It’s been the chicken and egg battle between Sony and Microsoft, as both had unveiled their next-generation gaming consoles after many years. While the latter took the casual route of announcing the release date and pricing for the Xbox Series X, Sony has been quiet and waiting to share more details about the PlayStation 5 closer to their recent livestream.
Wrapping up the livestream after a showcase of some of the games coming to the console, Sony has officially unveiled the pricing and release dates.
The PlayStation 5 is releasing worldwide across more countries from November 19 onwards. This includes the Middle East region, just like when the PlayStation 4 was released in December 2013. Sony has always shown lover for the region, adn gamers can expect that tradition to continue.
A new DualSense Wireless Controller, 4k-level visual fidelity combined with hardware accelerated ray-tracing, and high-performance SSDs providing fast storage for faster loading (user upgradeable as it uses the M.2 blade format) are just some of the newest changes inside the console.
Although backwards compatibility for PlayStation 4 games was officially announced, there hasn’t been much more shared about it. The only mention is that it would work with the Top 100s of the most-popular games. However, they have mentioned that it’s an ongoing effort to ensure many more games can run with minimal to no issues.
Want to use your DualShock 4 controller from the PlayStation 4? It’ll be supported but you can only use them with PlayStation 4 titles played via backwards compatibility mode.
You’ll be able to select from either the all-digital edition or the disc-based edition. If it’s any indication like the PlayStation 4 launch, the holidays just became more special.
I remember they had very limited launch units when I bought them at their launch date back in December 2013. Better start saving up, as pre-order dates may be announced soon and availability is definitely going to be a challenge.
Update on 18 Sep (00:05 GMT): From PlayStation Middle East’s official account, it’s been officially confirmed that the Middle East will get both models on November 19. How much will they cost? Here’s the breakdown:
| Country | Digital edition | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| UAE (incl. VAT) | AED 1,679 | AED 2,099 |
| Saudi Arabia (incl. VAT) | SAR 1,839 | SAR 2,299 |
| Qatar | QAR 1,799 | QAR 2,199 |
| Bahrain | BD 177 | BD 222 |
| Kuwait | KD 133.9 | KD 166.9 |
| Oman | OR 170 | OR 215 |
It’s obvious that people will easily embrace the Digital Edition seeing the high broadband penetration in the GCC. In addition, there will definitely be limited quantities available.
Update on 20 Sep (17:45 GMT): Sony PlayStation Arabia’s FB page officially announced that pre-orders will be going live in: UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.
Image credit: PlayStation Blog
