Sony Confirms PS5 Console Development In 2018 Earnings Report

Sony has officially confirmed that Play Station 5 (PS5) console development is very much on. The subtle announcements were contained in the end-of-year financial results.

In the latest earnings report, Sony said its gaming division experienced an “increase in development expenses for the next generation console.” Those words are quite eloquent on how the PS5 is now shaping up.

The financial results also showed impressive profits of the fiscal that ended on March 31.

Sony PS5 launch in November 2020?

However, the launch may not happen until the first half of 2020 or in the next 12 months. Vocal hints apart, Sony made clear that PS5 will not be arriving within the next 12 months.

It means the release of PS5 is unlikely until May 2020. Considering recent editions of PlayStation consoles PS4 and PS3 got launched in November, there is a likelihood that PS5 launch may happen in November 2020.

In recent weeks, Sony was also giving out details of its next-gen PlayStation’s specs and other details in tech media.

Sony’s hints on some key specs of the upcoming console did hike the curiosity of the gaming market.

Sony seems to be assuring that PS5 will support 8K graphics, 3D audio, SSD storage, and there will be backward compatibility with existing PlayStation 4 titles.

The GPU of PS5 will generously support ray-tracing graphics. Some major improvements in CPU and SSD will be highlights offering more power and raw speed for developers.

Boosting the output of PS 5 console will be AMD chip, CPU of third-generation Ryzen with eight cores of the seven-nanometer Zen 2 microchip.

The highest high-resolution setting from PS5

As a game changer, PS5 will run games in the highest ever high-resolution setting. It is Full Ultra HD, as a leap from the PS4 Pro’s 4K resolution.

The 8K graphics will be driven by a custom version of Radeon's Navi line. This graphics chip supports ray tracing, now popular in movies and video games.

System architect Mark Cerny also updated on the next-gen PlayStation and affirmed that it will have a partial PS4 architecture and backward compatibility.

Cerny revealed that PS will not be an out and out digital device and will definitely accept physical discs. So, it is apparent that PS5 will be an iteration of the predecessor PS4, in contrast to the drastic difference between PS4 and PS3.

Sales figures and guidance for next quarter

In the earnings report, Sony notes that it shipped 17.8 million PS4 consoles during the fiscal ended March 31, down from 19 million during the year before.

Since the release in 2013, PS4 sold 96.8 million consoles worldwide. It is expected that the 100-million mark will be hit in the coming quarter. The logic of falling PS4 sales is understandable given the aging pace of the console.

Sony expects that in the current fiscal year, PS4 sales will drop again and the numbers will still drop to 16 million.

Sony also predicts that operating profits will decline by 10 percent in the next quarter due to the cost burden associated with the development of the PlayStation 5.