Sony announces PlayStation 5 release date and pricing details

Sony announced pricing and launch titles for its PlayStation 5 console, before promptly messing up early preorders and leading to some frustrated customers for a time. 

Much like the Xbox Series X, the PlayStation 5 will be available in two different versions. There's the standard PlayStation 5 which includes a 4K disc drive and will be priced at £449 alongside a PlayStation 5 Digital Edition which skips the 4K disc drive and will retail at £359. Unlike the differences between the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S, there won't be any cutback hardware here other than the lack of the disc drive. Immediately you may be thinking that saving £90 is a bargain but it's important to note that prices for PlayStation 5 games have also been revealed.

Higher than past generations, expect the majority of new PlayStation 5 games to have a price of about £52-60 in a physical form which suggests that their digital equivalents will cost even more. As it's generally far easier to shop around for cheaper deals when it comes to boxed copies, the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition doesn't seem like it'll be such good value in the long term. 

The PlayStation 5 will launch on 12th November in North America, Mexico, Japan, Australia and New Zealand with the UK release date following on the 19th November. 

While Microsoft announced pre-orders with plenty of time for consumers to get ready (it's tomorrow/the 22nd September), Sony seems like it rushed out its pre-orders. It was possible to pre-order a console within hours of the announcement with stock running out rapidly and being exceptionally hard to find. Since then, the company has released a statement on Twitter apologising for any confusion and promising to release more consoles to retailers shortly. Genuine mistake or smart PR move to ensure that demand was high? Who knows, but it does mean that keen consumers are having to keep an eye out for any time a retailer gets precious stock in - something that's been happening in drips and drabs over the past few days. 

Much like the Xbox Series X, the Playstation 5 launch lineup is a little heavy on souped up versions of games also available for the current generation consoles. It includes Astro's Playroom, Demon's Souls, Destruction All Stars, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure with only Astro's Playroom and Destruction All Stars exclusive to the PlayStation 5. There will be other multi-platform titles too such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Fortnite, Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Neither system may sound instantly gripping to PC gamers in particular right now, but if you are keen - keep an eye out for more PlayStation 5 pre-orders becoming available shortly, with the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S available to pre-order from 22nd September.