Sony, with the PlayStation 5 (PS5), is likely to become the cynosure of the console gamer’s eyesight again.
The reveal event, that was live-streamed on June 11 worldwide and June 12 IST, started with a clip featuring Grand Theft Auto 5 on the PS4. The launch also saw the preview of a host of gaming titles.
Jim Ryan - President and CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment - had announced that that this partnership with Rockstar Games for the GTA series would continue on the PS5.
Hardware, specs - what's new?
The PS5 hardware appears to be sleeker compared to its rival -Microsoft’s Xbox series X. It is touted to be slimmer than the PlayStation 4 (PS4).
Two variants of the PS5 were revealed during the event.
"At PS5’s launch, we will offer two options: a PlayStation®5 console with an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive and a PlayStation®5 Digital Edition without a disc drive," the company said.
"The PS5 game-play experience will be the same, so the choice is all yours. While there are some slight differences in the look of each model, for the overall design, we wanted to deliver a console that’s bold, stunning, and unlike any previous generation of PlayStation" shared Sid Shuman, Senior Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications on the Playstation blog.
On March 18, Hideaki Nishino, Senior Vice President, Platform Planning & Management, Sony Interactive Entertainment shared the hardware specification of the PS5 on the Playstation official blog.
Some of the specs were:
- x86-64-AMD Ryzen™ 'Zen 2' with 8 Cores / 16 Threads and Variable clock frequency
- Up to 3.5 GHz, AMD Radeon™ RDNA 2-based graphics engine featuring Ray Tracing Acceleration with System RAM Memory 16GB GDDR6
- Proprietary 825GB capacity SSD, and Video Out support of 4K 120Hz TVs
- 8K TV support along with “Tempest” 3D AudioTech along with backward compatibility for 4000+ PS4 gaming titles.
The DualSense wireless controller for the PS5 will have improved haptic feedback and adaptive triggers with the USB port on the controller besides accessories like the DualSense controller charging station along with the plug-in HD camera, Pulse 3D wireless headset, media remote were also teased at the end of the live stream.
Games titles for the PS5
There were a whole host of gaming titles that are being touted to be on the PlayStation 5 like Spiderman: Mike Morales Gran Turismo 7, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Square Enix’s Project Athia, Stray, etc, Returnal, Sackboy: A big adventure, Destruction AllStars, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Odd World SoulStorm, Ghostwire Tokyo, Godfall, Solar Ash, Hitman III, Astro’s Playroom, Little Devil Inside, NBA 2K21, Bugsnax, Demon’s Souls, Deathloop, Resident Evil VIII, Pragmata, Horizon: Forbidden West, Goodbye volcano high.
The consoles are likely to be launched in late 2020 with most of the games featured in the reveal having a later 2020 and early 2021 availability schedule.
A montage of members of each game development studio developing games for the PS5 was featured at the end of of the reveal; telling gamers about the enhanced experiences and immersive worlds to look forward to in the games that are to launch for the PS5.