Being a PlayStation 4 owner, I am decidedly more interested in what Sony has in store for us with the PlayStation 5 than I was about Microsoft’s Xbox Series X (even though it has some impressive hardware). So when we got to learn from a Sony Japan job listing that the PS5 might be launching in October, my only fear was that the pandemic might delay the launch.
However, Sony has today confirmed that the PlayStation 5 is still on track for its scheduled holiday 2020 launch window. The company made the statement in its fiscal 2019 earnings release where it also shared that PS4 hardware and software sales have declined. “Regarding the launch of PlayStation 5, although factors such as employees working from home and restrictions on international travel have presented some challenges in regards to part of the testing process and the qualification of production lines, development is progressing with the launch of the console scheduled for the 2020 holiday season,” said Sony in its report. The company also added that “At this point in time major problems have not arisen in the game software development pipeline for Sony’s own first-party studios or its partners’ studios.”
Both of those statements bear good news for PlayStation fans because they seem to reiterate that the PlayStation 5 will not only be able to launch on time, but with a solid set of launch titles from both Sony’s own PlayStation Studios, and partner developers.
Earlier this month, Microsoft had confirmed that the Xbox Series X remains on track for its scheduled holiday 2020 launch as well. However, the company did mention that some of the games for the Xbox Series X might not be ready on time.
As one would expect, having a great set of games available at launch is just as important as delivering the hardware itself, and it remains to be seen how game studios work around the pandemic to release their games on time. Here’s hoping everything goes well and on time.
