Report: PlayStation 5 may include a high-quality camera for game streamers

PlayStation may be betting big on streamers next generation.

What you need to know

• A new report indicates that the PlayStation 5 will include a camera.
• This is meant to draw in game streamers to Sony's platform.
• The camera on the PS5 devkit apparently uses "older technology."

Gizmodo is reporting that the next Xbox and PlayStation will include some type of camera thanks to the rise of game streaming on Twitch and YouTube. The outlet received photos from a tipster of what looked like the official Sony illustrations of the alleged PS5 devkit — apparently dubbed 'Prospero'. What makes Gizmodo believe their authenticity is that they received these photos months before the illustrations surfaced and were circulated.

Everything we know about the PlayStation 5 so far

In the report, Gizmodo notes that the tipster claims both Sony and Microsoft will include high-quality cameras in their next consoles.

Our tipster's most interesting series of claims concerned the cameras included with the PS5 prototype and Project Scarlett. Thanks to Twitch, YouTube, and even Microsoft's Mixer, video game streaming is a huge business right now. Lots and lots of people make money by streaming video of themselves playing games, sometimes for audiences of thousands of people. Consequently, high-quality camera support for consoles is practically required if Sony and Microsoft want to lure streamers to their platforms.

According to our tipster, Microsoft will make the camera a huge priority, while the Prospero kit uses older camera technology. (It's worth noting that what's in a development kit doesn't necessarily reflect what ships in a final product.)

This isn't a surprising move given that both consoles currently support USB cameras for game streaming, but the support isn't as advanced as it could be.

Alleged PS5 devkit illustration pulled from a government registry.

From what we already know about the PlayStation 5, it will support up to 8K resolution, 3D audio, ray tracing, and even come packed with an SSD for faster loading times. The CPU will be based on AMD's third generation Ryzen line, with eight cores of the new new 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture. And the GPU is a a custom variant of Radeon's Navi family. An official release date hasn't been revealed, but people are expecting it sometime next year in 2020.

Our pick

PlayStation 4 camera

$40 at Amazon

For PSVR and game streaming

The PlayStation 4 already supports USB cameras and has a built-in streaming feature, and the company even offers an official camera thanks to PSVR. Grab yourself a camera today.