PS5 Will Release Early 2019 (Opinion)

[EricHiggin]

KBG29 said:

I do see what you are saying as a possability. PS5 could run from 2019 to 2025, and then PS6 would make the switch to full SSD tech, and significantly more RAM. There are a few things that could advance just based on moving to Ryzen in 2019. Doing so would mean that we would be limited to SSHD or HDD, and most likely 24GB of RAM at the most. On the positive side this would limit the improvements possible over this gen, meaning more CPU should be geared towards higher frame rates and VR. Looking at the negative side of things, the leap may be to small for consumers to deem worthy of upgrading, thus resulting in a slow uptake for PS5. 

As you mentioned though, they do have to be cautious about what Microsoft may do. If they make PS4 Premium in 2019, and MS goes to Ryzen based Xbox in 2020, that would kind of force them to release a PS5 by 2021 with Ryzen in 2021. Depending on the reseption of a possible Ryzen based Xbox in 2020, MS could gain a significant head start. PS5 would have to come in noticably more capable, and at the same price in 2021. 

You also have to consider the games though. Will MS return to making games and buying major 2nd party exclusives, or will they continue to stick to Forza, Halo, and Gears? If MS does not grow their library, Sony may not have a whole lot to worry about. Sony has built a decent stable of 5 - 10+ million sellers over the last decade, that span many different segments of the market, and that may just be enough to keep people locked to PlayStation.

At any rate, this is an extreamly exciting time in games from both a hardware and software perspective. Scalable ecosystems and VR have made everything very exciting. After kind of getting bored with games towards the end of last gen/start of this gen, I have to say, I feel even more excited now than when I was a kid. I am extreamly excited about upcoming games, and can't wait to see what comes of the hardware going forward.

Full SSD storage in a PS6 around 2025 sounds easily doable. The leap to next gen would be less again, and some may say screw it, but if the base PS5 is cheap enough, and has more performance than XB1X, plus the variety of the PS exclusives, with BC, I don't see gamers having too much of a problem with that. Just imagine if PS3 had a different architectural layout (not cell), yet performed similar to the XB360, for $400, instead of $600. PS3 would have sold much faster and probably would have hit 100M again. Having an affordable console is necessary. Having a Pro version at the same time? Now that should allow for another PS4 like launch explosion, while fixing the issues PS4 Pro has now.

With a PS4 Premium, a Ryzen based new XB, almost seems guaranteed. If XB has any plans to get back into the console race, that would be the perfect time to execute. A few other posts mentioned PS5 trying to get a lead. If the next XB launches a year after PS4 Premium, with a Ryzen based APU, then XB is now the one with the lead, and PS is in the hot seat about what to do with PS5. I'd rather be the one with the lead going into next gen, regardless of the potential PS4 losses, because the PS5 losses could be even larger. With a cheaper and higher end system available to my customers, I wouldn't hesitate to start next gen if I were PS late 2019/2020.

I think XB is going to add a few more first party titles. The fact they announced that they were looking for devs to create a "HZD" like game, says to me that XB see's that PS decided to try and make a somewhat Zelda like game, which is doing quite well, and we all know how well Zelda does, so why not one for XB?  Whether these new titles end up being any good or helping the XB brand who knows, but I don't see them sticking with just their FGH big 3. XB won't go crazy and flood the market with their own first party titles, but they will make an effort to go from 3, to say maybe 6.

There are many possiblities as to whether this gen gets extended again or jumps to next gen. I just think based on how PS4 has played out, PS seems to have learned from their mistakes. One of those mistakes was focusing too much on PS2 and it's record sales, and ending up a year behind with the PS3. I think PS could get away with launching PS5, 6 months to 1 year behind the next XB, but they can't allow that XB to have a lower price next gen. This is another reason why having a cheaper base PS5 and a Pro version ready for launch, should solve yet another potential later launch problem.

So many possibilities. I am excited as well to see how this plays out. Since both XB and PS should have gotten their huge launch screw up's out of the way now, next gen should be really exciting. Not to mention Switch looks to become a big player as well. 2020 is supposed to be the year of the future right?