Following the October 8 announcement from Sony about the PS5, here’s everything that we know about Sony’s upcoming console; from release date and rumored price point, to speculation surrounding the hardware.
With Sony keeping their cards close to their chest with regards to the specifics on the PS5, their recent announcement and spec reveal has teased fans of the PlayStation console into wanting more.
Fans and analysts alike continue to theorize about the upcoming console, so we’ve rounded-up all everything we know so far about the PlayStation 5.
The PS5 will be the likely successor to Sony’s popular PlayStation 4.
Sony confirm an approximate release for PS5
Thus far, Sony have only revealed that the PS5 is set to be released in the holiday season of 2020, but are yet to confirm a specific date.
Microsoft have revealed their hand, announcing that “Project Scarlett” will release in the holidays of 2020. With Sony deciding not to host a PlayStation conference at E3 2019, those loyal to the Japanese entertainment company were left eagerly awaiting a release date to rival Microsoft’s announcement, which was well-received on October 8.
Fans that had been concerned that the release of the PS5 would be delayed due to the on-going world health crisis, however, seemingly have nothing to fear. Sony have confirmed, to Bloomberg, that they are still on track for a Holiday 2020 and there shouldn’t be any “notable impact on the launch.”Sony, shockingly, didn’t appear at E3 2019…
Console hardware
While the PS4 Pro gives fans a taste of what 4K gaming could be, it’s widely expected that the ability to play games in native 4K will be a basic requirement of the PlayStation 5. Reports suggest that developers may already have received developer kits from Sony, which line-up with CD Projekt Red’s claims that Cyberpunk 2077 was being developed for both current and next generation consoles.
The PS5 will likely follow in the footsteps of the PS4 by utilizing PC components to improve performance. Furthermore, there was speculation that Sony may make the leap to digital-only media. Although, the aforementioned Wired article confirms that physical media will be still be accepted.
An overview of the specs are as follows:
- Backwards compatibility for PS4 games
- Supports 8K
- CPU based on AMD Ryzen, custom GPU based on AMD Radeon Navi and ray-tracing support
- SSD (17x faster load speeds showcased)
- Optical disc drive (supports 4K Blu-Ray)
- Supports PSVR & physical media.
CD Projekt Red have stated they are developing Cyberpunk 2077 for current and next-generation consoles.
Next-gen controller
In an interview with WIRED, Sony’s Mark Cerny revealed that the PS5 controller will feature “adaptive triggers” that will offer a spectrum of different resistances.
The controller will boast haptic feedback, which will be stretch the capabilities of the next DualShock model far beyond the current iteration, with highly programmable “voice-coil actuators” located in the left and right grips of the controller.
On November 30, an image was posted on Twitter by user The Drunk Cat, which appeared to show off the PS5 dev-kit that has been circulating for months, and also features what appears to be the new controller sitting on top of it.
PS5 anyone? pic.twitter.com/cBggZTIty4
— The Drunk Cat™ (@Alcoholikaust) November 30, 2019
Rumored price point
Given the overhaul that the next-gen PlayStation is receiving in terms of its specification, a hike in price point is only natural. Of course, Sony will be mass manufacturing the more expensive components, but even still, units are hypothesized to cost around $300-$350 to produce (for a 1TB model). With that in mind, a base model could come in at a price point within the region of $500.
Nonetheless, given the recent trend of introducing a ‘pro’ model into the line of consoles released, it’d be logical for Sony to offer a pro model to offset the cost of a base model. Hence encouraging more casual players to commit to the basic version, while more dedicated players might be allured by investing in the pro console.
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Rumors of a PS5 Pro?
The PS5 itself hasn’t even been announced, yet there are rumors of a PS5 Pro releasing alongside it at launch. This would be quite the shock given it was actually Microsoft who were discussing releasing a two consoles for their ninth generation console.
Whether these rumors are true or not is something only time will reveal. Nevertheless, there is speculation Sony couldn’t produce the powerful PS5 console at a low enough cost to keep the price tag under $500. This is important because there will be a lot of console gamers who just won’t pay more than that $500 figure.
It appears their solution to this has been to move what was the original PS5 into the PS5 Pro and offer a less powerful iteration as the base version. The rumor suggests the PS5 Pro would sell for $100 to $150 more than the base and could be as expensive as $600/650.
Will the PlayStation 5 be backwards compatible?
Like the Xbox One, PS4, and PS3, the PlayStation 5 will be backwards compatible with plenty of fan-favorite titles from recent years – and those that are celebrating anniversaries from previous decades.
Sony’s Mark Cerny has confirmed that the PlayStation 5 next-gen console will be backwards compatible with all PS4 titles, and says that it’s based on the “same architecture” as the previous console.
What’s more, PS4 games will be natively played but old console games (PS3, PS2 and PS1) may still only be available through the Playstation Store.
Furthermore, it was reported on May 29, 2020 that starting July 13, all PS4 games entered for certification must also be able to run on PlayStation 5. While some games such as The Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima were entered prior to the July 13 cut-off date, they will likely still be available on PS5 too, given the fact that they’re console exclusives.
It’s not yet guaranteed that other popular upcoming titles will be available on PS5, but it seems likely that most publishers and Sony will want to ensure their games are as widely accessible as possible.
What games will be released on PS5?
Neither Sony nor any developers have officially revealed any titles that we can expect to see at the launch of the PlayStation 5, though as mentioned above CD Projekt Red did mention that they are developing Cyberpunk 2077 for current and next-generation consoles.
With rumors suggesting that development kits are already out in the wild, it’s likely that games such as The Last of Us 2 will be released on both the PS4 and PS5. PS4 releases have been confirmed for both of these games.
We can be almost certain that GTA 6 will be appearing on the PS5 at some point but it has been recently speculated that it could even be exclusive for Sony’s next console.
There is also speculation that Hideo Kojima’s Death’s Stranding may also be among the list of games planned to released early in the PS5’s life cycle with Sony’s Mark Cerny hinting towards the possibility.
Last year Microsoft acquired many new studios, these included Ninja Theory, Obsidian Entertainment, Playground Games, and InXile Entertainment. PlayStation boss Shawn Layden revealed Sony is open to acquiring new studios, although they’re looking to have less, more polished games that suggests a quality over quantity approach.
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