Given the great success that Sony is enjoying with their consoles (now with more than 60 million units sold), it seems that it's still too early to talk about the PS5, the hypothetical next platform for the Japanese company. PlayStation America's Shawn Layden has already said that it'll be a long way off, for instance, but that hasn't stopped some speculating about the console.
Recently, Gaming Bolt had the opportunity to interview famous industry analyst Michael Pachter, who spoke about the potential console (something he's previously predicted would arrive in 2019 or 2020).
"I really like Shawn and I don't think he is attempting to mislead anybody. The PlayStation 4 Pro is better [from a technical perspective] than the PS4, so I think that's a half step towards the PlayStation 5," Pachter said. "I think the PS5 will be another half step. So he is being honest when he said he is not doing a half step but the PlayStation 5...how much faster can it be? It will surely support 4K. Will it support 240 frames per second? Great. Will it play games that were made for the PlayStation 4 Pro? That's the question."
"I think it will. So I think they will build a console that will backwards compatible with the PS4 Pro. So I think it will be perceived by the consumers to be a half step and I think Shawn is telling the truth when he says it's will be a full fledged console", he said during the interview.
Pachter then commented on rumours about the release date of the new console, which he says will arrive on the market when 4K TVs will be more popular among consumers.
"My expectation that is that it's not coming out in 2018. That is a 2019 or 2020 but probably 2019. Sony is probably timing it better because they are going to bring out a 4K capable device when the 4K TV market reaches 50% in the USA and 35% in the rest of the world. I think Sony has probably got the next console cycle nailed down already. I think, they already know what they got to do," he concluded.
Do you agree with Pachter's predictions?