A new PS6 leak claims that Sony could be pushing a new low-power mode on developers. If true, we could see some PS5 games running at lower resolutions to work better on the PlayStation 6 Handheld.
PS6 Handheld Might Impact Future PS5 Game Performance
This latest update comes from Tech Insider Moore’s Law Is Dead. The prolific hardware leaker claims that Sony has recently sent out emails to PS5 developers pushing a new low-power mode. In the email, PlayStation is reportedly asking devs to lower PS5 resolutions to maintain 60FPS.
“This week we [Game Dev] received emails from Sony pushing Low-Power mode hard. Almost like they need us to support it directly, eventually, they provided tutorials and instructions that outlined:
1) We shouldn’t just lower framerates to fit LP Mode’s requirements; instead, we should try to maintain 60 FPS by lowering resolutions.
2) Razor CPU (This is a CPU Utility for PS5 Development) walkthroughs that aim to help us find CPU bottlenecks so we can reduce CPU usage, and even look for ways to reduce how many threads are used by our game.”
Where this gets interesting is Moore’s Law Is Dead, and the developer source says they believe it’s tied to the PS6 Handheld. “It is becoming glaringly obvious that Low-Power mode IS a Trojan Horse for getting PS6 Handheld support ready before its launch. They honestly seemed a bit annoyed at how few devs directly support it so far.”
PlayStation Fans Worry PS5 Games Could Run Worse
While this latest PS6 leak is exciting news for handheld enthusiasts, not everyone was thrilled by the rumor. Some PlayStation fans reacted to Sony pushing the Low-Power mode with concern. Specifically, they are worried that some future PS5 games could run worse to be compatible with the PS6 Handheld console.
“As long as this doesn’t result in a Series S and Xbox Series X situation where games are held back by a mandate to be compatible with the lower spec device,” a user on Reddit wrote, for example. Although not everyone agreed that Low-Power mode would make games “run worse”. Many also argued it would force developers to “optimize” their games better. Moore’s Law Is Dead also doesn’t make the claim that PS5 games will run worse.
PS6 Handheld Could Launch With a Massive PS5 Library
It goes without saying to take all this with a major grain of salt. However, while this may sound like a “my uncle at Nintendo” rumor on the surface, Moore’s Law Is Dead also claims to have seen the Sony emails and official documents. Given his long history of credible leaks, there is a lot of reason to believe this has a good chance of being true.
Interestingly, we ran a report in October about how a power-saver mode was quietly being patched into select PlayStation titles. For example, the Demon’s Souls Remake had the Low-Power mode added to it in an update. So this also lines up with this latest leak from Moore’s Law Is Dead. Essentially, the feature cuts down PS5’s game memory by as much as 70%, while maintaining 1080p and 60FPS.
This again lines up with the performance that would be needed to make PS5 games run well on a portable device. If developers start implementing this Low-Power mode into their projects, then we could see the PS6 Handheld launching with a massive library of PS5 games. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see if this PS6 leak turns out to be true. One thing is for certain, Sony seems to be going all in on this low-power mode.
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