At Sony’s PlayStation 5 Showcase this afternoon, the final (and much awaited) pieces of the puzzle with regards to the console’s launch have dropped: pricing and a release date.

Sony’s next-generation console will launch on Thursday, November 12th. The full version of the console, which includes a Blu-ray disc drive, will launch at $499. Meanwhile the “Digital Edition” of the console, which foregoes optical storage entirely, will release for a surprising $399, a full $100 cheaper despite only giving up a disc drive.

This will put Sony’s launch 2 days after Microsoft’s own Xbox Series X/S launch, which is taking place on Tuesday, November 10th. The $499 price tag for the two companies’ respective flagship consoles will put them in direct competition, while the PS5 Digital Edition/Xbox Series S divide should prove far more interesting – if not a bit frustrating for consumers trying to make the best choice. The discless PS5 is every bit as powerful as its disc-capable sibling – making it a spoiler of sorts at $399 – whereas the Xbox Series S gets a significantly weaker GPU than the Xbox Series X. However at $299 the slimmed down console is cheaper still, and still gets to run next-gen games.

Next-Gen Console Specs
  PlayStation 5 PlayStation 5
Digital Edition
Xbox Series S Xbox Series X
CPU 8 Core AMD Zen 2
@ 3.5 GHz w/SMT
8 Core AMD Zen 2
@ 3.6 GHz
@ 3.4 GHz w/SMT
8 Core AMD Zen 2
@ 3.8 GHz
@ 3.6 GHz /wSMT
GPU 36 CU AMD RDNA2
@ 2.23GHz
20 CU AMD RDNA2
@ 1.565 GHz
52 CU AMD RDNA2
@ 1.825 GHz
GPU Throughput (FP32) 10.28 TFLOPS 4 TFLOPS 12.15 TFLOPS
Memory 16GB GDDR6
@ 14Gbps
10GB GDDR6
@ 14Gbps
16GB GDDR6
@ 14Gbps
Memory Throughput 16GB@448GB/sec
(256-bit)
 8GB@224GB/sec
(128-bit)
2GB@56GB/sec
(32-bit)
10GB@560GB/sec
(320-bit)
6GB@336GB/sec
(192-bit)
Storage 825GB PCIe 4 x4 SSD 512GB PCIe 4 x2 SSD 1TB PCIe 4 x2 SSD
Storage Throughput 5.5GB/sec 2.4GB/sec
Storage Expansion M.2 (NVMe) Slot
PCIe 4 x4
Xbox Storage Expansion Card (1TB)
Disc Drive 4K UHD Blu-Ray No No 4K UHD Blu-Ray
Manufacturing Process TSMC 7nm TSMC 7nm TSMC 7nm TSMC 7nm
Launch Date 2020/11/12 2020/11/10
Launch Price $499 $399 $299 $499
 

Or if you’re in the mood for a PC (a platform we’re particularly partial towards), over the next couple of months we will be seeing new hardware launches there as well, including NVIDIA’s $500 GeForce RTX 3070, and AMD’s new RDNA2-based Radeon RX 6000 video cards. So there is no shortage of gaming hardware to be had this fall – at least if you have the cash.

 
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  • Oxford Guy - Sunday, September 20, 2020 - link

    A friendly reminder that all consoles are massively overpriced.

    Every console sale = higher prices for PC gaming.

    Why? You're paying to promote artificial walled software gardens. You're paying MS and Sony to place a tax on PC gaming.
  • bji - Sunday, September 27, 2020 - link

    "massively overpriced" is a value judgement that you are trying, and failing, to present as fact. You have multiple posts that read like someone butt-hurt because they can't afford a console or something.

    These companies have been doing this a long time, they know what the "value" of their consoles are to players, and they set their prices accordingly.
  • vol.2 - Sunday, September 20, 2020 - link

    I still can't get over how ugly the PS5 is. If I get one of these, I'm printing my own case and throwing away that piece of garbage they wrapped it in.
  • Vitor - Monday, September 21, 2020 - link

    Im pretty sure there will be a 3nm ps5 pro. 7nm will be outdated by next year.
  • zodiacsoulmate - Thursday, September 24, 2020 - link

    Well the PS5 is peak performance right? How about sustained performance?

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