To say that there has been a lot of speculation about the upcoming PS5 would be a huge understatement. The amount of Leaks & Rumors have now got to a point where it is becoming very difficult to make sense of any of it. Our alliances are very split in the office but I have always leaned towards Playstation. So, since it’s been 7 years (and a few days) since Sony announced the PS4, I decided to try and get my head around just what is going on with the PS5.

Announcement Dates

In some of our previous videos, we have discussed the idea of a February 5th announcement, as per the PSErebus leaks, and a live announcement on 29th February. Most of the gaming community seemed to think that this late February announcement would materialise and are still hopeful. We are very quickly running out of February and there are no reports of any press invites being sent out (as far as we know). Plus, given the recent Coronavirus outbreak, it would be easy to understand why Sony would not want to have a large gathering of its international workforce and journalists in a densely populated place such as New York, where this was rumoured to be taking place.

So what is the alternative?

Well, an idea which has been floated about recently has been a pre-recorded ‘State of Play’-esque style of announcement. Personally, I enjoy the buzz and live reaction of new consoles & games being announced live. One of my personal favourites was the ‘God of War’ reveal at E3 2016, it was just very over the top, unexpected and it gave me goosebumps. I think it would certainly lose some of the magic if the PS5 were to be announced in a pre-recorded trailer, but circumstances dictate that this is the safest option. Additionally, as Xbox revealed the Series X with an ad at the 2019 Game Awards, it wouldn’t be that much of a shock to anyone if Sony took a similar approach, regardless of the external factors.

Something that we need to bear in mind is that the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) kicks off on 16th March. They have already pulled out of this event (as well as Pax East), citing Coronavirus concerns. However, it will be in Sony’s interest to publicly announce the PS5 before this event, regardless of attendance, as they would risk an immense amount of leaks given how much these developers know and will come to know. Moreover, Sony have indicated, via an earnings call between Hiroki Totoki (Chief Financial Officer) and investors, that they would like to stick to a similar timeline to that of the PS4 launch (which was announced on 21st February, 2013).

So, from all of this information we can be fairly certain that an announcement is imminent, but I would be surprised if we got anything this month. But Sony are more than welcome to do so. We are also forgetting that Microsoft didn’t formally announce the Xbox One until May 2013 for a November release in that year, so even if it was March before we saw the PS5, we would actually on an earlier timeline than the previous console generation.

Release Date

We know that Sony plans to release the PS5 in ‘Holiday 2020’, so somewhere between September and December this year. Granted, that is still a pretty big window and is intentionally vague. From a production perspective, it gives them some wiggle room to adjust for demand. From a market perspective, they can wait for Xbox to blink first.

We’ve known the release window for the PS5 since October 2019

The PS4 launched on November 15th, 2013. It would be logical to think that the PS5 would launch at a similar time and be marketed as the must-have buy this Christmas. If they launch in October, they would realistically fall outside that window and if they launch in December, customers might not get their units in time. PSErebus, a prominent Twitter leaker who has a good track record, predicted a November 20th release date, which I would be inclined to say is at least very close.

Conclusion

I am of the opinion that Sony will release information when they are ready and we have to be patient. Unlike Microsoft, who have other platforms outside of Xbox where they generate huge revenue (primarily ‘Windows’), the Playstation is by far Sony’s biggest earner. They spun off their struggling computer brand ‘Vaio’ into its own individual entity in 2014, they don’t make much money from Smartphones or TV’s and they have gone through several restructurings in the past decade or so.

The next biggest division within Sony is Cameras, but there is too much pressure for the PS5 to do well. If it does not perform to expectations, Sony could be in some serious hot water with its investors. The campaign for the PS5 has to be perfect from their point of view and there are a few major risks to mitigate (namely Coronavirus and the rumoured high production cost).

This may well be the last generation of the traditional hardware-based consoles so I just want the PS5 to be the best that it can possibly be, if that means waiting a little longer to see it, then fair enough.