Sony has revealed information about the PlayStation 6 earlier than expected. In early 2024, Sony Senior Vice President Naomi Matsuoka mentioned in an interview with Bloomberg: “In the future, the PS5 will be pushed back.”
While Matsuoka did not explicitly confirm whether the PlayStation 6 is in development, customers are confident that Sony has laid the groundwork for its next console.
Fans are starting to speculate about what the PS6 might bring. Will it be significantly better than the PS5? Will any existing PS5 games be updated and improved on the PS6? And will upcoming PS5 titles be released on the new console?
The most notable information about the PS6 launch date is said to be 2027. This information comes from a Microsoft document related to the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, in which Microsoft notes: “When SIE launches the next generation of the Play Station console, it will lose access to Call of Duty.”
While an exact date has yet to be determined, some speculate that this falls in line with Microsoft's agreement to keep Activision Blizzard titles on PlayStation until 2027. This would suggest that the earliest possible release date for the PS6 would be late 2027.
Looking at Sony's previous console cycles, this timeline seems reasonable. Both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 had seven-year lifespans before being succeeded by their respective next-generation consoles. With the PS5 launching in 2020, a 2027 release would be right on schedule.
It’s difficult to predict the exact price of the PS6 since Sony hasn’t officially released any information about the specs. However, looking at the pricing trends and rumored specs, it’s likely that the PS6 will launch at $500-$600.
There are very few details about the PS6's hardware at the moment. Sony is expected to continue its partnership with AMD, which supplied the PS5 and will continue with the PS5 Pro. This partnership will make backward compatibility easier, while also facilitating cross-generational game releases.
The next generation of AMD chips is expected to launch in 2025, which coincides with the hardware inside the PS6 being produced. Most users also expect the PS6 to feature a new SSD to reduce loading times and possibly offer at least 1TB of storage.
According to Insider Gaming, a rumored new PS6 feature called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) will allow games to run at 4K resolution at 120fps or 8K at 60fps. A scaled-down version of PSSR is said to be implemented on the PS5 Pro and will be fully implemented on the PS6.