The launch was confirmed in the annual business segment report and fireside chat in late June this year.PlayStation 6 development planLater, Sony and AMD jointly revealed the next-generation PlayStation graphics technology development plan, which will be code-named "Project Amethyst". This collaboration will not only form the technical foundation of the next-generation console, but also represent a major innovation in AMD's GPU architecture.
In a new video, PlayStation hardware chief architect Mark Cerny and AMD senior vice president of computing and graphics Jack Huynh revealed the research and development direction of "Project Amethyst," aiming to radically improve ray tracing and path tracing performance while increasing AI upscaling and graphics rendering efficiency.
Project Amethyst: The prototype of the next-generation PlayStation GPU
Mark Cerny pointed out in the video that these technologies are still "only in the simulation stage", but the core of the design has clearly pointed to three key points: more efficient ray tracing calculations, AI-driven upscaling technology, and a more flexible graphics compression architecture.
This collaboration continues the close relationship between Sony and AMD that dates back to the PlayStation 4 era. It will create a new GPU architecture for the next-generation PlayStation, which will also be used simultaneously in AMD's upcoming Radeon graphics card products.
AMD's new weapons: Neural Arrays and Radiance Cores
AMD's GPUs have long lagged behind NVIDIA's RTX architecture in ray tracing performance. Jack Huynh admitted that the previous strategy of relying solely on traditional computing power is no longer effective. "Simply relying on brute force computing power cannot effectively expand ray tracing performance." Therefore, AMD will focus on two new design breakthroughs:
• Neural ArraysThis architecture allows the GPU's computing units to share data and work together. Unlike traditional independent computing designs, the new architecture can simultaneously process "large areas on the screen," thereby improving the performance of AI upscaling and ray regeneration.
Radiance Cores: AMD introduces dedicated ray tracing units, similar to NVIDIA's RT Cores. These hardware modules handle ray and path tracing calculations, freeing up other GPU units for faster shading and texturing.
Jack Huynh pointed out that this will be "the beginning of AMD's new rendering architecture," allowing the new generation of GPUs to leap forward in both efficiency and picture performance.
Universal Compression: Graphics Pipeline Full Compression
In addition to hardware innovation, Sony and AMD also developed a new technology called "Universal Compression".
This technology builds on the Delta Color Compression technology used in the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro. It compresses all data in the GPU pipeline, reducing memory bandwidth requirements and lowering power consumption. If successfully implemented, it will further improve image quality and performance without increasing power consumption or cost.
Next-generation PlayStation: A comprehensive upgrade from efficiency to immersion
Although Mark Cerny emphasized that it is still in the early stages of development, "Project Amethyst" will demonstrate Sony and AMD's clear vision for the future gaming experience.
Through AI-driven upscaling technology and a new ray tracing architecture, future PlayStations will be able to achieve near-cinematic global illumination and reflections with lower resources. This also means that next-generation gaming will no longer be a competition of resolution or frame rate, but will move towards a comprehensive and immersive experience of "realistic lighting and shadows."
Starting with PlayStation 5, Sony has gradually introduced machine learning and real-time rendering technologies into its consoles. Now, through the further development of "Project Amethyst", the next-generation PlayStation will not only be more powerful, but will also achieve an unprecedented balance between graphics science and gaming art.
