Did Sony drop the PS6 release date by mistake?

Don't worry, Sony doesn't seem to be shelving the PlayStation 5 for several more years.

This is a question that we weren't expecting an answer for a while: the release window of Sony's future/potential/possible (cross out as appropriate) next console, the PlayStation 6.

The question of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard

However, the case of the takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft seems to have caused some communication managers of the Japanese company to skid, which takes a very dim view of this operation estimated at 68 billion dollars.

Sony actually fears that Microsoft will take the opportunity to block the releases of the American publisher and that, in fact, its PlayStation 5 will be deprived in particular of the annual episode – very lucrative – of the Call of Duty saga.

A completely understandable fear that prompted Sony to intervene when, to please the competition authorities of different countries, Microsoft had attempted "mediation" by offering to guarantee the release of future episodes of the series for several years.

A current release in 2027?

It is precisely over this period that Sony wanted to react by specifying that Microsoft "has offered to continue to make Activision games available on PlayStation only until 2027" before continuing:

"By the time the next-generation PlayStation console launches (which will happen around [redacted]), SIE will have lost access to Call of Duty and other Activision titles, leaving it extremely vulnerable to consumer tipping and further deterioration in its competitiveness.

While the year mentioned by Sony has been crossed out, there is no need to be a great cleric to deduce that the Japanese company is considering a release in 2027 or shortly after.

A still hypothetical date which is however not delusional insofar as it would offer a seven-year life cycle to the PlayStation 5 after the seven years of operation of the PlayStation 4.