Given the PS5’s slow start, would Sony consider dropping it in just another four years? (pic: Sony)
A rumoured 2027 launch for the PS6 seem believable at first, but it hinges on outdated comments about Microsoft’s Call Of Duty offer.
Even before the PlayStation 5 had even come out, people were wondering when the PlayStation 6 would launch. There’s obviously never been a hard date, with Sony initially suggesting a 2026 release but this was before the coronavirus pandemic hit, so that undoubtedly would have pushed plans back.
More recently, Microsoft stated that the next generation of consoles wouldn’t launch until late 2028 at the earliest and even then plans could very easily change.
A new rumour, however, has recently spread online claiming that there’s evidence of the PlayStation 6 coming out in 2027 – just four years from now. Although this would seem plausible under normal conditions, once you look into the details it becomes clear that it’s more wish fulfilment than reliable news.
Basically, the theory hinges entirely on comments by Sony regarding Microsoft’s attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard and the future of the Call Of Duty franchise on PlayStation.
As a quick reminder, Microsoft has pledged not to make Call Of Duty an Xbox exclusive and keep the series on PlayStation. However, when this was first mooted Sony called Microsoft’s offer ‘inadequate’, as it would only last for an additional three years, after the current deal between Sony and Activision expires in 2024.
Sony obviously doesn’t like the idea of potentially losing access to Call Of Duty in or around 2027, especially since, in its own words, it will have just launched its next generation of hardware, aka the PlayStation 6.
‘Microsoft has offered to continue making Activision’s games available on PlayStation only until 2027,’ reads a statement provided to UK regulator the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part of its investigation into the acquisition.
Citing comments made by Xbox boss Phil Spencer to the Wall Street Journal, Sony continues: ‘A period until 2027 – or some other (possibly shorter) time that Microsoft unilaterally determines ‘makes sense’ to Microsoft – is badly inadequate.
‘By the time Sony Interactive Entertainment launched the next generation of its PlayStation console (which is likely to occur around [REDACTED]), it would have lost access to Call Of Duty and other Activision titles, making it extremely vulnerable to consumer switching and subsequent degradation in its competitiveness.’
Microsoft has pledged to multiple concessions to get the Activision deal through and Sony doesn’t seem to like any of them (pic: Microsoft)
While the launch date for the PlayStation 6 isn’t revealed publicly, the logic behind the rumour is that, if the PlayStation 6 will be out by the time of Sony’s theoretical loss of Call Of Duty, then it must be aiming for 2027.
Except that’s not really what the statement says. Assuming Sony is correct, and Microsoft will make Call Of Duty an exclusive in four years, all it means is that the PlayStation 6 will be out after that point, not necessarily within the same year.
More importantly though, the statement was made in October 2022 and it’s not clear what it’s only making the rounds now. A month after that, Microsoft announced that it had bumped its offer up to 10 years, meaning it’ll agree to release Call Of Duty on PlayStation until at least 2034.
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Sony’s concern in the October statement was keeping Call Of Duty on PlayStation, not ruminating about the best time to launch the PlayStation 6, and their plans (and Microsoft’s for the next gen Xbox) will no doubt change a hundred-fold over the next few years.
Given the average lifecycle of consoles, it’s safe to assume that the PlayStation 6 will be out by the end of this decade. 2027, however, is almost certainly too early.
It’s sometimes easy to forget that the PS5 isn’t new anymore – it came out almost three years ago (pic: Sony)
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A rumoured 2027 launch for the PS6 seem believable at first, but it hinges on outdated comments about Microsoft’s Call Of Duty offer.