PlayStation 5 Size Is Because Of The Large Cooling Fan

There’s a ton of anticipation this year for the video game industry. Before 2020 even hit we knew that this would be the year that both Sony and Microsoft would be launching their next-generation platforms into the marketplace. However, after 2020 hit there was some uncertainty that we would see the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X hit the market because of the coronavirus health pandemic outbreak. We, of course, know now that both companies will have the consoles out into the market despite the virus outbreak and fans can prepare for the launch of both platforms next month. 

When we first saw both console platforms, it was clear that these will be two hefty units. Coming in larger than the last-generation platforms, you may need to clear off some room of your entertainment stands to properly hold these consoles. The PlayStation 5 in particular has a unique shape that may have swayed some players away with the design Sony opted with. Unfortunately, the design wasn’t done purely for aesthetics as the company needed to make the PlayStation 5 larger for one particular element.

According to an engineer that spoke with Nikkei Xtech, the PlayStation 5 is large purely because of the large cooling fan that Sony went with to cool the unit down. It’s been reported that the console runs quietly which may be surprising for how large the fan is. In fact, we already know what the fan looks like and how large it is thanks to the teardown video that Sony released the PlayStation 5 this month. 

According to the report, Sony may have had a smaller console overall if they went with two smaller fans. These fans would have been fixated on each side of the PlayStation 5, however, that would have likely made the consoles more costly to produce. The engineer stated that Sony wanted to stick with one large fan which would be powerful enough to cool the entire PlayStation 5. Of course, these consoles usually will have revisions over the next couple of years which may see the unit shrink down in size, but only time will tell.

Source: VGC