By And it genuinely does lessen power consumption
- by Sammy Barker
Demon’s Souls, the PS5 launch remake, has received an update to take advantage of Sony’s latest power-saving feature.
For those not in the loop, the power-saving switch was introduced to the new-generation console in a recent firmware enhancement.
It has been promoted as part of PlayStation’s ongoing dedication to reducing energy usage, although some speculate it may also serve as a stealth trial for the company’s purported handheld device.
Regardless, we evaluated the new profile in Bluepoint’s rendition of the PS3 classic, and it reduces the framerate to 30fps. Image clarity is also diminished, with the game operating at a significantly lower resolution.
The main point here is that power consumption diminishes notably; on a launch version PS5 we measured a drop from around ~230W to below ~100W – indicating a substantial difference.
Clearly, that’s still far from the 25W or so needed for a handheld, but numerous efficiencies in an actual portable device could assist in closing that gap. It’s certainly intriguing information.
Unless you’re genuinely aiming to help the planet, however, we wouldn’t advise utilizing this power-saving setting when you intend to play Demon’s Souls.
While the game is entirely playable in this mode, it’s significantly superior at 60fps in 4K, and we remain somewhat skeptical that the power savings (although notable) justify the downgrade.
According to our estimates, if you took approximately 50 hours to complete Demon’s Souls, you’d save around $1 in energy costs during your playthrough by opting for the lower-spec feature. It’s not insignificant, but it’s not particularly exciting either.
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy boasts over 15 years of experience analyzing the PlayStation landscape, spanning from PS3 through PS5 and everything in the middle. He’s a specialist in PS Studios and industry topics, as well as sports titles and simulators. He also relishes RPGs when he finds the time to invest in them, and has a tendency to be a bit of a gacha whale.