A market analyst has predicted that PlayStation 5 will be released in the second half of 2018.

The claim of Macquarie Capital Securities analyst Damian Thong was first released on The Wall Street Journal. Many people were taken by surprise with this prediction, especially considering that PlayStation 4 Pro was only just recently unveiled. Nonetheless, while he did not clarify where he based his assumption, many people have taken notice of Thong's statement, especially since he has previously correctly predicted the release of PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation Slim. These estimations have given him some clout in the industry.

The release of PlayStation 5 would also be Sony's answer to Microsoft's Project Scorpio project. PlayStation 5 is a next-generation console that the company is claiming will beat the specifications and performance of all consoles currently available in the market, including PlayStation 4 Pro. Given that Sony currently holds the top spot for gaming console performance, it is unlikely that it would be willing to surrender this to Microsoft.

Value Walk, however, provides its own analysis of why a new PlayStation console will not be making its way into the market. It says that the timing would be inappropriate, considering that PlayStation 4 Pro has just been released. The publication believes that Sony will need to overtake the specifications of this console in order to release one that consumers would want to buy. This move, according to the analysis, may not be a practical one, considering that Sony is already at an extremely dominant market position. Releasing a new model will only put it in direct competition with PlayStation 4 Pro, as well as alienate its user base.

Value Walk also argues that since games sell systems, gamers will be on the lookout of what titles will be playable on the console, rather than its specifications. Furthermore, it states that upping the technical features of the device will also mean increasing the price, which can make the console unreachable for some consumers.

Sony has yet to make an announcement about PlayStation 5.