PlayStation 6 Release Date Revealed In Official Sony Documents
Sony's PlayStation 6 will be released sometime after 2027.
Sony’s PlayStation 6 is coming sometime after 2027, as per the official documents provided by Sony, at the request of UK regulators reviewing Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard (ABK). As per our previous discussion, Microsoft managed to clear a major hurdle in its acquisition by securing the support of the E3 absentee, Nintendo, and Nvidia, thus turning the table on Sony, subpoenaing its rival into delivering ages’ worth of trade secrets and company documents.
According to GAMIGbible, Sony’s official document has the release date of the PlayStation 6 redacted due to corporate reasons, but other segments of the document confirmed that Sony plans on releasing the new console after 2027. The exact details are contained on page eight of the document, with Sony claiming that Microsoft offered to continue making Call of Duty and other ABK games available on PlayStation only until 2027—which is significantly shorter than what we previously heard and what Microsoft offered Nintendo and Nvidia.
The document then states that by the time Sony launches the next-gen console—this is where the date was redacted—it would lose access to Call of Duty and other ABK titles. Losing Call of Duty, which is one of the most played games on the PlayStation, would make Sony vulnerable to consumers switching to its biggest competitor and cause Sony’s subsequent degradation in competitiveness. This shows that Sony plans on launching PlayStation 6 at a time at which it already lost access to CoD, assuming that the acquisition went through.
Putting two and two together means that Sony plans to release PlayStation 6 sometime after 2027. The document in question was made public due to UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and relates to the biggest acquisition that’s set to change the course of history for the gaming industry. Of course, Sony has opposed this acquisition from the very beginning, stating that Microsoft would gain a monopoly if it acquired the world’s first independent game developer. Not to mention a slap across the face that would become.
Sony has dominated the gaming hardware market for nearly two decades now, and around the PS3 era, the company invested heavily in exclusive gaming. They even went so far as to tell gamers to buy PlayStation consoles if they want to play their games, something they’re now complaining against—and for a good reason. Microsoft evolved its gaming offering by making a fantastic subscription service that Sony has been trying to mirror ever since, and the Nintendo Switch console is on a good way to dethroning PlayStation 2 as the world’s best-selling console.
All of these events have the potential to sideline PlayStation just enough to cause massive financial difficulties for the company. If things stay the course, PlayStation 6 might not be such a hot new deal after all. If Microsoft wins the acquisition without Sony’s approval, it can withhold ABK titles from Sony’s platform as means of punishing Sony for not playing ball. Though it’s really hard to see that happening, why would Microsoft puncture its own pockets to harm its rival when making money from Sony is a much bigger humiliation?
