Sony has promised investors that the PS5 is still scheduled to be released during the 2020 holiday season during a recent financial earnings report. The PS5 and the Xbox Series X have both been given loose release windows for the end of 2020, but neither console has a solid release date as of the time of writing.
Sony initially announced that the PS5 will be released during the 2020 holiday season back in October 2019. At the time, this release seemed as if it would happen without issue, as it gave Sony a lot of time to promote the system and its upcoming games in the run-up to launch. The prospects of the PS5 launch happening at the end of 2020 were called into doubt when COVID-19 led to production facilities shutting down across Asia. This led to numerous rumors that the PS5 was going to be delayed, though Sony never commented on the matter at the time.
Sony recently held its Q1 2020 financial results and the details the PlayStation line's sales have now been released online. The Quarterly Financial Statements document on the Sony website addresses the production issues the company has faced in the face of COVID-19, but Sony has assured investors that the PS5 will still be released during the 2020 holiday season.
"Regarding the launch of PlayStation®5 (“PS5™”), although factors such as constraints due to employees working from home and restrictions on international travel remain, necessary measures are being taken and preparations are underway with the launch of the console scheduled for the 2020 holiday season. At this time, no major problems have arisen in the game software development pipeline for Sony’s own first-party studios or its partners’ studios."
The idea of the PS5 being delayed was doubtful from the start, as the Xbox Series X is also going to be released at the end of 2020. The idea of either company losing that first key holiday sales period seems unthinkable, and the only way it could be accomplished is either through a mutual agreement between Microsoft and Sony, or an even more widespread wave of COVID-19 that causes another lockdown at the end of the year.
Sony has gradually been promoting the PS5 over the past few months, but the company's initial slow-burn approach to announcements helped fuel the rumors of a delay. The PS5 reveal event in June did a lot to dispel these rumors, with the first look at the console and the announcement of several key exclusives letting fans know that the system launch was happening this year. There is still a chance that a delay could happen, but it would be out of Sony's hands and it would require a resurgence of the pandemic so big that a PS5 delay would be the least of the world's problems.
The PlayStation 5 is due to be released during the 2020 holiday season.
Source: Sony