Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney has high praise for PS5’s storage system following today’s reveal of a stunning Unreal Engine 5 demo.
According to Epic the demo, designed to highlight new features made possible by next-gen consoles, was captured in real-time on a PS5. Following its reveal, Sweeney appeared on Geoff Keighley’s Summer of Gaming stream to discuss what we’d just seen.
“Sony’s storage system is absolutely world-class,” Sweeney said. “Not only the best-in-class on console but also the best on any platform. Better than a high-end PC. This is going to enable the types of immersion that we’ve only dreamed of in the past.
“The world of loading screens is over and the days of pop-in and geometry popping up as you’re going through these game environments are ending,” he continued. “And the resulting effect is the ability to build games that are fully immersive from start to finish over hundreds of hours of gameplay if that’s your game.”
PS5 features a solid-state drive (SSD) that Sony itself says will dramatically reduce loading times and rendering environments on its new console. In the Unreal Engine 5 demo we saw the lead character glide across miles of geometry over the course of a few seconds with the environment remaining consistently detailed throughout. Sure, this is a highly-polished technical demonstration, but that could offer an insight into what Sweeney is talking about.
And, obviously, this could have huge benefits for Sony’s VR plans on PS5. We know the current PSVR supports the new console and that Sony is prototyping a new headset. With the technology powering PS5, we might see richer VR environments that don’t pop-in when quickly turning your head or leaning in for closer inspect. Anyone that’s been playing the PSVR version of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners in the past two weeks will know how big of a deal this could be.
PS5 is arriving this holiday season and Unreal Engine 5 launches next year. As for a possible PSVR 2? We’re still awaiting official details but you can find out everything we currently know right here.
