After much waiting, Sony finally revealed the PlayStation 5 price and release date. The PlayStation 5 hits North American shelves on November 12. The digital edition will retail for $399, while the one with the Blu-ray disc drive will go for $499.
See you in November! pic.twitter.com/CjrQ65rJ5a
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 16, 2020
Sony revealed the price and release date info yesterday afternoon at its latest PlayStation 5 showcase. For comparison, the Xbox Series X and S consoles release two days earlier, on November 10, for $499 and $299. But while Microsoft’s cheaper “all digital” console is significantly less powerful than the premium one, Sony’s two systems are otherwise identical aside from the lack of a Blu-ray disc drive in the less expensive model.
Alongside the price and date reveal, Sony showed off a bunch of game footage for PlayStation 5 games. The biggest surprises were the announcement of a God of War sequel, God of War: Ragnarok, Final Fantasy XVI, and the long-awaited Harry Potter RPG, Hogwarts Legacy. Sony also showed off footage of Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls. Both of these games will launch alongside the PlayStation 5 on November 12.
Sony also announced its answer to Microsoft’s Game Pass, the PlayStation Plus collection. This will be a smaller collection of games compared to Game Pass, primarily concerning Sony’s first-party titles. Sony did not offer a price for this, so it’s possible that it may fold into the existing PlayStation Plus pricing.
Sony announced after the digital showcase that pre-orders for the console go live at “select retailers” today but as of the time of this writing, the company has not yet announced which retailers those are.
I see three things to watch with the new consoles now:
1) How much value does that $100 really offer for the PS5 digital? MS having the lowest cost of entry could be a strong advantage, even at lower performance.
2) How to services shape up? MS seem to be betting less on hardware and more on subscription sales to remain profitable, and since they’re already selling Game Pass on PC, where else might they port it?
3) What will new hardware look like in 1-2 years? If we’re entering an age of more incremental upgrades, will start seeing more annual hardware releases with gradual upgrades instead of discrete console generations?
I’ll be waiting to see how things shape up. In the meantime, I have video card prices to watch.
Both versions having the same specs will ensure that all PS5 players get to enjoy the same level of graphical goodness. I just hope that the disc-less version does not outsell the 4K Bluray version, even though I realize this might be a futile hope. Of course everyone will buy the more affordable PS5 console which will just spell the end of discs. I don’t think I want to see them go away just yet.