Is The New PSSR A Sneak Peek At PlayStation 6 Image Quality?

Last week’s reveal of the second generation PSSR presents a mouthwatering proposition. If all goes to plan, the PlayStation 5 Pro moves one step closer to being the console we always hoped it would be, representing a proper upgrade over the standard model while hinting at some of the technologies we should expect to see from PlayStation 6. It has raised an interesting question from our community: are we getting a preview today of the console of tomorrow?

That might be a somewhat optimistic appraisal of the situation, but the promise of the new PSSR looks undeniable. Right now, Resident Evil Requiem represents the potential of the Pro at its zenith. Of course, it’s the same game as that seen on the base model. Both run at 60 frames per second. However, thanks to the new PSSR – dubbed PSSR2 by the userbase, but not by Sony itself – we have image quality that wipes the floor with all other console versions of the game. On top of that, ray-traced global illumination and RT reflections are frankly game-changing.

We should expect to see developers update many of their existing games with the new PSSR, but at the same time, Sony is providing a front-end toggle that automatically swaps out the old version for the new version in the existing line-up of games. At a stroke, we should see a vast improvement across a majority of Pro titles. And for many, that might be enough to make an existing purchase justified – and to enlarge the installed base with new users that appreciate the upgrade on their 4K screens.

We’ll be testing the difference between system-level and developer-sourced PSSR upgrades because there is a question that needs answering: if the system-level toggle works as well as the FSR3 to FSR4 control panel injection tweak seen on PC, why bother developers with having to upgrade their games? It’s an interesting question!

But where does this leave PS5 Pro vs PlayStation 6 in what is almost certainly set to be an even longer cross-generation period than the last? Could a potentially cheaper Pro purchase today reduce the need for an expensive PS6 upgrade tomorrow?

Well, there may well be the argument that Sony will use PS5 Pro as a proving ground for whatever ML technologies emerge from the Project Amethyst collaboration – exactly as we see now, where AMD’s FSR4 was effectively ported over to become the second generation PSSR. Frame generation would be a likely next port of call if Sony decides to go down this route. However, the more of AMD’s ML technologies that ship on PS5 Pro, the less novelty PlayStation 6 may represent to users.

But beyond that, I do still think that notionally at least, Sony is still wedded to the concept of the console generation and lead system architect Mark Cerny has shared some hints on how he sees the future of technology. Ray tracing and ML are a core part of that vision and while PS5 Pro represents a step forward in that regard, the recent Project Amethyst update takes us further with some hints on the future of graphics hardware, presumably on technologies we’ll find in AMD’s RDNA 5 and indeed, PS6.

The discussion included talk of neural arrays to better optimise the GPU for RT workloads. We learned about universal compression that should radically improve memory bandwidth, tuned for vastly improved ML and RT performance. Radiance cores for “unified light transport” may hint at a future geared not just to ray tracing, but to path tracing too. And while it’s not discussed in the Amethyst video, PS6 will address the CPU performance shortfall in the current generation PS5.

PS5 Pro works as a tangible upgrade to the standard PlayStation 5 then – especially if the new PSSR is as good in all games as it is in Resident Evil Requiem – but similar to the PS4 Pro, it is basically a machine of the same generation. It has the same CPU limitations, the same core feature set and the same software ecosystem and – crucially – the same development environment. Requiem shows us how transformative the Pro can be, but this is still an enhanced console, unlikely to compare favourably with whatever comes next.

I’d venture to suggest that the real question is how the next cross-gen period will play out more generally. Once new consoles are available, the concept of developers giving as much care and attention to the lower installed base of the last-gen Pro console remains to be seen. Last generation, both PS4 Pro and Xbox One X saw the quality of their enhancements diminished once the new hardware arrived. In servicing the last generation, the PS4 took point as it had a sizeable userbase worth addressing. PS4 Pro saw some resolution boosts and performance stability improvements, but it was in no way comparable to PS5. The notion of a “4K PS4” quickly dropped away. I’d expect history to repeat itself.

Perhaps I’m being overly pessimistic. Perhaps there will be a unified development environment for all relevant PlayStation consoles, similar to what Microsoft tried to achieve with its “GDK”, which sought to unify Xbox One, Xbox Series and even PC development. But ultimately, I’d expect the next-gen Sony console to offer so many more possibilities to developers that it would become the new focus. In that scenario, PS5 and PS5 Pro fall into the same bucket. The Pro would still have value, however, simply by virtue of the new PSSR’s ability to make so much more from limited pixel counts.

So, if we had to guess, what will the next generation console divide look like? We’re moving into “reading the tea leaves” territory here, but I’d imagine we’ll be looking at a more stark version of what is playing out in the PC space right now. The same games will run across both generations, but enhanced RT hardware along with robust ML will see the next-gen consoles deliver far superior ray traced visuals and much higher frame-rates, whether that’s down to ML super resolution, frame generation or both working in concert. We may even see the RT effects on today’s current-gen consoles deprecated in favour of just getting tomorrow’s games running effectively.

I’d also hope to see the image quality issues of the current generation resolved by mature ML upscaling – and I think that’s where PS5 Pro will offer us a taste of what comes next. We’ve seen how well the new PSSR works on a game with a baseline circa-1080p resolution – but just how low can it go and still look good? Games like Alan Wake 2, Metal Gear Solid Delta, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora and Assassin’s Creed Shadows among many others should answer a lot of questions. We can’t wait to get testing!