AMD in "hush-hush effort" to put graphics chip in PS4

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 23 February, 2012

Yet-to-be-announced collaboration "under way".

The PlayStation 4 will be powered by a new AMD chip, according to a report.

In a profile piece on AMD's new CEO Rory Read, Forbes claimed work on the unannounced collaboration between the two companies is under way.

"It's Read's job to make sure AMD doesn't screw up its slate of new products," Forbes said, "which includes a hush-hush-effort to put its graphics chips in Sony's still-unannounced new game console - and shake off the once scrappy company's years-long funk."

Forbes notes that AMD already provides the graphics technology inside the Xbox 360 (with the Xenos, a custom GPU). Graphics rival Nvidia, though, powers the PS3 (with the RSX 'Reality Synthesizer'). This deal will "potentially unseat" Nvidia, Forbes said.

Both AMD and Sony refused to comment on the report, which was based on information provided to Forbes by "former AMD employees".

Sony has repeatedly insisted the PS3 is "just getting into its stride" some five years into its life cycle.

But that hasn't stopped the emergence of PS4-related reports ahead of a possible unveiling at E3 in June.

Late last year Edge claimed a first-party Sony studio had ceased PS3 development and moved onto PS4 development. The unnamed developer is also apparently involved in building the graphics technology for Sony's next system. It then said Guerrilla Games was making a new Killzone game - for PlayStation 4?

And what of Uncharted developer Naughty Dog? Its new game The Last of Us is a PS3 release, but will Uncharted 4 launch on PS4?

This year new Sony boss Kaz Hirai went on the record to say the Japanese company would not announce a new home console at E3 - comments backed up by Sony Computer Entertainment America chief Jack Tretton, who said last week he would be "very distracted" by a PS4 announcement this year.

Eurogamer asked Sony Computer Entertainment UK & Ireland MD Fergal Gara about the PS4 at Tuesday's midnight launch of PS Vita.

Will the PS4 be announced at E3?

His response: "No idea. I think Kaz has said you won't be seeing it. PS3 is alive and well and PS3 gets its best accessory this year: the PS Vita. So long live PS3."

While Sony continues to push the PS3, it is well aware of the need to avoid being beaten to market yet again by its rivals.

Having given Microsoft a year's head start in the current generation, PlayStation Europe boss Jim Ryan told Eurogamer it would be "undesirable" for PS4 to repeat that for the next-generation.

Ryan, who stepped up to the SCEE top job in the summer, said: "I think we would consider it undesirable to be significantly later than the competition [with the next PlayStation]."

With Wii U out this year and Microsoft expected to reveal the next Xbox at E3 amid suggestions that a number of studios are already making games for a 2013 launch, Sony's next move is set to come under even more scrutiny.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 3 months ago

    It's becoming pretty likely that the new Xbox will be revealed, and I doubt Sony would want Microsoft to get the jump on them a second time...plus I've never believed the "no reveal" line ever since Nintendo claimed there was no new DS iteration coming about 4 days before announcing the DS Lite.

  • TazerFan #2 3 months ago

    Uh.

    "The PlayStation 4 will be powered by a new AMD chip, according to a report."

    "It's Read's job to make sure AMD doesn't screw up its slate of new products," Forbes said, "which includes a hush-hush-effort to put its graphics chips in Sony's still-unannounced new game console."

    Fuck's sake, EG. "Will be powered" seems to imply it's a sure thing, whereas a "hush hush effort" means AMD is pitching Sony just like every other GFX chip manufacturer. I really do not understand what happened to the journalistic integrity of this site. It really is okay to wait to report the news until it's actually news, by the way.

  • frunk #3 3 months ago

    Well in the Graphics stakes just now AMD is killing NVidia with its new 28nm GCN Architecture. It is optomised for running general purpose code as well as graphics. It also ticks all the 3D and 4K boxes too.

    You see - it is not "just a graphics chip" anymore. Those new AMD chips are closer to a Cell CPU than a Graphics chip. So with some support hardware (a few cores of proper general purpose CPU) Sony could make a killer console at pretty low cost.

    Nice talk - means Sony is still chasing the heart of the hardcore gamer and is not sitting content with current tech.

  • Spong #4 3 months ago

    @TazerFan
    You seemed to ignore the "according to a report" part of that statement. That absolves any implication of certainty on EG's part. At least that's how it reads to me.

  • Porcupine_I #5 3 months ago

    Just make sure it's better then the new XBOX one, Sony!

  • bodhi85uk #6 3 months ago

    Would be interesting if the next Playstation and XBox had virtually identical GPUs.

    Would seem like a deliberate choice to make both consoles performance nearly identical and so hopefully reduce the number of half assed, sub-HD resolution ports the PS3 got in its lifetime

  • RodHull #7 3 months ago

    Intriguing. I'd be surprised if Microsoft don't partner with AMD for their next console as this has been the area where the 360 has been arguably most successful.

    The biggest question for me over the design specs for the PS4 will be which CPU sits at it's heart. Will they persevere with the Cell which whilst a very clever piece of silicon has hardly set the world alight in the way Sony et al promised. Or will they work with the likes of AMD, Intel or IBM to opt for a lower cost off the shelf solution? Games are so good at the minute that I'm not ready for a new gen but its jolly difficult to not get swept away in the waves of hype.

  • danhese007 #8 3 months ago

    I think Sony should stay with Nvidia as long as they use a Kepler or Maxwell based GPU in a 28nm/22nm die size with at least 4GB Shared RAM. A 28nm or 22nm CELL 2 processor will ensure complete backwards compatibility with PS3, PS2, PS1 and PS Mini games while keeping power usage down.

    Developers are already some worth familiar with the CELL architecture but most relied on the weak RSX GPU, but if you give them a potent GPU this time as well as a powerful CELL 2 with enough RAM a lot of developers who create shoddy PS3 games will shine but also allow developers who know how to make the CELL scream (Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games, Santa Monica Studio, Quantic Dream, Kojima Productions etc) create ground breaking games.
    Edited by danhese007 at 23/02/12 @ 09:03

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #9 3 months ago

    They'd love the triple, wouldn't they.

  • Eraserhead #10 3 months ago

    TazerFan is exactly right, this is a non-story. The report (or actually article) merely states that AMD is trying to get its hardware into the PS4 - so no surprise there. EG's "story" wilfully or accidentally turns this into "Hey, the PS4 will definitely most certainly have an AMD chip in it, says this guy!"

  • BritishBlue1 #11 3 months ago

    Just stuff as much RAM as you can in there and, for gods sake, make sure it has more of it than it's xbox rival.

  • Dave #12 3 months ago

    @TazerFan To me, a hush-hush effort sounds like they quickly need to get plants ready to start manufacturing in order to be ready for a launch next year.

    After what I've read so far about the new PS and Xbox, it feels like Sony is once again a step behind Microsoft. The news about MS seems to be coming in steadily with a sense of "they've been working on it for some time now". Whereas the Sony news seems to have a undertone like "Ow shit, we need to get ready!"

    I really wonder how it all will turn out.

    And Uncharted 4? Really? I hope not. I really liked 1, 2 is one of the best PS3 games I've played, but by number 3 I thought it was enough.

  • DrStrangelove #13 3 months ago

    What's all this PS4 talk about? The PS3 is just hitting its stride.

  • djkav #14 3 months ago

    If Sony had any sense, they would ditch the Cell in the PS4. Every other company involved in the Cell has ditched it already. Its only Sony using it. Its better for developers if they go back to a traditional CPU like everyone else. The Cell looked great on paper, but failed to live up to the hype.

    Who to choose for graphics, is a close call.

  • Dave52 #15 3 months ago

    @frunk - Spot on.

  • Chibi-Kibou #16 3 months ago

    I swear, is the PS4 even a viable business move?

    It probably isn't going to be cheap, and they just launched an anything but cheap portable console. Everyone that bought that will be hoping for their development emphasis on the Vita, and many will be either unwilling or unable to shell out for another new console in the near future.

    Meanwhile, anyone that didn't buy a Vita.. well, a fair measure of them have a pretty low likelihood of fancying a PS4 either I'd say, given present economic conditions raising the likelihood of the reason for their not buying being at least somewhat financial.
    Edited by Chibi-Kibou at 23/02/12 @ 17:31

  • Architect_z #17 3 months ago

    I can't wait for the next console war. Videos of argueing kids defending their consoles to the death. Brilliant. ^_^

  • roz123 #18 3 months ago

    If Sony ditch Cell would they loose backwards compatibility?

    I don't think having the best graphics matters so much, a console needs big exclusives and good services these days.

  • Nodka #19 3 months ago

    If it is AMD then that is good news, it will be better for multi-platform games targeting AMD GPU's, fewer issues on PS4 games.

  • Bagpuss #20 3 months ago

    Well, with a change of GPU manufacturer, you can kiss goodbye to any hope of PS3 games being able to run on PS4.

    Not that we didn't know this anyway, given the money to be made releasing old games in a remastered format on new hardware.

  • orangpelupa #21 3 months ago

    if PS4 use AMD...

    then next gen console gaming dominated by AMD?
    corrently amd is inside Xbox 360 and will be in Wii U

  • vizzini #22 3 months ago

    @djkav

    The Cell BE is still an awesome CPU even compared to the very latest intel i7 CPUs today, go check the folding@home contribution figures in the Stanford project on your Playstation 3's Life with Playstation.

    Iirc the Playstation provides about 1/4 of the total cores that PCs do to the project, yet provides 4 times the amount of x86 float point work done.

    I personally think the only way an AMD chip will be in the next Playstation is either as a work scheduling PPU styled CPU (like IBM used with Cells for the world's fastest super computer for some years in the late naughties) to work along side an array of Cells, or as a simple GPU for doing fixed path tasks really fast such as hardware accelerated z-buffering.

  • Srift #23 3 months ago

    Look forward to hearing whats being done or any surprises at E3. I have faith in Sony ever since ps one.

  • theonlyix #24 3 months ago

    NextBox will be revealed, perhaps even sold this year or early 2013, mark my word!
    It just fits the MS studios production cycle too well. They cant have any "gaps".

    Havent you wondered why so many MS games have the same production cycles and release windows.....

  • Snake_2011 #25 3 months ago

    I rekon it will be a intel chip myself.

  • Snake_2011 #26 3 months ago

    roz123 that is one of the main things the PS3 has great games & great FREE service.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #27 3 months ago

    @TazerFan

    ffs - Chill out mate, nobody reading this article is under any illusion that it's the truth.

    Nothing wrong with a bit of hype and/or speculation in the run-up to new hardware imo. I love it tbh.

  • coomber #28 3 months ago

    Ryan, who stepped up to the SCEE top job in the summer, said: "I think we would consider it undesirable to be significantly later than the competition [with the next PlayStation]."

    Understatement of the day! This generation confirmed gaming's all about online play with your mates for the vast majority. if your friend has got an Xbox you'll buy one to play with him - regardless of whether it's as good as a PlayStation.

    Unfortunately, this means the current gen will be killed off early as Microsoft rushes another half-arsed product out of the door, no doubt. I hope I'm wrong.

  • BonzoBanana #29 3 months ago

    Xbox 360 is compatible with Xbox games despite the 360 having a ATI GPU and the original Xbox having a Nvidia chipset. As long as the Console is powerful enough it should be possible graphically for the PS4 to run PS3 graphics. Unfortunately emulating the PS3 is much harder than 360. The PS3 is overly complex in other areas like the cell chip.

    From what I've read previously Nvidia are not a good company to deal with, in fact best avoided and thats probably more important than anything else. So not surprised Sony will be switching to AMD/ATI.

  • Alestes #30 3 months ago

    Wouldn't be surprised if this is true, infact, I guessed it would happen in years ago when the first PS4 hardware speculation threads started to pop up in various forums.

    Simply because Nvidia is not a good business partner. I don't really remember the exact details, but I remember reading back in 2005 or so that Microsoft wasn't pleased about their Nvidia partnership regarding the first Xbox at all.

    The Nvidia RSX on the PS3 was more or less an afterthought from Sony too. An "oh shit, the Cell CPU isn't nearly as almighty as we expected it to be, we need to slap on a graphic chip too, NOW!" moment.

  • JumpinJackFlash #31 3 months ago

    A lot of gamers dreaming on here for hardware they are never going to get...
    Edited by JumpinJackFlash at 23/02/12 @ 13:59

  • FatalHybrid #32 3 months ago

    @coomber Rushes? Xbox 360 is 7 years old.. Previous generations only kept their hardware current for 5 years before replacing it with something more powerful. Xbox 360 has overstayed its welcome for 2 years longer than normal.. Microsoft are not rushing.

  • TazerFan #33 3 months ago

    @Spong

    Wrong. They then go into detail on the report, in which there is no assertion that it "will" happen.

  • TazerFan #34 3 months ago

    @TheEarlOfZinger

    You chill out, it's the comments section of an article. For us to, you know, comment on the article.

  • juliankennedy23 #35 3 months ago

    "which includes a hush-hush-effort to put its graphics chips in Sony's still-unannounced new game console"

    little unclear on the meaning of hush hush me thinks

  • FladgeMangle #36 3 months ago

    @Alestes

    I agree, but just to be picky, I think what happened was that Sony realized they couldn't afford to put TWO cell chips in the PS3 and had to find a last minute replacement for one of them.