The PlayStation 4 is already four years old, and it’s around this time that gamers get restless. Inevitably, some are already asking after the consoles successor, the PS5, but don’t expect it to be announced any time soon.
In a recent interview with German site Golem.de Sony Interactive Entertainment America President and CEO Shawn Layden noted that it will “probably be some time” before we see the next iteration of the console. That’s not too surprising; the PS3 was around for 7 years before PS4 was announced, but it’s also a little frustrating to hear for VR enthusiasts.
Sony’s PlayStation VR (PSVR) is a great headset, but it’s definitely got issues. Many of these stem from the PS4, which is relatively under powered compared to the PCs running the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. That results in ports of games looking and running worse on the console, and developers making compromises to fit their titles onto the headset. Today’s release of Arizona Sunshine is a good example of that.
More powerful hardware is the obvious solution to that issue. Last year’s release of the PS4 Pro offered improved visuals and performance for VR games, but it hasn’t done much to really close the gap between console and PC. The system has no exclusive games, and thus is still tied to the original console in many ways.
Power is just one of PSVR’s issues though. We’d also love to see the PS5 address the tracking difficulties the headset experiences, as the lone camera used to register the headset and controller’s positions often causes drifting and only allows for 180 degree gameplay when using controllers like PlayStation Move. The Move controllers themselves could also use analogue sticks in the future.
We also have to wonder if Sony is developing the next iteration of PSVR for the PS5. That’s a tantalising thought, but a question we likely won’t have answered for many years yet.
