The PS5 SSD storage system is fast – that much is clear from the focus being put on it by Sony during its piecemeal console reveal, and the feedback developers of upcoming PlayStation 5 games have already stated.
But according to Epic, the team behind the Unreal Engine (and its forthcoming update, Unreal Engine 5), the framework many games are built upon, that storage solution is so speedy that it's in fact altered the way they make the tools that games are made with.
"The ability to stream in content at extreme speeds enables developers to create denser and more detailed environments, changing how we think about streaming content. It’s so impactful that we’ve rewritten our core I/O subsystems for Unreal Engine with the PlayStation 5 in mind," Epic’s VP of engineering, Nick Penwarden said to VG247.
- Best PS4 games: the most essential PlayStation 4 releases
- PS5 vs Xbox Series X: what we know so far
- Xbox Series X: all the games rumored and confirmed
Faster than Xbox Series X?
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has clarified that both the PS5 and Xbox Series X will both benefit from the advances made in relation to the PS5 tweaks, but Sony's console seem to have a clear advantage here.
Though both machines make use of NVMe SSDs, Sony's PS5 system's bespoke solution matches, and even outclasses, top of the line SSDs offered to consumers today.
The Xbox Series X however, has more raw horsepower under the hood, particularly in terms of CPU power. How this will balance out in terms of game experiences across both remains to be seen, but the strengths and weaknesses of both consoles are certainly not identical.
