On Wednesday 16, Sony held an online showcase on YouTube and Twitch, revealing PlayStation 5 critical info.
The company revealed the price and release date of the PS5 and next-gen gameplay trailers, game prices, and some extra details about their PlayStation Network services.
Let’s get right into business and list everything we’ve learned about the Sony PlayStation 5.
Playstation 5 Price & Release Date
The PlayStation is offering similar prices at launch than Microsoft’s Xbox Series lineup. With a Blu-Ray disc-tray capable of reproducing 4K media and powerful streaming features, the PS5 is selling for $499 at launch. It’s the same price as the Xbox Series X.
There’s a cheaper version that doesn’t have a disc-tray, though. The PlayStation 5 Digital Edition will have a retail price of $399. It still doesn’t come close to the $299 price point of the Xbox Series S.
However, it does have the same specs of its pricier brother so that it can play 4K/60fps. Remember that the Xbox Series S targets 1440p resolutions.
PlayStation 5: $499/ €500
PlayStation 5 Digital Edition: $399 / €399
I have to note the PlayStation 5 is not Sony’s most expensive console. The honor goes to the PlayStation 3. Over a decade ago, the PS3 sold for $499 with 20GB of storage, or $599 with 60GB of storage.
Moreover, the Digital Edition is selling for the current price of the PlayStation 4 Pro. It’s also selling for the same launch price as the PlayStation 4, so the fully-fledge version did raise the price bar again.
Keep in mind both options pack the same specs but the disc-tray. They even have the same amount of storage (812GB).
Keep in mind, though, that open-world like Red Dead Redemption takes up 200GB of space. Simple shooters like Doom: Eternal takes about 60GB. And battler royals like Warzone take over 200GB. Moreover, the PlayStation 4 operating system consumes about 90GB, so small all-digital storage can run out quickly.
PS5 launch date
The PlayStation 5 is releasing on November 12 in the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Korea. On the 19th, it will reach the UK before it comes to the rest of the world.
Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the games available for the PlayStation 5, albeit it’s built for the PS4, Xbox One, and Windows PC. It will run as a retro-compatible title.
PlayStation 5 pre-orders
More importantly, there are already pre-order options on different digital retailers. Click on the buttons below to check the other options.
Before we go on, you must know Sony did not say when will pre-orders become available.
Some stores have financing plans where you could pay 24 monthly quotas of $34 each for the expensive version.
Other stores will pack a PlayStation 5 Digital System Bundles. The bundles will include the console, the controller, the charging station, one-year os PlayStation Plus membership, plus one of the launch games (like Miles Morales or Demon’s Souls). The bundle could also include $100 of credit on the PlayStation Store.
Let’s now discuss the peripherals.
PlayStation 5 accessories prices
The most expensive piece of gear of the PlayStation 5 generation is its DualSense controller. With its immersive adaptative triggers, Haptic Feedback, and built-in mic, the controller sells for $69.99.
I have to note the “Haptic Feedback” feature allows users to interact with virtual objects as it delivers the sense of touching and carrying things. In other words, the player receives feedback on the controller as a response to how he interacts with the environment.
The rest of the accessories are also available on the retailers I shared above, and you can place your pre-order soon.
Here’s a rundown on the prices of the PlayStation 5 accessories and peripherals:
- DualSense Controller: $69.99
- DualSense Chargin Station: $29.99
- Pulse 3D Wireless Headset: $99.99
- HD Camera: $59.99
- Media controller: $29.99
PlayStation 5 Critical Info: games prices and release dates
Sony is making everything very clear with the prices and release dates of their next-gen games.
Out of all the games they have announced thus far, only four games are launching on November 12 alongside the console. These games include:
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: $69.99
- Demon’s Soul Remake: $69.99
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure Standard: $59.99
- Destruction AllStars Standard Edition: $69.99
That said, it looks like the new price standard for PlayStation 5 games is the $70 price mark. It doesn’t look like Microsoft is doing the same, though. Moreover, big companies like Ubisoft are not going to adapt to the same price tag either.
However, Activision is selling Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War for the new price as well. We expect many next-gen games to jump forward its price point, even when the consoles’ prices don’t represent the same price jump.
As for the rest of the PlayStation 5 games we’ve seen, we expect them by mid/late-2021.
Lastly, it looks like Miles-Morales is the heavy hitter as serves as an intro for Sony’s new generation. We also expect many PlayStation 5 bundles shipping with Insomniac’s title.
PlayStation 5 Games
Sony revealed extended gameplay trailers for most of the games they’ve talked about during the year. We also learned some games during August’s State of Play presentation. Additionally, we saw some of these newer titles on the Gamescom live-stream.
Here’s a collection of some of the best PS5 game trailers we’ve seen so far. I included everything we learned on the September 16 PlayStation 5 Showcase, even the God of War: Ragnarok teaser trailer.
PlayStation 5 Game Trailers YouTube Playlist
PS5 services
Lastly, we need to talk about the services Sony is offering for its next-gen console.
For starters, they have improved their PlayStation Plus subscription for PS5 owners. PSN now gets access to some of the best games of the PlayStation 4 generation, but only on accounts running on the newer consoles.
PSPlus
The original PlayStation Plus service grants you the ability to enter the multiplayer modes of any game you own. However, free-to-play games like Warzone or Fortnite don’t require an extra subscription to play online.
Speaking of which, Fornite released a new PS5 trailer rocking its new Ray Tracing-enhanced visuals.
The Plus subscription also grants two free games each month you can download, plus exclusive discounts on the PlayStation Store.
New and improved deal
PlayStation 5 owners also get access to some of the best PS4 games with their Plus subscription.
Games included in the collection are God of War 4, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Remastered, and Resident Evil: Biohazard. Check the video below for the full list:
Check our most recent gaming news
PlayStation 5 Specs
The last part of our article on the PlayStation 5 critical info has to do with its specs. Although we’ve already seen them in previous articles, I think it would be good to pack all of the info on a single piece.
It’s important to note that its SDD custom drive features almost instant load drives. It can load 2GB of data in 0.23 seconds or 5GB in a single second. Overall, it reads and loads data about 100 faster than the PS4, which has an IO throughput speed of 50-100mbs.
IO Speed: the speed in which the storage transfer the data.
Here’s a rundown on what the SDD offers on the PS5:
- Instant boot times
- No load screens
- High-speed streaming
- Erase duplicate game data
- Eliminate long patch installs
The PlayStation 5 uses a 4th-gen SDD drive
PCIe NVMe 4.0 SSDStill, expanding the SDD storage needs another piece that meets the same speeds.
Most current 3rd-gen SDD drives reach about half the speed of a 4th-gen SDD drive. The downside is 4th-gen solid-state drives are almost twice as expensive as 3rd-gen solutions.
An extra NVMe SDD drive for the PS5 needs to be as fast as the original one, so it must have at least 5.5GB/s speeds.
In theory, the specs are quite similar to the Xbox Series X. Both feature the same Zen-2 CPU plus RDNA-2 GPUs. The CPU is built on AMD’s 7nm System on Chip process, and it’s their top-of-the-line technology.
I should note that Xbox is taking the route of only accepting custom Seagate drives as the expandable SDD storage. However, the Xbox Series X/Series S uses 3rd-gen SDD drives, so they are cheaper to buy separately.
