A known leaker has suggested that the next-gen Xbox‘s release date will likely be set before the PS6 launch. Microsoft had previously hinted that the next Xbox and PS6 will launch by 2028, but if rumors are true, Xbox might jump ahead of its rival.

Microsoft might try to replicate Xbox 360’s success by beating PS6 release date

This rumor comes from X user TheGhostofHope, a known and reliable Call of Duty leaker. They claim to have been informed by “trusted sources” that Microsoft plans to release the next Xbox by 2026, and it’s possible that Microsoft will promote the hardware alongside that year’s Call of Duty as a launch title.

In response to a follower, TheGhostofHope opined that Microsoft might be trying to beat the PS6 to the market if this rumor is true. Fans are speculating that the company could be trying to replicate the Xbox 360’s success, which went on sale a year before the PS3 and became an instant hit among gamers. Prior to Sony‘s marketing deal for Call of Duty, Xbox 360 was often seen as the best console to play shooters on.

These are all rumors and speculations, so take them with a grain of salt. But given the increasing amount of leaks pertaining to Xbox’s next-gen hardware, we won’t be surprised if the 2026 launch window is correct.

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A new Sony Interactive Entertainment job advertisement has some fans convinced that PS6 CPU will likely be ARM-based. The job is for system software development, and will task the incumbent with ensuring that games and programs are compatible across different architectures.

Is Sony considering switching CPU architecture for the PS6?

ARM processors have seen rapid advancement, with major companies including Microsoft and Apple opting for custom ARM-based chips. In fact, there have been rumblings that the next Xbox will be switching from x86 to ARM.

During last year’s court showdown between Microsoft and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the Activision Blizzard deal, a number of internal documents ended up leaking. One of those documents was a Microsoft presentation which suggested that the company is entertaining the idea of building a next-gen system based on ARM architecture.

Earlier today, a ResetEra user found the aforementioned Sony job ad, a translation of which reveals that the company is looking for someone who is familiar with “recent major CPU architectures.” “Develop systems to enable programs developed for our entertainment game consoles to run on game consoles with different architectures,” the description reads. “Specifically, we will enable a large number of game titles developed for PlayStation to run on the new architecture system.”

We’re merely speculating right now, but we wouldn’t be surprised if PS6 does make the switch to ARM.

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A known insider has opined that the PS5 Pro‘s limited CPU improvements could possibly be due to PS6 backwards compatibility. Yesterday, the PS5 Pro’s specs leaked during Sony‘s third-party developer rollout, which revealed that the console’s CPU offers a 10% boost over the original.

Could PS6 backwards compatibility explain PS5 Pro’s CPU?

According to insiders who’ve seen Sony’s leaked technical document, the PS5 Pro comes with a CPU that’s “identical” to standard PS5’s, but it comes with a “High CPU Frequency Mode” that boosts it to 3.85 GHz — a difference of 10%. Known AMD insider Kepler took to Twitter to speculate that this could be due Sony’s “complex” backwards compatibility system.

“The way Sony handles backwards compatibility is very complex, and it requires the new hardware to run at the same or higher clock speed, even if the new hardware is faster at lower clock speeds,” Kepler explained. “If they are using Zen6 dense cores for PS6, they can’t target 4GHz+ for the PS5 Pro as that could break backwards compatibility.”

This is merely speculation at present so take it with a grain of salt, but it does seem to make sense.

The PS5 Pro is expected to launch in fall 2024.

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A known insider and leaker has hinted that the PlayStation 6 (PS6) and next-gen Xbox will come with higher price tags than we expect. This speculation comes less than a week after Sony told shareholders that it’s “very difficult” to cut the PS5’s price owing to its die size. And apparently, things aren’t going to get any better on that front.

Why PS6 and next-gen Xbox price might be higher than we think

Many dismissed reports of a potential PS5 price increase ahead of an official announcement, and understandably so because it isn’t the norm. Sony cited economic factors at the time but didn’t go into any further details. Not long afterwards, Microsoft announced similar price increases for the Xbox Series X|S in select regions.

According to leaker and insider Kepler_L2 — known mostly for PC-related information — “the days of free cost savings with die shrinks is over.” They recon that the PS6 and next-gen Xbox will either be expensive or will come with a relatively small performance leap. Kepler made their comments in response to Sony saying that PS5 cost reduction is “very difficult.”

Interestingly, Microsoft claims that the next-gen Xbox will be its “largest technical leap.” How that will translate into price remains to be seen.

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A new rumor has emerged that Sony is working on another PS Vita-esque PlayStation handheld in cooperation with semiconductor giant AMD. A leaker has claimed that the device in question is not a remote player like PlayStation Portal, and although they refer to it as “PS Vita 2,” there’s currently no indication that it’ll be a successor to the Vita.

Vita-esque PlayStation handheld reportedly coming with PS6

The rumor comes from YouTuber MooresLawIsDead (MLID), who has somewhat of a mixed reputation so take this with a grain of salt. According to MLID, the handheld will pack a custom AMD Accelerated Processing Unit, and will be backwards compatible with digital PS4 games as well as PS5 games with a “Pro-like patch applied.”

The handheld is supposedly in a very early high-level design phase, and has yet to be greenlit for launch. MLID recons it’ll be at least two years before Sony gets somewhere with it. Speaking of time frames, the leaker claims that the handheld system will be part of the PS6 family of devices, so if it’s real, we’re guessing a release window no sooner than 2027.

MLID seems confident about their sources, and added that the new PlayStation handheld comes in response to an ever-growing demand for handheld/mobile gaming, especially in Japan.

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Microsoft has shared what it believes is the expected PlayStation 6 (PS6) and next-gen Xbox release date window. This little tidbit was found in court documents that followed yesterday’s showdown between Microsoft/Activision Blizzard and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the latter’s attempts to block the two from merging.

What is the expected PS6 release date?

According to Microsoft, the PS6 and next-gen Xbox consoles should launch by 2028. The company is talking about the next-gen consoles’ release window because of the 10-year Call of Duty contract that Sony refuses to sign, much to Microsoft’s dismay.

“The duration of Microsoft’s commitment to Sony is a 10-year term, to take effect upon completion of the Transaction,” Microsoft says. “This term would in any case go beyond the expected starting period of the next generation of consoles (in 2028). Thus, Call of Duty will be published on successor PlayStation consoles should one be released during the term of the agreement.”

Sony, however, isn’t pleased. The company has said that the offer is inadequate and has expressed concerns that Microsoft may purposely release an inferior version of Call of Duty on the PS5.

The legal battle continues…

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Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has said that the company won’t be able to share PlayStation 6 information with Activision Blizzard if it’s acquired by Microsoft, complicating matters when it comes to video game development.

Sony can’t talk about PlayStation 6 with a rival’s development studio

Microsoft has repeatedly said that it has no incentive to make Call of Duty games (or other existing Activision titles, for that matter) console exclusive to Xbox, and that doing so would incur heavy losses. Sony is concerned that if Activision Blizzard does indeed become a Microsoft studio, it would have to send over a dev kit to a rival’s development company and that would equate to spilling its technology secrets.

In a deposition dated April 2023, Ryan was quizzed if Sony had similar concerns when dealing with Minecraft maker Mojang, his response to which has been redacted except for the part where he alluded that it was a point of concern for Sony at that time, too.

Microsoft expressed similar concerns when MLB The Show went multiplatform. The company said that it had to “trust” Sony San Diego with pre-release Xbox Series X|S consoles to get the game on its platforms.

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Sony is reportedly aiming for a PS6 release date during 2028. This would be eight years after the launch of the PS5, which is believable given the gaps between previous generations.

When is the PS6 release date?

New reports suggest that the PS6 release date will be during 2028.

In an article that initially claimed that the PS5 Pro has entered production, Insider-Gaming‘s Tom Henderson went on to explain that he “understands that the next generation of the PlayStation, the PS6, is unlikely to release until at least 2028.”

This lines up with a Sony document which revealed that the PS6 release date is scheduled to launch sometime after 2027.

If the reported timeframe proves accurate, gamers can expect to see a PS5 Pro launch in late 2024, followed by the PS6 releasing in 2028.

As for what games will be launching on the next-gen PS6, it seems that The Last of Us Part 3 has “PlayStation 6 in mind,” so don’t expect to see Ellie’s adventure continued anytime soon.

The claimed eight-year gap between the PS5 and PS6 will please those worried about the previously rumored five-year lifecycle.

Of course, these reports should be taken with a grain of salt as, even when they are accurate, timeframes can change drastically behind the scenes.

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Several rumors about the PS6 console design being headed by Mark Cerny have been swirling around these past two weeks. Most of these rumblings stem from a new patent by Cerny that describes a method to accelerate ray-tracing on a PS5, though further analysis suggests that this might be for the PS6 instead.

This PS6 console rumor is an educated guess at the very least

Several users on Twitter have shared rumors that Cerny is leading the design for the PS6. PS6Countdown says in a tweet that Cerny is working hard on the PlayStation brand which is “likely to be the PS6,” while another user says he heard pretty much the same from a trusted source. That said, we recommend taking these rumors with a few grains of salt.

A more substantive deduction comes from Digital Foundry’s “Dictator” on Resetera, who clarifies that Cerny’s patent is not based on hardware on PS5. He writes that the patent has “an RT unit like Intel or NV which PS5 and AMD do not have in any released hardware. This is for a future PlayStation iteration probably.” This “iteration” could be in reference to a PS6 or perhaps a PS5 Pro/Slim.

Even if this rumor turns out to be hogwash, it does make logical sense. Cerny was the lead system architect for the PS4, PlayStation Vita, and PS5, so giving him a lead role on the PS6 wouldn’t be all that surprising.

The PS6 release date will be after 2027, according to Sony documents. The Last of Us 3 is also rumored to have “PlayStation 6 in mind.”

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A new rumor claims not only that The Last of Us Part 3 is in production, but that it will release on PS5 with “PlayStation 6 in mind.” Apparently, according to an anonymous source from Sony, the company has the next The Last of Us game already slated as “in progress.” This rumor comes from a site called TheLeak.co, which previously leaked the release date for the slimmer PS5 that was verified by known insider Tom Henderson.

This rumor goes against a prior statement from Neil Druckmann

According to TheLeak.co, the source that broke the initial leak of the slim PS5 is also responsible for this info as well. The site speculates that The Last of Us Part 3 will most likely release on PS5, but given the lengthy development cycle for games nowadays, it could also launch on PS6 as well.

If true, it would mean the game is scheduled to release near the end of the PS5 lifecycle and then receive a PS6 graphical upgrade after that point. Of course, the game could also launch on both PS5 and PS6 simultaneously.

It was previously reported in December 2022 that another leaker named ViewerAnon claimed that The Last of Us Part 3 had entered development and confirmed prior reports that Uncharted was being rebooted by a studio other than Naughty Dog. In response, the developer’s co-president Neil Druckmann stated earlier this month that these rumors are false. and that we should be “wary of ‘insider’ info.” At any rate, until this rumor can be corroborated by other sources, it’s best to take this with a grains of salt.

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