So, the PS5 showcase has been and gone so that means it is time to review the predictions made, which you can find in a previous article here. Keep an eye on the site for some more in-depth analysis in the coming days. I asked each of our crystal ball enthusiasts to give me their reactions too, so you’ll find them under each one’s prediction results. Let’s get onto the predictions!
Ben Nother
Predictions:
1. “PS5 (with disc tray) would match the price of the Xbox Series X at £449.99”
Success! This one was bang on, a strong start!
2. “with a $50-80 reduction on the digital only version.”
Wrong! It was even cheaper in fact. Coming in at £339.99
3. Release date of the 7th of November to get in ahead of Xbox
Wrong! Unfortunately no, they’ve gone for the 19th worldwide and a little earlier in select territories.
4. A definitive list of launch/launch window games with dates.
Not really. Some of the games said launch, which we now know the date of, but a good few said holiday or just had a year on them. So, no dice there I’m afraid. Naturally, we’ll get more details as things go.
Ben started strong there but his run of success fell apart immediately. I think his crystal ball might be cloudy.
Reaction:
“I’m happy with those prices and will be opting for the disc version when the second wave of consoles become available. I’m not one to have to have it day one so may even wait for early 2021 to pick one up when we know a date for the next Horizon game. I really want to play as Miles in his Spider-Man game but I can do so on the PS4 now. I was a little off on the date, especially for us in the UK. The date wasn’t important to me as it was a long shot I’d get a console day one. I did think they’d try to pinch a little retail space from MS though with a sneaky early launch.
We didn’t see a definitive launch list during the presentation. That info, oddly, came to us via twitter rather than a snazzy splash of the console and the launch games surrounding it. I’m interested in all the day one games but not enough to buy the console. I played Demon’s Souls on the PS3, can now play Miles Morales on the PS4 and will have Astro’s playroom built in whenever I get a console. The other games are interesting but not system sellers like Demon’s Souls and Miles, and even then these aren’t system sellers to a wider audience. There are plenty of launch window games which are also super interesting coming, most not mentioned in the presentation but again all apart from Horizon Forbidden West don’t feel like system sellers. For the record God of War Ragnarok is not a launch window title in my eyes.
The presentation itself was OK, I wasn’t blown away. There were some cool new reveals like Final Fantasy XVI but that is years away yet and I could not give two fucks about Harry Potter. The price and date reveal were something to be desired. Appearing for a brief moment on screen this should have blasted us. The price bams!, then is held for more than 5 seconds. The date appears whilst the price is still visible. We get both for a 20 second hold. Time is precious in a presentation but this was the information everyone was there for.”
Alfred Rome
Predictions:
1. “They will show some games.”
Correct! They did indeed.
2. “I hope it is priced lower than (Xbox) Series X”
Unfortunately, no. It’s priced exactly the same with only the digital edition being cheaper.
A mixed bag of results here for Alfred, his slam dunk prediction was a success but the other not so much.
Reaction:
“I got my preorder in at 11:24PM”
The Fabric “Lee Chesnalavage” Fox
Predictions:
1. “A one more thing hidden up their sleeve.”
Correct! Ragnarok is coming to the God of War world! That’s been rumoured but I believe this is the first official reveal of it. Coming in 2021
2. “A 1st party launch title they’ve kept secret.”
Incorrect – it wasn’t a launch title.
3. “A rival to Game Pass”
Wrong! – Nothing like Game Pass made an appearance.
4. “A secret about the rear side of the box that they’ll reveal.”
Nope! – We got to see the back of it as it swooshed around in the video but there were no secrets there.
5. “Or PSVR2”
*Crickets* – I didn’t expect to hear about this at the showcase but it’ll be happening. Lee just pulled the trigger a little early with this prediction.
Reaction:
“Hello again Adam. First and foremost, Scalebound was not confirmed. Neither was PSVR 2 but there’s always time to tackle that next year.
We eventually got to see the rear end of the PS5 but I still can’t find a spec sheet that explains what ports it has on the back. They’re no secret though, otherwise Sony would have made a bigger deal out of it. It’s likely just the power connection and HDMI 2.1 port.
Sony still doesn’t have a competitor to rival Game Pass. They did announce the PS Plus Collection but that’s nothing more than an upgrade of classic PS4 titles. Not quite the subscription/backwards-compatible news I was hoping for.
A massive AAA First Party game was announced though: God of War: Ragnarok! Also, Final Fantasy XVI and Hogwarts Legacy were announced, which are games I knew were on the horizon but this is the first time seeing them.
Speaking of Horizon, after the stream Forbidden West and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales were both confirmed for the PS4, which I didn’t expect to hear.
And, to wrap up my impressions of the PS5 event, Demon’s Souls is the most gorgeous next-gen game I think we have seen so far. Bluepoint has done a phenomenal job!”
Mete Redif
Predictions:
1. “£300 Digital.”
Incorrect – it’s so close though at only £339.99
2. “£400-450 for the big boy.”
Spot on! – with £1 to spare too.
3. A Game Pass/All Access type deal.
Dreams crushed! – They didn’t announce anything like this and that’s a shame. Maybe we’ll get an announcement along these lines a little later… we can only hope. For the record, the PS+ Collection isn’t a Game Pass challenger. Maybe it will become one but for now, no.
1 prediction out of 3 isn’t the greatest return, but going so low on the digital edition price was a bold call! I respect that.
Reactions:
“£350 for the digital is disappointing. £450 is them going toe to toe which I had kind of predicted anyway. However their entire marketing strategy worked- preorders sold within an hour. Pendulum swings in Sony’s favour.”
Adam Thomas (Me)
Predictions:
- A revamp for PlayStation Network.
Miserable failure. – I made one real prediction and I wasn’t even close. My crystal ball must have a crack in it.
It’s fair to say, I’ve lost with my 100% failure rate.
Reaction:
“Overall it was a good showcase, we got a better look at a few other games such as Spider-Man Miles Morales and there were a few big surprises in there like Final Fantasy XVI. It’s nice of them to show us that big games will be coming out for the console at the end of the generation even before it has got started!”
So that’s that. A few correct predictions and a few somewhat less correct ones. However, not one of us predicted that Microsoft would buy Zenimax (Bethesda)… Go figure.
