New price predictions and launch ideas have been shared this month for the PS5 release date.
While Sony have yet to name their next console, they have confirmed that a new gaming machine is in the works to take over from the PS4 and PS4 Pro.
That means another major console generation, although, when and how much it will cost are still very much up for debate.
These factors will also have a massive bearing on Microsoft’s Xbox One X and the Nintendo Switch.
Industry analyst Michael Pachter has spoken about the PS5 release date on a number of occasions.
His most recent prediction on the subject puts the PS5 release in 2019 or 2020 – with a 2020 launch date more likely.
Pachter said: “I think that’s exactly when you’ll see one (PS5) 2019 or 2020, and if I had to bet, it’s 2020.
“Sony’s making so much money with the PS4 that I think they’ll continue to milk it as long as they can milk it.
“And I think the natural extension of that is the PS4 Pro becomes the default PS4, and they just knock that price down to $250 when they can and they keep selling it — a tonne of those.
“The PS5 is probably going to be their real 4K device, and so it just feels to me that they’re not going to launch the PS5 until sales momentum for the PS4 slows, and it just hasn’t.
“So you certainly get through 2017, 2018, and I just don’t see it slowing in 2018 which should prop them to launch something in 2019.
“If it slows in 2019, they’re probably launching in 2020.”
And he’s not the only one sharing ideas on when it might fall, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has said that they believes the PS5 release date is a “minimum of two years away”.
This would mean the PlayStation 5 could come out in 2019 at the earliest, giving the PS4 a lifespan of six years.
Guillemot also said he believes the next Xbox will also come out at the same time as the PS5.
“As Sony launched PlayStation 4 Pro last year and Microsoft Xbox One X this year, we think we still have a minimum of two years in front of us before something new is coming,” he said during an earnings report.
“But that’s our perception, we don’t have any confidential information on that front.”
There’s also been a lot of speculation over the price of the PS5, following the launch of the Xbox One X.
The new mid-generation upgrade has made a solid debut, selling well in key markets such as the UK.
However, Pachter believes that unless the Xbox One X smashes it out the park, the PS5 will likely retail for less than $500.
“If Xbox One X is a phenomenal success, if it sells out, if overall Xbox sales rise to above the current level of 10 million a year, because everyone wants that power, then sure, the next gen can be more expensive,” the analyst explained on the Pachter Factor.
“But if the Xbox One X sells 1-2 million a year, out of the 10 million Xbox sold every year, and after a couple of years, they satisfy demand and no one wants it at $500, then no.
“Look, I don’t have a lot of experience with $500 consoles, but what I have is bad. The PS3 launched at $600 and it flopped. The Xbox One launched at $500, and it didn’t work, they had to drop the Kinect and bring it to under $400 before it sold.
“There’s just some consumer obstinacy about spending more than $300-400 on a console. I can’t explain why, I spend that much on Halloween candy, I don’t know. Some people, they just say ‘I can buy an HDTV for $500,’ and you can, and in a couple of years, you’ll be able to get 4KTVs at that price.
“So a console sounds very expensive compared to that- a TV will last you 10 years, and you can use it all the time, and a console lasts you 5 years, and won’t be used that much. So my bias is no, $500 consoles won’t happen.”