The PS5 looks like a seriously impressive feat of gaming engineering. With next-generation ray tracing, huge level designs set to change gaming forever (made possible by those massive solid state drives), backwards compatibility and spacial 3D audio set to provide an enormous leap forward, booting up that console for the first time is going to be a thing of beauty.
The race is tight between Sony's PS5 and its rival, the Xbox Series X. With similar specifications, potentially more graphical power on Microsoft's part and a close-run "holiday 2020" release date, it's not clear which console is going to outsell the other in the first battle of the next-generation console war.
However, our latest PS5 leak might tip the balance in Sony's favour by undercutting the Xbox Series X in the pricing stakes.
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Both Sony and Microsoft have been reluctant to reveal the price of the consoles. It's understandable: whoever moves first sets the goalposts. But we may have just found out the PS5's price regardless, as news outlet Notebookcheck reveals Canadian store Play N Trade Vancouver Island has begun PS5 preorders.
The store is reportedly pricing the console at CA$559.99 on the Play N Trade Facebook page. Converted, that is around £320 or $395 USD.
That's a lot cheaper than expected. With all the hardware set to be baked into the PS5, we were expecting a launch price of around £400-£450. But a sub-£350 price would surely undercut the Xbox Series X and make a PS5 for Christmas a more attractive prospect for parents or shoppers who aren't brand-loyal to Xbox.
This is not cast-iron confirmation: it could just be a placeholder price, or the store employee could have made an error in listing the price when it's yet to be finalised.
Just yesterday, we saw a leak claiming Danish retailer føtex currently has the console listed for 6,989 Danish krone, which is around $1043/ £837. That's more than double the rumoured price!
With tentative pre-order prices bookending either end of the scale, it's tough to know who to believe. We certainly hope the PS5 is able to arrive under budget: the PS4 has moved over 100 million units to date, and if the PS5 hopes to emulate this success, its price needs to remain conservative.
We'll know more for sure as we get further into the year, when the PS5 and Xbox Series X are fully revealed, priced up and ready to ship out for their Holiday 2020 release dates.
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