PS5: release date, price, specs and news for the PlayStation 5
The PlayStation has always offered more to the AV world than just games. It has scored well with DVD playback, Blu-rays and 4K streaming over the years. So what will the PlayStation 5 have to offer at launch? Will it be an 8K machine? Will it still support optical media? When is the PS5 release date? How much will the PS5 cost?
We can answer some of these questions below, but there is still some key information yet to be revealed. We do at least now know there will be a PS5 games event streamed live on YouTube on Thursday 4th June.
One piece of concrete news from Sony is that it's finally let us in on one of its secrets and that's the PS5 controller, called the 'DualSense' controller, and thing of beauty it is. It's also expect that we'll have a whole lot more information on PS5 launch titles within a matter of weeks.
PlayStation’s lead architect and console producer, Mark Cerny, started the ball rolling back in an April 2019 interview and has since, alongside Sony CEO Jim Ryan, expanded on what we can expect from the games console in October.
What's more, we got another grand PS5 info dump courtesy of Mark Cerny again at the March 2020 tech-heavy Road to PS5 presentation. Sony's live streamed PS5 "deep dive" on the PlayStation 5's architecture focused heavily on the inclusion of SSD storage and cast some doubt over whether or not the PS5 will be supporting Dolby Atmos. More details below.
Aside that, Sony has officially confirmed some details, including the official name and release date, and there's even a leaked image of what looks like the very first glimpse of the PS5 and some PS5 accessories too. And at CES 2020, Sony confirmed the official PS5 logo. Since then, Sony has also leaked information about the PS5 DualShock 5 controller.
There's the news of the very first PS5-exclusive game, Godfall, and even some in-play video action which gives us a glimpse of what the PlayStation 5 is capable of. There are big hopes for Gran Turismo 7 as a launch title but, with Sony apparently struggling to keep the price of the PS5 down, you may need to start saving now.
So let's dive in. Everything the world knows so far about the PlayStation 5 is just a scroll away...
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PlayStation 5 price
The PS5 price is is likely to be under wraps until closer to launch at the back end of 2020. The original PlayStation and PS2 launched at £299/$299, the PS3 started at £425/$499 and the more recent PS4 came in at £350/$399. The sensible guess for the PS5 right now is that it will sit just above the PS4, perhaps around £499/$499.
This kind of extrapolation may not be entirely accurate, however. The trade war between China and America may well have an effect when it comes to manufacture and shipping. Indeed, back in June 2019, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft issued a joint statement warning of such price rises if the trade war continues. Enjoy that one at your leisure.
The result could mean a considerably more expensive device, another reason, perhaps, why there may be two consoles launched - an expensive PS5 Pro and a more affordable PS5. According to YouTuber ReviewTechUSA, the price difference will be in the region of $100-150.
In fact, according to Bloomberg, Sony is having significant troubles in keeping the cost of the PS5 down. It's due to the cost of the components inside with DRAM and NAND flash memory in particular proving expensive what with smartphone manufacturers gearing up for their own next-gen devices. The upshot is reportedly a manufacture price of $450 (£350), and that will lead to a higher ticket at retail too.
PlayStation 5 release date
After months of rumours, Sony has now confirmed the PS5 release date is Holiday 2020, setting up a battle royale between the PS5 and new Xbox Series X for Christmas 2020.
Previously, in an interview with Wired, Cerny had only said that the PlayStation 5 would not be available before April 2020. Now the company has finally gone on record with an end of year PS5 release, which was confirmed at CES 2020.
As for an official launch, it's possible that Sony had earmarked E3 2020 for the big reveal but COVID-19 has done for that conference. Sony may decided to run its own event at about same time, June, or indeed could wait until the virtual GDC 2020 in August
Thankfully, though, so far, Sony has said that the coronavirus pandemic has not effected the expected late 2020 PS5 release date but the outbreak may cause problems for game production.
Whenever the moment comes, it's rumoured that the console might be unveiled at an event called 'Playstation Meeting 2020'. So, look out for that one.
Whenever it comes, the aim for Sony is to go big, and go big quick. Pre-Coronavirus, the plan was to reach sales of six millions units by March 2021. Doubtless, those plans will have shifted but the figures, doubtless, remain the same even if that date requires recalibration.
Games consoles most often sell for very small, if any, profit margins, and Sony will be looking to the content and services to start recouping their costs. The more PS5s the company has out there, the faster that can happen.
Here's the official PS5 logo
Sony started its CES 2020 press conference with a segment on the forthcoming PS5 and while no new specs were released or images shown, Sony did confirm the official PS5 logo.
The design... won't shock you. It stays in line with previous PlayStation logos, keeping it simple with white lines on a black background.
Will the PlayStation 5 have a 4K Blu-ray drive?
Yes, the PS5 will play 4K Blu-rays. Cerny initially only confirmed the PS5 will have an optical disc drive, but has now, according to Wired, confirmed the presence of a 4K Blu-ray player.
It was disappointing that the PlayStation 4 didn't include a 4K Blu-ray drive, so we're glad to see Sony supporting the 4K disc format in the new console. Currently both the Xbox One S and X come with 4K disc drives which gives them extra appeal over the PS4 for home cinema enthusiasts. But the PS5 will bring the Ultra HD Blu-ray fight to Xbox...
Will the PlayStation 5 support 8K video?
The PS5 will support 8K video, at least to an extent. The PlayStation 5 will ship with an AMD Ryzen chip — a 7nm chip on Zen 2 architecture — and a GPU from the Radeon Navi-family. It will also come with SSD storage. The promise from this trio of hardware is fast load times, large bandwidth capabilities and oodles of graphics grunt.
Enough grunt for true, native 8K gaming? Perhaps, but possibly only when dealing with simpler titles. Big budget blockbusters might well employ a new version of the sort of checkerboard upscaling that Sony currently uses to make PS4 Pro games look ace on a 4K display.
We know, for example, that rumoured launch title Gran Turismo 7 will not be in 8K. The game's creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, said: "I think, display resolution-wise, 4K resolution is enough."
Instead, the Polyphony Digital studio boss told GTPlanet that he is more interested in raising the frame rate to 120 or 240fps to really add to the experience.
Both the PS4 and PS4 Pro are already HDR-enabled, supporting the HDR10 format, and there’s no reason to believe that this would be any different for the PS5. Will we see a more advanced version of HDR, such as HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, also employed? We certainly wouldn't rule it out, particularly as the current Xboxes already support the latter, but nothing has so far been announced on that front.
One idea currently doing the rounds is that Sony will announce a PS5 and a PS5 Pro at launch. That's according to YouTuber Zenj Nishikawa. It's expected the the PS5 Pro will be much more powerful and offer more features; 8K video and higher frame rates could be two such examples.
PlayStation 5 audio: will the PS5 support Dolby Atmos?
We hope so. Again, the current crop of Xbox One consoles outstrips the PS4 in the audio department, certainly on paper, with Sony's consoles limited to 7.1 audio.
Microsoft's machines, on the other hand, both come with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio for gaming and for 4K Blu-ray playback, although Cerny has promised that the PS5 will herald a new ‘gold standard’ in audio.
At the end if the Sony's March 2020 PS5 update, Cerny left his audience with the distinct feeling that the PS5 would not be supporting Dolby Atmos. The PS5 will output native 3D audio using a newly-designed 'Tempest Engine' with Cerny stating that he wanted to include far more than just the 34 speakers that Atmos can manage. It also means that many more TV sound devices will be able to leverage the PS5's surround virtualisation and not just Atmos-certified ones.
Make of that what you will. Could this mean the console will be compatible with Sony's own 360 Reality Audio format? We think so. It may also be that this sound system is reference more to gaming than anything else and the disc player and video streamer portion of the PS5 could well be Atmos-certified.
Of course, you’ll still need a compatible AV receiver and speaker set-up to truly appreciate the extra dimension of height that Dolby Atmos adds, but if you’ve already got a tasty 5.1.2 system installed or are planning to do so, this would be the icing on the cake.
PlayStation 5: console
On 13th August, a patent was registered as a Sony electronic device and listed Sony technical director Yusuhiro Ootori as its designer, as filed, apparently, back in May 2019. And below, thanks to LetsGoDigital, is a coloured in and graphically rendered version of the the black and white sketch which accompanied the patent.
It's certainly a design change from the PS4 with its, possibly vented, central flying V. There look to be five USB ports at the front for headphones, controllers, hard drives and other accessories. There's an optical drive and, other than that, there's not much one can tell.
Oddly, we can't locate the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) listing itself, just in case you need another reason beyond the outlandish design to doubt it, but it certainly looks interesting.
That said, on 10th October 2019 an image was leaked of what may well be our very first glimpse of a real, live PlayStation 5 - or at least a developer version. This time it was ZoneOfTech that published the picture and it certainly marries up with the patent sketch from August. As ever, though, developer models are often very different from the physical design that finally hits the shelves.
One thing we do know for sure is that the PS5 will be a more environmentally-friendly games console than the PS4. The Head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan, revealed a feature called "suspended gameplay" which gets through less power than the current console. If it was used by one million PS5 owners, that would represent a reduction in electricity consumption equivalent to 1000 US households.
PlayStation 5: DualSense controller
With each new PlayStation normally comes a new DualShock controller, except this time it doesn't. Sony has gone to the next level and created the DualSense controller which is the gamepad that will accompany the PS5 at launch.
It's a sleek and modern-looking design with a two-tone finish instead of the standard single hue of the DualShocks. Sony has promised that the new controller "will captivate more of your senses as you interact with the virtual worlds in PS5 games. The features of DualSense, along with PS5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech, will deliver a new feeling of immersion to players."
That added immersion is set to come across primarily through a more evolved sense of touch. Haptics have replaced the rumble technology to create a broader range of more realistic feedback. Players will now get more nuanced sensations such as the slow grittiness of driving a car through mud. The L2 and R2 trigger buttons feature adaptive, programmable resistance so that players can feel more or less tension through certain actions.
DualSense is, of course, wireless. So far, there's no details on how long you get from a single charge but Sony has stressed that it's tried to maintain a strong battery life.
There's a built-in microphone array, which means players can chat to their friends without the need for a gaming headset, and the 'Share' button has been replaced by a new 'Create' button. It's to "create epic gameplay content to share with the world" according to Sony. More details on what that entails are promised closer to launch.
To fit these new components, the style and shape of the new controller has been tweaked. The angle of the hand triggers has been changed and the grip updated too The aim is to make the DualSense still feel light and small. The light bar has also shifted to the sides of the touchpad from its position on top of the DualShock 4, which is a rather pleasing aesthetic if nothing else.
If, for whatever reason, you can't stand the thing, then the PlayStation 5 should be backwards compatible with the PS4 controller.
PlayStation 5: SSD storage
According to Cerny's March 2020 PS5 update, an internal SSD was the most requested feature by game developers and, as expected, that's exactly what the PS5 is confirmed to deliver. According to Cerny, compared to an HDD, it offers 100x faster load speeds which means no load screens, ultra fast streaming and ultra fast boot speeds too.
In real terms, streaming is apparently so fast that a game can load all the graphics and textures behind an online player faster that the player can around.
The capacity of the internal SSD was not mentioned (perhaps because there will be multiple options), but Cerny did confirm that storage will be expandable through the addition of third-party M2 SSDs.
The catch is that they will have to fit the dedicated slot and connections of the PS5 and hit a minimum speed so as not to slow down the new PS5 games. Interestingly, Cerny says that no drives so far tested have hit Sony's minimum spec, but they are expected to do so by the end of the year, and specific recommendations will be offered post-launch.
PlayStation 5: accessories
A patent leak on 5th November 2019 might just have given us a look at the first PS5 accessories. Sketches of a mystery cartridge turned up for what many believe are going to be expandable SSD storage modules.
On the one hand memory modules are not new to PlayStation consoles but having easy slot-in, slot-out external hardware could be a game-changer when talking units of 500GB or more. Rather than just saved game data and other media, it could well offer the storage for game libraries instead.
That frees up the need for buying a PS5 with an enormous hard drive to begin with and could make for a much cheaper console. Down that avenue of thinking has emerged the idea of an affordable, entry-level PlayStation 5 which gamers could upgrade for space as and when needed. It certainly fits in with Mark Cerny's promise of lightning fast load times.
PlayStation 5 VR: will the PS5 be PSVR compatible?
Most definitely. Comments from Mark Cerny point towards an even bigger VR push from Sony with the PS5. VR technology is set to be hard designed into the build of the GPU. He didn’t mention whether there would be a PlayStation VR2 headset launched to go with the PS5, though.
Given PSVR is not as strong on resolution as other headsets such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive it could make sense to launch a suitably powerful and impressive next-generation headset with the new console.
One interesting twist is Sony may be working on a 3D hologram accessory for the PS5 for multiplayer games. A light emitter with an eye tracker could project an image directly to the user's retina to give the impression of a hologram floating in mid-air. Exactly what images Sony has in mind is another thing but you may want to reconsider multiplayer gaming in your pants.
Which PlayStation 5 games have been announced?
Expect plenty of announcements in the run up to the 2020 launch but there’s been little official from Sony on PS5 launch titles. That said, the latest edition of Official PlayStation Magazine, has trailed a PS5 games preview in its upcoming July 2020 issue, which hits stores on 2nd June.
Given usual magazine deadlines this could mean that PlayStation 5 launch titles, and possibly even the the PS5 console, could make an appearance at some point during May.
It's possible that all sorts of launch titles could have been announced at E3 2020. With the pressure of that one week now out of the way, it may be that PS5 game announcements turn up in dribs or drabs over May/June or even in one big go. Ubisoft has done some teasing with Assassin's Creed for PS5. Will others follow suit?
CD Projekt Red, the developer behind the popular Witcher franchise, has confirmed that its dystopian future game Cyberpunk 2077 is being developed for next generation consoles, which will doubtless include the PS5.
Godfall is the other confirmed PS5 title and we also happen to know that it will be exclusive to the PlayStation platform. Godfall is a fantasy action-RPG and the first described "looter-slasher" title. It's been developed by the team behind Borderlands, Gearbox Publishing and Counterplay Games. Make sure to take a look at this in-game Godfall clip for a taste the the PS5 graphics and gameplay prowess.
Other than those, it’s all educated guesswork at the moment. However, there’s plenty of talk around the likes of post-apocalyptic adventure The Last of Us: Part 2, Starfield, a brand new space RPG from Bethesda Studios and, the next instalment of Bethesda fantasy epic, The Elder Scrolls 6.
Other games long since trailered but possibly waiting for the next wave of console launches include Feudal Japan adventure, Ghost of Tsushima, and Hideo Kojima’s next project, Death Stranding.
Indeed, according to the 13th August PS5 leak Ghost of Tsushima is a sure thing and will be a PS5 exclusive. It's unclear whether it will be ready from developer Sucker Punch at launch, though.
A further decent bet is for the hugely popular racing franchise from Polyphony Digital. The company's GT Sport support updates will be "few and far between" in 2020 according to the game's creator Kazunori Yamauchi. That could be a decent hint that efforts are focused instead on having Gran Turismo 7 ready as a PS5 launch title - enough to get petrol head hearts pumping with nitro, no doubt.
We're expecting to get a closer look at some of the big titles launching on PS5 during a special YouTube livestream event scheduled for Thursday 4th June.
PlayStation 5 games: will the PS5 be backwards compatible?
‘Incredibly powerful’, that’s how Sony has described the backwards compatibility of the PS5, which is potentially good news for both PS5 owners and PS4 owners who don’t wish to upgrade just yet but still want to play online with their friends that do.
What’s not clear is whether this backwards compatibility will be a blanket implementation, or whether it will only work for certain titles. We’d guess a large number of PS4 titles will be compatible, but it will be hit and miss with older PlayStation games.
One online report suggests that the PlayStation 5 will be able to act as an emulator for PS4, PS3, PS2, and even original PlayStation games but we’ll have to wait to see how much truth there is in that. Fingers crossed.
PlayStation 5 gaming
It's believed Sony will increase its focus on the subscription-based PlayStation Now cloud gaming platform and its Remote Play feature too.
Microsoft and Sony recently announced that they're working together on cloud computing technologies, which will almost certainly give a boost to PlayStation Now. Until now the platform has been incomplete as far as top gaming titles go and there have been issues with lag and disconnects.
Sony also filed a patent back in 2014 for a service whereby PlayStation games on the platform could be streamed to user devices other than the console itself; something to rival the upcoming Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud platforms.
Sony is looking to 5G technology to help out while gaming on the move with Remote Play. The service currently allows players to stream games from their consoles to other devices such as tablets, mobiles and the handheld PS Vita. However, this might be bundled in as part of an all-new online platform.
Another interesting part of the connectivity proposal is that it could link players up to a voice assistant. Rumours are that Sony is working on an service which can provide in-game help including whereabouts of game objects as well as hints and tips. If applied with the proper contextual cues, it should be far more efficient than a separate internet search. "Ok, PlayStation. Give me the cheat codes!"
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