Sony’s Next-Generation Console Is at Least a Year Away

Earlier this month, Sony detailed the next PlayStation console. Mark Cerny, the lead system architect on the PS4, sat down for a lengthy chat with Wired to discuss the next-generation offering, which he indicated would be a substantial upgrade from the PS4 and PS4 Pro. This immediately kicked off launch timing speculation, but now Sony has said it won't launch a new console during their 2019 fiscal year.

A Tokyo-based Wall Street Journal reporter confirmed as much, meaning that the next iteration of PlayStation consoles is still over a year away at this point. While many didn't expect Sony to launch the console this year, especially with several high profile PS4 exclusives like The Last of Us Part II still in development, the news does indicate that fans should realistically expect a fall 2020 release date. However, it could release May 2020 at the earliest.

Sony's year-end earnings report also revealed the company shipped 17.8 million PS4s over the past 12 months, down from the previous year at 19 million. This means Sony has now moved an impressive 96.8 million consoles during its lifespan. The new system still doesn't have an official name just yet, but it's set to go up against Microsoft's next Xbox, reportedly being unveiled at E3 2019 this June.

Mark Cerny confirmed earlier this month that the new console will boast 8K resolution support, an eight-core CPU based on AMD's third-gen Ryzen chipset, and a custom GPU based on AMD's Radeon Navi graphics card. In other words, it's expected to be very powerful and will be further complemented by an SSD over the PS4's standard HDD, reducing load times dramatically.