Next-gen is almost here, and the PlayStation 5 is still on track to release this holiday despite everything going on in the world right now. The PS5 will mark a giant generational leap for video games thanks to its incredibly powerful hardware specs and the possibilities opened up by the brand new Unreal Engine 5, but hopefully the final price won’t be too high. The PS4 saw tons of amazing games throughout its lifetime, and some long-awaited sequels could end up being PS5 launch titles. Having just seen the first look at PS5 gameplay thanks to the Unreal Engine 5 tech demo, we’re extremely excited to see what the PS5 looks like and what the system will do. This is everything we currently know about the PS5, including the controller, price, release date, rumors, specs, and more.
PS5 Release Date – When Will the PlayStation 5 Be Revealed?
Everyone wants to know the answer to one simple question: when does the PS5 come out? Unfortunately, there is no concrete release date for the PS5 right now other than a vague holiday 2020 window, but a few leaks point to either an October or November release for the PlayStation 5. A Sony Interactive Entertainment job listing mentioned the PS5 would be released in October, but Sony shot the idea down and the job listing has since been removed. Another rumor comes from a leaker that states the PS5 will be released on November 20, 2020, which lines up with another rumor stating the new DualSense controller will be released on the same date. This leaker correctly pinpointed the initial release date for The Last of Us Part II before it got delayed, so they seem to be at least somewhat credible.
Even if Sony denies a rumored release date, it doesn’t mean it’s not true. Until the company officially announces a release date, it will shoot down any supposed or leaked release date, even if it may be correct. The release date for the PlayStation 5 will most likely be revealed sometime this summer. Jeff Grubb, a journalist who has a proven track record when it comes to dates, has a PlayStation event pegged for June 4 as well as a State of Play early August. The PS5 release date and price will probably be revealed during this June event. Thus, the PS5 will most likely be revealed on June 4.
PS5 Price – How Much Will the PS5 Cost?
Sony currently has not announced an official price for the PlayStation 5, but the final price for the system will be appropriate for its specs. The PS5 is a powerful machine, so it will likely be expensive, but Sony believes the cost will be worth it. In an interview with Wired, system architect Mark Cerny said “I believe that we will be able to release it at a [price that will be appealing to gamers in light of its advanced feature set.”
The PlayStation 4 launched at $399, while the PlayStation 3 had two versions that retailed for $499 and $599. Most people expect the PS5 to be priced somewhere in the ballpark of $499, which would be understandable given the system’s capabilities. The PlayStation 3’s high price caused people to shift their attention to Microsoft’s much cheaper Xbox 360, and this generation the PlayStation 4 saw an early headstart over the Xbox One due to the $100 difference between the two consoles. Hopefully, Sony will learn from the past two console generations and adopt an appropriate pricing strategy for the PS5.
PS5 Launch Titles
While Microsoft has unveiled at least one launch title for the Xbox Series X in the form of Halo Infinite, Sony has not shared any information regarding the launch titles for the PS5. Epic Games has confirmed that the popular free-to-play battle royale shooter Fortnite will be available at launch, but news is scarce about brand new games coming to the PS5 in its first few months. Still, some developers have said their games will be on the PS5 when it launches later this fall. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be coming to next-generation consoles alongside current-gen machines, and Godfall was revealed to be scheduled for the system’s launch window at The Game Awards last year. DICE has also confirmed that the next Battlefield game will be on PS5, although that won’t be releasing until 2021. Several other studios have PS5 games in development, but none of them have revealed what they’re working on at the time of writing. More information about PS5 launch titles is expected to be announced sometime this summer.
PS5 Specs – Hardware Specifications and SSD
The official PS5 hardware specs are listed below:
- CPU – 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5 GHz
- GPU – 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23 GHz
- GPU Architecture – Custom RDNA 2
- Memory/Interface – 16GB GDDR6/256-bit
- Memory Bandwidth – 448 GB/s
- RAM – 16GB GDDR6
- Internal Storage – Custom 825GB SSD
- IO Throughput – 5.5 GB/s (Raw), Typical 8-9 GB/s (Compressed)
- Expandable Storage – NVMe SSD Slot
- External Storage – USB HDD Support
- Optical drive – 4K Blu-ray drive
The real standout feature of the PS5 is its lighting fast SSD, which could make the system 100x faster than PS4 according to Sony president and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida. “For example, through a custom-designed high-speed SSD, we plan to realize game data processing speeds that are approximately 100 times faster than PS4,” Yoshida claims in an official Sony document.
When Will PS5 Preorders Start?
It is currently unknown when PS5 preorders will begin. However, preorders will most likely go live when the console’s price is officially unveiled. Going off of previous console launches, this will probably happen sometime in June. Sony’s plans could have shifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic though, so this might not happen until later this summer. GameStop, Target, and Best Buy are all accepting sign-ups to allow customers to be notified when the PS5 is available for preorder.
Is PS5 Backward Compatible?
The PlayStation 5 is confirmed to be backward compatible with the overwhelming majority of PlayStation 4 games, although Sony has not released a full list of supported games. An even smaller subsection of backward compatible games will run in boost mode, allowing them to take advantage of the console’s additional power and run better than before. Not all games will support this feature, and again, a full list of compatible games has yet to be released. Games that don’t support PS5 enhancements can also run in PS4 or PS4 Pro Legacy mode, allowing them to be played as they were on those machines. The PS5 will not play PS1, PS2, or PS3 games.
PlayStation 5 Dualsense Controller
The DualSense controller is the official controller of the PS5, sporting an eye-catching black and white color scheme. Haptic feedback is one of the major new additions of the DualSense controller, adopting new vibration techniques to convey in-game sensations like driving a car through mud. The L2 and R2 buttons are now adaptive triggers, allowing you to feel tension as the triggers are pulled, which will greatly enhance the feeling of drawing a bowstring or similar actions. The Share button returns under a new name: the Create button. According to Sony, the Create button will pioneer “new ways for players to create epic gameplay content to share with the world,” although Sony is withholding further details until closer to launch. Every PS5 will come with a DualSense controller in the box, and while a price for the device hasn’t been announced, it will likely be available separately for $59.99 once it releases.
Will PS5 Support PSVR?
PSVR will be supported on PS5. All existing PSVR hardware, including the headset and PlayStation Move controllers, will work on the machine. Sony won’t share any additional details regarding its VR strategy at the moment, but the company has confirmed that PSVR will work on PS5. No information has been shared about a new PSVR unit, but a PSVR 2 has been heavily rumored over the past few months.
Unreal Engine 5 Explained
Unreal Engine is one of the most popular engines in the entire games industry, used by a multitude of developers to create some of the biggest games in recent memory. Currently, all developers use Unreal Engine 4, but recently, Epic Games unveiled Unreal Engine 5 on May 13 as a part of Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest. The Unreal 5 PS5 tech demo showcased incredibly impressive lighting and graphics, and the entire thing was running in real-time on a PlayStation 5 development kit. Games are expected to achieve a similar level of fidelity late into next-gen. Fortnite will be converted entirely to Unreal Engine 5 in 2021, and it could look considerably different on PlayStation 5. The engine will also work on other devices, but so far, we’ve only seen it running on PS5.
Will There Be A PlayStation 5 Pro?
As of right now, there is no PlayStation 5 Pro planned. The PlayStation 4 Pro was the first console of its kind for PlayStation, a sort of half step between console generations. Because a console like the Pro has only ever happened once in PlayStation history, there isn’t any precedent to base the existence of a PS5 Pro on. There definitely won’t be a PS5 Pro at launch, but there is still a chance a more powerful version of the PlayStation 5 could happen a few years down the line. As it stands right now, it isn’t happening, but it’s still a possibility.
Published: May 22, 2020 10:15 pm