PS6 Graphics – Can it Approach Photorealism?

If the PS5 Pro leaks are accurate, the eventual PS6 is slated to be one powerful console. But if modern GPUs still lag behind true photorealism, can the PS6 get there?

[Hugodastrevas]

I hate to be "that guy", but we have go ask ourselves do the industry need photorealistic graphics at this point or actually good games, good content, less anti-consumer practices?
This graphical obsession has brought nothing but years upon years of waiting for a game to launch with huge detailed empty worlds, bad stories and predictable gameplay and (micro)transactions everywhere. Sorry for the rant.

[MrGameAndWatch]

Same. I really don't want to be in an interactive film and, to me photorealism is not needed for immersion.

[RaidenBlack]

Why always target photorealism?
Why not use the extra horsepower for better, complex & diverse AI?
Why not target more interactable world? Why not use the new performance headroom for more physics effects?
Player choices that drastically affect and changes the game world?

[Cacabunga]

Let’s first see what PS5 graphics look like.. we’ve seen nothing yet

[RaidenBlack]

@Cacabunga
For that, first Naughty Dog's PS5 single-player exclusive, then Guerilla's PS5 single-player exclusive

[OtterX]

If anything, the massive layoffs in the industry right now are showing that investors are pulling out and not wanting to invest as much as they are right now into AAAs. Much less push for even higher detail, unless many parts of it are automated by AI for a cheaper price. Not saying I support people's jobs being replaced by AI, just stating a reality of what the money people want.

[DarXyde]

Photorealism should be reserved for games like Gran Turismo. It costs far too much to incorporate that level of detail.

Even then, if it comes at the cost of physics calculations or frame rate given the shared resources of consoles, I'd scale it back in favor of a smoother experience.

Nintendo was quite smart to never pigeonhole themselves into that. Great foresight on their part, I'd say.

[8bitAssassin]

But they've gotten very lazy on their games. I still like their approach don't just make game play your biggest innovation.

[DarXyde]

8bitAssassin,

I assume you're talking about Nintendo.

I think it works for them. I'm honestly glad that it's nothing like PlayStation or Xbox. It's a great reason to own one.

[8bitAssassin]

Yup!! I am. Yes it works for them and I love it. I want them to have better than average old tech so the scope of some of their games can drop jaws. I'm not talking about counting pixels either.

[anast]

I think we need both. Why lower the standard? A photorealistic Bloodborne or Elden Ring game would be insane.

[isarai]

Nah im with you on that, like visually games look fine, maybe up the resolution on average but i would much rather resources be spent on things that actually make the game FEEL good to play at this point.

[shinoff2183]

Don't forget about the budgets.

[ROCKY28]

agreed - stop with the expensive photo realism and just create amazing games that are less expensive that are not a risk to create an original game within 2-3 years and not 7 years of development - like the OG PS2/Xbox era !

[WolfSeed]

There are individual goals for individual parameters. Graphics, gameplay, scale, geometry, AI Sophistication, etc.

This article touches one of them. No need to cancel the conversation because you care more about other things.

[TheEroica]

Amen. Someone gets it...

[Amplitude]

Some photorealism is much cheaper to produce than what devs are currently forced to do.
If all games could have path tracing, there would be no need for developers to manually map ambient occlusion, shadowmaps, reflection probes, etc. It's a huge undertaking that's making games cost way more to produce on account of the rather pathetic-for-2024 RT and general performance of the current gen consoles.

As much as i hate to say it, we need new consoles as soon as feasibly possible. These consoles launched at the absolute worst possible time, right before RT/DLSS2.0/3.0 were able to quickly skyrocket games in quality on the PC side of things, leaving a ridiculously large gap between PC and console almost immediately after launch and preventing things like CyberPunk Pathtracing Mode in other games. They're holding everything back and making games take longer to produce.

I think Microsoft may be smart if they end up adopting a model where multiple companies (including NVidia) can release multiple spec variant "PC" boxes with the XBox OS. One console every decade doesn't cut it with how quick technology moves in this new era we're in.

[smolinsk]

I would love the Next step in graphic to be massive but it always turns out that it takes a long time so the ps6 graphics are gonna be like the best we have now Just with 60fps in every game. World love to se the big ass large worlds with fantastic graphics and depth. Gta 6 are gonna bring that for sure.

[just_looken]

@hugo

100% agree but it also made the use of upscale tech the norm which made games worse and the fact console now are just tablets we need a console with a real gpu real cpu real ram setup.

It would be so amazing to see a game like you said made like the ps2/ps3 era using today's pc parts pushing the hardware.

There are titles out there that make my pc run like its still on the desktop

[Barlos]

Agreed. For me at least, games are escapism. I don't want them mimicking real life. Graphics don't have to be photorealistic to be impressive. As with you, I'm more about the story, and I would prefer innovation in other ways. The PS5 did it with the DualSense. This it more important to me than just shinier graphics.

[Zenzuu]

Personally for me, graphics have already gotten to the point where I don't really feel the need to see having it to make anymore realistic or better.

At this point, I rather game developers focus on quality/engaging stories, gameplay, & contents. Also not every every single game needs to opened world just for the sake of it.

[anast]

I'd rather they focus on both. It's a trillion dollar industry. They should be able to do both.

[smolinsk]

Exactly

[Demetrius]

Ikr

[neutralgamer1992]

Zenzuu

Believe it or not when it comes to consoles and games graphics are still the biggest factor. Why do you think we still see CHI trailers or in engine footage. The first impression is very important. Not for us core gamers but for millions of casuals who are quite easily impressed with wow factor graphics

[TiredGamer]

"More, more, more!!! I don't care what it takes - I deserve more! And I won't PAY a dollar more!"

That's the mindset of some people out there.

[JEECE]

I mean, can we still say that's the case even when casuals flock to mediocre looking battle royales? PUBG became huge among casuals, and it looks like a PS3 era shooter with textures that didn't load properly. And casuals have embraced the cartoon aesthetic (Fortnite is the easy example here, but there are others). What is the recent graphics focused game casuals have flocked to? Are you counting COD for that?

[anast]

@1992 Candy Crush and Monopoly Go

@Tired Like I said. It's a trillion dollar industry. They could definitely do more. Customers are paying a ton of money.

[WolfSeed]

There are individual goals for individual parameters. Graphics, gameplay, scale, geometry, AI Sophistication, etc. No need to cancel the conversation because you care more about other things.

[smolinsk]

Graphics are the biggest selling point and will always be.

[neutralgamer1992]

Agreed especially for those who aren’t hardcore gamers. We core gamers look at everything through core gamers POV. But there is a much bigger casual market who likes looking at pretty things

[andy85]

Honestly with UC4 I thought we were close but things don't really seem to have improved much in 8 years. Hellblade 2 seems to have raised the bar a bit though

[MrBaskerville]

I don't think publishers have the money to make that happen. They can barely sustain the current level of fidelity.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

The goal post for what photorealistic graphics are has always been moving. I remember some 360/PS3 sports games being called photorealistic way back in the mid 2000s.

[bRuud83]

Simply, no! Graphics wise there is barely any difference between the PS4 and PS5 just a little more particle effects and very minimal use of ray tracing. I expect even less diffence between PS5 and PS6. Just better implementation of Ray Tracing.

[purple101]

you are correct, but there ram has doubled, and now we have ssd not a spinning disk drive, I think we have not yet scratched the surface of next gen personally,

[__y2jb]

The answer is yes but the question is a bad one. A static frame may look close to photorealistic but what about physics, animation, AI making NPC's predictable and dumb? All of these things need to be considered and all will contribute to making the game look...like a game.

The human brain is exceptionally good at pointing out things that are 'wrong'. While we may indeed see realtime cutscenes where the developer has carefully orchestrated everything and it is very close to photorealistic, I think that during gameplay there will always be an element of suspension of disbelief required.

On top of all that, photorealistic games will become boring very quickly. I want to be doing things in games that are different to real life.

[neutralgamer1992]

I agree with you. I rather not have realize because realize comes at the cost of FUN. I much rather have fun gameplay than photorealistic graphics. Now a days so many games forget to add fun to the games. Gaming industry grew too quickly and now we have non gamers running companies based on spreadsheets. One of the worst examples is Andrew Wilson the CEO of EA. While laying off thousands and talking about adding ads to games he himself makes 25-40 million per years in bonuses

[rlow1]

I tired of this type of talk ten years back. Instead of making new, interesting games it all about remakes and photo realism. This generation is proof they have no intention of leaving the previous one. So when the PS6 comes out, how long will they hang on to the PS5 generation? Not to mention the costs that somehow have ballooned, even though engines like Unreal are supposed to make it easier.
Nintendo is proof that graphics aren’t important. With the start of the Wii, they jumped off that boat and for the most part have done extremely well.

[Eonjay]

No one ever really talks about why the cost of making games has gone up so much. Its because the people who used to invest into gaming have found other areas to invest in, like AI. This means there is literally less money to be lent out and thus the 'cost' of borrowing to make games has gone up substantially. This will in turn increases risk and discourages 'new ideas'. The truth is, the story is just clikbait. We know this because all we have to do is look at the latest line of RTX cards. There is a HUGE gulf between their low end and enthusiast offerings. But this doesn't result in different 'looking' graphics, just different levels of performance. Going from PS5 to PS6 will be like taking the PS5 and cranking its performance way up with AI.

One good thing is that the inclusion of AI should lead to better physics. including real time deformations and absurd levels of feudality. This will add to the 'realism' and be a more expensive box, but it wont produce games that fundamentally can't run on PS5. VR is the only real area with room to grow, or something that can be really improved upon with more power and better display tech.

I think the PS5 Pro will push resolution to its maximum utility with AI so besides 8K 60 FPS (which we already know is being built into PSSR for PS6) we are really going to see diminishing returns. Combine that with the fact that I just don't see 8K TVs really taking off.

[anast]

not sure why you got downvoted here

[Jingsing]

We have games that are already photo realistic like Bodycam or UNRECORD. I'm surprised Sony or Microsoft have tried to make something similar as it seems like the next wow moment that could be the next COD.

[CrimsonWing69]

Y’know, when they showed the Unreal 5 demo and that Matrix demo, I honestly thought we’d be seeing next-level stuff this gen. Yet, we got things like Suicide Squad and aside from things like Dead Souls Remake I haven’t seen anything that you couldn’t see on last-gen… heck 80% of this gen is cross-gen.

So, no. Next-gen will probably be cross-gen again and I doubt there will be anything photorealistic.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

UE5 turned out not to be black magic and is quite demanding to run such fidelity. Even a 4080 struggles to run those demos.

To put it simply, a lot of tricks were used during PS4/Xbox One gen to give us that kind of visual quality. Now, developers save time and effort by not using those tricks and instead relying on the computing power of the new machines to achieve the same or better results.

The only way for photorealism is Path Tracing, and that's a good decade or two away from happening on mid-range hardware.

[ZycoFox]

4080 is not in the same league as previous gen where 3080 used the same chip as the 3090 tho.. 4090 is like at least 20-30% faster and at times was discounted to only being not much more expensive than the 4080.

I just sold my 4090 for £1320 in prep for the next gen 5000 series, only lost less than £100 by selling now.

[ravens52]

These comments are nice and all but are they true? Rise of the Ronin?

[chronoforce]

I think a lot games will be path traced as the PS6 should have the capacity to run something like Cyberpunk Overdrive RT with decent image quality. Photo realism though in real time is still a way off and even further away for a console.

I imagine the 6090 might be able to run full path tracing with high enough bounces per sample, along with all the denoising and resampling voodoo that people might not be able to distigush between an image that took minutes to render and one that took milliseconds.

[MetroidFREAK21]

Doesn't need it

[8bitAssassin]

This next gen HAS to focus on performance, gameplay and story. We already know the industry is obsessed with PvP and need to ramrod it in single player games. But for Crys sake, make fun new series.

[PhillyDonJawn]

That's the problem with games now, the ultra graphics is taking them too long and causing game to have longer dev cycles. I'd rather them make fun games over heavy graphics.

[neutralgamer1992]

The emphasis on high-end graphics persists because it helps publishers attract casual gamers who are drawn to visually impressive features. As hardcore gamers, we prioritize enhanced gameplay and better character development. Unfortunately, the influence of financial motives in the industry isn't diminishing, given that gaming now generates more revenue than the movie, music, and other entertainment sectors combined.

Investors who often lack an understanding of game development are primarily focused on the financial returns. This dynamic leads to business executives making decisions about game creation, resulting in trends like microtransactions, cut content sold as DLC, and in-game item shops. Publishers are constantly searching for their next major revenue source.

In my opinion, fostering a robust AA market is crucial. AA games are less costly to develop, typically taking around 2-2.5 years, and they provide developers with the opportunity to take creative risks. In contrast, AAA game development is significantly more expensive, with budgets ranging from $200-300 million, such as the $300 million spent on Spider-Man 2.

During the PS3/360 era, we enjoyed a balanced mix of AAA and AA games, which is something we need to see again. Some noteworthy examples of AA games include:

- Saints Row
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Ratchet and Clank
- Jak and Daxter
- Sly Cooper
- Maximo
- Evil West
- GreedFall
- Life is Strange
- Cuphead
- Hades
- It Takes Two
- Dishonored
- Darksiders
- Red Faction
- Destroy All Humans
- Dead to Rights
- Vanquish
- Bayonetta
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Reviving a healthy AA game market can bring diversity and innovation back to the industry, providing a broader range of gaming experiences.

[Skuletor]

I still remember the PS3 copy of Call of Duty 4 with the Game Informer quote "The most photo-realistic video game we've ever seen."

Anyone that's been gaming for more than one gen can tell, that art style beats photorealism and by the time games can look 1:1 like real life, art style will be the main thing that will make games standout from each other, from a visual perspective.

[anast]

The PS6 is going to be insane. I can't wait!

[neutralgamer1992]

Do you think it will be at the level of 3090 or 4070 super? Maybe a pro version will be closed go 4080 super

My guess is we will be much closer to 3090. Even on AMD side some of these graphics card cost more than PS5 and XSX.

[anast]

I'm thinking 3090, but it will run games better than any PC at that level and price.

By the time PS6 rolls out the tech will be cheaper.

[Whitey2k]

Maybe who knows with sony. Anythink is possible aslong cerny designs the console because he's just proved that TF doesn't matter

[gleepot]

If the industry just chases photorealism, games will get more expensive to make, buy, and have longer development cycles.

We will then be looking at studios that are lucky to release a single game during its respective console generation, and if said game fails, the overhead will be so high that the studio is unsustainable, and lead to more layoffs and stifling of talent and creativity.

Chasing photorealism is killing the industry.

[ironmonkey]

Why not create static backgrounds like resident evil one remake. One of the best horror games ever from GameCube. At that era it was photo realistic. don't need to spend millions on 3d rocks and grass.

[Hereandthere]

To do real life graphics at 30fps you would need at least 40 tf's said epic games.

[Sonic1881]

As a PC gamer first, I don't think I'll need a PS6

[ZycoFox]

PS6 will likely = a good mid range PC at time of release, which is usually the case these days. Consoles can still be there for those who want to spend less on a system, they still pay out more than the initial cost for online fees and more expensive games though.

[Taero]

If the title of an article is framed in the form of a question the answer is almost always 'No'. So...no.

[Npugz7]

They need better animation not graphics!

[TwoPicklesGood]

Easy answer…no.

[Walalon]

I don't need photorealistic games if they are not fun... The main focus of the industry it's fun over graphics.

We are in a point that the graphics are really really good so... Create more experiences instead just focusing on 1 thing.

[WolfSeed]

No. Next topic.

[RupeeHoarder]

I guess my question is how much more realistic do we WANT these games? We play games to get away from reality....and the more realistic they are, the longer the development time.

[TheEroica]

The absolute worst thing they could possibly do is bloat games out anymore with flasher graphics and more demanding performance needs, only to keep designing the same games since ps2. This is getting embarrassing.... Does anyone in the AAA space have ant original gameplay ideas or are we really rolling into next Gen with half a billion dollar games that feel tired and uninspired out of the box?

[Asuka]

Please no. I don't want more marketing buzz words. Can we please focus on gameplay for once because we have essentially been playing the same games since ps3 era.

[BrettAwesome]

No

[DustMan]

Consoles just need to focus on hitting 60+fps / 120fps on all releases. I don't want to play a photorealistic games that have frame dips.

[DustMan]

I hope the PS6 is a powerhouse. I'm honestly not concerned about photorealism, I just want 60fps as a bare minimum regardless of the title.

[Skuletor]

It'll most likely be another generation where some developers will prioritise visuals over framerate, just like usual.

[ZycoFox]

Devs that focus graphics will always have lower frame rate on consoles, otherwise you need to game on PC. Consoles usually launch with 1-2 year old CPUs as well, they can keep up decently for maybe a couple of years but then they start running into CPU limitations if the game is demanding, so they either make the game less demanding or you get the lower frames.

[P_Bomb]

Ditto. I gravitate to 60fps way more than 4K30 with RT or what have you. Judder hurts my head, no matter how pretty the game thinks it is. Big turn off.

[XBManiac]

Unreal Engine 5.4 is what PS6 will be capable of if the console comes in a two years frame. If PS6 is really a 2027, we are in unknown territory, as 2026 will show the 4th generation+ of local AMD PC AI (it means, something useful in games and every other computing field).

[Lionsguard]

Games will take even longer to make now.. We're approaching levels of realism that just isn't necessary anymore.

[Dandalandan117]

They're good enough for me now.
I'd rather they make them more interactive instead.
Like PS2 games have games that have fully destructible environments whereas on big budget games nowadays you can't even shoot a freaking water bottle or rock.

[z2g]

the reality at this point in time is you should just expect the graphics you see now but at a pc level... as in more 4k/60, better shadows, more RT and global illumination. the engines and tech and everything else will largely still be what we know.. especially considering any games launched on it would be built off of what exists now as they would have to go into production right now. Tons of the games we play today are still scraping gen 8 builds for example. not many have actually been completely rebuilt... Dead Space is a prime example of a game that WAS rebuilt for a new gen and it truly shows. so whatever stuff they are releasing now for production tools is what will be used for next gen stuff. games take about 4-7 years to make.... unless like COD you're just rehashing the same game every year.

To make the biggest visual gain at this point in time, it really comes down to what the game engines are capable of producing in realtime. sure the GPUs need to be more powerful to push better engines, but its all iterative at this point. Pretty much any graphics card and console (except switch) can produce graphics that are within the ballpark of each other. PC just takes all its power and refines it to be crisper and faster. and that's what you can realistically expect from a ps6. Even right now a decked out PC with a 4090 or too and a metric ton of DDR6 will still smoke a future released ps6 or ps5 pro. Gone are the days of vastly generational leaps - until completely new types of tech come out.

[sagapo]

Probably not and it doesn’t have to imo. Better A.I., better physics and such will achieve a better real world experience than photorealistic images alone.

[franwex]

Talk about diminishing returns, while the investment gets bigger and bigger.

Bring back destructible environments instead. Physics, AI.

[DafunkyRebel]

Stellar Blade was on UE4 and it managed to reach some absolute peaks in graphics, but only because it had 5yrs of development time and a publisher that didn't rush the devs to appease investors. I think major gaming publishers will never reach that level of fidelity and graphics this generation or even the next one because they are far too greedy to let their devs to quality work proper.

[Demetrius]

I'm not expecting it cause folks not even tryna push the base ps5 power now here we are about see a pro version but I bet mfs won't take advantage of it, uncharted 4 looks like a ps5 game and that title is from 2016, hopefully we get quality like that again along with entertaining story, gameplay, creativity

[purple101]

Next gen doesn’t start untill naughty dog says so

[gold_drake]

i think devs shpuld focus on story and gameplay, geaphics are alrsady fantastic as is

[GenWorld]

I get fully immersed in Majora's Mask vanilla, no upgrades. I damn near dont even need 1080p LMAO
But this PC Port of MM is the most immersive experience currently in my opinion. Should be studied cause it originally was made so damn fast.

[GotGame818]

That could be achieved now, if resolution were scaled back.

[Profchaos]

I hope not uncanny valley makes me a bit cautious I recall seeing that gameplay of the warehouse shootout in ue5 that looked like a found footage style police chase when he shot the perp at the end I was like this is to far we need to turn it around a little I've never felt like a game crossed the line and I've enjoyed the most over the top murder Sims out there like manhunt but this was a line I didn't want to see us go over.

For me I'd rather see studios invest in technology and resources to bring down game creation times to more manageable levels instead of decade long developments that are becoming common

[Abear21]

The gaming developers and investors want the safe bet so I’m fully expecting the next gen to be more of the same, a bunch of remasters and remakes (at 4K w some Ray Tracing) shoved down our throats.

Approach is a word drenched in pessimism, who cares if things look realistic when we are still playing them on a 2d surface, there’s only so much graphics can do for immersion. I’d take a smaller but fully realized environment with lots of interaction and conversation with different outcomes over another Cyberpunk or GTA. Although I’m very excited to see the next GTA as this will hopefully be the new high water mark for detailed environments but actually fun to play.

[DivineHand125]

It's a real shame naughty dog has remained dormant this generation. Uncharted 4 and the last of us part 2 are still some of the most graphically advanced games on the market. When I was playing through them a visitor asked me "what movie is this?" They were shocked to learn it was a video game.

One thing I would like to see more than photo realism is the evolution of game mechanics and story telling. These days it feels like we are playing the same game in each genre with a different skin. In addition to that, the story telling in most of these games are very basic.

[Pyrofire95]

Doesn't need to

[EazyC]

I've really been thinking about how great the PS2/PS3 era was recently. An amazing time for innovation in videogames.

I would 100% go back to games looking like that if it meant we got more frequent games, by a big range of developers, with more focus on story and good mechanics.

Chasing photorealism is "barking up the wrong tree" in my opinion.

[BlackDoomAx]

Just give me stable 60fps for all games.

[bRuud83]

Yes without upscaling from 720P or lower to a blurry 4K resolution.

[Kosic]

If PC graphics aren't all photo realistic...why would a console do it?

[on_line_forever]

Why we enjoyed PS2 & PS1 games more than currently games ?

The answer is : passion & quality