PS5: what will the Sony PlayStation 5 be like and when will we see it?

 PS5: Sony PlayStation 5 

Update: PS5 didn't make an appearance at this year's E3 2017, but that doesn't mean it's not in the works. Continue reading for our current thoughts on the console generation and our wishlist for Sony's next system. 

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It's hard to say when we'll see the PS5, or PlayStation 5 if we're being formal. It could be as early as this year's E3. But chances are good that it will still be a good long while before Shuhei Yoshida announces the next-next-gen consoleSo why are we preparing ourselves for the long haul? 

The console market is in a weird place right now, and this has big implications for what form the PS5 might end up taking. 

A lot of this has to do with Sony's announcement of the PS4 Pro, a mid-generation console upgrade that's expanded the hardware's functionality sufficiently. Sony now has a system that's capable of both HDR and 4K upscaled gameplay which, for most gamers, is more than enough for the time-being.

But, perhaps even more importantly, the console's existence and recent success has called into question whether a proper follow-up to the PS4 will ever be needed. We might be moving towards a more iterative hardware cycle. 

• But just because Microsoft launches a system doesn't mean that Sony will counter immediately – there are good reasons to believe that Sony is less comfortable with the idea of taking a mobile phone-style “upgrade every year” approach to consoles in the future, including comments from Yoshida himself. 
  Also, it boils down to simple economics: it’s well documented that the longer a console can persist on the high-street shelves, the more profitable it becomes, as economies of scale reduce manufacturing costs, while a large installed base means publishers can sell more copies of their latest games.
  What does that mean for the PS5? Will Sony's fifth console come to fruition? What would it do differently? What can it do differently? 
  For right now, at least, we don't have all the answers. 
  But instead of twiddling our thumbs and waiting for Sony to plop the next system on our laps, we've done some digging to try and get to the bottom of the mystery that's kept us up at night: What is the PS5 and when is it coming out?

• We’ve got the TVs: can we have proper 4K gaming?

• The PS4 Pro offers a tantalising hint of what 4K gaming could be like. But the stark fact remains: it still doesn’t have the grunt to do 4K properly. 
  Its “checkerboard” technique of taking single pixels and using each to render four pixels in 4K resolution is clever, but now 4K TV sales are gaining traction, it’s reasonable to expect console technology to advance to a level at which it can display 4K output natively. 
  Chris Kingsley, CTO and co-founder of developer Rebellion, dangles an even more ambitious technological carrot in front of a putative PS5: “Obviously new hardware should be able to support 4K TVs and possibly even 8K TVs at a push!” 
  Native 4K support, surely, will be a basic requirement of the PlayStation 5? And if Sony cracks that particular problem with alacrity, it could even mean that a PlayStation 5 will arrive sooner than anticipated.Sony recently became the first console manufacturer to embrace virtual reality, thanks to the PlayStation VR, but if you examine PlayStation VR closely – and observe how it operates on the PS4 Pro – it invites speculation about how a PS5 might take VR to a new level. 
  Currently, PlayStation VR operates at lower resolution than the Oculus Rift andHTC Vive – but, as it stands, even its current incarnation almost pushes the base PlayStation 4 beyond its limits. Running a PlayStation VR on a PS4 Pro brings improved frame-rates, which are very handy indeed in terms of the overall VR experience, but even the PS4 Pro can’t overcome the resolution constraints set by the PlayStation VR headset.
• So it’s a good bet that, presuming PlayStation VR is successful (and it already appears to be catching on) Sony will want to return to the market with a second, markedly higher-tech iteration: which would provide an obvious selling point for the PlayStation 5. 
  And if a PlayStation VR 2 headset could be sold without an external black box, it should be markedly cheaper, further accelerating VR’s march into the mainstream.
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