Joseph Dumary
PS5 Release Date NEWS: Sony PlayStation already behind Xbox Scarlett release, analyst says
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Industry analyst and long-time hypothetical mouthpiece Michael Pachter has conducted an interview with GamingBolt, sounding off about his predictions for the next generation of consoles.
Pachter, who is an analyst over at Wedbush Securities, believes Microsoft will be next out the door with its next-gen console – supposedly code-named Xbox Scarlett – beating Sony out the gate and getting the drop on the PS5.
“Im sure Microsoft intends to launch first, and I am equally certain that the new Xbox will be backwards compatible with any Xbox One X software,” Pachter said in the interview.
“I agree that its hard for Xbox One X purchasers, but they should know 4 years into a cycle that there is another one coming. My guess is that Microsoft intends to launch in 2020, but if they think Sony is going [to launch the PS5] then, they will launch early.”
Whether or not this is accurate is anyone's guess – but with recent conversations surrounding Microsoft's Scarlett platform kicking off in earnest, the race to next-gen is starting to heat up.
Keep reading for everything we know about the PS5 to date, just below the gallery.
Sony PlayStation 5 Console Concept
Sony PlayStation bosses have confirmed a PS5 is coming – could it look anything like this? 
Joseph Dumary
Introduction – Sony's PS5 is real and fast approaching, that we know for certain. But exact details about the next PlayStation console are forever shifting like the sands of time. And until the company make some cast iron announcements it's unlikely we'll know the exact details surrounding the gaming giant's next move.
But what is clear, is that in the last three or four months industry discussion around the PlayStation 5 (As well as Xbox Scarlett) has grown to unprecedently new levels.
Whether this is indicative of the earlier rumours that PS5 dev kits were out in the wild is unclear, but, it does suggest that we are now approaching a critical point in the PS4 lifecycle.
Even with a barrel load of excellent PS4 exclusives still to come, the console is (very) slowly starting to wind down.
E3 2018 failed to yield any sort of announcement about Sony's PS5 console, but, we might imagine that they'll be unable to avoid it next year at E3 2019.
As such, we expect that information, leaks, specs and even game announcements related to 'next-gen' will start coming thick and fast in the next 12 months.
For now, though, we do have some details, predictions and industry analysis for you to chew over, which we'll be sure to update weekly.
All this and more can be found underneath the gallery, which for those wondering is a series of concept images by French designer Joseph Dumary.
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PS5 Release Date – When is PlayStation 5 coming?
This is probably one of the most important questions asked by console owners, but equally one of the most tricky to actually answer.
We'll start at the beginning. We know full well that Sony are developing a new PS5 console as it was pretty much confirmed by Shawn Layden, who is, for anyone who doesn't know, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America (SIEA) as well as Chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios.
Layden confirmed in an Interview during E3 2017 that the PS5 is coming, but equally the console would “probably be some time” before being announced by the company.
And more recently PlayStation CEO John Kodera told investors that the PS4 was “entering final phase of its life cycle” after an amazing five years of gaming success.
This is why we believe an announcement will likely arrive at E3 2019, with a view to Sony releasing the PS5 in 2020.
PS5 Release Date – Why 2020?
Generally speaking, 2020 appears to be the accepted date that most industry experts and analysts believe Sony will launch a new console.
In addition, the one source and prediction that we're inclined to believe the most comes from Digital Foundry.
The sister site of Eurogamer is well known for its deep dives into the performance of games to see exactly how well they are running on a console and they are, to our mind, some of the best technical experts when it comes to console gaming.
So when they write a story titled 'PlayStation 5: when can Sony truly deliver a generational leap in power?' you take notice.
For those who don't want to read right now, the overriding opinion of the story seemed to suggest that it would be madness to assume Sony would release a new console anywhere before Q4 2019, but that a 2020 launch would prove most likely.
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PS5 Price – How much could PlayStation 5 console cost?
Again, we cannot say for certain without a cast iron announcement from Sony. But based on past releases it's more than possible to make an educated and believable guess.
When the PlayStation 4 first launched in 2014 it was available for £349 in the UK and $399 in the US.
Fast forward a few years to when Sony launched their more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro and it too was launched at the same price as the original PS4, at £349 in the UK and $399 in the US.
We suspect this is where we'll see the PS5 launch, with the PS4 Pro becoming the default PS4 model at a reduced price of £259 in the UK and $299 in the US.
It also seems as though the grave mistake made by Sony who burned a lot of fans with the overly expensive PS3 launch price of £425 in the UK and $499 in the US has also been learned.
So, we expect you won't pay a penny over £399 for the PS5, if not closer to £350.
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PS5 Games – What new titles could we be playing at launch?
The PS3 to PS4 era gave us our first real taste of games releasing cross-platform. And to good effect too. Both The Last of Us and GTA 5 released towards the tail end of the PS3 console's lifecycle only to come to PS4 with even greater visual fidelity.
And we suspect the jump between PS4 to PS5 will also bring about plenty more cross-generational games that first release on PlayStation 4 before getting another release with greater graphical extras on the PS5.
So, whilst we cannot say for certain what games will come to PS5, just yet, there are a few we can suggest as early contenders to come to the next console, as well as a few yearly releases which we doubt will miss out, either.
The games we're thinking of, include:
- Death Stranding
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Call of Duty
- FIFA 2021 on PS5
- PES 2021 on PS5
- Final Fantasy 7 Remake
- Starfield
- The Elder Scrolls 6
Call of Duty 2019 Hint
A job listing for Infinity Ward's upcoming Call of Duty game may have given a hint about the release date for the upcoming Sony console.
The reason for this is largely due to the listing implying that the job role suggests that the game is in development for multiple next-gen platforms.
According to the job listing on the recruiting website SelectMinds, Infinity Ward are hiring a temporary narrative scripter to work on a “new, exciting, unannounced” game that is in development for “multiple next-gen platforms.”
To be clear, the listing doesn't explicitly say this is for Call of Duty, but given that Infinity Ward has developed nothing outside of Call of Duty games, you'd be surprised if they're hiring for anything else.
At this stage, it's widely believed that any next-gen system, both for PS5 and Microsoft's next Xbox, would arrive, at the earliest, 2020.
The implication then, is that either, next-gen consoles are coming much sooner than everyone is anticipating, or Infinity Ward are not developing next years Call of Duty game, but the year after.
The only problem with the latter, is that generally speaking, Call of Duty developers work on three-year cycles, with next year being the turn of Infinity Ward.
Equally the only way this could change, in our mind, iis if a new developer is being lined up for a new yearly Call of Duty release. Who knows, maybe Raven Software, who worked on the Modern Warfare Remaster, could be stepping up to the plate. Only time will tell…
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PS5 Backwards Compatibility – Will PS4 games work?
The current PS4 console uses an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), built upon the machines x86-64 architecture.
Now, this is hypothetical, but if Sony uses this same architecture in the upcoming PS5 console (which appears, likely) there's a good possibility that the machine will be able to offer backwards compatibility functionality with PS4 titles.
PS5 Backwards Compatibility – Will PS3 games and older work?
This seems more unlikely given that the same architecture doesn't support this functionality.
We believe that moving forward it's more likely that Sony will continue to push it's existing PS Now digital service which currently offers over 650 games spanning the various PS2, PS3 and PS4 systems.
Currently, PS Now works as a streaming service on PS4 and PC. But, if rumours are to be believed, PS Now could be heading towards a new system that also allows for games to be downloaded for offline play. This comes via an unnamed Kotaku UK source who claims the new functionality will launch this September.
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Sony still learning from past mistakes
As any Sony PlayStation fan will know and remember, the transition between PS2 and PS3 was one of the more difficult periods for the console giants.
But a delayed launch and a wildly expensive price tag made the PlayStation 3 launch a bit of a backwards step and gave Microsoft the upper hand with their Xbox 360 launch.
Talking with Eurogamer at Develop in Brighton recently, Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida looked back on those difficult days and equally promised that future PlayStation consoles wont make the same mistakes again.
"Ken [Kutaragi] was such a brilliant engineer – the team that worked for Ken was so motivated, he was a great motivator. Maybe he was using video games as a stepping stone to realise his vision and dreams – he wanted to become the next Intel or something. He always approached developing game systems, up to PS3 – they work on a system just by themselves,” Yoshida said.
“And we weren't given access until it was done. He had trust with the developers – whatever he made, the top developers would be able to work on them and understand them. He didn't see the need to involve game developers in the design of the system – that's how the PS3 was made. And you know how successful it was."
"It's human nature," added Yoshida. "People make mistakes. I don't know why. We're all human – we're not perfect. PS4 is doing so well, but we don't forget why we're here now."
The suggestion, perhaps, is that by not including the developers in the process of building the new machine, it created more work for those teams. But as we've heard from Digital Foundry, Mark Cerny, once the lead architect on the PS4, was again "hitting the road, talking to developers about their needs for the next-gen PlayStation."
It certainly doesn't sound like Sony are too keen on reliving the same mistakes they made in the past.
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Over the course of E3 2018 Gamespot had the chance to speak with GameStop Merchandising head Eric Bright who was quick to talk up the potential of the next generation of consoles.
More specifically, Bright has been quick to suggest that the launch of the new PS5 and Xbox console in a couple of years time will see another huge increase in sales, which he described as a "feeding frenzy".
Bright also pointed to the recent Nintendo Switch launch as an example, pointing out how the company was selling faster than they were getting the consoles in.
“When is always the big question. Phil Spencer announced they are working on a new Xbox, which I think everybody expects. When, I dont know. I honestly dont. But like every hardware transition that occurs–and GameStop has gone through many of them in the past–its a tremendous time for us.”
“Its going to be a feeding frenzy that I expect to drive tremendous traffic into our stores,” concluded Bright.
However, it'll be interesting to see if the store's sales will be impacted in the long run, especially with the conversation around consoles becoming less dependant on physical media and disc drives.
Another report this week from investment banking company Piper Jaffray, penned by analysts Michael J. Olson and Yung Kim, suggests that the physical game market is decreasing at a rate of around 10 points per year.
The report also points out that profit margins would be significantly increased for publishers if the consoles went 100% digital as distribution costs would be (practically) eliminated.
“We believe it is a certainty that video games will be ~100% digital in the coming years, and while exact timing is hard to pinpoint, we think 2022 is a realistic expectation," say, Olson and Kim.
Whilst we doubt that the next console generation will do away with disc drives completely, we wouldn't be surprised if the PS5 and Xbox Scarlet begin to usher in a new digital wave for consoles, driven by a concentrated focus on streaming platforms such as the existing PlayStation Now and Xbox Game Pass initiatives.
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