On June 11, Sony finally revealed their long-awaited next-gen console, PlayStation 5. Since then, players have been waiting for more details about the PS5, from its release date and price to its specs and game library. Thankfully, Sony didn’t hide under the rug after the reveal and constantly gave us new information about the brand-new PS5.
From every angle, PS5 seems to be a big upgrade from its predecessor. Apart from the expected upgrades in the specs and performance department, PS5 will take the console further in many other areas, such as sound, accessibility, and backward compatibility. While these are exciting PS5 news, there is much more to be discovered about Sony’s flagship console, so let’s get into it.
PS5: Pricing, Release Date, and Availability
After the exciting reveal of PS5, most of us had one question in mind: How much does it cost and when will it be out? We didn’t wait long for these questions to be answered as Sony revealed that the initial PS5 price will be $499, which is a $100 increase from the price that PS4 launched at. To give players a more budget-friendly option, a Digital Edition of the PS5 will also be available at $399, which only removes the Blu-ray drive.
PS5 will launch on major markets such as the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Mexico, and South Korea first on November 12. The rest will have to wait another week to get their hands on the PS5 as it will launch on November 19 for the rest of the world. This release date will let PS5 be available for most of this year’s major AAA releases like Cyberpunk 2077, FIFA 21, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
If you don’t want to wait for the PS5 release date, you can still pre-order the console from various retailers. While the pre-orders have been live since September 17, stocks are running out fast, so set alerts on if you are planning to pre-order a PS5.
PS5 vs. Xbox Series X and PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S: Comparison
| PS5 | Xbox Series X | |
| GPU | AMD RDNA 2 GPU, 36 CUs, 10.28 TFLOPS | AMD RDNA 2 GPU, 52 CUs, 12 TFLOPS |
| CPU | 8-Core Zen 2 CPU @ 3.5 GHz | 8-Core Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8 GHz |
| Disc Drive | 4K Blu-ray | 4K Blu-ray |
| RAM | 16 GB GDDR6 | 16 GB GDDR6 |
| Storage | Custom 825 GB SSD | 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD |
| Additional Storage | NVMe SSD slot | 1 TB expansion card |
| Display Out | HDMI | HDMI |
| Dimensions | 15.35 × 4.09 × 10.23 inches (390 x 104 x 260 mm) | 5.94 x 5.94 x 11.85 inches (151 x 151 x 301 mm) |
| Weight | 9.92 pounds (4.5 kilograms) | 9.8 pounds (4.45 kilograms) |
| Price | $499 | $499 |
| PS5 Digital Edition | Xbox Series S | |
| GPU | AMD RDNA 2 GPU, 36 CUs, 10.28 TFLOPS | AMD RDNA 2 GPU, 20 CUs, 4 TFLOPS |
| CPU | 8-Core Zen 2 CPU @ 3.5 GHz | 8-Core Zen 2 CPU @ 3.6 GHz |
| Disc Drive | Digital only | Digital only |
| RAM | 16 GB GDDR6 | 10GB GDDR6 |
| Storage | Custom 825 GB SSD | 512 GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD |
| Additional Storage | NVMe SSD slot | 1 TB expansion card |
| Display Out | HDMI | HDMI 2.1 |
| Dimensions | 15.35 × 3.62 × 10.23 inches (390 x 92 x 260 mm) | 5.9 x 2.6 x 11 inches (151 x 65 x 275 mm) |
| Weight | 8.59 pounds (3.9 kilograms) | 4.25 pounds (1.93 kg) |
| Price | $399 | $299 |
PS5 Games: Major Releases and Exclusives
During the giant reveal, we also had the chance to take a good look at the many major PS5 games and exclusives, and the list has been growing since then. At an unspecified date in 2021, we will get our hands on Horizon Forbidden West, which is the anticipated sequel to the 2017-hit Horizon Zero Dawn. Given the high amount of praise the first game got, you can expect Horizon Forbidden West to be a must-buy for the PS5.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is another highly-anticipated PS5 title that is set to release with the launch of PS5. Developed by Insomniac Games, this game will put us in control of Miles Morales as Spider-Man in an open-world Manhattan. While it won’t be a direct sequel to the PS4 classic Spider-Man, it is developed by the same team, so it is expected to be a strong title.
If you are a souls-like fan, you will be delighted to hear about the Demons Souls remake for the PS5. Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most hyped-up games of the last decade, will also be playable on PS5 on day one. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the next title in the long-running shooter franchise, is also expected to be available for PlayStation 5 around its launch as well, though a release date has not been specified yet.
Of course, these are just the tip of the iceberg for the list of PS5 games that are set to release shortly after its launch. During the PS5 Showcase Livestream on September 17, Sony showed many games that will be available for the console. Final Fantasy XVI was announced as a PS5 exclusive, and the new God of War game, Ragnarok, was revealed with a short teaser.
On top of these major reveals, Resident Evil Village, Oddworld: Soulstorm, Hogwarts Legacy, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Gran Turismo 7 were also confirmed to be in the list of incoming PS5 titles. Looks like Sony took a big lesson from the weak launch of the PS4 in 2013 and is planning a bigger and stronger launch for their next-generation console, PlayStation 5.
PS5 Backwards Compatibility
Beyond this exciting news about the planned PS5 games, Sony also announced significant progress on the backwards compatibility department. In the last-gen, PS4 was beaten by Xbox One’s impressive support for older games. According to PlayStation’s chief architect Mark Cerny, nearly every game on the top 100 PS4 games list (ranked by playtime) will be playable at the PS5 launch date. This is great news if you missed any one of the PS4 masterpieces like God of War, Bloodborne, and Uncharted 4.
If this number seemed small, don’t worry. The number of backwards compatible games will be constantly expanded through system updates, and more than 4,000 PS4 games are planned to be playable on PS5 in time.
Sadly, PS5 won’t support older games like PS One, PS2, and PS3 titles like Xbox Series X and S supports Xbox and Xbox 360 games. As a plus, though, a new PS Plus service called the PlayStation Plus Collection is coming to PS5. If you are a PS Plus member, you will get 18 of the top PS4 games for PS5 with PS Plus Collection with no additional cost.
On top of many PS4 games, a good majority of the PS4 accessories will be backwards compatible with PS5 too. DualShock 4 will only work on supported PS4 games, which means PS5 titles will only utilize the new DualSense controllers. On top of that, PlayStation Gold and Platinum headsets and officially licensed arcade sticks and racing wheels will work on PS5.
PlayStation VR accessories will also be supported as PS Move Motion Controllers, the PS VR Aim Controller, and the PlayStation Camera will work on PlayStation VR games.
PS5: Is It Worth Upgrading?
So far, PS5 seems like a step forward in every aspect. If you are a PS4 or PS4 Pro owner, though, you will rightfully wonder if it is worth upgrading to PS5 or not. The short answer is: Yes. PS5 will be a major upgrade in every aspect imaginable, from higher framerates up to 120 FPS and better backwards compatibility to faster SSD storage and higher resolutions.
First, let’s talk about the SSD because the difference it makes will probably be the first thing you will notice when you get a PS5. SSD will improve your PS5 experience drastically. Your system and games will load much faster, it allows for bigger game worlds, it takes a noticeable amount of load off your RAM, and it gives you full control over your game files, which means you will be able to install/uninstall certain parts of a game if you wish.
Thanks to its new architecture and stronger specs, PS5 will support much higher framerates and resolutions, even when compared to PS4 Pro. Consoles will see 120 FPS for the first time while 8K support is already implemented in PS5 for the time 8K becomes commercially available.
The new PS5 controller, DualSense, will rock a more ergonomic shape similar to the Xbox One controller. It will feature a microphone for easier communication and the L2 and R2 buttons will be adaptive, meaning they will have levels of resistance that will give you more gameplay options in your games.
If the higher PlayStation 5 price discourages you, you also have the option to go with the PS5 Digital Edition, which will launch at a cheaper price of $399. Plus, the only thing you will lose is the Blu-ray disc drive, which doesn’t matter that much in this day and age if you are not a physical game collector. This is a big plus over the new Xbox Series X and S, in which the latter not only loses its disc drive but also has weaker specs in general.
Closing off, it will suffice to say that we are all excited about the launch of PS 5. Sony seems to have taken good lessons from the PS4’s lifetime as they are maintaining what has worked and improving those that didn’t. Unlike PS4, we will get many amazing PS5 exclusives right off the bat; and with improved backward compatibility, the PlayStation 5 will launch much stronger.
Additionally, the massive improvements on the specs and the introduction of SSD storage will revolutionize console gaming as a whole, allowing for much higher resolutions and frame rates on top of the faster system and game load times. Add these to the other smaller improvements like the overhauled UI, a new controller, ray tracing support, and the new Tempest 3D audio technology, and you get a PS5 that is worthy of the next generation of gaming.
