Kotaku by jschreier
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A recent online rumor got people buzzing about a possible 2018 release of PlayStation 5, but that's probably not going to happen. In fact, from what we've heard, the next PlayStation is a ways away—it may not arrive until 2020.
It's been nearly five years since the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launched, which has triggered bouts of nervousness and excitement among video game fans who want to know when they'll have to start hoarding pennies for a new generation of consoles. The PS4 launched seven years after the PS3, the Xbox One eight years after the Xbox 360. It's not unreasonable to be thinking about the next generation. We don't have a concrete answer just yet, but we have been asking around, and what we've heard is a whole lot of uncertainty.
Over the past month, I've spoken to dozens of game developers, across a variety of disciplines and studios, about the next generation of consoles. Of those, two people said they were directly familiar with plans for Sony's new console. Those two people both told me that the next PlayStation is unlikely to release in 2019, let alone 2018, although they were careful to be clear that these plans are always shifting. "On a multi-year project, a lot can happen to shift schedules both forward and backward," one person said. "At some point, Sony's probably looked at every possible date. It's all about what they think is the best sweet spot in terms of hardware." A surprise move by Microsoft or another competitor, for example, could trigger a change in plans.
Most of the developers I spoke to, via phone and email and text, said they had not heard anything about plans for a new PlayStation. Even employees at Sony's first-party studios said they have not yet been briefed on the existence of a PlayStation 5. People across all the disciplines (design, art, engineering, etc.) at major studios working on games scheduled for 2019 and beyond have told me that if there is information about the PS5 at their companies, they haven't heard about it. (Those people said they haven't heard about a new Xbox, either.)
In summary: There is information about the PlayStation 5 floating around at both first- and third-party companies, but it's far more limited than it would be if the console's release was imminent.
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