PlayStation 5 release date ‘not before April 2020’

Sony has reportedly confirmed PlayStation 5 won’t be released during its current financial year ending March 31, 2020.

The platform holder is said to have confirmed the news to Wall Street Journal reporter Takashi Mochizuki following today’s announcement of its fiscal year 2018 results.

We already knew the PS5 launch date wouldn’t be in calendar 2019. If today’s report is accurate, Sony has also ruled out releasing the console between January and March 2020. VGC has contacted Sony for confirmation.

Sony said lifetime PS4 hardware sales reached 94.2 million units as the PlayStation division recorded increased sales and operating income for its fiscal year ended March 2019.

However, the company expects a decline in PS4 hardware sales during the current business year, and it has also warned that PS5 development costs will hit profitability.

The PlayStation division’s operating income is expected to decline 10% year-on-year to ¥280 billion yen ($2.5 billion/£1.9 billion), primarily due to an increase in development expenses for its next-generation console.

Sony recently announced the first official PS5 hardware details, with lead system architect Mark Cerny revealing the next-gen system will be disc-based, include an internal SSD and support 8K graphics.

He also said PS5 will be backwards compatible with PS4 games and will support the current PS VR headset.

Additionally, Cerny believes the PS5 price “will be appealing to gamers in light of its advanced feature set”.