PS5 architect Mark Cerny on game developers influencing hardware design

It all started with one simple idea. Or at least, that’s how Mark Cerny, the console’s lead system architect, puts it.

Wired has released a video explaining how Sony made the PS5 and explains why each part was selected and what they do to power the system. Beyond all the technical talk of graphics processing units (GPUs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and the computation behind real-time ray tracing, Cerny shines a light on the kinds of people who helped Sony prioritize what should (and shouldn’t) be included in the console.

Cerny starts by discussing his four-decade history as a game designer on titles such as Marble Madness And Crash Bandicoot, before shifting to a discussion of how Sony considered input from developers in designing the PS5’s hardware and software.

“It’s great to have worked with a lot of teams over the years, and understand a bit about what helps them and what just gets in their way,” Cerny says.

In its initial brainstorming session, Cerny’s team made a list of desired features for the PS5: all the features that didn’t make it into the PlayStation 4, plus a bunch of new ideas. In addition, there was a longer list of “all of the things that the game development community would like to see,” according to Cerny.

One example is an NVMe SSD that can read at least one GB per second. Cerny quotes Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney as saying that slow hard drives in older consoles were holding back developers. Sony decided to go for a much faster drive to give developers some headroom — the SSD in the final console is capable of reading raw data at 5.5 GB/s.

It’s a “pretty recent” phenomenon for hardware developers to bring software developers into the design process, according to Cerny. Cerny says that his personal desire to speak with developers is because he’s worked on game design.

“I’m looking for the developers that give me the hardest time, and the ones who really have strong opinions about what it is that they need to make the game that they’ve been dreaming of,” Cerny says. “Those are just brutal meetings to be in, but they’re good to have, because at the end of the day, you’re making a stronger console.”

Much of the video is fairly technical as Cerny breaks down the PS5 hardware part by part, but it’s a fascinating look into how the console design team actually went about building the latest generation of PlayStation consoles and its DualSense controllers.