7 features the PS6 needs for Sony to keep its console crown

It seems like only yesterday when Sony introduced its introduced its PlayStation 5 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and all the units were seemingly bought out by scalpers for quite a few months to come. However, time flies, and we’re steadily approaching the midlife point of the newest Sony console, which also means that rumors about the next generation are beginning to circulate.

Of course, seeing as we’re probably a few years away from the new generation, these rumors are to be taken with a grain – or rather, quite a huge lump — of salt. They are now based more on current tech trends and predictions rather than any concrete insider information.

That being said, they’re also a great way to let the imagination go wild and, for the time being, just think of the console that we’d love to see from Sony. With the PS5 already being a great piece of tech, there really is hardly anything to change other than the usual performance gains, but we have some ideas of where the next generation might take us. Here are some of the best of them.

1 AI integration

The PS6 needs to be smart

Artificial Intelligence is the name of the game nowadays, with this technology finding its way into increasingly less obvious spaces. So, we’re fully expecting Sony to find a way to implement it into its upcoming console as well.

That being said, it’s difficult to guess what kind of implementation this could be. One of the most obvious uses would be an AI-based assistant feature that could find its way into PlayStation 6, but we’re not sure such an obvious feature would be the game-changer that Sony is looking for in each generation of its consoles. Therefore, we’re expecting AI to play a more significant role in the next-gen console.

Seeing as the PS6 will surely be, the same as all the previous generations, a gaming-centric piece of tech, we’re sure that AI will also focus on gaming. Here, we might see tech similar to Nvidia’s frame generation and generative HDR features, but also other AI-based techniques that will impact gameplay or visual fidelity. There’s still plenty of time for AI tech to mature, so we’re sure to see even more innovative tech emerging from the AI craze and finding its way into the PlayStation 6.

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2 Backwards compatibility

I want the ultimate game library on my PS6

Getting a new console shouldn’t mean abandoning your old one, along with its older but still spectacular library of games. That’s why backward compatibility is so important — it means you can go back to playing your favorite last-gen (or older) titles without dusting off the older console, straight on your new device.

We’re hoping that the PS6 continues the tradition of offering backward compatibility with older PlayStation titles, but it should expand on this feature a bit more. There’s little stopping Sony from offering full backward compatibility with titles ranging from PS5 going as far back as PS1. What’s more, Sony could also try to implement performance upgrades into its older titles, making previous-gen games run at higher resolutions or with higher frame rates, making full use of the new console’s powerful hardware.

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3 8K gaming

Let’s see all the pixels on PS6

LG

Speaking of visual upgrades, let’s talk about resolution. Sure, the PS5 already supports 8K gaming, but it’s rather a theoretical undertaking when you take into account the console’s power and the lack of games that run in 8K. Couple that with 8K displays being few and far between, and extremely pricey, and you get a really niche feature that’s not that useful nowadays.

That being said, it’s nice that the PS5 already looks toward the future of display technology, and the PS6 will surely expand on that, bringing not only 8K gaming to the table but maybe even high refresh rate, 8K gaming. Combining better, more powerful hardware with newer upscaling technologies, possibly utilizing AI, could make for quite an 8K gaming beast.

4 Modular design

It’d be cool to swap parts in and out

PlayStation/ Pocket-lint

When Sony’s refreshed PS5 Slim launched at the end of 2023, one of the less flashy but more interesting changes it brought was its modular disc drive. You could get yourself an all-digital model and configure it with a disc drive down the line, which is simply modularly attached to the standalone main unit. Many people claim that this is not a one-off idea and that the modular approach to design might be the future that Sony is aiming for. It could mean that the company will be able to sell the same base unit to everyone, instead of relying on two different models like today — the Digital and Disc-based versions.

What’s more, it could open the way for much more customization, bringing with it easier storage extension, possibly even performance or ventilation updates as well.

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5 A more toned-down design for PS6

The design team had fun with the PS5

After all was said and done, one thing is for sure — the PS5 was quite a departure from the previous, boxy designs of the old PlayStations. It surely is something else and stood out when compared to the conservative design of the Xbox Series X/S, its biggest competitor. That being said, consoles tend to be boxy for a reason — they are supposed to fit in your TV cabinets, blending in with other devices there, such as receivers, amps, etc. So, when the PS5 came around, being as big and non-boxy as it was, it threw this visual compatibility out the window.

So, now that Sony’s design team had its fun with the PS5, it’s high time to return to the tried-and-true dimensions. Media devices are understated for a reason, as not everyone wants to show off their gaming console all the time, preferring a more minimalist, toned-down look. It’d be nice if the next generation embraced that once again.

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6 Bigger focus on VR

Sony Vision Pro for PS6?

With VR seemingly once again trying to conquer the mainstream gaming market, it’s high time the next generation of PlayStation really placed its bets in this market. Granted, the new PSVR2 is a great piece of gear, but being a standalone headset with quite a hefty price tag and a singular gaming purpose — it might be a difficult sell.

So, it’s high time Sony really put an emphasis on VR in its consoles, but not only on VR gaming. Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3 show that VR and AR are slowly making their way into productivity and creative spaces, and it’s time console VR followed suit, with applications ranging from the best virtual reality games to more specialized, less casual uses.

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7 Make the PS6 a true all-rounder

All play and no work…

Speaking of applications other than gaming, it’s high time consoles embraced their true potential and started branching out from only gaming-centric purposes.

When new generations of consoles hit the market, their price-to-performance ratio is always incredible. That makes them excellent gaming machines, but they could also make for great pieces of productivity kit if only the software allowed for it. Imagine your PlayStation or Xbox being the only device at your home, responsible for everything from gaming to media consumption, to light work or internet browsing.

Of course, there is nothing stopping you from connecting a mouse and a keyboard to your PS even now, launching a browser, and filling in some spreadsheets, but it’s a rather tiring experience. With a few tweaks and some more productivity-centric apps, PlayStation could become your go-to device for all your computing needs, which, for around $500, would be quite a steal indeed.

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FAQ

Q: When will PlayStation 6 be released?

Having said all that, there remains the question of when the PlayStation 6 will be released. Right off the bat, we know that the next generation of consoles will not come out for a few more years, as we’ve just received the refreshed PS5 Slim – that means we’re probably at a mid-life point of the current generation. Having said that, Sony is certainly deep in the works on the next generation already, seeing as the development cycle of a console typically takes quite a few years from start to finish, as evidenced by the company hiring engineers for “Future PlayStation projects” already in 2021. So, when can we expect the next generation of consoles from Sony to be released? Let’s examine the previous release dates to paint a bit of a broader picture here:

• PlayStation 3 release date: November 2006
• PlayStation 4 release date: November 2013
• PlayStation 5 release date: November 2020
• PlayStation 6 release date: November 2027?

As you can see, the release cycle of the PlayStation has been quite steady these last few generations, releasing a new console once every seven years. Moreover, the release window has also been steady, set somewhere in mid-November – right before the holiday season. Therefore, without any signals pointing to possible delays (at least for now), we’d expect the PlayStation 6 to be released sometime in mid-November 2027, seven years after the release of the PlayStation 5. Of course, that’s a rough estimate for now, and we haven’t really heard any more concrete rumors, but it’s a good place to start.

Q: How much will PlayStation 6 cost?

We’ve tackled the release date, so we’re left with one more detail: the price of the upcoming console. Once again, it’s best to first look at the previous generations to see what we’re dealing with:

• PlayStation 3: $499
• PlayStation 4: $399
• PlayStation 5: $399 (digital) / $499 (disc drive)
• PlayStation 6: $449 to $499 (digital) / $549 to $599 (disc drive)

We can see that Sony has been keeping the price of the PlayStation quite steady over the years, orbiting somewhere between $400 to $500. That being said, with tech products generally getting more expensive over the last few years, and inflation impacting prices around the globe quite significantly, we’re sadly expecting the Japanese company to raise the price of the upcoming console a bit.

Our best estimate is that the all-digital version should start at more than $400, probably either $449 or even $499. If Sony goes the modular route, we believe the disc drive would cost you another $99 in that case, with a disc-enabled model around $549-$599. Once again, these are just our best guesses for now, and they will probably change once more rumors come to light as the release date approaches.