2020 poses significant challenges to the Japanese brand because in addition to dealing with the launch of its new console, it must lay the foundations of the services of the future

2020 will once again be a year of special importance for the future of the video game industry. Both Microsoft and Sony will launch their new consoles to the market, thus living a new generational leap on which a lot of expectation begins to be involved. Next year will help us to know the physical aspect of the console, its features, its launch games and also allow us to try it, because at Christmas 2020 we will be closing the year with the console on the table.

PlayStation 5 faces the challenge of continuing to attract all users who have trusted them during the PS4 years. There is an unwritten rule in which Xbox and PlayStation seem to take turns dominating each generation, something that the Japanese will try to avoid at all costs.

What do we expect from the console? We have no doubt that the new machines will be a technical talent, incorporating a powerful graphics and high-speed hard drives that shorten loading times. There are already voices in the industry that suggest that graphic change will be important between one generation and another. This generation can be used to define the graphic standard at 4K and 60 frames per second.

What official data do we have about PlayStation 5?

• AMD chip as the console base
• AMD Ryzen third generation CPU with 8 cores and 16 threads. This processor uses the 7nm FinFET manufacturing process.
• The GPU will be a variant of the Radeon Navi family, and will incorporate the use of ‘ray-tracing’ to simulate complex interactions in 3D environments - no console to date has had this element
• The AMD chip features a custom 3D audio unit that aims to redefine the way sound can act in a video game. The goal with this is to get that step forward that was not achieved from PlayStation 3 to PlayStation 4, so that the TV speakers themselves are enough to offer a feeling of wearing headphones.
• PlayStation VR will be compatible with the new hardware, although new devices are not denied or confirmed.
• SDD hard drive for faster loading of both games and operating system.
• PlayStation 5 will continue to accept physical format and will contain a disk reader.
• Will seek support and be able to reach 8K resolution regarding some content.
• Release date by the end of 2020.
• PlayStation 5 will share some releases with PS4. Sony will seek a comfortable transition between generations. PS5 and PS4 users can play games with each other without any problem.

No doubt this 2019 has been especially important for PlayStation Now. The service has taken a step forward, perhaps pushed by Xbox Game Pass itself, but it has gone forward. It has added more and better games, has lowered its price and also seems that the performance is even higher.

But users expect that from PlayStation they will be encouraged to announce the rumored PlayStation Plus Premium as a service that brings together PS Plus and PS Now in the same payment, making a move similar to Game Pass Ultimate. The Xbox service has shown that this is the future, and without going any further has become much of the public interest in acquiring its console. Will the Japanese continue to take steps forward with this service in 2020?