Earlier this week, Sony surprised the gaming industry with a reveal of key details of the next-generation PlayStation console.
In an interview with Wired, Sony wouldn’t confirm that the system will be called PlayStation 5 as expected, although the company did announce some of the hardware specs.
However, one tidbit that didn’t make it into the Wired piece had to do with pricing, according to Peter Rubin, the writer of the feature.
On Twitter, Rubin revealed that Mark Cerny — lead system architect on the PlayStation 4 and next-generation PlayStation — gave him an interesting answer about how much the upcoming console will cost.
Me: There's always been a general range of launch pricing. Will the next console hew to that range?@cerny: I believe that we will be able to release it at an SRP [suggested retail price] that will be appealing to gamers in light of its advanced feature set.
(cont'd)
— Peter Rubin (@provenself) April 16, 2019
When pressed by Rubin if this means the system will cost more but be worth the investment, Cerny simply replied, “that’s about all I can say about it.”
Therefore, it remains to be seen how much the PlayStation 5 will cost in Canada.
It’s worth noting that Sony priced the PlayStation 3 at $659 CAD at launch in 2006, leading the system to stumble for a number of years compared to its Xbox 360 and Wii competitors. However, the PlayStation 4 released to the much more affordable $399 CAD and has since gone on to dominate the console market and break sales records.
What Cerny did tell Rubin is that the PlayStation 5 will feature a CPU based on the third-generation AMD Ryzen processor and a GPU based on AMD’s Radeon Navi. These components will enable the PS5 to support advanced graphics through “ray tracing” and up to 8K resolution. Further, the PS5 will support PlayStation 4 games and current PlayStation VR headsets.
Otherwise, it remains to be seen when Sony will reveal more about the next PlayStation console.
