Sony has made it official. The PlayStation 5 is coming in late 2020, according to a post on the PlayStation Japan website on Tuesday. The PlayStation US site also posted a post confirming the PS5's U.S. launch date for the holiday season of 2020.
Details about the PS5 were revealed last Tuesday. The new PlayStation will not only feature graphical upgrades, but also a redesign of the console.
Sony is changing the way it handles storage on the PS5. The new SSD will not only make games faster and reduce load times, but it will also come with a new way to handle game installation. Users will be able to simply install a multiplayer or single-player campaign for a game instead of installing the entire game.
“Instead of treating games as one big piece of data,” architect Mark Cerny told Wired, “we’re enabling better access to the data.”.
Another big change will be the console's controller. Instead of "rumble" technology, Sony said in a blog post, the controller will use haptic feedback for a more subtle vibration when playing a game. The left and right triggers will also use adaptive technology, making some actions more realistic, like pulling a bowstring or recoiling a gun. There will also be new speakers on the controllers, as well as a USB-C.
The PS5 will be notably different in terms of graphics and the use of ray tracing, which is a new way of handling lighting effects in a game. The console's GPU will support the new technology. AMD has already said it is working with Sony to build custom hardware to power the new system.
Sony also confirmed that PS5 DEV Kits are in the hands of developers working on new games for the console's launch.
In September, the PlayStation maker also confirmed that the new console would be more eco-friendly. Sony said that if 1 million users use the PS5's energy-saving feature, it would save the equivalent of the average electricity consumption of 1,000 US homes.
