PS5 games could run at lower resolutions, as Sony reportedly prepares devs for PS6 handheld

The new PS5 power saver mode may be about more than just conserving energy. Moore’s Law Is Dead has spoken to developers who see it as a way to ready titles for the rumored PS6 handheld. Lowering the resolution of games is one way to achieve acceptable performance on the device. However, not all devs view this optimization as a priority.

Moore’s Law Is Dead claims to have seen emails from Sony sent to several studios. He has also spoken to developers, some of whom describe the company as becoming increasingly annoyed. PlayStation is now urgent to convince more game-makers to embrace the lower-power initiative.

Instead of capping frame rates below 60 fps, the Japanese gaming giant prefers that PS5 games run at lower resolutions. The YouTuber thinks that this is evidence that its focus is on the PS6 handheld, codenamed Canis. On a portable device, buyers may accept native 1080p, as with the Nintendo Switch 2. Upscaling can improve image quality, but choppy 30 fps visuals are often less desirable.

How else devs can prep for the PS6 handheld

Another request from Sony is for developers to further tweak the CPU usage of their titles. Leaks show the Canis with four potent Zen 6 cores and two lower-power Zen 6 cores devoted to its OS. While the chip should compare favorably to the PS5’s hardware, the handheld’s power limits still pose a challenge. To aid coders, PlayStation recommends the Razor utility. The software can identify CPU bottlenecks and aid with optimization efforts.

The future PlayStation handheld will likely offer backward compatibility with most PS5 games. Still, unless developers update their titles, performance could suffer. As MLID points out, some studios may no longer exist by the time the PS6 handheld release date arrives.

The YouTuber is convinced about the intent of the PS5 power saver mode. He concludes that the option is a “Trojan Horse for getting PS6 Handheld support ready before its launch.” Nevertheless, without an official Canis announcement, fans hope that the quality of games doesn’t suffer in the meantime.