I didn't hop aboard the PS4 train until relatively recently, and already, we're getting talk of the PS5. It is at this point that I take a look back and realize that the PS4 came out in 2013, and we are all hurtling towards the great beyond. Regardless, along the way to that, we're going to get quite a few more games consoles, and one of them is the PS5, which I am cautiously optimistic about. It's got a tough act to follow in the shape of the PS4, but if it carries on Sony's current pathway of just being an excellent gaming system, I'm sure it will be superb. With a grand reveal probably not too far away, there have been many rumors doing the rounds, some probable, some out-there, and some completely barking mad. In this article, we're going to take a look at some of the most likely ones.

While Sony doing a decent job is pretty much guaranteed, what we'd really love is for them to nail it. As such, there is a fairly lengthy laundry list of wishes that pretty much everyone with a PS4 will echo, and that's the other thing we'll be going into in this article. These things haven't even been rumored, but man, they're things that we would absolutely love to see in the next PlayStation. Heard any solid rumors? Got a feature you're dying to see in the PS5? As always, let us know in the comments!

25 Rumor: It's Coming In 2020

While some industry analysts are guessing that the PS5 won't make its debut until 2021, in our view, a release date of 2020 seems more likely. Sony has previously released all of its consoles in Q4, and with an announcement this year looking likely, I find it hard to believe they'd wait over two years to release their system. They want to beat Microsoft to the punch and capture as much of the market as possible with a Christmas launch.

24 Rumor: It will (Probably) Play PS4 Games

While there aren't any cast iron guarantees in the world of gaming, it seems very likely that the PS5 will be able to play PS4 games. Following the disappointment that was the lack of backwards compatibility on the PS4, this is an excellent little feature. The grounds for this rumor lay in a patent filed by Mark Cerny, which points towards a new hardware feature on the PS5 which will allow for the emulation of older systems. Could this mean even older games will be compatible? We hope so.

23 Needed: PS Now And PS Plus Should Be Merged

While the free games we get each month are nice, I don't know anyone with a PS Plus subscription who shells out for PS Now. Which is a shame, because it's a cool idea. If you've got a decent internet connection, you have access to a wealth of games from the PS2 and PS3. The only problem is how much it is. If it were merged into your PS Plus subscription, just as the Game Pass comes with your Xbox Live subscription, then it would be waaaaay more popular.

22 Rumor: It Might Be Able To Play Even Older Games

According to speculation, the patent we mentioned earlier might actually be designed to tackle older games. The reason for this is that the sort of hardware emulation that's discussed in the patent probably wouldn't be necessary for playing PS4 games. The PS5 is likely to share fairly similar architecture with the PS4, and as such, this kind of dedicated hardware would be a little over the top. If, however, they want to play PS2 and PS1 games? That's when they'll need it. It's nowhere near certain, but we can hope.

21 Rumor: Games Are Already Being Developed For It

Even though it hasn't been confirmed that development kits are out yet, it seems that quite a few developers are already working on PS5 versions of their games. We know that Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to current and next generation consoles, so either they're taking an educated guess at what the next console will be like or they have a dev kit. Rumors are flying that God of War 2, Death Stranding, and The Last Of Us Part 2 are also in development for the PS5.

20 Needed: Full Backwards Compatibility

While it could easily be classified as wishful thinking, I really, really hope we'll be able to play PS2 and PS1 games on the PS5. These games can be had for literal pennies these days. Seeing as these systems featured some of the greatest games ever made, can you imagine how cool it would be? It would give a new generation the ability to play things like Silent Hill, Bushido Blade, and Burnout 3. If the PS5 nails this, it'll have won the next generation before it even begins.

19 Rumor: It Will Feature VR Out Of The Box

Just as the Xbox One brought with it a revised version of the Kinect, so too will the PS5 bring a new version of PSVR with it. According to another patent filed by Sony, they're planning a VR system without any controllers. How will it work? Well, the tech behind this is rotatably placed cameras, which will be able to track your fingers, letting you seamlessly interact with virtual worlds. Pretty sweet, huh? If they can nail this, the immersion will be second to none.

18 Rumor: It Will Have A Dedicated Graphics Chip

Unlike the Xbox One X, which features an APU— a chip that combines GPU and CPU into one— the PS5 is set to have a dedicated GPU. As to what kind of chip will be powering the next-generation console's graphics, it's not certain, but it's expected to be an AMD Ryzen GPU, complete with AMD's new Navi architecture. This looks set to be a powerhouse, and a massive leap forward over the PS4's aging APU. If Xbox want to match this kind of raw power, they'll need one too.

17 Needed: A Bigger Hard Drive And An SSD

While the 1TB hard drive that comes with a PS4 Pro seems like a lot at first, it soon gets filled up. Today's games are storage-hungry monsters, and they're only going to get bigger. The PS5 needs at least a 2TB hard drive, and preferably a 3-4TB one. While we're at it, an SSD, which can be loaded up with your most recent games, would go a long way. The loading times on consoles still sometimes lag embarrassingly behind consoles, and an SSD would cut them dramatically.

16 Rumor: The Last Of Us Part 2 Will Be A Launch Title

Gamers have been hungry for more of The Last Of Us ever since the original, and Sony are likely to keep us waiting a little longer yet. The game was teased back in 2016, and was, at one point, expected to launch in 2019. However, putting it out on the tailend of the PS4 seems somewhat strange. It's more likely that Sony would hold it back until the launch of the PS5, and release it on both consoles at once, as Nintendo did with Breath of the Wild.

15 Needed: No Motion Controls

VR aside, of course. What I really don't want is for Sony to try and nail some weird little feature to the console. I don't like Kinect, the Wii's motion controls worked for a handful of games and floundered in the others, and motion control is, in general, an immersion-breaking gimmick. Just give us a good revision of the DualShock, good graphics, and high resolutions. That's all you need to do. It is far from broke, and does not need fixing whatsoever.

14 It Will Probably Cost At Least $499

That seems to be the price point Sony are going for. It's a fairly traditional price for a brand new console, but with all the new tech that's included in the PS5, some have questioned whether it will go up to $599. Of course, if you include different SKUs, such as versions that come with a VR headset, we could be looking at an even higher price. It's not going to be cheap, and might be a touch more expensive than current gen consoles, but it's not going to be super pricey.

13 Needed: True, Native 4K

The PS4 Pro's technique of up-scaling is clever, and not all that noticeable, but if the PS5 is going to be future-proof, it needs native 4K. It needs to be able to run games at 4K without any noticeable slow downs. Can you imagine how cool it will be to load up God Of War 2 or The Last Of Us Part 2 and play them in beautiful 4K? That's the sort of thing we want. High-end PCs can already do this, so surely the PS5 will be able to do.

12 Rumor: It Will Be Revealed This Year

With E3 2019 approaching with scary speed, will Microsoft reveal their new console at the convention? Sony have already said that they're not going to appear at this year's convention, but if their new console is coming in 2020, we can expect to hear something this year. It's likely that if they are going to show off the PS5 in one form or another, it will be at the PlayStation Experience, Sony's own convention. Another possibility, given its success for Nintendo, is a "Sony Direct."

11 Rumors: It Will Still Have A Disc Drive

There are quite a few people saying that the PS5 won't feature a disc drive, and will be digital only. Don't be silly. While digital downloads are extremely common place today, there are still a large number of people with slow internet connections, and Sony aren't about to essentially deliver this audience to Microsoft. Until all but a negligible amount of their customer base have high-speed internet, consoles are still going to have disc drives. They've got at least another 10 years left.

10 Needed: A New VR Headset

While the patent we mentioned earlier appears to say that the PS5 will be getting a new VR headset, it doesn't say exactly when. It needs it at launch. The PS VR headset is already beginning to show its age, and by the time the new system comes out, it will be fairly rickety. That new headset needs to be packaged into at least one of the console's SKUs, if Sony really want to make VR mainstream. They've already got a good base, and need to build on that.

9 Rumor: It Will Feature Cloud Gaming Services Natively

EA are big fans of the cloud, it seems. According to CEO Andrew Wilson, they're looking at working with Sony and Microsoft for quite a few years to come, and he believes that the companies will collectively move at least part of their experience to the cloud. While previous cloud gaming services, such as Onlive, haven't proved to be all that great, the internet is more robust than it was back when that launched, and it's definitely more plausible now.

8 Needed: It Can't Spread Itself Too Thinly

Hey, you know what the PS5 should be? A games console. It shouldn't try and pitch itself, as the Xbox One did, as a home entertainment center. Don't try and tell us all about how we can watch football on it while maintaining our fantasy teams. I just want to play games on it. If you bundle a few apps on it, like Netflix and YouTube, that's super, but first and foremost, it it is a gaming system. Keep it good at that, and it'll be smooth sailing, Sony.

7 Rumor: The Controller Will Feature A Touchscreen

Yep, you read that right. Not a touch-pad, nothing so gauche as that, but a full on touchscreen. Yet another patent filed by Sony has pointed towards the actual controller having a built-in touchscreen, which would be pretty amazing. While it won't go as far as the Switch, being able to look down at the controller for, say, your mini map, would be really nice. It would also allow for cleaner hubs, which is never a bad thing. Who knows how much each controller would cost, though.

6 Needed: Switch-Style HD Rumble

Another controller feature that we'd really like would be HD Rumble, as is found on the Nintendo Switch. Being able to rumble in different locations on the controller, at different frequencies and speeds, is amazing. Ordinary rumble tech has been around for years upon years at this point, and the next PlayStation should absolutely feature this latest version. Imagine how cool it would be to drive onto a rumble strip in Gran Turismo and feel the vibrations move across the controller, mirroring the car on screen.