Sony Confirms PlayStation 5 Plans, But It Will Take ‘Some Time’ Before It's Revealed

With Microsoft officially revealing Project Scorpio as the Xbox One X, many are now wondering when Sony will announce the PlayStation 5. Sony Interactive Entertainment America CEO Shawn Layden has confirmed plans for the PlayStation 5.

In an interview with the German site Golem.de, the CEO was asked on whether Sony will ever release games that will only work for the PlayStation 4 Pro. Layden responded by saying, “That will never happen!”

The regular PlayStation 4 and the PS4 Pro both share the same library of games, but the latter is capable of delivering better graphical performance. Games are labeled “PS4 Pro Enhanced” if they have been optimized to run in 4K. Layden said that the standard PS4 has no real disadvantages, and the PS4 Pro is only for those who want and can take advantage of its 4K gaming capabilities.

The CEO was then asked if Sony was going to rely on the PlayStation 5 to deliver games that are not playable on the standard PS4. Layden responded by saying, “Yes. It will probably be some time.”

This is the first time that anyone from Sony has confirmed plans for the PS5. At E3 2017, Sony didn’t mention anything about a next-generation console. Instead, the company focused more on new games that are going to be released for the PS4 and the PS4 Pro within the next year.

Microsoft, on the other hand, finally revealed the Xbox One X, its new console that will be out this year in November. The Xbox One X is being marketed as the most powerful game console ever built, and it will be capable of playing games in native 4K resolution at 60 frames-per-second in HDR.

With Sony finally confirming plans for the PlayStation 5, it certainly seems like it’s too early to tell when it will be out. Layden’s statement suggests that it might not be out for at least a couple of years, but that’s not stopping rumors from circulating.

Back in April, Macquarie Capital Securities analyst Damian Thong said that he expects Sony to release the PS5 during the second half of 2018. Thong’s prediction has a lot of weight since he predicted that the PS4 Pro would arrive in the fall of 2016, which turned out to be accurate.

Although he has been right in the past, this doesn’t necessarily mean we should take his new prediction for the PS5 release date as gospel. Sony currently doesn’t need to rush its next-generation console since it’s still doing well with the PS4 and the PS4 Pro. The company has already sold over 60 million PS4 consoles and is already reaching 500 million games sold worldwide.

Announcing and releasing the PS5 in 2018 might hamper the on-going success of the PS4. Also, the PS4 Pro is still very much new, and Sony will risk alienating those who’ve recently purchased it, as pointed out by Forbes.

The best way for Sony to come out with the PS5 would be when sales for the PS4 have drastically slowed down, and or when it’s developers are no longer interested with the PS4 Pro. With how things are currently going, that won’t happen until at least 2019 or maybe 2020, but that’s just speculation at this point.