PS5 release date NEWS: More proof that fans face a long wait for PlayStation 5

The PS5 and Xbox Two release dates could be a long time coming based on surprising new industry stats.

In a new GDC-published ‘State of the Industry’ report, thousands of developers were asked a range of questions about their work.

In addition to weekly working hours and gender representation, the report examines next-gen game development.

Specifically, the report reveals that only 2% of developers are making games exclusively for unannounced platforms, while 16% of studios are developing for both existing and next-gen platforms.

“Now that the current crop of consoles is ageing nicely, we thought it would be interesting to ask respondents whether they’re or not they’re developing their next game for any upcoming, unannounced platforms,” the report reads.

“Predictably, very few (under a hundred, or less than two percent of) respondents said their next game is being designed exclusively for an unannounced platform.

“16 percent said their next game is being developed for both existing and upcoming, unannounced platforms and the largest share (46 percent) said their next game is only coming to existing platforms. 37 percent said they didn’t know at this time.”

The low number suggests that there’s still lots more to come from the current crop of consoles.

While video game development times vary quite drastically, triple-A games (excluding annual releases like FIFA) take anywhere between 2-5 years to develop.

This means that we could be waiting quite a while for the next-gen to really get going.

And it could be a case of the sooner the better for the PS5 and Xbox Two, especially if a new report is to be believed.

It was recently suggested that year-on-year video game revenue could drop for the first time since the mid-90s.

London research firm Pelham Smithers believes the market will shrink in 2019 and 2020.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Smithers blames ageing PS4 and Xbox One consoles, a lack of blockbuster releases and Fortnite-fatigue for the potential drop in revenue.

Mobile gaming is also expected to take a hit in China, as a stricter new approvals system comes into force.

This decline is expected to continue until the year following the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Two.

source: express.co.uk