Near-instant PlayStation 5 load times showcased in new video

PlayStation previously bragged that its next-generation console (commonly referred to as the PS5, though it has not been officially named) could almost eliminate load times entirely thanks to a custom solid-state drive (SSD). That was a big claim and it's easy to be skeptical when you aren't shown any proof, but now a new video has surfaced showcasing these load times in action — and Sony wasn't kidding.

The Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki tweeted out a video that he described as Sony's official video comparing the PlayStation 4 Pro and next-generation PlayStation.

A still frame from this video appears to have been used in Sony's IR Day 2019 presentation. This confirms earlier reports in an exclusive interview with Wired where console architect Mark Cerny demonstrated that the next-gen system could load a fast travel sequence in Spider-Man in less than one second, whereas the PS4 Pro version took nearly 15 seconds for the same fast travel sequence (in the video above, the PS4 Pro version takes 8 seconds). This is all due to its custom SSD, an internal storage unit that is much faster than previously used hard disk drives (HDD).

Since the unnamed console is far from being released to the market, it's important to remember that anything can change. These load times are certainly impressive, but we won't know how well it performs for consumers under different circumstances with different games until we get our hands on it.