The Nintendo Switch has quickly become one of the most popular and successful consoles not just for Nintendo, but for any company. This has left some people wondering when Sony and Microsoft are going to be launching their next-gen consoles. While Microsoft seems to be more concerned with upgrading their current system with Project Scorpio, a recent report from GameSpot indicates that Sony could be preparing to launch their next, brand-new PlayStation as soon as next year.
The report originally comes from Macquarie Capital Securities analyst Damian Thong, the same analyst who correctly predicted the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro. In an article by the Wall Street Journal, Thong said he “expected Sony to release its next-generation PlayStation by the second half of 2018.” Thong did not offer any details on the PlayStation 5, though, and although he’s had accurate predictions in the past, this one is mainly based on speculation.
Sony as well has yet to officially announce a PlayStation 5, but that could change very soon. With Microsoft working to release their Project Scorpio as soon as possible and Nintendo’s Switch experiencing plenty of success, it won’t be very surprising if Sony suddenly announced a PS5 would be competing with these consoles very soon. After Sony released the popular and updated PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro, its easy to see that Sony is ready to make the next big step into the 9th generation of video games.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is already preparing for this new generation with the Scorpio, which will be released toward the end of 2017. If a new PlayStation does get released next year, the two will end up getting compared, to determine which one is that superior gaming machine. This could spell disaster for the Scorpio, since its really just a souped-up Xbox One. That could give it a slight edge, however, as the Scorpio will be capable of playing any Xbox One game as well as hundreds of Xbox 360 games. Whether or not the PlayStation 5 will be able to play PS4 games or be limited to new releases could be a significant deciding factor in terms of which console will have the most success.
Project Scorpio is expected to unveiled at E3 2017.