- By Prateek Levi
- Fri, 18 Jul 2025 05:02 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Sony's PlayStation 5 is in the firing line again as fears mount over its capacity to handle next-gen gaming. In the spotlight now is Death Stranding 2 — a highly anticipated PS5 exclusive title — that recently caused overheating alerts on the console. With Rockstar's GTA 6 looming on the horizon, many are beginning to question whether the PS5 is indeed ready for what lies ahead.
Death Stranding 2 Ignites PS5 Overheating Concerns
Gamers entering Death Stranding 2 have been noting that the PS5 is heating up significantly, particularly while employing the in-game map. Even brand-new consoles in like-new condition — clean and straight from the box — are experiencing fan speed increases and warning notifications popping up. Some have observed this during normal gameplay as well, albeit not as persistently.
But this is not the only example. The same overheating issues have also arisen with similarly graphically demanding games such as Black Myth: Wukong and Final Fantasy XVI. These trends imply that the PS5 may be approaching its thermal and performance thresholds when playing the most ambitious games available today.
GTA 6 May Test PS5 Limits
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto VI will be one of the most technically demanding games of the decade. With its very dense open world, complex AI, and photorealistic graphics, GTA 6 might strain the PS5 to its limits. Earlier GTA titles were already pushing hardware — GTA 5 was capped at 30 FPS on PS4, while GTA 4 had issues with frame drops on the PS3. Red Dead Redemption 2, the other huge open-world title from Rockstar, still has a 30 FPS cap on the latest generation consoles.
Image Credits: Rockstar Games
Even the speculated PS5 Pro might not quite fit the silver bullet some fans were imagining. As knowledgeable insiders such as Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter explain, the Pro version of the PS5 should have the same CPU as the standard PS5 — and it's the CPU, not the GPU, that is currently bogging down on these next-gen simulations. That leaves frame rates even at increased graphical settings remaining at 30 FPS.
A Tipping Point for Console Gaming?
Yes, most gamers can live with 30 FPS, but put that together with cut-down texture detail and lower resolution, and the overall picture may pay the price. Death Stranding 2's heat problems are an early warning sign — a hint that forthcoming AAA titles such as GTA 6 could require more than what the existing PS5 is happy to supply.
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This has raised a question on a larger scale: can the PS5 really cope with what's coming next, or are trade-offs and compromises now unavoidable as the threshold of gaming realism keeps growing?
