According to the forecast of NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella, PlayStation 5 is going to release in 2020, and this prediction comes from him looking after going through the current market trend and how well PlayStation 4 is performing.
During a recent interview, NPD analyst Mat Piscatella provided his vision about when we’ll going to get a new generation of consoles after PS4 Pro and Xbox One X marked a mid-generational step forward but not a complete one in terms of architecture and power.
Specifically talking about PlayStation 5, Piscatella said “2020 is what I have in my forecast. The data suggest there’s no need to do it earlier. But I’ve been surprised before so I’m as interested in this as anyone.”
It’s something that clearly recalls Michael Pachter‘s earlier predictions, which was fixed at around 2020 as well, in two years from now. Sony could then launch PS5 a bit earlier in comparison with Microsoft, that’s currently one year later having released Xbox One X only in November 2017.
PS4 is still pointing at a 100 million unit sold milestone, which looks quite a challenge at this stage of its lifecycle. However, with the release of several triple-A exclusives this year and promotions regarding the price of the box, there could be more good news for the Japanese platform holder.
“Hardware units are mainly driven by content and pricing strategies. I’m interested in seeing how the PS4’s price point changes over the year both in base price as well as in promotional pricing,” Piscatella said, addressing what could be a slight decline in sales starting 2019.
“I do expect the PS4 to have another great year of sales, but I do expect it to be down versus 2018.”
It’s worth remembering that most probably 2019 is going to be the year of The Last of Us Part II and Death Stranding, with especially the Naughty Dog exclusive set to have a huge impact in terms of brand’s popularity and marketing.
