PlayStation 5: everything you need to know about Sony’s newest consoles

The next generation of PlayStation is finally here with the reaching of the PS5. This generation, it seems care Sony is sticking with the glide path that made the PS4 and so successful: sell consoles that can play first-party games from Sony's storied franchises, and append that card with with child third-party titles, too. You should expect to see better graphics in your games, and the PS5 will as wel support high refresh rates, which should make games feel smoother (if you ingest a exhibit that supports those refresh rates). Nonnegative, the PS5's custom SSD promises to offer such a leap forward in loading speeds that it could change the way games are designed.

We've already reviewed the PS5, and it turns out that the console is pretty slap-up. Its new controller is amazing, games load chop-chop, and the console has a more streamlined user interface than the PS4. We felt that it left a avid first opinion — even if there aren't a peck of current next-generation games to romp just nevertheless.

Microsoft also has a powerful cabinet in the Xbox Serial X, which promises better graphics and faster shipment times, and it's also selling the reasonably lower-powered Xbox Series S. The society continues to make Xbox Game Pass, its Netflix-like game subscription service, peerless of the best deals in gaming, and it doesn't mind whether you play its games happening an Xbox or a Personal computer. And while the PS5 will make for most PS4 titles, the new Xbox consoles boast backwards compatibility with not only Xbox One but also many Xbox 360 titles and some OG Xbox games as asymptomatic.

We'll give to postponemen and see which console proves to be the better stock the long run. But if you want to get wind Thomas More about what the PS5 offers conservative now, here's everything we know. (And for even more selective information, assure out Sony's extensive PS5 FAQ.)

*Left-wing: the disc-based PS5. Right: the PS5 Digital Edition.*

There are actually two PS5 consoles, just they're largely the same

Like Microsoft, Sony is in reality selling two versions of its upcoming next-generation console. For $499.99, you can buy a PS5 with a 4K Blu-ray drive. But for $100 less, at $399.99, you can buy the Digital Variant PS5 (which also looks noticeably thinner than its more high-ticket sib). Unlike Microsoft, the only thing that differentiates those two versions is which console has a disk drive and how much each i costs.

The PS5 is battery-powered by a custom eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU and a custom AMD Radeon RDNA 2-based GPU that will allow 10.28 teraflops of bare-ass in writing might. The console too uses variable frequencies happening both the PS5's CPU and GPU, which could theoretically push the art to run slightly faster than mean when the Processor ISN't jetting at flush. Though it sounds like the remainder is tokenish based happening this technical presentation (skip to 35:30):

And that game-ever-changing SSD I mentioned earliest? It has 825GB of memory board and 5.5GB/s of throughput — which could Be fast sufficient to let game developers build levels without things like elevator rides or crooked corridors that actually mask levels cargo in the background signal. Just appear at how much quicker PS5 games wet than their PS4 versions in our examination:

PS5 burden multiplication

Game	PS5	PS4
Game	PS5	PS4
Spider-Man: Miles Morales	17 seconds	1 minute, 27 seconds
No Man's Toss	1 minute, 34 seconds	2 minutes, 52 seconds
Final Fantasise VII Remaking	35 seconds	1 minute, 29 seconds
Genshin Impact	59 seconds	2 minutes, 57 seconds
Specter of Tsushima	1 minute, 4 seconds	1 minute, 10 seconds
Years Gone	1 minute, 18 seconds	2 proceedings, 54 seconds
Expiry Stranding	54 seconds	1 moment, 50 seconds

You should know, though, that some of that 825GB of storage space is used up by system data, though, meaning that you actually have 667.2GB of usage space. And the e'er-growing sizing of games substance that you mightiness fill up that usable space apace. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War takes up 133GB, for deterrent example, which is nearly 20 percent of the console's on hand storage.

If you want to expound the PS5's storage, you won't be able to at launch, only at some place in the future, you'll be able to expansion slot in a Sony-certified M.2 SSD. We're non exactly sure when that those SSDs might become purchasable. Back in March, PS5 trail system architect Mark Cerny said the SSD certifications will likely happen "a bit past" the console's launch.

The Xbox Series X will also have a customized SSD, one with 1TB of NVMe storage (of which 802GB is usable) but a lesser throughput of 2.4GB/s. That could finish up meaning the Xbox Serial X has slower loading multiplication than the PS5 in practise, only it depends on a salmagundi of factors.

Fortnite, e.g., loads four seconds faster on the PS5:

The Xbox Serial X and S also have a big differentiator in Quick Restart, a feature that lets you record hop between games in roughly 10 seconds or less. (Though it's not gettable with every mettlesome.) On the PS5, you'll likely be waiting a trifle yearner for things to load when jumping into a new game.

PS5 vs Xbox Series X vs Xbox Series S

Categories	PS5	PS5 (digital-single)	Xbox Series X	Xbox Serial S
Categories	PS5	PS5 (digital-merely)	Xbox Series X	Xbox Series S
CPU	Eight Zen 2 Cores @ 3.5GHz with SMT (variable frequency)	Eight Zen 2 Cores @ 3.5GHz with SMT (variable frequency)	Eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8GHz (3.6GHz with SMT enabled)	Eight-core AMD Dose 2 CPU @ 3.6GHz (3.4GHz with SMT enabled)
GPU	AMD RDNA 2 GPU 36 CUs @ 2.23GHz (variable frequency)	AMD RDNA 2 GPU 36 CUs @ 2.23GHz (variable frequency)	AMD RDNA 2 GPU 52 CUs @ 1.825GHz	AMD RDNA 2 GPU 20 CUs @ 1.565GHz
GPU Power	10.28 TFLOPs	10.28 TFLOPs	12.15 TFLOPS	4 TFLOPS
RAM	16GB GDDR6 Tup	16GB GDDR6 RAM	16GB GDDR6 RAM	10GB GDDR6 RAM
Performance Butt	Target TBD. Up to 8K. Up to 120fps	Target TBD. Aweigh to 8K. Up to 120fps	Target 4K @ 60fps. In the lead to 8K. Adequate 120fps	Target 1440p @ 60fps. Up to 120fps
Storage	825GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD (5.5GB/s uncompressed, true 8-9GB/s closed). Serviceable depot is 667.2GB	825GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD (5.5GB/s uncompressed, characteristic 8-9GB/s compressed). Useful storage is 667.2GB	1TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD (2.4GB/s uncompressed, 4.8GB/s compressed). Serviceable computer storage is 802GB	512GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD (2.4GB/s uncompressed, 4.8GB/s thin). Usable storage is 364GB
Expandable Storage	NVMe SSD slot	NVMe SSD slot	1TB expansion card	1TB expansion card
Backward Compatibility	The "overwhelming majority" of the more than 4,000 PS4 games. Some PS3 and PS2 titles playable via PlayStation Now.	The "overwhelming majority" of the Thomas More than 4,000 PS4 games. Close to PS3 and PS2 titles playable via PlayStation Now.	"Thousands" of Xbox One, Xbox 360, original Xbox games. Xbox One accessories.	"Thousands" of Xbox One, Xbox 360, original Xbox games. Xbox One accessories.
Disk drive	4K UHD Blu-ray	None	4K UHD Blu-ray	None
Display Unsuccessful	HDMI 2.1	HDMI 2.1	HDMI 2.1	HDMI 2.1
MSRP	$499 / £449 / €499	$399 / £359 / €399	$499 / £449 / €499	$299 / £249 / €299

The PS5 supports up to 8K output and promises 4K graphics at up to a 120Hz refresh rate. The console's improved horsepower also means that you tail end expect to see ray trace, which can principal to more realistic effects in game environments same reflections in windows. Look into ray tracing Spider-Gentleman's gentleman: Remastered in this video from Uncle Tom Warren:

The PS5 as wel supports 3D audio, which Sony aforementioned will let you "see with sound" in a commercial shared in August. We don't know exactly how 3D audio will be utilized in games retributive withal, and it's deserving mentioning Sony also well-tried to deal it American Samoa a feature connected the PS4, so we'll have to wait to see just how much punter 3D audio on the PS5 might be or if the $100 Pulse 3D wireless headset that's "exquisitely-keyed for 3D Audio on PS5 consoles" is more than just marketing.

The PS5 has three USB-A ports — one on the front, two on the back up — and one USB-C interface happening the fore. At that place's also an Ethernet port wine on the back of the console and 802.11ax WI-Fi (aka Wi-Fi 6).

All of that hardware is jam-packed into the biggest game console in modern history. Seriously. The i with the Winchester drive is approximately 390mm x 104mm x 260mm (about 15.4 inches tall, 4.1 inches deep, and 10.2 inches wide). Compare that to the Xbox Series X (the larger of Microsoft's next-generation consoles), which is 301mm x 151mm x 151mm. And some consoles are much bigger than the diminutive Xbox Series S.

And reviews rich person found that all leash of the new consoles are unmistakably cool and quiet, which is a welcome difference for next-gen.

The DualSense controller might be the all but next-gen part of the PS5

The PS5's controller is a significant departure from the DualShock stoc that you might cost familiar with from other PlayStation consoles. Merely it has a enumerate of brand-new features that power piddle information technology the nigh interesting aspect of the PS5.

Net ball's start with the design. Sony's DualShock controllers birth generally kept a similar design from generation to coevals, but the PS5's new DualSense controller is the first PlayStation controller that doesn't look anything like the original. And while the DualSense does have the basic layout PlayStation fans are acquainted — a directional pad and buttons on the top half, two restraint sticks on the tail end, and the center touch bar from the DualShock 4 — the whole human body of the controller is new, with pointier handles and broader lines, and it every has a prominent two-tone design.

The DualShock 4's "Share" button, which lets you grab screenshots, take videos, and broadcast gameplay, has been changed to the "Create" button on the DualSense, though it has similar functionality. In an improvement from the PS4, though, the PS5 automatically captures the last 60 transactions of your gameplay (up from the 15 minutes) at 1080p resolution and 60fps. The PS5 also lets you manually capture gameplay in 4K, though you'll take over to tweak a setting to do so.

It's not just the look of the DualSense that's new, though. Traditional rumble has been replaced with haptic feedback, which should give you different levels of feedback depending on what's happening in your game. The controller as wel has "adaptive triggers" that can simulate different resistances, which could be used to do things look-alike add tension when you're pull back a bow. And if you were curious, hither's a consider the mechanism exclusive the controller that enables those adaptive triggers to add resistance.

*The mechanics in the DualSense's adaptive triggers.*

My colleagues Andrew Webster and Tom Warren have both been impressed by the DualSense. Andrew wrote an clause cover how currently available PS5 games use the controller's new features. In Fortnite, for example, you'll feel different levels of resistance on the triggers supported what weapon you're victimisation. Tom also has a video demoing Astro's Game room, a game designed to swan the features of the DualSense that's included with the PS5. (Andrew found that the game itself is bad good, too.)

I yet can buoy't engender over how operative the PS5 controller is. It's rightfully mind blowing this is better than iPhone haptics or switch haptics. The adaptive triggers are sick. If developers customize their games for this, it's gonna be a whole new level of immersion pic.twitter.com/kJJQRpqGoE
— Tom Earl Warren (@tomwarren) October 31, 2020

The DualSense also has a collective-in microphone in summation to a speaker, simply there's still a 3.5mm earphone jackass that you backside fireplug headphones into if you prefer. It's also the first Sony controller with a USB-C port.

If you want to buy Sir Thomas More than combined DualSense, additive controllers will run you $69.99 each, which is a flimsy increase from the $59.99 you in the beginning nonrecreational for a DualShock 4. Sony is also selling a $29.99 charging dock that lets you charge two DualSense controllers at the same time.

You'll hold a couple of exclusive games to cull out from at set in motion, and $70 is the new $60

Sony announced 6 introductory-party titles that will glucinium available alongside the comfort:

Astro's Playroom (Japan Studio) – pre-installed along PS5
Fiend's Souls (Bluepoint Games / Japan Studio) – $69.99
Destruction AllStars (Lucid Games / XDEV) – $69.99
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games) – $49.99
Wonder's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Crowning Edition (Insomniac Games) – $69.99
Sackboy: A Outsized Adventure (Sumo Digital / XDEV) – $59.99

If you opt to keep your PS4 instead of upgrading to a PS5, though, you won't follow lacking extinct on each of those games. Wanderer-Military man: Miles Morales and Sackboy: A Big Adventure are available on PS4, and Sony also plans to release Horizon Forbidden West, the subsequence to Horizon Zero Dawn, on the PS4.

And if you buy any of these three games for your PS4, Sony will give you a relieve upgrade to their PS5 versions. Even so, if you buy the PS4 disc version of those games, you'll only be able to play the PS5-upgraded version on a PS5 with a saucer drive.

You might have noticed a $69.99 price connected extraordinary of Sony's PS5 launch games. No, your eyes are non deceiving you — some games will have a $10 increase from the $59.99 you might follow used to compensable for modern games. Although Sony says games from its studios will be priced between $49.99 and $69.99 tumbling full-face, it seems prospective that you'll beryllium paid at the high goal of that spectrum many and Sir Thomas More atomic number 3 the multiplication goes on.

In addition to Sony's titles, there will be a handful of tertiary-party titles available as well, including:

Assassinator's Religious doctrine Valhalla
Call of Duty: Black Ops Emotionless War (technically the sidereal day after, November 13th)
Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition
Fortnite
Commentator: System Redux

Sony is also offering a collection of PS4 games that you can download and play on your PS5 at launch if you have a PlayStation Plus subscription. Some of Sony's biggest first-party PS4 hits are part of the collection, but there are a number of third-party titles in the mix, to a fault.

Here are the prime-party games accessible as part of the solicitation:

Bloodborne
Days Gone
Detroit: Get ahead Fallible
God of War
Infamous Second Logos
Ratchet and Clangour
The Last Guardian
The Live on of Us Remastered
Until Dawn
Unmapped 4: A Stealer's End

And here are the third-party games:

Batman: Arkham Knight
Field 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Zombies Chronicles Edition
Wreck Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Fallout 4
Final Fantasy XV Royal Variation
Demon Hunter: World
Mortal Kombat X
Persona 5
Occupier Evil 7: Biohazard

There are already lots of PS5 games to look send on to

While the list of brand-new PS5 games useable on establish day is pretty short, there are a number of titles that should quickly round kayoed the PS5's lineup into 2021.

Ratchet &adenylic acid; Clank: Rift Apart and Gran Turismo 7 are both set to launch in the first half of 2021. The aforementioned Horizon Forbidden West is expected in the s half of 2021. And Sony has announced a sequel to 2018's War god for 2021, too.

There are a lot of big third-party titles to look forward to in the PS5's life span A well, including Final Fantasy Sixteen, which will launch first on PS5; Resident Wicked Greenwich Village, the eighth mainline game in the favorite horror series that's scheduled for 2021; Hogwarts Legacy, an receptive-globe unfit kick in the wizarding world of Harry Potter; and the flighty-look 5 Nights at Freddy's: Security Transgress.

If you want to get a motion picture of the early lineup for the PS5, we've compiled an extensive list of games you can look second to performin at found and on the far side. And if you're looking for recommendations of what to actually play on your new console right now, we've got a manoeuver for that, too.

The PS5 is backward compatible with most PS4 games

Nearly every PS4 game will forg on the PS5. To quote Sony on the matter: "more than 99 percentage of the 4,000+ games available on PS4 will be playable on PS5." And even better, some PS4 games will run at higher or smoother frame rates on PS5, thanks to something Sony is calling Gamey Boost. In early tests, Member Foundry plant that the PS5 brings notable improvements to umpteen PS4 games. See for yourself in this picture:

That aforesaid, Sony says that some PS4 games will follow missing functionality or may "may exhibit errors or unexpected conduct" on PS5. And 10 PS4 games aren't playable at all on the PS5:

DWVR
Afro Samurai 2 Revenge of Kuma Loudness One
Terrestrial dynamical time Isle of Man - Ride on the Butt on 2
Just Make do With It!
Shadow Convoluted Remastered
Robinson: The Journey
We Sing
Hired gun Go: Definitive Edition
Shadwen
Joe's Diner

You'll also be competent to play some PS3 and PS2 games on your PS5 through Sony's PlayStation Now cloud gambling service, which Sony only freshly unconcealed would be supported past the new console.

The PS5 has a spick-and-span interface

The PS5 has a blade-new drug user interface with a number of New features to make jump into games more streamlined. Apps are segregated into two sections — games and media, and if you're familiar with the PS4's interface, then the wrangle of app icons in the games fare will look very well-known to you. But when you actually choice a game, there's now a circle more than information to look at.

You can just hit the play button to dive into your game OR consider the trophies you've self-collected or even out Twitch streams of that game. But you can also select from "activities," which let you jump right into a specific mission or mode of a brave, and games even whir in-game tutorials to help you done a foreordained objective. (That tutorial feature is solely available to PlayStation Plus subscribers, though.) And in-game, whenever you press the PlayStation push on the DualSense, you can entree the "Control Center" menu, which gives you access to things like notifications, settings, and parties.

Sony has a full walk-through of the unexampled interface if you require to see it for yourself:

When does the PlayStation 5 go connected cut-rate sale?

Both versions of the PlayStation 5 launch on November 12th in the United States, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Refreshing Zealand, and Southerly Dae-Han-Min-Gook. They'll launch on November 19th in the rest of the global. The one exception is China — Sony says it will foretell a launch date for China in the future.

Pre-orders for the PS5 were a bit of a mess up, though, sometimes selling extinct in to a lesser degree a minute. And require is likely to continue high throughout the holiday season, if not into 2021. So if you'atomic number 75 thinking about picking skyward a PS5 now that it's exterior, you mightiness need a trifle fortune to get your own.

Update November 12th, 1:30PM ET : We've learned a lot more about the PS5 since we first published this article in September — and reviewed it! — so we've made many updates throughout.

Fudge factor Nov 12th, 1:30PM ET : We to begin with aforementioned the PS5 had 802.11ac Wisconsin-Fi, simply IT actually has 802.11ax Wi-Fi (Badger State-Fi 6). We rue the error.