Here’s everything we know about the PS5 so far.
The PS5 (or PlayStation 5) is Sony’s next-generation console, and its release date is coming in late 2020.
We’ve already seen the PS5 design, know all about the PS5 games line-up, which includes Horizon Forbidden West and a remake of Demon’s Souls, and know the console will sport a range impressive-sounding features such as ray-tracing, a super-fast SSD, a built-in 4K Blu-ray player and backwards compatibility with a huge swathe of the PS4’s game catalog.
So, while we still don’t have confirmation of the PS5 price or release date (though its rumored we’ll get details on this in August) we do know a lot about what to expect when the PlayStation 5 releases later this year.
For a start, the PS5 has a radically different look, with its space-age black-and-white color scheme marking a significant departure from its predecessors. But this futuristic next-gen console won’t be the only PS5 releasing this year, as Sony has revealed it will also be releasing the PS5 Digital Edition – a streamlined, digital-only console without a disc drive.
In addition, we now know quite a bit about the PS5 specs, thanks to Sony’s March reveal event. Lead system architect Mark Cerny provided us with a deep dive into the PS5’s system architecture, revealing the technical inner workings of the PS5. We’ll cover them in more detail down below, but the short of it is that the PS5 is rocking an AMD Zen 2-based CPU with 8 cores at 3.5GHz, 16GB of GDDR6 memory and a custom RDNA 2 AMD GPU that puts out 10.28 TFLOPs of processing power. So far, then, the PS5 is living up to the hype.
Want all the juicy details? Here’s everything we know about the PS5 so far – and what we hope will be revealed the closer we get to launch.
[UPDATE: Don’t expect any big PS5 announcements at Sony’s State of Play this week but we are expecting a PS5 price reveal this month. Read on to find out more.]
Sony has officially confirmed that the PS5 will release globally “in time for Holiday 2020”, so likely some time between October and December 2020 – putting it in direct competition with the Xbox Series X, which is releasing in the same window. A leak has suggested that the release date will be November 20,2020 but that’s yet to be confirmed.
However, this date would be in the right window, as we’re predicting the PS5 will release in November, 2020. November is historically when we’ve seen new PlayStation consoles launch and it would leave time before Christmas to get those orders in.
AMD, the tech giant that’s been commissioned to make the processor and graphics chips in both the PS5 and Xbox Series X next-gen consoles, is “ramping up production” to prepare for their respective launches, AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su confirmed in early May 2020. This timing too is also suggestive of a November launch window.
We’re expecting to find out the PlayStation 5’s official release date in the near future, with Sony rumored to reveal the release date in August alongside confirmation of the PS5 price.
Sony hasn’t confirmed the PS5 price yet, but analyst predictions have placed the PS5 price in the region of $499 / £449 / AU$749. Naturally this should be treated with skepticism, but it would be welcome news if the console did launch at this price, as it’s only $100 more than the launch price of the PS4 and PS4 Pro.
That’s considered to be the price for the standard version, however, and as Sony’s June 11 reveal event has shown us, there will be two PS5 consoles at launch: a standard PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition. That’s likely to come in lower, but we’re not sure by how much.
Last we heard, Sony hadn’t actually decided how much the next-gen console will cost. But, with Microsoft’s own Xbox Series X breathing down Sony’s neck, the generational competition is entering its most heated phase. If Sony was to announce the PS5 price and pre-order date first, they risk Microsoft working to undercut it at the last minute. The situation is also reversed, though, so this standoff is likely to continue for the time being.
The PS5 price wasn’t revealed during Sony’s June 11 event, but we weren’t expecting to see it there anyway, with rumors suggesting we’ll get a confirmed PS5 price sometime in August – however, we won’t get any pricing news during Sony’s State of Play event on August 6.
Even though we haven’t got a confirmed PS5 price yet, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s president and CEO Jim Ryan has hinted that a PS5 price tag may be closer to being decided and that the PS5 might not have the ‘lowest price’ in battle against Xbox Series X
In a wide-ranging interview with GamesIndustryBiz, Ryan addressed speculation around the PS5 cost. While not revealing the price, Ryan suggested the PS5 price could be a significant hit on gamers’ savings, and certainly not committing to beating the Xbox Series X on price.
Speaking on whether the potential for a Covid-19-related recession will affect sales of the PS5, a high-value gadget, Ryan said:
“I think the best way that we can address this is by providing the best possible value proposition that we can. I don’t necessarily mean lowest price. Value is a combination of many things. In our area it means games, it means number of games, depth of games, breadth of games, quality of games, price of games… all of these things and how they avail themselves of the feature set of the platform.”
It could be a while before we get pricing confirmation – with rumors suggesting the PS5 price will be confirmed (and pre-orders set live) sometime in August. Historically we’ve seen both companies reveal their console pricing around June or July, but this time things are a bit different. The hot topic of pricing has many on the edge of their seats, as we see just how powerful the PS5 and Xbox Series are, and wonder how expensive the technology will be.
It seems like we’re currently in something of a standoff, with both companies waiting to see what the other will price its next-gen hardware at. It looks like Sony and Microsoft will be waiting until the last possible moment to set their pricing, with plenty of time before then to make adjustments. Still, enough time will need to be set aside before the consoles release between October and December for people to get those pre-orders in.
The PS5 design was officially revealed on June 11,2020. This image above is what the console looks like.
When it came to the reveal of the console itself, Sony nailed it – the icing on the PS5 games reveal event, and with a few surprises in store too. Not one, but two PlayStation 5 consoles will launch – a standard edition with a 4K Blu-Ray disc drive, and a slimmer, disc-free PS5 Digital Edition (read more on this below).
Both make use of USB-C charging for their controllers, and can make use of a HD camera accessory, alongside a new PS5 wireless headset and media remote. The consoles themselves feature a striking design that’s sure to split opinion.
A curvy mixture of black and white plastics with blue highlight lighting, it’s far removed from the ‘black box’ designs of previous PlayStation consoles. What was not revealed however, were pricing and precise availability, which remain a mystery beyond the aforementioned “Holiday 2020” window.
In addition, Sony has said that the PS5 UI will be getting “a 100% overhaul of the PS4 UI” – which will be revealed soon.
Here are some shots of the PS5 design:
In addition to what the PS5 looks like, we also know a fair bit about the PS5 specs. Sony lifted the hood on the PlayStation 5 during its first official PS5 reveal event in March, giving us an idea of what the new PlayStation is packing under the hood – so make sure you check out our PS5 spec analysis.
