Directly competing with Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Series S game consoles, Sony officially announced on their recent PS5 live stream showcase on Wednesday that the launch of PlayStation 5 will be on November 12, with a starting price of $399.99 as its digital edition.
Sony uses the same strategy with Microsoft’s, releasing both the new video game console’s regular and digital versions. The PS5 Digital Edition has no disc drive, while the standard version would cost $499.99. These prices put up squarely against Microsoft’s game consoles that would launch on November 10, with a starting price of $299 for entry-level Xbox Series S and $499 for flagship Xbox Series X.
Although the details are still slim, the highly anticipated PlayStation 5 would include retrogressive compatibility than the overwhelming majority of the existing PlayStation 4 lineup. This extensive library might even help the product be more pleasing to potential PlayStation buyers than the former console versions this holiday season.
For starters, the PlayStation 4 costs $399 at its launching and currently sells for $299. Meanwhile, its pro version initially sells for $399 until now, except for big sales. There is still no assurance if Sony would drop the prices or discontinue its older models by the time the PlayStation 5 goes on sale this year.
Although the starting price is high, PS5 wouldn’t make it as Sony’s most expensive console. The honor still goes to the company’s PlayStation 3, costing $499 for its 20GB model and $599 for the 60GB counterpart, making it the most expensive console ever.
Sony also announced that the preorders for the PS5 consoles would begin on September 17 at “select retailers” as per a tweet from Sony. Some e-commerce sites like Target and Best Buy have placeholder pages where you can sign up to receive a notification once the consoles are ready for preorder. Meanwhile, preorders on the Walmart website for consoles are all sold-out, leaving only wireless controllers as of Wednesday.
On the Wednesday event, Sony also played several teasers of new games coming with the PS5, like God of War: Ragnarok, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, Hogwarts Legacy, Final Fantasy 16, and the PS5 exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Meanwhile, the release date of November 12 would only apply to the US, Mexico, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and New Zealand, but Sony has yet to finalize China’s release date. The rest of the world would have the new console on November 19.
➡ Looking to get featured on Future Sharks?
