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The PS5, Sony's next-gen successor to its hugely popular PlayStation 4 console, may not be out until May 2020 at the earliest, but that hasn't stopped the tech company from revealing more about the hardware at a corporate strategy meeting this week.
During a demonstration, footage was presented by Sony comparing Spider-Man PS4 running on both the current-gen system and the PS5, and tech journalist Takashi Mochizuki recorded the whole thing for public consumption, as seen below. On the PS4 Pro, Sony revealed that Spider-Man PS4 takes 8.10 seconds to load up, whereas on the PS5, that loading time is reduced to 0.8 seconds. This is probably a demonstration of the fact that Solid State Drives (SSD) will likely be a big player in next-gen consoles, offering vastly superior file-access speeds and load times compared to traditional spinning-disc Hard Disk Drives (HDD).
Sony's official video comparing performance of PS4 Pro vs next-gen PlayStation pic.twitter.com/2eUROxKFLqMay 21, 2019
This drastic reduction in loading times is clearly something that Sony wants to brag about with its next-generation tech, as Mark Cerny demonstrated the same thing when the PS5 was confirmed in April 2019. Other confirmed features of the hardware include backwards-compatibility, 8K resolution support, and ray-tracing, alongside the potential for greater quality streaming software.
It's unclear whether Sony wanted this footage to be released publicly, as - the Wired article aside - the company has exhibited a reluctance to reveal anything more about its next generation plans other than a few choice details. There's still plenty of upcoming PS4 games on the way, after all, while Microsoft has kept all its cards to its chest regarding the rumoured Xbox Project Scarlett on the way.
We'll let you know if and when we hear anything more about either of the upcoming consoles but, for now, you'd better practice your bladder control, because it sounds like there'll be no more time for impromptu loo breaks while you wait for your game to start up in a loading screen-free future.
Find out what developers think about the future of gaming in the video below, or head over to our list of the biggest new games of 2019 on the way to see the titles worth keeping an eye on.
