PlayStation 5: First Look at a Futuristic Design Coming in 2020

After postponing its launch a few weeks in the midst of the recent murder of George Floyd and protests in the US, yesterday Sony presented the PlayStation 5 hardware. This next-generation video game console will go on sale in late 2020. Through a video, the Japanese firm revealed the futuristic device, which will compete with the Xbox Series X console from Microsoft.

The first games that will be released for the PlayStation 5 platform are Grand Theft Auto V and Spiderman. The Tokyo-based company also announced the first games produced by PlayStation Studios, the label that the company will use to unify its original creations. In addition, the company introduced an accessories package compatible with the console, such as a high-definition camera, multimedia control and headphones with 3D sound.

A Bloomberg report released a few months ago said that Sony plans to produce far fewer units in its first year compared to when the PlayStation 4 was released. According to the report, the company expects to sell between five and six million units, against the seven and a half million that PlayStation 4 sold in its first five months of life. According to reports from analysts in the video game industry, the price of the new PlayStation would be between US$499 and US$549.

After the announcement, which caused quite a stir on social media, Nintendo's actions were unaffected. In 1Q20, Nintendo reported a 41 percent increase in profits to ¥352.37 billion (US$3.28 billion) compared to the same period in 2019, driven by increased demand for its Switch console and the game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Animal Crossing sold 11.77 million units and established itself as the best-booting game since the Nintendo Switch was released in 2017. In 2018, the sale of the Nintendo Switch console represented more than MX$23 billion for the company in Mexico (US$970 million).

According to a report recently published by consulting firm Newzoo, which specializes in gaming and e-sports, this industry will grow 9.3 percent by the end of 2020 compared to 2019 and will end the year with US$159.3 billion in revenue. Latin America will be the region with the highest penetration, with an estimated 8.9 percent growth over the previous year, although it only accounts for 4 percent of the global sales.