PlayStation 5 features: Sony promises improved rest mode reducing power consumption to 0.5 watts

This month marks the start of massive climate change strikes and protests around the world, and Sony has also announced its plans to join the efforts of reducing carbon emissions. One way the company will do it is by issuing an update on its gaming console that can also be applied to the upcoming PlayStation 5.

Sony announces environment-friendly measures as PlayStation 5 launch looms

In previous years, modern gaming consoles were praised for being packed with the best hardware components and features at the time. But the much better gaming experience came with a not so energy-efficient result. The latter is a very important point to consider, especially with the fight to avert climate change becomes far more urgent by the time PlayStation 5 arrives in stores. Gaming consoles are being used for several hours straight while some players tend to leave them in standby or rest mode instead of completely shutting them off.

This week, Sony announced its collaboration with the United Nations Environment committee in launching the Playing for the Planet initiative. Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan reports that their efforts to design a more power-efficient PS4 allowed them to reduce its carbon emissions by around 16 million metric tons. But Sony’s environment-friendly plans extend for the next 10 years, meaning these initiatives should reflect on how they build the next-generation console that Ryan chose not to call the PlayStation 5.

PlayStation 5 features: Better rest mode for an energy-efficient console?

A report from the National Resources Defense Council in 2014 showed that the PS4 has a more energy-saving rest mode than the Xbox One. When on standby, the version of PS4 at the time consumes 8.4 watts versus Xbox One’s more than 15 watts. As Ryan reported, SIE has since deployed updates to improve PS4’s power consumption further. And the company is looking to exceed that in designing PlayStation 5.

Sony is still mum on the PlayStation 5 price range and release date, but the console is anticipated to be launched sometime in 2020. In that case, its architecture will play a crucial role for Sony to achieve its goal of further reducing its products’ carbon emissions to 29 million metric tons in the next 10 years.

With that, Ryan promised, “ The next-generation PlayStation console will include the possibility to suspend gameplay with much lower power consumption than PS4.” The much-improved rest mode on PlayStation 5 is planned to draw as little as 0.5W.