The PlayStation 5 Will Launch In Late 2020, And Yes, It's Called The PS5

Sony isn’t waiting for any more leaks. They revealed more details about the PlayStation 5—and, yes, it will be called the PS5—to Wired today as well as announcing more about the console on the company’s blog. Here’s the key info:

• It’ll be called the PS5 and be out for holiday 2020, as we’ve been reporting.
• The console will have a solid-state drive. Games will be released on 100GB discs.
• The PlayStation 5 reads physical media via a 4K Blu-ray drive.
• As with games this generation, they’ll need to be installed from the disc, though Sony is now saying that players will have more granular control of which parts of a game they install or uninstall—campaign, multiplayer, etc.
• The PS5’s revised user interface will show more information about what can be done in a game, including the availability of multiplayer matches.
• Wired’s writer held a prototype of the new PS5 controller and wrote that it seems similar to a PS4 controller. It will include a speaker and—here comes some of the jargon you’ll start to see reporters and game makers using to discuss next-gen hardware—“‘adaptive triggers’ that can offer varying levels of resistance to make shooting a bow and arrow feel like the real thing.”
• Wired was also impressed with the improved haptics/rumble in the controller, reporting this of their time using it to play demos created by the Studio Japan team behind PS4 VR game Astrobot Rescue Mission: “On ice, a high-frequency response made the thumbsticks really feel like my character was gliding. Jumping into a pool, I got a sense of the resistance of the water; on a wooden bridge, a bouncy sensation.”
• For those of you who stocked up on micro USB wires for charging PS4 controllers, too bad! The PS5 controllers will be charged with USB Type-C.
• One studio that is now confirmed as a PS5 developer is Bluepoint Games, makers of the 2018 Shadow of the Colossus remake. Said studio president Marco Thrush to Wired: “We’re working on a big one right now...I’ll let you figure out the rest.” Uh. Hmm. Clearly a tease that Sony has bought the rights to F-Zero and is making a new one. Thrush was enthusiastic about the speedier loading that comes with an SSD, noting that there’d be less reason to slow players down in hallways and doorways to mask the loading of new levels.
• Sony’s announcements today primarily focus on the new controller, which is the main focus of Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan’s blog post today. “Game creators have started to receive early versions of the new controller,” he wrote, “and we can’t wait to see where their imagination goes with these new features at their disposal.” With controllers going out, the news today seems designed to get ahead of any leaks of the device.

We’ll have plenty more about the PS5 and its new hardware and games as it breaks. Next year’s going to be a big one, folks.

Correction - 6:12 pm: This post originally misstated the type of Blu-Ray drive that was in the PS4 Pro. The PS5's is an improvement to an actual 4K player.