Sony debuted two versions of its PlayStation 5 game console as well as new games, in advance of the holiday season. The PS5 Digital Edition, the second version, omits the Blu-ray Disc drive, and its download-only feature could eventually impact Amazon, GameStop, Walmart and other retailers. The Digital Edition also sports a sleeker design and, potentially, a lower price. New games include the latest “Spider-Man” and “Gran Turismo” titles and an enhanced version of Take-Two Interactive Software’s “Grand Theft Auto V.”

Bloomberg reports that, according to Take-Two, the new “Grand Theft Auto Online,” which debuts in the second half of 2021, “will be free exclusively to PlayStation 5 owners for three months.” Sony showed “’Resident Evil 8,’ a remake of the action game ‘Demon’s Souls’ and a sequel to the popular PlayStation 4 game ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’.”

Sony PlayStation 4 has “dominated the video game market for the last seven years, selling more than 110 million units and overshadowing Microsoft’s efforts with the Xbox.”

Sony also debuted games from smaller, indie developers, including “’Bugsnax,’ a cartoon game set on an island full of talking fruits and animals, and an adventure game called ‘Kena: Bridge of Spirits’.” Sources said that, to keep costs down, the company “is limiting production of the console for the launch.”

Sony hasn’t released a price, but Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis said that PS5 “will sell for $450 to $499.” “Higher pricing is actually predicted to have a minimal impact on adoption at launch,” he added. “Within a certain range — less than $500 — price is not a major factor.”

Wired reports that, when its reviewers had a chance to get a first look at PlayStation 5, they declared that the design of the consoles is “futuristic.” “We knew the next-gen console would have support for ray tracing, as well as superfast load times thanks to the built-in solid-state drive,” says one reviewer. “The PlayStation 5 models are tall and curvy,” she adds, noting that, “the PS5 Digital Edition is slightly slimmer,” and that, “both versions have only been shown with a stark white outer shell.”

Sony stated it will provide “some backward compatibility, though it may not be as robust as the upcoming [Microsoft] Xbox Series X’s compatibility.” Also showcased were “new accessories, including a headset, media remote, and the DualSense Controller, which features adaptive triggers and a built-in microphone.”

The Verge outlines some of the PS5’s technical specifications: “a custom eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU clocked at 3.5GHz (variable frequency) and a custom GPU based on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture hardware that promises 10.28 teraflops and 36 compute units clocked at 2.23GHz (also variable frequency) … [and] 16GB of GDDR6 RAM and a custom 825GB SSD that Sony has previously promised will offer super-fast loading times in gameplay, via Eurogamer.”

PlayStation lead architect Mark Cerny stated that “where it took a PS4 around 20 seconds to load a single gigabyte of data, the goal with the PS5’s SSD was to enable loading five gigabytes of data in a single second.”

Related:
Here’s Every PS5 Game Sony Just Announced, Wired, 6/11/20
PlayStation 5 Accessories Include a Camera and ‘3D’ Headphones, Engadget, 6/11/20
PlayStation 5 Digital Edition Loses the Disc Drive, Engadget, 6/11/20
Sony Reveals New DualSense Controller for the PlayStation 5, The Verge, 6/7/20
This Is the PlayStation 5: Sony’s Next-Gen Console Is Here, The Verge, 6/11/20
The PS5’s Dashboard Will Have ‘a Whole New Visual Language’, Engadget, 6/15/20