Sony announces PlayStation 5 launch pricing and release date

After months of playing a game of chicken with Microsoft, Sony committed to a release date and price for the PlayStation 5 during its latest showcase stream. The company’s next-generation video game console will arrive on November 12 in seven countries: the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. The Sony PlayStation 5 release date will be November 19 for the rest of the world.

The price for the Digital Edition will start at $399, and you’ll pay $499 for the “full” PS5 with a Blu-Ray disc drive.

Sony PlayStation 5 release date, price, and more announced

The two systems will have several high-profile games arriving at or near launch, including Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, Demon’s Souls, Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition, and an upgraded version of Fortnite.

PlayStation Plus subscribers who buy the PS5 will also get a collection of some of the PS4’s defining games, including God of War, Uncharted 4, and The Last of Us: Remastered.

The high-end model’s pricing puts the PlayStation 5 on par with the Xbox Series X and might leave gamers with a tough choice when the two consoles are released this fall. However, the lower-end versions are more complicated. While the disc-free PS5 costs $100 more than the Xbox Series S, it also delivers the same performance as its more expensive counterpart. The budget Xbox is a cut-down system — you’ll need to decide whether it’s worth the extra money to get that enhanced experience.

That wasn’t all, though. The showcase also provided premieres for multiple games, including brand new titles as well as PS5 updates to existing releases. There was even a cryptic teaser for a new God of War game coming in 2021, with hints that “Ragnarok is coming.”

PS5 game trailers and announcements

Final Fantasy XVI is still very early, but it appears to have the familiar action RPG gameplay of modern Final Fantasy games. It centers around the “legacy of the crystals” and promises epic battles, including giant demons and “Icons.” More details aren’t expected until 2021, so don’t expect a release on the PlayStation 5 for a while. It will, however, be a console exclusive.

Hogwarts Legacy is an open-world game set in the Wizarding World roughly a century before Harry Potter comes to the title’s namesake magical school. Suffice it to say the landscape is considerably less tamed than it is in the modern era — goblins aren’t your friends in this era. It’s due sometime in 2021.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach brings the next generation of the jump-scare series to the PlayStation 5. Your aim is to survive Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizza Plex as the animatronic robots inevitably go haywire. Gameplay mechanics are still unknown, but you can expect ray-traced lighting, enhanced audio, and a horror experience that’s “never interrupted.” There’s no release date, but it will be a console exclusive for the PlayStation 5.

The Fortnite update, meanwhile, will seem familiar if you saw NVIDIA’s preview of an enhanced version for GeForce RTX cards. It’s not a radical reinvention of the battle royale shooter, but it appears to increase overall detail, including improved water reflections. It’ll be available at launch for the PlayStation 5 and will still be free to play.

Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition will upgrade the fast-paced demon slasher with more advanced visuals and 3D sound. Unlike many PS5-enhanced games, though, you’ll have your choice of just how the graphics will improve. You can not only toggle ray tracing for advanced lighting effects, but prioritize either resolution (4K at 30 frames per second) or frame rate (1080p at 60FPS). You can even run the game at 120FPS. And if the gameplay itself isn’t challenging enough, a 20% faster Turbo Mode and an enemy-rich Legendary Dark Knight difficulty will keep you busy. DMC5:SE will be available digitally on launch.

Even more games teased

Numerous studios also released the first PlayStation 5 gameplay videos for key titles, including Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the single-player campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Demon’s Souls, and Oddworld: Soulstorm. Sony clearly wanted to show that its new console existed as more than a set of cutscenes and technical demos, and this event was proof. As you may have noticed, though, many of the biggest games aren’t slated until 2021 or later.  If you buy the PS5 in 2020, you’re mainly buying it to enhance your existing games.

Next: PlayStation 5 vs Xbox Series X: How they compare