PS5 could be Sony's most eco-friendly console to date

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According to CEO Jim Ryan

(Image credit: Sony)

In an effort to work towards sustainable gaming, Sony has revealed the PS5 will be much more energy efficient than its predecessor, the PS4.

Jim Ryan, Sony president and CEO, announced in a post on the PlayStation Blog that the PS5 has a gameplay suspension feature that uses less energy than the PS4 - with Ryan estimating that the PS5's consumption can be achieved at 0.5 watts.

Sustainable gaming

"The next-generation PlayStation console will include the possibility to suspend gameplay with much lower power consumption than PS4," Ryan wrote in the blog. "If just one million users enable this feature, it would save equivalent to the average electricity use of 1,000 US homes."

This is part of a sustainability drive by Sony that sees the company joining other leaders in the gaming industry to "make formal commitments to contribute to the efforts of the UN Environment committee through a new partnership, the Playing for the Planet alliance". 

This drive not only sees next-generation hardware affected, but will impact the game's Sony considers bringing to its platform.

"Our commitments are not only related to hardware and operations, we are also keen to help inform people interested in sustainability goals," Ryan writes. "We have committed to working with the industry and climate experts to develop reference information for use by game developers that wish to include sustainability themes in games. In addition, we will investigate potential PS VR applications that can raise awareness of climate issues and climate experts."

Vic Hood
Freelance writer

An award-winning games journalist, with seven years of experience in games journalism and a degree in journalism from City University, London, Vic brings experience from IGN, Eurogamer, The Telegraph, VG247, Dot Esports and more to the TechRadar table. You may have even heard her on the radio or speaking on a panel, as she’s previously appeared on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5, BBC Radio Ulster and more. Not only is Vic passionate about games, but she's appeared on both panels and podcasts to discuss mental health awareness. Make sure to follow her on Twitter for more.