PlayStation 5 rumored to be releasing in 2020

According to a report from Kotaku Sony’s next console is in development, but won’t be available for purchase by consumers until at least 2020. Kotaku also say that it’s likely that the console won’t play PlayStation 4 games.

The news comes from two developers close to Kotaku who, during an interview, told the press outlet that they had knowledge of Sony’s next console, adding that it won’t release until 2019 at the earliest. However, one source also said that plans can change, and that on multi-year projects a lot can happen to shift schedules forwards and backwards. They ended by saying that Sony have probably identified their ideal release window and will try to stick to it no matter what.

This news comes on the back of rumours which have surfaced this week surrounding the PlayStation 5, hinting that it will release this year. Some of these rumours are based on devkits that have been provided by Sony, however these can be anything from near exact replicas of the console to PC’s running with the same or similar hardware.

In the past Sony has asked developers to restrict access to their devkits when they are for an as of yet unannounced console. The number of people with access to them will be small and could mean that most people in the company wouldn’t even be aware that they had the device.

Kotaku have reiterated that the majority of developers they’ve spoken to on the subject have absolutely no knowledge of a PlayStation 5 console.

As for the news that the PlayStation 5 will not play PlayStation 4 games, this would put Sony’s latest console at a disadvantage to the Xbox One, which has a growing list of backwards compatible Xbox 360 games which the Xbox One X actually enhances. This detail might have something to do with thoughts that the PlayStation 5 will only play digital games, having no ability to load games from physical discs.

It’s true that consumers are moving towards digital spending as their preference, but physical sales still account for a large amount of video game sales. If the PlayStation 5 did only run digitally downloaded games then it could be the start of the entire console sector moving in the same direction, with Sony leading the way.