Don’t underestimate the PS5 and Xbox Series X SSD, says Mortal Kombat creator

For all the talk of teraflops, ray-tracing technology and haptic-feedback controllers, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon says the true generational leap for the PS5 and Xbox Series X lies in the consoles’ SSDs.

Solid state drives are new to consoles but promise to revolutionize the popular pastime in a number of noticeable ways. Load times should be basically eliminated, and asset streaming will be far less intensive thanks to the speedy new drives. 

Sony, in particular, has focused heavily on how the PS5 SSD will transform next-gen titles, while Microsoft has arguably leaned on its superior technical specifications when compared to its rival.

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But it seems as though Boon, also Mortal Kombat 11’s creative director, believes gamers are overlooking the capabilities of SSDs. In an interview with Geoff Keighley as part of the Summer Game Fest show, Boon sang the praises of the next-gen consoles.

“I think people are underestimating the impact that the almost zero load time is going to have. It’s suddenly going to open doors that weren’t considered possible before. I think we haven’t even scratched the surface of what will eventually be done with those systems.”

Boon went on to say: “To me, the graphics are a given. Okay, the graphics are going to be better. But, this new way of handling memory and loading, and stuff like that, is going to be huge.”

A Boon for PS5

Boon also shared his thoughts on the recent Unreal Engine 5 tech demo, which was running on PS5, and admits he was impressed. “I was riveted watching the PlayStation 5 and Unreal Engine 5 demo going ‘that can’t be real, come on, that can’t be real.’”

Boon isn’t the first developer to praise the power of the SSD, with Sony themselves bullishly claiming that PS5 will be 100 times faster than PS4 thanks to the new drive. It’s the one area where the PS5 comes out on top when compared to the Xbox Series X, too, with Sony’s drive capable of much faster data transfer speeds than Microsoft’s SSD. 

While we still haven’t seen any PS5 games in action, the wait is becoming all the more excruciating as the information drip feed continues.

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Via CCN