Is the PS5 Coming? What We Know About it So Far
The eventual existence of the PS5 isn’t 100 percent confirmed at this point in time. However, barring an official announcement from Sony, it is as close as it can get. In part, this is because the PS4 has reached the end stage of its life cycle, which isn’t the product of consumer speculation but rather the product of an official statement on the matter. As a result, it is very reasonable to speculate that Sony is making something to replace it, particularly since it is the big winner of the most recent round of the console wars. With that said, it should also be noted that the Sony president Kenichiro Yoshida has outright stated that Sony is working on a next-generation console. Certainly, this could be something other than the PS5, but when combined with Sony Interactive Entertainment America’s President and CEO Shawn Layden’s statement that a PS5 release date will exist at some point in the future, this is much likelier to be the PS5 rather than something that hasn’t been hinted to this extent. Summed up, the PS5 hasn’t received an official announcement, but it seems safe to say that something along those lines will be coming in the foreseeable future.
What Do We Know about the PS5?
Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about the PS5, which is wholly unsurprising when we haven’t had an official announcement of its existence at this point in time. However, that hasn’t stopped a lot of interested individuals from offering up a wide range of rumors as well as speculation. Some of which has been worthwhile, while the rest has been less so.
For starters, the biggest question is when the PS5 will be released. There was a recent rumor that claimed that the PS5 would be coming out in time for Christmas of 2019, which would put it ahead of the Xbox Two. However, this is very unlikely for one simple reason. In short, Sony has already announced that it would be skipping out on E3 2019, meaning that the chances of a Christmas release are either nonexistent or next to nonexistent because E3 is the single biggest event for the video gaming industry as a whole. Theoretically, Sony could choose to release the PS5 for Christmas of 2019 without bothering to hype it up at E3 2019, but that would make no sense whatsoever.
Instead, the likelier answer is that the PS5 won’t be coming out until at least late 2020, which would provide Sony the chance to hype up its new console at E3 2020 before the eventual release. This is further supported by Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO John Kodera’s statement that a release won’t be happening until 2021 at the very earliest, which is something that he is well-informed about in light of his position.
As for what kinds of features the PS5 might contain, well, suffice to say that is even murkier. Certainly, we can say that it will be an improvement on the PS4 Pro, but that is pretty much a meaningless statement. However, a lack of certain information hasn’t stopped interested individuals from commenting on the matter. For example, there are some people who think that the PS5 will continue to use physical disks, though it will be stepping up support for streaming as well, which is based on vague comments made about the next generation of video game consoles by a former Sony executive. Likewise, there are other people that have speculated about the PS5 containing improved native support for VR, which is tech that has seen significant improvements in recent years. On top of this, there are some people who believe that the PS5 could have significant backwards compatibility because of a backwards compatibility-related patent filed by Sony some time ago, which is a line of speculation that has been further strengthened in their minds because of Microsoft’s interest in said feature for its Xbox Two.
Final Thoughts
Whatever the case, more information is bound to come out in the time ahead. Some of it will be reliable while most will not, but that is part of the fun leading up to new console releases. In the meantime, while the PS4 has reached the end stage of its life cycle, there is still plenty of life to it, meaning that Sony fans will have plenty to do until the next-generation PS5 comes out.
