With talks of next-gen console hardware now afoot, both on the Xbox and Sony sides of things, conversations have started to spring up about the potential performance and fidelity improvements that will materialize with the likes of the PS6 and next-gen Xbox. Shuhei Yoshida, however, argued in a recent episode of the FPS podcast on the Skill Up YouTube channel that we are beyond the point where graphics and performance are the differentiating factor. Yoshida seems to suggest that Sony should pursue frame rates rather than graphical fidelity, "Graphics have almost hit the level that even I cannot tell the difference between some of the graphics capabilities, like ray-traced or not ray-traced, unless it's side by side, or higher frame rate," going on to say that higher graphical fidelity may have some continued niche appeal. The current-gen Sony PS5 and PS5 Pro both offer high framerate gameplay options, although those frame rate modes generally sacrifice some graphical fidelity in the process by dropping the resolution. An improvement in processing power on the PS5 may mean that these performance modes will no longer need to drop the image quality or resolution.

Current rumors suggest that the PS6 console launch could see an additional PlayStation 6 Portable handheld device launch alongside the living room console , a strategy that affirms Yoshida's position. The former Sony executive is confident that Sony's "new generation" management, which is led by 47-year-old CEO, Hideaki Nishino, is capable of pulling off the necessary innovations. Yoshida also touched on the Japanese game publishing scene during the interview, specifically mentioning that the indie publishing scene appears to be growing. The indie game industry has recently earned itself a reputation for eschewing high-resolution graphics, with a lot of indie titles garnering attention thanks to innovative game mechanics instead.