PlayStation 5 Rumors: AMD Hints At Post-2019 Release For PS4 Successor

AMD, the semiconductor company working to power Sony’s upcoming console, PlayStation 5, gave a hint confirming previous reports that the gaming behemoth won’t be launched this year but instead arrive next year.

Previous reports said Sony’s Mark Cerny confirmed that the highly anticipated PS5 console will be powered by third-generation Ryzen chips and will have a custom GPU based on Radeon’s Navi chips that support ray tracing technology.

Both of these parts are made by AMD, and are expected to give the PS5 breathtaking performance. AMD itself said, although indirectly, that excited fans will be able to see and personally experience how the upcoming AMD-powered console works when it is made available after the year ends.

Officially hinted

AMD CEO Lisa Su, speaking at a recent financial earnings call, gave a hint indicating that Sony’s next-gen console will be released after 2019, Dexerto reported. While she didn’t really say something about the PS5’s release date, she mentioned that AMD is expecting growth in 2020 onward.

At first, Su acknowledged that for 2019, AMD saw decreased revenue in its “semi-custom” segment -- the company’s business in relation to gaming consoles -- because it has “entered the seventh year of the current game console cycle.”

Later on, Su said that while the company isn’t expecting any growth during the remainder of the year, it believes it will see growth the year after. “And then as we go into 2020, without talking about any specific customer, we believe that semi-custom will return to a growth business for us in 2020 and beyond,” she said.

What does this mean?

Su might not have specifically mentioned any customer or game console when she shared the company’s expected growth next year, but she did give hints as to what gaming system that would be.

Before Su could share the company’s growth expectations in 2020, she mentioned that Sony has chosen to equip its next-generation console with a custom AMD SoC and GPU.

This next-gen console is expected to replace the current game console that’s nearing the end of its life cycle. Of course, players will know that she is referring to the PS4, which was released in 2013.

So based on Su’s own words, AMD is expecting revenue growth in the semi-custom segment once the next-gen console, the PS5, replaces the one that’s nearing the end of its life cycle, the PS4.

Of course, AMD didn’t specifically say that Sony will release the PS5 in 2020. Better take Su’s words with a dash of excitement and a pinch of salt. Stay tuned for more updates.