Sony has not revealed any details about the release date of the next generation in the PlayStation family, PS6, but strong leaks in the recent period indicated that the device will be released in 2027 or perhaps 2028.
Through the documents published by Microsoft during the period of responding to the court regarding the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it was revealed that Sony's next-generation device will be released at the latest in 2027. While we did not see any comment from Sony, whether negative or positive, regarding these documents.
On the other hand, if Sony wants to follow the same approach in releasing its new platforms, this puts us 6 to 7 years away from the release of the current generation PS5, which was released in 2020, and this takes us again to the year 2027.
But can this be applied to the PS5 to adhere to the lifespan of previous generations? This may be a matter of great debate, as we have recently observed on video game forums and various social media platforms, and that is why we are raising this question here, and we will give our opinion as media professionals familiar with the industry on what Sony’s strategy is for launching the PS6 and how it can deal with the current generation.
Factors that may affect the PS6 release date
There are several factors that could be the reason for extending the lifespan of the current generation, and this is what Sony seems to be seeking to implement.
The first reason, The PS5's troubled launch, which collided with the pandemic, delayed production and sales and even raised production costs, will force Sony to make up for all these losses by extending the virtual console's lifespan by at least a year or two.
Sony is trying to keep the price down. PS5 High during the current period, although the previous generation at the same stage of its virtual life had received a discount of up to $ 100. This is one of the attempts that may not last long, especially since it negatively affects the community, which is also facing economic problems that may prevent a large number of users from purchasing the platform at this price.
Therefore, Sony will have to follow a policy of extension and delay in order to give the device a chance to reach a larger number of users.
The second reason, Sony has been slow to release first-party titles, especially over the past two years, as PlayStation Studios has been tight-lipped about its new projects, which appear to be huge and very expensive. This delay may be intentional on the part of Sony, as it is trying to boost sales of the console in the markets by relying on some exclusive third-party titles such as FF7, FF16, Black Myth: Wukong, and other high-budget and high-quality titles.
This will make it reassuring that Sony will later release its big first-party titles and achieve high sales on the platform as they are exclusive games that will only be sold on the PS5. Therefore, the bigger the console sales, the bigger the sales of these products will be, and thus sufficient returns to overcome the cost of production and generate convincing profits for the company.
The third reason, The PS5 is still somewhat restricted in terms of exploiting its technical power, whether from the first or third party, due to the PS4 overlapping with it in releasing some titles. Therefore, the new generation has not yet exhausted its latent power in the modern technologies used in its production, and developers may need more time to do so.
Add to that the mid-generation PS5 Pro, which is expected to be 45% more powerful than the current generation, and with new AI technologies we may see powers up to twice as powerful as the regular model.
The current generation is supposed to have entered the middle of its virtual life, which means that there are only 4 years left until the release of the next generation, the PS6. But do you think this time is enough for Sony to benefit from the current generation in a sufficient and commercially convincing manner?
It may be too early to tell at this point, but the initial impression we can glean from our observation of the industry is that we will see the PS6 release date shifted a year or two from its original date. This will allow Sony to commercially benefit from the current generation and avoid the generational overlap that has occurred with the current and previous generations.
This remains just expectations and conclusions through monitoring the industry and the video games market and the unexpected transformations that the industry has been exposed to during the past few years, the impact of which will undoubtedly be reflected in the next stage.
