PlayStation 5: Everything you need to know about Sony's next console
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After seven years of dominating the console market with the PlayStation 4, Sony is ready to take the next step in its history of successful video games with the long-awaited PlayStation 5, which everything indicates will be released later this year.
With the launch so close, we already have a lot of information about Sony's new console, so we'll gather here everything we already know about the PS5.
What to expect from PlayStation 5
In a virtual event on June 11, Sony released the first official images of the new console, which will be somewhat different from the company's other video games. These differences already start in the design, which abandons the straight shapes of the company's previous consoles and delivers a more “modern” design, with curves and rounded corners.
The reason behind this new design may be a change in the way Sony imagined the use of the console: while the other video games in the PlayStation line were designed to be used in a “lying down” way, the trailer for PlayStation 5 makes it clear that the console was designed to be used “standing”. But don't worry: the company has already made it clear that, like all other PlayStations, the PS5 will work normally both lying down and standing up, and it's up to the user to decide how to position the console.
Another interesting thing is the size of the device: according to the measurement specifications released by Sony, the PlayStation 5 it will be the biggest console ever released in the company's history — surpassing even the first version of the PlayStation 3, nicknamed “fat” due to its large size.
In addition, it is also confirmed that the PlayStation 5 will be launched on the market with two different versions: the PlayStation 5 and Playstation 5 Digital Edition. The only difference between the two will be that the Digital Edition model will not have a disc player, which means that people who buy this version of the console will only have access to games in digital form (those purchased through the PlayStation Store) and will not be able to play them. physical media games.
Another major change in the architecture of the PS5 that should be quickly felt by users is the use of an SSD storage device instead of a standard HDD. The main advantage of migrating to SSD is a higher speed of reading files, which in practice will make the “loading” screens of games much faster.
This is one of the main selling points of the PlayStation 5 since last year, when the company had not yet revealed what the console would look like and spoke about it only behind closed doors. In a private presentation that took place at the beginning of last year — and which became public after one of the participants illegally recorded what was being shown and published it on the internet — it is possible to clearly see how the use of SSD will affect loading screens, with a Spider-Man game map transition that takes 8 seconds to load on PS4 Pro and takes less than a second to run on PlayStation 5.
According to Sony, this loading speed may end up varying from game to game, but on average PS5 loading times are eighteen times smaller when compared to the PS4. SSD usage will also affect other areas outside of gaming, and will also make game installs and updates much faster.
As for the storage capacity, the console's technical specifications say that this custom SSD from PlayStation 5 will be able to store up to 825 GB of information — more than the 500 GB present in the first released version of the PlayStation 4.
Another important point that should be modified is the control. As with the console itself, the first clear change is in the design, which abandons what had been maintained by the company since the first PlayStation and bets on a more ergonomic design (and that slightly resembles the Xbox One controller), but still maintaining the characteristic of the two analogs being positioned parallel to each other.
Because of this design change, Sony is also changing the name of its controller. So, instead of being called DualShock 5 as expected, the company decided to baptize the PlayStation 5 controller with the name of Dualense.
In addition to a new name and design, the Dualense it will also have some improvements over the current DualShock 4 (the PlayStation 4 controller). One of these changes will be the introduction of haptic feedback technology, which will make the controller's trigger buttons (L2 and R2) become "lighter" or "heavier" according to the action taking place in the game.
This technology would allow, for example, when playing The Last of Us, the R2 button (which in the game is used to shoot with the weapon that the character is equipped with) fires the pistol with a light touch, but if the user tries to use the bow, it will be necessary to press it very hard so that the weapon works (emulating the fact that, in real life, it takes some effort to pull a bowstring).
Another novelty in DualSense will be the addition of a microphone built into the controller itself, in addition to maintaining its own speaker (something that already exists in the PS4 controller). This will make the PlayStation 5 a great video game for those who like to play online, as it will allow communication via audio chat even for those who don't have a headset to connect to the console.
A third change is the replacement of the “Share” button, present on the PS4 controller, for the “Create” button. Sony has not yet explained what the difference between the two buttons will be, but rumors are circulating that “Create” would introduce some video editing tools to the functions already present in “Share”, allowing content creators not only to post their gameplays faster as they can also make some basic edits to the video by the console itself.
We can also, of course, expect improvements in the graphical quality of the PlayStation 5 when compared to the PS4 (even because this is the main reason to launch a new console), but a very cool point that is little commented on is the fact that the PS5 already comes from the factory with 3D audio technology, which will allow the user to get a sense of the direction of the audio regardless of the type of sound output you are using. For example, if in the game someone to the left of your character is talking to you, the sound will appear to be coming from the left side of where the player is in the real world.
On the PlayStation 4, this type of audio is only possible in video games connected to home theaters or professional headphones, but the PlayStation 5 will allow even those who are using the speakers of a “basic” TV to experience the same sensation.
In terms of graphics quality, the PlayStation 5 promises a new revolution in what we experience within a game. This may not be possible to see yet in the trailers of the games shown so far, but it is clear in a video by Epic Games in May this year that shows the full potential of Unreal Engine 5 running in real time in Sony's new video game.
Backwards compatibility
One of the oldest requests from any fan of Sony's video games is for backwards compatibility of the PlayStation 5 — that is, that the new console supports and manages to run games originally released for the PlayStation 4. And, for the general happiness of the nation, the company has already confirmed that this will happen.
According to Mark Cerny, legendary designer and programmer who serves as a consultant on the development of the PlayStation 5, from launch the console will be compatible with almost all 100 of the most played PS4 games.
The statement immediately left some gamers worried — after all “almost all of the 100 most played PS4 games” is a very small portion of the console's library. According to data from Wikipedia, at least 2779 games have already been released for the PlayStation 4, which makes the number of “100 games” the equivalent of about 3,5% of the entire library available for the console. So running "almost all of the top 100 most played PS4 games" means the PS5 would be compatible with less than 3,5% of its predecessor's entire catalog.
But according to the latest leaks, the PlayStation 5 it should be backwards compatible to the vast majority of PS4 games, indicating that Cerny was just being very careful when confirming whether or not Sony's next console would have this function.
One of the possibilities to take all this care when announcing this much-awaited feature by players may be because this PS5 backwards compatibility will not “embrace” the entire PlayStation 4 catalog at once, but will start with a list of backwards compatible games — the so-called “almost all 100 most played PS4 games” — which will be gradually increased with monthly updates.
It must be made clear that this is just an assumption based on the facts we have so far and that there is no confirmation from Sony that this will be the path taken by it, but there are very recent examples that such a strategy can work, since which was the same adopted by Microsoft to make the Xbox One backwards compatible with Xbox 360 games.
Another possibility is that this backwards compatibility is different from what most users expect – which is to be able to simply install their games on the PS5 and access them at any time as they already do on the PS4 – and be more interconnected with the use of the cloud.
This is because there are many indications that the PS Now (Sony's cloud game streaming system) will receive a major update along with the launch of the PlayStation 5, and it is possible that the "backward compatibility" of the new console is tied to the use of this system, which already allows PS4 users to have access to a huge library of games not only from the console itself but also others that were only released for the PlayStation 3. But again, this is just an assumption based on what we already know about the console, and there is no confirmation from Sony that this backwards compatibility will be cloud-based.
The same leak that confirmed that most PS4 games will be playable on PlayStation 5 also revealed that Sony's new console will also be backwards compatible with the PS4 controller, and will allow users to use the DualShock 4 on the console.
But it is a small “but” in this story: the DualShock 4, despite being backward compatible, will not be supported by the games of the PlayStation 5. This means that you will be able to use the PS4 controller to access the menus or even play PS4 games taking advantage of the backward compatibility of the new console, but it will not work if you start a game developed for the PlayStation 5.
Despite this detail, this is not a reason to despair: as we have already explained here, the control Dualense will have some new functions that currently do not exist in the DualShock 4, and it would be unfair to force developers who use these new functions to adapt their games to also work with the PS4 controller.
PlayStation 5 games
With only a few months to go, we already have confirmation of several titles that will be released for the PlayStation 5. Most of them are cross-gen games, which will be released for both the current generation of consoles (PS4) and the next (PS5), but we have also been revealed some titles that will be exclusive to Sony's new video game.
Among the confirmations of games that will be released only on PlayStation 5 Highlights include Horizon Forbidden West (a sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn), Gran Turismo 7 and Spider-Man: Miles Morales (a spin-off/sequel to Spider-Man, released in 2018 for PlayStation 4).
As of the time of publication of this article, 71 games had already been confirmed for the PlayStation 5, but not all of them will be available since the console's launch. Here's the full list of confirmed titles:
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla
- Astro's Playroom (PS5 exclusive)
- Atomic Heart
- Battlefield 6
- bugsnax
- chivalry 2
- Chorus
- Controller: Ultimate Edition
- Cris Tales
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Deathloop
- Demon's Souls Remake (PS5 exclusive)
- Destiny 2
- Destruction All Star (PS5 exclusive)
- Dirt 5
- Doom Eternal
- dustborn
- Dying Light 2
- The Elder Scrolls Online
- Far Cry 6
- FIFA 21 coins
- Fortnite
- Ghostwire: Tokyo
- Godfall
- gods and monsters
- Goodbye volcano high
- Gothic remake
- Gran Turismo 7 (PS5 exclusive)
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Port
- Heavenly Bodies
- Hitman 3
- Hood: Outlaws and Legends
- Horizon forbidden west (PS5 exclusive)
- Jett: The Far Shore
- Kena: Bridge of the Spirits
- Little devil inside
- Madden 21
- Marvel's Avengers
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5 exclusive)
- MODELS
- Metal: Hellsinger
- NBA 2K21
- Observe: System Redux
- Oddworld: Soulstorm
- Outriders
- Overcooked: All You Can Eat
- Paradise Lost
- The Pathless
- Planet Coaster: Console Edition
- PRAGMATA
- Project athia
- Quantum error
- Rainbow Six Quarantine
- Rainbow Six Siege
- Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (PS5 exclusive)
- recompile
- Resident Evil 8: Village
- return
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS5 Exclusive)
- scarlet nexus
- Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One
- Solar ash
- Stray
- Item Item
- The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
- Warframe
- Watch Dogs Legion
- Worms rumble
- WRC 9
Price and launch
For now, there is still no exact date for the release of the PlayStation 5, but Sony has already confirmed that the console will be released later this year. As Microsoft has already revealed that the Xbox Series X (the company's next video game) hits stores in November, there's a possibility the PS5 will launch in the same month, which would ensure that both next-gen consoles would already be available on shelves for Christmas shopping.
As for the price, there is still no official information on how much the PS5 will cost, but rumors point to a Sony suggested retail price of $499 for the PSXNUMX. PlayStation 5 and $399 for the Playstation 5 Digital Edition. These values would be relatively higher than the PS4, which in 2013 reached US$ 399,99 on the market, but the increase in the base value can be easily explained by the differences in technology between the two (such as the use of SSD storage, which is much more expensive than a traditional HD).
As there is still no set price for the console, it is difficult to even calculate how much it will cost here in Brazil, however it is speculated that the value of the console could range from R$6.000 to R$10.000, depending on distribution margins. and marketing, in addition to the possibility of subsidies from Sony. So get ready to break your piggy bank!
