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| (Image Source: Techspot/Sony Interactive Entertainment) |
One of the most interesting events that happened during the recently
concluded 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the first few details on Sony's
upcoming next-generation video game console, the PlayStation 5, as announced by
no less than Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan. And it all
started with the unveiling of the PlayStation 5 logo which literally bear foremost
similarities to the PlayStation 4 logo.
Following the PS5 logo reveal, Sony shared some official sales figures
for the PlayStation 4 and these numbers were arguably more impressive than its
previous systems that it could surpass those of the PlayStation 2 in the near
future. The company revealed that the PlayStation 4 has surpassed its 106-million
unit sales mark, which is up from 101.63 million systems sold as of October
2019, while the PlayStation VR has sold more than 5 million headsets. On the software
side, consumers have purchased more than 1.15 billion copies of games available
for the PS4 while Sony touts 103 million active users and 38.8 million
PlayStation Plus subscribers.
What about the Sony's numbers for the PS4 in the previous year? Well,
Sony did not neglect sharing these stats. Throughout 2019, the PlayStation 4
sold 14.4 million units which is surprisingly lower than 18 million in 2018
while software sales increased from 231 million copies in 2018 to 274 million in
2019 and PlayStation Plus subcriptions have reached 36.3 million in the said
period. These makes Sony taking a victory lap with the second highest-selling
video game system of all time that dominated the console gaming space since
fall 2013, and its success pushes the company to take a little slow about the PlayStation
5 - at least in terms of branding.
Slated to compete against Microsoft's forthcoming Xbox Series X, the PS5
is faster and more powerful with intriguing features such as hardware ray
tracing as reported last year and PlayStation's Boss Ryan listed a number of
other generational improvements that has been shared before from Sony's previous
announcements in case some of the guests and spectators miss it. These include
3D audio, fast SSD storage and support for Ultra HD Blu-Ray discs. On the other
hand, the PS5's updated controller will have haptic feedback and adaptive-resistance
triggers. Furthermore, the system is supporting backwards compatibility so
players can enjoy playing their favorite PlayStation games from all previous
generations.
It is understandable that the PlayStation branding is not one to be
messing around but PlayStation fans wish to have what they already want but on
a bigger number and a more powerful system, and I think this is what the PlayStation
5 can deliver upon its foreseeable release.
