Sony announced back in May that the PlayStation 4 is now at the end of its lifecycle, and while its next console, the PlayStation 5, is still a little while off yet, gamers around the world are eagerly awaiting details on the upcoming console.
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While a lot of what we’ve heard so far is mostly analyst speculation, Sony CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida, recently confirmed that the company is indeed working on new hardware. In October, PlayStation head honcho Jim Ryan confirmed it’s called the PlayStation 5, sticking with the tried-and-true name that’s been with the consoles ever since the PS1 back in 1994.
To keep you updated on all things PS5, we’re gonna keep this yarn running with updates as they happen, but here’s what we know about the console so far.
What is the PlayStation 5 release date?
On October 9, 2019, Jim Ryan confirmed that the PlayStation 5 will be ready for release by the 2020 holiday season. While there’s no firm release date yet, the Christmas season in 2020 is at least a good window for expectations (and saving).
Sony’s John Kodera, told the Wall Street Journal that the company “will use the next three years to prepare the next step, to crouch down so that we can jump higher in the future.”
Then again, a report from SemiAccurate reckons PS5 dev kits are already being used by game developers, so it could be coming a lot sooner than anyone expects.
What will it be capable of?
There’s no official word on what kind of step up Sony’s next console will offer, but I’d wager it’ll be similar to the difference between the PS3 and PS4. Nothing insane, but noticeably improved. According to sources speaking with the Financial Times, the new console “might not represent a major departure from the PS4, and that the fundamental architecture would be similar.”
A better indication of what we could see in terms of graphical advances is this year’s Unreal Engine presentation in which Andy Serkis is recreated in 3D. It’s both amazing and terrifying at the same time. See it below.
Many of today’s games are built on the Unreal engine, so it’s a pretty good indicator of what to expect on next-gen hardware.
Along with the announcement of its name in October, Jim Ryan also gave us some more info on the new controller that’ll come with the PS5. It’s looking like they’re trading out the DualShock tech for a more responsive and reactive haptic feedback that imitates different activity through vibration (so a grenade exploding will feel different in your hands than say, laying a tackle on a football field).
The new controller will also have adaptive tech incorporated into the R1 and R2 triggers, that mimic the different kinds of tension in whatever you’ve got in your hands, whether it’s a bow and arrow or putting your foot down on the gas in a racecar.
Will it be called the PlayStation 5?
It’d be weird for PlayStation to give up its numbering conventions now, so yep, it’s called the PlayStation 5. If they were going to release a console under a different name, they’d probably do it with something more notable, given the PS5 probably won’t be an enormous step up in technology.
Will the PlayStation 5 have VR?
VR as a gaming platform has come a long way since it hit the mainstream and still has tremendous possibilities moving forward. Sony has invested pretty heavily in PSVR, particularly when it comes to amazing first-party games, so it would make sense for them to continue supporting it as a platform.
What that looks like in terms of the PS5 is hard to say, but it could involve some pretty exciting new hand tracking technology. Sony published a patent on October 11, 2018, that details a new VR headset which is capable of tracking the location of fingers, making controllers redundant in that setting.
It’s called Gaming Device With Rotatably Placed Cameras and describes a wearable device which is worn on the hands.
The method includes capturing images of a first hand using a plurality of cameras that are part of a wearable device. The wearable device is attached to a wrist of a second hand and the plurality of cameras of the wearable device is disposed around the wearable device. The method includes repeating capturing of additional images of the first hand, the images and the additional images captured to produce a stream of captured image data during a session of presenting the virtual environment in a head mounted display (HMD). The method includes sending the stream of captured image data to a computing device that is interfaced with the HMD. The computing device is configured to process the captured image data to identify changes in positions of the fingers of the first hand.
Considering this, I think it’s safe to say PSVR will continue with the PS5, but of course, it’s worth keeping in mind that just because something it patented, doesn’t mean it will necessarily eventuate.
What games will be on the PS5?
We don’t know a lot about the titles that will be released on the next-gen console yet, but we can have a fair guess based on what game developers have already announced. Here are some titles that have already been announced, but are still early in their development cycles, or have a reason for a re-release.
- Starfield
- Elder Scrolls VI
- GTA VI
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Fallout 76 (Bethesda has already said they’ll be supporting this forever, so it’s fair to expect a port)
- Beyond Good & Evil 2
How much will the PS5 cost?
This isn’t an easy question to answer, but we can look at what some experts reckon for an idea. American video game analyst, Michael Pachter, reckons the next bunch of consoles will be around the $500 mark.
“I don’t think next gen consoles will be $500. The PS3 launched at $600 and it flopped,” he said during a podcast. “The Xbox One launched at $500 and it didn’t work, they had to drop the Kinect and bring it to under $400 before it sold.”
It’s a safe bet, but we simply won’t know until close to an announcement.
When will we hear more about it?
It could be tomorrow, it could be next year. We’ll probably hear more before the end of the year, but the next big update will likely be in mid-2019 at or around the annual E3 convention in LA.
Will it still have physical release games?
The answer to this is probably yes, given physical releases are still pretty popular, but there will certainly be a push towards digital distribution by Sony. Microsoft recently announced Project xCloud, a streaming service which will allow gamers to play via almost any device, so it’s safe to say Sony will be looking to develop its own version of something similar.
I would say the option for physical release will still be there, but start getting used to the idea of it disappearing within the next 5 to 10 years.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the PlayStation 5, but we’ll keep this yarn stocked up with the latest information on the upcoming console.
Looking for info about the next-generation Xbox console? We got you covered, mate.
