A current leak claims the rumored successor to the PS5 console, the upgraded PS5 Professional, will launch later this yr, presumably in time for the vacation season. If this proves true and Rockstar’s GTA 6 hits its focused launch window of early 2025, that might crown Sony because the de facto finest console to play probably the most extremely anticipated video games of a technology.
Granted, that is a variety of “ifs” that should go proper. However on condition that GTA 5 broke all-time gross sales information when it got here out again in 2013, it can’t be understated how enormous a chance this may very well be for Sony. Particularly since, not like with many fashionable releases, Rockstar would not plan to launch GTA 6 on PC and consoles concurrently. As an alternative, the developer plans to launch an “upgraded model” of the sport on PC sooner or later after its preliminary launch date.
Beforehand Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has dismissed the concept of a mid-cycle refresh for both the Xbox Collection X or Collection S. He doesn’t “really feel an crucial” to launch one other Xbox console this technology, he informed Bloomberg final summer season. “That’s not the suggestions we’re getting proper now. Proper now, we’re fairly set on the {hardware} we now have.”
That might give Sony a critical leg up if it strikes ahead with the PS5 Professional in time for GTA 6’s launch. In keeping with a video this week from YouTuber Moore’s Legislation is Useless, the PS5 Professional might home 67 teraflops of compute energy — a mightily spectacular APU-boosting determine that appears to be made doable by machine-learning. That might find yourself equating to a “mere” 33.5 Tflops of “Floating Level” efficiency; by comparability, the bottom PS5 manages only a third of that at 10.28 Tflops. If these specs shake out to be true, that’s a colossal technical leap that would assist the PS5 Professional rival the graphical energy of a number of the finest gaming PCs.
Given Sony’s estimated 2:1 market place over Xbox, the PS5 was already posed to be the primary platform gamers selected to expertise Rockstar’s hugely-anticipated open-world crime sport. However having the ability to play GTA 6 on the upgraded PS5 Professional might give them much more of a motive to go for Sony’s console as a substitute of Xbox. The PS5 Professional wants a compelling gross sales pitch to justify its existence, particularly on condition that the cheaper Xbox Collection S continues to outsell the Xbox Collection X, and this may very well be it.