PlayStation 5 Has A Next-Generation Approach In Installing Games

We have learned a lot of precise details about the PlayStation 5 over the week. Most of the things that Sony officially revealed about its next-generation gaming console were actually the details most people had already figured out, including its official name and its release window. Another look at Sony’s PS5 reveals that the upcoming gaming hardware will have a new approach in taking care of one of the most mundane parts of the player’s gaming experience, installing a game.

One of the earliest details we learned about the PlayStation 5 is that it will feature a high-performance Solid State Drive (SSD) to replace the customary disc-shaped hard drive. SSD is not only faster than hard-drives; it also dramatically affects the overall game design and allows game developers to freely do the things they intend to do with their games without having to worry about slow loading times, among others. But, it appears that this is not all that SSD could do; in fact, there’s a lot more.

In an article released by Wired, it discusses the efficiency of the SSD in handling data which allows owners to gain access to a more configurable installation procedure. According to Sony Interactive Entertainment System Architect Mark Cerny, instead of treating games as a massive amount of data, PlayStation 5 will allow finer-grained access to the data. What does this mean?

PlayStation 5 users will have the ability to download various parts of the game separately based on which one they want to access most of the time. This means users will not have to wait for the entire game to download first. For instance, a player wants to go directly into the multiplayer of a game, with PlayStation 5, they can simply install the multiplayer part first and save the installing of single-player portion for later, neat!

A PlayStation 5 user can also opt to install the entire game and then delete just the campaign once they have already beaten it, leaving only the multiplayer in the system’s memory and freeing more space in the console. While Sony’s current console, the PlayStation 4 also allows users to start playing the game before it has completed fully installing, the process is usually in a linear fashion. Also, not all the offline things will be available for players to play at this point.

This means sooner or later, the player has to really wait for the entire game to finish installing before he can continue playing the game. PlayStation 5 revolutionizing the way we install and gain access to games and its components is probably one of the most exciting new features of the next generation gaming console. But, beyond that, it will allow players to have more control over managing the data.

Sony’s PlayStation 5 is scheduled to arrive sometime during the holiday season of 2020.