Sony's PS5 is set to be released on 19 November 2020. The official logo of the gaming console was made public in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020. It has been widely compared to Microsoft's new console, the Xbox Series X, which was just released on November 10, 2020. The PS5 will replace the PS4 and will be Sony's most powerful gaming console ever.
Late last year, details emerged of a controller teased by Sony that most people believed to be the PS5 controller. It has a familiar look with the existing PS4 controllers but with new features. The controller has subtle changes compared to the current DualShock 4 controller. It has a more pronounced touchpad while the thumbsticks are small in size. Also, there's more ravel on the rear triggers of the controller. This is to allow for adjustment of the triggers to make them more adaptive. Moreover, the leaked DualShock 5 controller didn't seem to have a light bar. Rumors are suggesting that the PS5 controller has a microphone, but that can neither be confirmed nor denied.
No new details about the PS5 controllers have emerged recently, but there's reason to believe they may look like the teased controller. The PS5 promises more speed and improved graphics. The current PS4 Pro has a custom AMD CPU with a clock speed of up to 2.13Ghz. PS5 is expected to beat that speed, and it is confirmed that the CPU chip will be a 3rd generation Ryzen chip. The processor will be custom made and will contain eight processors. Also, it will be the first-ever PlayStation console based on the latest 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture technology. This will allow for ray tracing, which is currently on the Nvidia RTX and a few high-end PC processors.
The console is also expected to have better graphics compared to its predecessors. This will be made possible with the combination of the Zen CPU architecture and AMD's Navi graphics architecture. The GPU setup will support 8K resolutions hence improved visual fidelity. However, for physical disks, 4k Blu-ray players will be supported. There's wide speculation that the PS5 graphics will be photo-realistic or something close to that. There's also reason to believe that since ray tracing, which is a defining element of next-generation graphics, will be introduced.
There will be audio enhancements in the new PlayStation console, which is good news to developers and players alike. In addition, there will be a new custom 3D audio unit added to PS5, as confirmed by Sony. As a result, players will experience a more immersive sound, whether they're playing with headphones on or using the TV sound system. Additionally, Reduced PS5 load time will be a significant improvement, and one of the biggest enhancements. There are rumors that the load time will be significantly reduced to 0.8 seconds, which is incredible.
One of the greatest issue that PlayStation players face is memory management of their games. Speculation has it that Sony will try to counter the issue by making external SSD's that players can slot into the console. These external SSD's might be made available when the PS5 is released, but this remains speculation as per now. Sony made it public that there will be PS5 exclusive games that won't be playable in any of its previous consoles. Well, this can be considered a business-oriented tactic or just another way of showing how powerful the next-gen console will be. Either way, the announcement will improve the market sales of the new console since many players will be curious to play the exclusive games.
The PS5 won't be a completely digital console since it will still accept physical disks. This is because it will be backward compatible with PS4 games, as confirmed by Sony. Also, since it is primarily based on PS4 architecture, games playable on PS4 can still be played on PS5. Sony's CEO, Jim Ryan, confirmed that the backward compatibility applies to all previous PlayStation consoles. Hence, players get the chance to play all their favorite games on PS5.
In fact, players can start games on the PS4 then continue them on the PS5. This amazing feature is called the Cross-Generational Play, allowing gamers to move their progress in PS4 to PS5 and vice versa. Lastly, most of the information available now is just speculative. We will have to wait till Holiday 2020 to confirm the specs, look and feel of this new gaming console.