Sony is committing to lowering the power consumption of its next-generation PlayStation — at least in suspend mode — in an effort to save more electricity.
In a statement from Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan on the PlayStation Blog, the company announced that the “next generation PlayStation console will include the possibility to suspend gameplay with much lower power consumption than PS4 (which we estimate can be achieved at around 0.5 W). If just one million users enable this feature, it would save equivalent to the average electricity use of 1,000 US homes.”
While it remains to be seen how much electricity the next PlayStation console will consume during normal play, a next-gen console that draws less power much of the time sounds like good news.
But Sony’s not the only game company that has signed on to the Playing for the Planet Alliance, a partnership through which gaming corporations have made commitments to reduce carbon emissions, reduce waste, and otherwise reduce their impact on the planet. Microsoft has also committed to making “825,000 Xbox consoles carbon neutral,” while cutting emissions as part of its manufacturing and delivery processes.
Other companies participating in the Playing for the Planet Alliance include Ubisoft, Supercell, Google Stadia, Green Man Gaming, Twitch, and Niantic. More details on those efforts are at the Alliance’s official website.
Sony and the Alliance’s efforts are well appreciated, and we hope that improved technological infrastructure and efficiency can help these machines we pulled out of the planet lessen our need to pull more out of it. It’s never a bad time to start caring for the environment.