Sony Commits To 2020 PS5 Launch - Despite The Setbacks

You'd think that, with all of the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, there would also be a certain degree of uncertainty regarding this year's big console launches. Both Microsoft and Sony are slated to release new consoles at the end of this year, and despite the pandemic, both companies have stuck to those holiday 2020 release windows with no real delays in sight.

When it comes to games, that story may change, but for the console releases at least, Sony and Microsoft seem firm in their scheduled launch windows. Indeed, in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Sony's Jim Ryan recommitted to a 2020 release for the PlayStation 5 – though, unsurprisingly, he didn't talk specifics. He also confirmed that Sony's first-party games are on track as well.

That doesn't mean it's all be smooth sailing for Sony and its teams, with Ryan saying that doing things like working with factories in China or creating the PlayStation 5's UI have presented challenges for Sony's engineers and employees as they work from home. Still, Ryan says that Sony's teams and partners have been doing well in the face of the pandemic. "We, and our partners, seem to be coping really well," Ryan said. "And so we are on track. We are going to launch this holiday and we're going to launch globally. We're really looking forward to it and it's going to be a blast."

Ryan also touched briefly on the subject of price, but unfortunately, he didn't announce how much the PlayStation 5 will cost. He did say, however, that Sony is looking to create the "best possible value proposition," with the PlayStation 5 – but warned that doesn't necessarily mean Sony will aim for the lowest price possible. "Value is a combination of many things. In our area it means games, it means number of games, depth of games, breadth of games, quality of games, price of games... all of these things and how they avail themselves of the feature set of the platform," Ryan said.

Later this week, Sony is slated to reveal some of the games we'll see on the PlayStation 5. That'll happen during an hour-long broadcast on Thursday, June 4th. We'll be covering that event as it happens, so stay tuned for more.