The PS5 is coming.
James Martin/CNET
Sony announced its next-generation PlayStation hardware in April and offered a demo in May. We haven’t known much about its next console, the PlayStation 5 — except that the company says it’ll offer vast improvements over the PlayStation 4.
The price of the PS5 is still unknown, but the cost to manufacture one is reportedly $450, according to Bloomberg Thursday. One contributor to the steep cost is the low supply of DRAM and NAND flash memory used in smartphones. Even so, Sony may still give the PS5 a lower price tag in order to compete with Microsoft and its upcoming Xbox Series X.
Here’s everything we know so far about the PlayStation 5.
When can we expect the PS5?
On Oct. 8, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan offered up new details about the PS5, including the 2020 holiday season release window.
The official PlayStation 5 website went live Feb. 4, but there’s not much to see. There’s a short message on the site saying “We’ve begun to share some of the incredible features you can expect from PlayStation 5, but we’re not quite ready to fully unveil the next generation of PlayStation.” Below that is an email sign-up to get future details about the console.
What’s new about the PS5?
Graphics
The console will have improved graphics that use ray tracing, which is a new way of handling lighting effects in a game. The tech will be supported by the PS5’s GPU.
There’s been a leak of several performance tests done by AMD that are suspected to be benchmarks for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X GPUs, according to a Dec. 30 report from Eurogamer. The tests reportedly show the PS5’s GPU at 9.2 teraflops, or 9.2 trillion floating-point operations per second. In comparison, Xbox Series X’s GPU has a target of 12 teraflops. These tests are unofficial and won’t be confirmed until the consoles make their official debut.
Storage
Players will see a change in storage. The PS5’s new solid-state drive means games will boot up faster and they’ll take less time to load. In addition, the console will let users install a game’s multiplayer or single-player campaign without installing a whole new game.
Controller
The PS5 is also getting a new controller that’ll ship with the console. Ryan says the new controller will adopt haptic feedback to replace the older “rumble” sensation. There will also be new speakers in the controllers and a USB-C port.
“With haptics, you truly feel a broader range of feedback, so crashing into a wall in a race car feels much different than making a tackle on the football field. You can even get a sense for a variety of textures when running through fields of grass or plodding through mud,” Ryan said in the release.
The controllers also incorporate adaptive triggers in the L2/R2 buttons. If developers choose, they can program resistance into the triggers so you can feel a “tactile sensation” of drawing a bow, accelerating a vehicle off-road, and more. It makes games more immersive overall.
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Green tech
In September, Sony also said its new console would be “greener.” If 1 million players use the PS5’s energy-saving feature, Sony said, that would save the equivalent of the average electricity use of 1,000 US homes. Both Sony and Microsoft have said they’re committed to making more eco-friendly video game consoles.
Do we know about any games yet?
Not for PS5, unfortunately. Ryan did say that Death Stranding, The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima are still coming out for PS4.
How much is it going to cost?
No set price has been revealed, but Sony has said that PlayStations could get more expensive if the trade wars between China and the US continue.
Originally published Oct. 8, 2019, and updated as new information is revealed.
Correction, Jan. 13: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect title for Jim Ryan. He is CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment.