Sony’s PlayStation 4 was released to the bulk of the world in late 2013, arriving on the Japanese market a few months later. While that might feel like six months ago, it means we’re approaching the games console’s four-year anniversary. We know the PlayStation 5 – the PS4’s successor – is coming, as Sony’s Shawn Layden confirmed it in an interview with German website Golem.de, but how long will you be expected to wait until its launch? And what kind of specifications are we expecting?
We’ve rounded up the best rumours on PS5 specifications and release dates, to give you a comprehensive guide to what you can expect from the PS5, and when you can expect it. We’ll keep on updating this page as and when we learn more about the PS5.
PlayStation 5 release date: When will it arrive?
There have been debates aplenty from analysts over the launch date of the PS5, with estimations ranging from 2018 to the fiendishly futuristic-sounding 2020s. Safe in the knowledge that a fifth-generation PlayStation is indeed in the works – as mentioned above, Sony bosses have confirmed it is “coming” – fans are now attempting to decode a loose timeline for the release.
If we cast our eyes back a few years, we know the initial PlayStation was brought out in 1994, a staggering 23 years ago. Fast-forward a few *decades* and 2013 saw the launch of the original PS4. Four years later still, and we’ve just seen the excellent (albeit not exactly revolutionary) PS4 Pro emerge. Our sister site Alphr reckons that, according to these time cycles, we’ll see the PS5 emerge in 2019 at the earliest, with 2020 looking like the more feasible release date for the fifth-generation PlayStation.
David Thong, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities who boasts good track record on PlayStation predictions, believes that we’ll see the PlayStation 5 rolled out in the second half of 2018. He’s one to keep an eye on, as he successfully predicted the launch of the PS4 Slim and the PS4 Pro, so his ostensibly dubious foresights shouldn’t be dismissed.
The principal flaw in Thong’s prediction remains, of course, that it’s unlikely Sony would unveil another flagship product so soon after the release of its PS4 Pro. We’re with Alphr on this one – like marriage or settling down to read Proust, if you’re waiting it out for the PS5, you’re in it for the long haul.
PlayStation 5 release date: What to expect?
Given the far-off release date, rumours circulating the PS5’s specifications aren’t exactly what you’d deem reliable. We can, however, make educated guesses. As the successor to the already excellent PS4 Pro, we can safely assert that Sony will need to roll out some impressive new technology in order to shift the new console.
Whilst we loved the PS4 Pro, one arena it failed to pack any punches in was innovation. We dubbed it “not a gamechanger”, and deemed its extra £100 price tag unworthy. With reviews like that, it’s understandable if Sony is galvanised into some seriously creative product development.
The PS5 will definitely need to up its power game, so we predict it’ll shed the AMP-based processor and start using Nvidia’s technology, something that the Nintendo Switch carried off with aplomb. The only thing that makes us waver on this front is that it would invalidate compatibility with the AMD-based PS4 and PS4 pro models.
We will update this page as and when we learn more about the PlayStation 5.
(Image: Ninac26 used under Creative Commons)