In the wake of Sony’s PlayStation 5 presentation on Thursday, more details have come to light about the game console both from official outlets and fan dissections of the presentation itself.
Sony PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan spoke with
CNET and says manufacturing remains on track despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Over two dozen games were on display during the presentation, over half of which will be exclusive to PlayStation when they launch, and Ryan says they: “really want to convey the message that we’re only getting started here… what we’re doing with PS5 really represents a quantum leap over the current generation.”
That includes the look which, even more so than the Xbox SX’s green light-topped monolith, demands that attention be paid to it. Ryan says: “We wanted to do something that was bold and daring almost. We wanted something forward facing and future facing, something for the 2020s.”
Drawing comparisons to Alienware PCs and Sauron’s tower of Barad-dur, the design of the new console has been debated with meme’s dubbing this a console war between Microsoft’s fridge and Sony’s router.
Color wise, the white-and-black version will be the launch color combination though
a variety of future color combinations are certain (including the desired black-on-black). Another find is that the
textured surface of the console and the controller aren’t a regular dot or wave pattern – rather they are made up of thousands of the four PlayStation symbols embossed into the plastic.
One of the most fascinating things worked out though has been the overall size with people realising this machine is big physically. Going by the reference point of the USB and disc drive slot, estimates are it clocks in at a height of
40cm/15.74 inches, length of 10.06cm/3.97 inches and a width of 22.78cm/8.97 inches.
Compared to a PS4 Pro standing on its side, that’s nearly three inches taller and nearly two inches wider, but loses three inches in the depth to make it more rectangular than the PS4 Pro’s mostly square footprint. It’s certainly bigger than the Xbox Series X which is a 6 x 6 inch square just under 12 inches tall.
The PS5 is heavier too going by an
Amazon France listing which says the package weight of the box with the console, controller, cable, etc. comes in at
4.78kg (10.5lbs) compared to the 3.3kg (7.3lbs) of the PS4 Pro in its box.
In terms of backwards compatibility, Ryan says “
the PS5 has been designed to play PS4 games. We’re going through the process with the publishers and developers testing that rather exhaustive library of over 4,000 games. We’re happy with the progress that’s been made.”
He also confirmed that the
current PlayStation VR is compatible with PS5, and the camera shown will be available as a peripheral and will not be in the box at launch.