Over the past year, we’ve learned about the PlayStation 5 bit by bit, and the latest news brought a complete reveal of the next-gen PS5 controller, also known as the DualSense. We’ve still got a lot to learn about the upcoming console, including its release date and more, but if you want to be one of the first people to put your money down, then several retailers have started sign-ups to notify users when the PS5 is available to pre-order.
When will PS5 be available to pre-order?
Best Buy, Target, and GameStop are all currently accepting sign-ups for users who wish to be notified. It’s currently unclear when the PS5’s pre-order date will be, but with this past generation as our reference, we expect pre-orders to become available sometime by the end of June. This is when E3 would have taken place before it was canceled due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Of course, because of the pandemic, the PS5’s pre-order date may come later than expected due to stock or other concerns. In any case, you can sign up below to be notified right when the PS5 goes on sale. Of course, we’ll update this story with any relevant PS5 pre-order information and listings when they’re available.
Sign up for PS5 pre-order notifications
PS5 release date
Sony has confirmed a “holiday 2020” release window for PS5, although its exact release date is still unknown. Historically, November has been the chosen month for console releases. Despite the coronavirus affecting its projected profits this year, Sony recently told Bloomberg it still expects to launch the PS5 in late 2020.
How much will the PS5 cost?
Unfortunately, we also don’t know what the PS5’s price will be yet. In an interview with Wired, system architect Mark Cerny said, “I believe that we will be able to release it at an SRP [suggested retail price] that will be appealing to gamers in light of its advanced feature set.” Sony obviously wouldn’t say otherwise, but with the high cost of the PS3 and the more reasonable price of the PS4, as well as the relative success of both consoles, it’s hard to believe Sony hasn’t learned from the past two generations.
What we do know about the PS5
The PS5 will usher in a new generation of games, but it will also feature PS4 backward-compatibility. Both consoles boast similar internal architecture, so the transition is easier than what we saw from the PS3 to PS4. However, it’s unclear which PS4 games will be compatible with the PS5. Sony has said that most games will run on the PS5–Cerny noted that almost all of the PS4’s 100 most-played games will be compatible with the new system. The reason some games aren’t compatible is that “the boost is truly massive this time around and some game code just can’t handle it,” Cerny said. This means Sony has to test each game before they can give the thumbs up.
As for the PS5’s specs, it most notably boasts a custom 825GB SSD with an expandable NVMe SSD storage slot, which will ensure faster install times as well as faster loading–though not all NVMe SSDs will be capable of keeping up with the PS5.
The console supports ray tracing, 3D audio, and PlayStation VR, and it also has a 4K UHD Blu-ray drive. To simplify things, Sony has said the PS5 is powerful enough to support 4K resolution at a 120Hz refresh rate–that’s double the refresh rate of most TVs, which typically run at 60Hz.
Most recently, we got a look at the PS5’s controller, the DualSense. Sony said that one of its goals is “to deepen the feeling of immersion when you play games.” The company elaborated on this by revealing two new features the next-gen controller will support. The first is the replacement of its rumble technology with haptic feedback–this is also why they dropped the Shock part of the DualShock name. Sony says that “you truly feel a broader range of feedback” with haptics, which means “crashing into a wall in a race car feels much different than making a tackle on the football field.” Sony noted you can even feel the difference between various textures.
The second big new feature is what Sony calls “adaptive triggers,” which the company claims can simulate various actions, such as “the tactile sensation of drawing a bow and arrow or accelerating an off-road vehicle through rocky terrain.”