Article originally published on 12 June.

Following the massive reveal of PlayStation 5 launch games and its sleek, oh-so-sexy form earlier this morning, the following questions are popping up in everyone’s minds right now:

• What’s the retail price?
• What about official retail prices for Asian markets?
• When will the PS5 be available in the market?

The biggest clue we’ve received so far is the release window of the PS5 which is “Holiday 2020“. To predict the future, we decided to look into the past.

So armed with the intel we have gathered so far coupled with the experience related to the release of the PlayStation 4 in 2013, here’s our best guesswork when it comes to answering these three major queries.

#1. How Much Will It Cost?

The biggest and most important question in everyone’s minds which is still unanswered. As witnessed in the past three console generations, Sony was rarely the one to jump the gun in revealing the retail price of their console. Save for the disastrous price reveal of the PS3, the retail price reveals for the PS2 and PS4 were key moments when the blue brand took lead in the console wars.

So with the PS5, expect the same strategy. We firmly believe Sony are playing the wait and see approach before responding with their official pricing.

Our guess is as good as yours, but after seeing the two versions available at launch, we estimate the Digital Edition to be the more affordable option at US$449 while the “thick”‘ version retailing slightly higher perhaps closing in on the US$499 mark.

#2. How Much Will It Retail In Asian Markets?

In 2013, Sony revealed the PS4 price on 11th June. The official prices and release dates for Asian markets were only released five months later in November.  While COVID-19 have all but denied a one-to-one mirror of it in 2020 – with E3 and TGS both being cancelled – a few key takeaways should help us predict when we should get the official news of these prices.

If E3 2020 happened as scheduled, we have no doubts that we would already have the retail prices for not just the PlayStation 5, but the Xbox Series X as well. At present, we do not know exactly when will Microsoft unveil the price of the Xbox Series X but we are confident that they won’t hold back for too long.

As opposed to 2013 when Microsoft and Sony were neck-to-neck in the console war, now Microsoft are the clear underdogs heading into next-gen. They have to throw the first punch this time around.

Our best guess is that Microsoft will reveal their prices before the end of August. Sony would swiftly respond with the official retail prices for the PlayStation 5. And since TGS 2020 isn’t going to happen, we will not be surprised if Sony decides to release the recommended retail price for the PlayStation 5 in all regions in one fell swoop.

Still, it would not be out of the ordinary if they decided to withhold the information related to the Asian markets for a bit longer.

#3. When Will The PS5 Be Available?

Before we go full-blown theorist mode, here’s a quick recap of the company’s previous console & its launch:

The PS4 in 2013

• Console and price reveal – 11th June; release date 15th Nov (NA); 29th Nov (PAL).
• Note: 15th November was two weeks before Black Friday sales in the United States that year.

Asian Markets

• Release date announcement: 18th Sept 
• Price reveal: 7th Nov; release dates – 17th Dec (HK); 19th Dec (SG); 20th Dec (MY); 22nd Feb 2014 (JP)

Now let’s break down our predictions for the PS5:

The PS5 in 2020

• Console reveal: 12th June.
• Price reveal – We predict this will happen late August.
• Release date – We predict this will be on 13th November 2020 (NA); 30th Nov (PAL).
• Note: Black Friday for 2020 falls on 27th November.

Asian Markets

• Release date announcement: We predict this will happen late August to early September.
• Price reveal: We predict this will happen early November.
• Release dates: We predict this will be either the second to the third week of December. Our best guess is 14th December onward for Asian markets. 

The Gist Of It

These predictions are mainly based on the assumption that Sony will utilize the same strategy and time frame of stymieing the information in regards to the release of their console.  And it all checks out. We have a solid six months prior to its expected release in ‘Holiday 2020’.

The bulk of information concerning PlayStation 5’s release in the Asian market will gather full steam by late October, allowing room for present-gen games to remain in focus until September.

Do you agree with our predictions or do you think it should be released a little earlier or later? Since we are at it, have you decided which version of the PlayStation 5 you will be getting? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.