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The PS6’s launch is eagerly anticipated, despite it only being four years since the PS5 launched. But like most consoles, it’s likely that Sony is already looking ahead to its successor.
It’s unlikely we’ll see a new, mainline PlayStation console for a few years, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fantasize about what we’d like to see from the PS6 – or predict when we might get our hands on one. After all, we know Sony is already thinking about the future, having trademarked the names PS6, PS7, PS8, PS9 and PS10.
Meanwhile, Sony has released the PS5 Slim and just showed off the PS5 Pro, which features a larger GPU, advanced ray tracing, and AI-driven upscaling. This mid-generation refresh is coming later this year, will cost $699, and could offer some players a way to tide themselves over until the next mainline console.
- The launch will likely take place sometime in 2027 or later
- Price can go up to over $600 / £600
- The PS6 name has already been trademarked, as well as future generations
- We think the PS6 should focus on upgrades like true 4K 60fps, better storage, and a more diverse software lineup at launch
PS6
While we’re still enjoying the PS5 and the best PS5 games, we’ve rounded up everything we want to see from the PS6 and when we expect to get our hands on the next PlayStation.
PS6 release date: when can we expect it to release?
The PS6 is likely still a long way off. The PS5 launched in November 2020, so it’s unlikely Sony will release a brand new PlayStation for a few years. Traditionally, PlayStation consoles launch six or seven years apart, with the PS4 in 2013 and the PS5 in 2020.
In an interview with Game InformerMasayasu Ito, Sony’s Executive VP of Hardware Engineering, confirmed that the PS5’s lifecycle is expected to last around six to seven years. That means we might not see the PS6 launch until 2026.
“In the past, the cycle for a new platform was indeed seven to 10 years, but given the rapid development and evolution of technology, it is now really a six to seven year platform cycle,” Masayasu said.
“Then we can’t quite keep up with the rapid development of technology, so we think in terms of a platform for the PS5 it’s a cycle of maybe six to seven years. But by doing that, a platform lifecycle, we should be able to change the hardware itself and try to integrate advancements in technology. That was the thinking behind it, and the test case for that thinking was the PS4 Pro which launched halfway through the PS4 launch cycle.”
Now we have details about the PS5 Pro, the mid-generation update that precedes the next real installment. It will cost $699 and launch on November 7, 2024.
PS6 price: how much will it cost?
Of course, we won’t know how much the PS6 will cost until Sony releases official details in the distant future. But we can make a few educated guesses for now.
First, let’s look at the price of the PS5, Sony’s current-generation console; specifically, the PS5 Slim that has become the new standard. It’s $499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799.95 for the physical version with a removable drive. There’s also a digital-only model without a drive for $449.99 / £389.99 / AU$679.95. That’s a fair margin over the PS4’s launch price back in 2013, which was $399.99 / £349.99.
We expect this trend to continue in line with inflation and rising game development costs. As a result, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the PS6 priced somewhere in the region of $600/£600 at launch. You might want to start saving now.
Looking at the recently revealed PS5 Pro, Sony has listed the price at $699 / £699. It’s a significant increase over the base model, but it doesn’t give us much information about what a worthy successor might cost.
PS6: What We Want to See
“The gaps between console releases are getting longer and longer with each generation, but on average, there are six or seven years between each iteration. I expect this to be the case with the PS6 as well, which I don’t expect to launch until 2027. But given the escalating nature of video game budgets and development cycles, I have to wonder if PlayStation Studios won’t have a solid PS6 launch lineup ready to go by 2028 or later.
“And a strong launch lineup is a must for PlayStation 6. PS5 had a better lineup than its predecessor, with exclusive titles like Demon’s Souls, Sackboy: A Grand Adventure, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the packaging Astro’s playroom enough to play on day one. That said, I think Sony should really look at diversifying its lineup for PS6, by reintroducing some classic franchises like Sly Cooper, Twisted Metal And Jak and Daxter to really shake up the launch line-up and get older Sony bigwigs excited about the new machine.
“In terms of graphical performance, we’re already dealing with diminishing returns, with the jump in quality between PS4 and PS5 perhaps the smallest yet. As such, I think Sony should focus on further refining what it has now. Moving to an SSD was one of the best changes PS5 made. And for PS6, I’d like to see the system push for cleaner 4K at higher framerates, and potentially get game file sizes under control. We’ve slowly gotten used to games taking up 100-150GB of storage; I wouldn’t want to see 200GB and above become the norm, especially for people who can’t afford blazing fast internet.”
–Rhys Wood, Hardware Editor, TechRadar Gaming
