Sony tips PlayStation 5 shortages

Sony has unveiled its next-generation PlayStation 5 console amid a huge surge in the popularity of gaming in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new PlayStation 5 will be offered in two different versions. Picture: AFP

Sony has shown off its vision for the future of gaming, unveiling the next-generation PlayStation 5 console as video games continue to enjoy unprecedented popularity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Japanese tech heavyweight used the Friday morning event, which was rescheduled in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, to show off two versions of its flagship console: a standard edition with a disc drive, and a 'digital edition' that will only work with games purchased from Sony's online Play Store.

But Sony vice president Jim Ryan warned of a potential shortage of PS5 consoles at launch, as the explosion in the popularity of gaming during COVID-19 has led to shortages of PS4s, Nintendo Switches and Xbox Ones available on shelves across the globe.

Mr Ryan said that Sony would do its best to satisfy user demand and increase supply as quickly as possible. "It's been a real rollercoaster of a year," Mr Ryan told gamesindustry.biz. "We realised a couple of months ago that we were going to have to spend a lot more time paying attention to the PS4 community than we had anticipated, as that community, along with everybody else in the world, went into lockdown.

"We have devoted a lot of effort to making sure our network works. I am really proud of what we've done there. The days when Sony was criticised for the resilience of its networking activity, that should be consigned to history. The levels of engagement are just off the radar screen, both in terms of the number of people and the amount of time that they are playing. And the network has stood up just fine."

Key features for the decidedly futuristic-looking PlayStation 5 include the ability to play 4K Ultra HD BluRay discs, an ultra high-speed SSD hard drive, ray tracing, 3D audio and haptic controller feedback.

“Making games used to be about this constant trade-off between artistic vision and technical limitations. With PS5, we aren’t burdened like that," boss of Sony-owned game developer Worldwide Studios Hermen Hulst said at the launch event.

“The PS5 will present a paradigm shift as to what player will come to expect from gaming."

Sony also announced a range of games that will be available for the new system, including GTA V, Hitman 3, NBA 2K21, and a new Spider-Man game called 'Spider-Man: Miles Morales'.

Sony will also offer an number of accessories to pair with the new console, including a DualSense charging station, a new HD camera, a Pulse 3D wireless headset, and a media remote.

It hasn't unveiled pricing or an exact release date, though it's expected to be available by the end of the year.

The previous PlayStation – the PS4 – was released in November 2013 and has sold more than 100 million units worldwide.

The PS5 will go head to head with Microsoft's Xbox Series X, which was unveiled earlier this year and features comparable specifications.

The launch comes amid new statistics that show the COVID-19 pandemic has, perhaps unsurprisingly, increased the amount of time people have spent indoors playing video games.

A new report from Unity, whose technology powers many of the world's most popular games, has found a 46 per cent increase in global daily active users on PC and consoles, and a 17 per cent increase of people gaming on mobile devices.

Those numbers are similar to those from SteamDB, which reported popular PC video game platform Steam expanded its user base by 23.7 per cent in March to reach 24.5 million users in April, an all-time record.

Electronic sports, or e-sports, has also rapidly increased in popularity too in recent months with traditional sports put on hold.

The global e-sports market accounted for $US1bn in 2019 and is estimated to be $US5.8bn by 2029, according to statistics from Prophecy Market Insights, and its reach is estimated to be currently at about 10 per cfdent of the global online population of around 4.5 billion.