outclass a proper gaming desktop packing one of the best graphics cards -- not even close. But the PS5 Pro could have an edge over PCs in one area.

I say "could" because we really don't know. AMD pointed me to Sony, and Sony hasn't returned my request for comment about the specifics under the hood of the PS5 Pro. I have some hints, however, and if you'll indulge a little speculation, I have some interesting theories about how the PS5 Pro might have an edge over even powerful gaming PCs.
The PS5 Pro's secret weapon

Read more