Sony’s newest console, the PlayStation 5 or the PS5 for short, has taken the world by storm. With several incredible exclusives like SpiderMan: Miles Morales and Demon Souls at launch, retailers are being forced to restock in the dead of the night to keep customers at bay. These titles are just the tip of the iceberg, with dozens more planned and on the way.
But that’s not to say people aren’t dissatisfied about a few things. For one, the PS5 has experienced a lot of launch issues. And of course, that’s to be expected. Every console launch has some issues that get ironed out eventually.
From our sources, the company has started working on updates to make the PS5 experience much more user friendly. We take a look into what exactly these updates look like below.
There have been a few major oversights with the PS5 at launch
Millions of people and companies are suffering across the world right now. It’s unfair to criticize anyone without keeping the situation of the world it mind. But some things just don’t make sense, and they need to be pointed out. Like the SSD on the PS5. It’s supposed to be 825 GB, but the usable size boils down to about 665 GB. Which isn’t all that much when you think about how the size of games in the last generation shot up by several hundred percent.
The list of bugs in the software is also pretty long. Sony’s executives haven’t taken these issues seriously in the past. Thankfully, that’s about to change.
The PS5 will introduce Variable Refresh Rates (VRR) soon
One of the biggest, and very well justified, gripes fans have had is the lack of VRR support on the PS5. Microsoft has had it for almost three years now, introducing it on their Xbox One X. PC users have had it since 2014. Sony has remained shyly silent about the matter for quite an awful time now, but they’ve recently spoken up about it. In their official FAQ Blog, PlayStation announced they would release a free update to bring VRR support to their consoles.
Variable Refresh Rates enable a display to dynamically alter the number of frames it shows per second. This is a useful tool because it helps synchronize the display and the source for the information. For example, let’s say you’re playing a game like Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla at a nice 60 frames per second. In reality, your PS5 is actually going to deliver 55 frames of data in one second, and maybe 65 in the next. Your display is set to only refresh 60 times a day, though. So if gets 55 frames in one second, it won’t refresh until it gets the next 65. This results in 5 missing or “dropped” frames one second. Then the display will struggle to show the next 60 of the 65 frames within less than a second, resulting in “screen tearing“.
VRR completely solves the issue by allowing the display to synchronize itself with the input. This means no dropped frames and no screen tearing, allowing for the smoothest possible experience while gaming. It’s a welcome addition to the PS5.
Future updates may also bring highly requested features
According to the execs at Sony, they’re willing to add many more features via update if there’s enough demand. For example, they responded to requests that the PS5 support 1440p output. If more fans asked for it, they said, there’s a good chance we might see it added via updates.
The PS5 is a long term investment, and it pushes the envelope for easy, high refresh rate 4K gaming. It’s nice to be listened to for once. The future of gaming on PlayStation’s side is very bright.