Report: PS5 Unlikely to Release Earlier Than 2020

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Just last week, the first reported details of the PS5 has seemingly surfaced, which, while not revealing much, mentioned that there’s a chance the next-gen console might be released before the year’s done.

Given hardware makers generally want to have some sort of time to market their products before releasing them into the wild, the chances of this happening seem very unlikely. Well, in case you needed more convincing that the PS5 won’t be out in 2018, here’s Kotaku to douse any flames of hope.

According to the report, most developers haven’t even been briefed at the existence of the PS5, which includes some employees at Sony’s (unnamed) first-party studios. There are two unnamed people who mentioned they were directly familiar with Sony’s plans for its next-gen console, but commented that it’s unlikely to be out in 2019, let alone this year. Having said that, they did comment that plans are always shifting, and that a surprise move (like a next-gen reveal) by a rival like Microsoft could trigger a change in Sony’s plans.

Here’s a few excerpts from the report:

Over the past month, I’ve spoken to dozens of game developers, across a variety of disciplines and studios, about the next generation of consoles. Of those, two people said they were directly familiar with plans for Sony’s new console. Those two people both told me that the next PlayStation is unlikely to release in 2019, let alone 2018, although they were careful to be clear that these plans are always shifting. “On a multi-year project, a lot can happen to shift schedules both forward and backward,” one person said. “At some point, Sony’s probably looked at every possible date. It’s all about what they think is the best sweet spot in terms of hardware.” A surprise move by Microsoft or another competitor, for example, could trigger a change in plans.

Most of the developers I spoke to, via phone and email and text, said they had not heard anything about plans for a new PlayStation. Even employees at Sony’s first-party studios said they have not yet been briefed on the existence of a PlayStation 5. People across all the disciplines (design, art, engineering, etc.) at major studios working on games scheduled for 2019 and beyond have told me that if there is information about the PS5 at their companies, they haven’t heard about it. (Those people said they haven’t heard about a new Xbox, either.)

The tl;dr version? Don’t expect the PS5 anytime this year. If I had to hazard a guess, we’ll hear about the first PS5 details in 2019, with the console getting released sometime in 2020.

When do you think the PS5 will be available? Would you be surprised if it was announced next year?

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