'Wait for PS5 sales': Sony remains quiet but confident about the PlayStation 5, even as Microsoft shows off the next-gen Xbox

• Sony and Microsoft are both scheduled to launch new game consoles this holiday season: The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, respectively.
• Microsoft has been regularly showcasing the next-generation Xbox in videos, and doing interviews, for months. We've heard about launch games, and services, and we've even seen the box itself.
• Sony has shown its new PlayStation 5 gamepad, and talked about the console's internals, but otherwise has been comparatively quiet: No games, no box, and no price.
• During the company's most recent investor call, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki responded to an analyst question about that lack of PS5 talk from Sony: "I would wait for PS5 sales to make that judgement," he said.
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The PlayStation 5 is nearly upon us.

Sony's next-generation game console is expected to arrive this holiday season. But what does it look like? And how much will it cost? What games will be on it?

These foundational questions about Sony's next-generation PlayStation console remain unanswered.

We've seen the gamepad (above), and we've heard about its internals, and we just recently got a look at a game engine demo running on a PS5, but that's about it.

On the contrary, Microsoft has been openly speaking about its next-gen console plans for several years at this point. We've seen what the next-gen Xbox looks like, we know about some big next-gen games, and we've even heard about some pricing expectations.

The difference in approach between Sony and Microsoft was evident enough that analysts on the latest investor call asked CFO Hiroki Totoki about it.

One analyst asked Totoki on the latest investor call if he would give the PlayStation team a "passing score," Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki reported. Totoki said, "We consider things strategically, but [are] doing our best. As for pass or fail, I would wait for PS5 sales to make that judgement."

Totoki's confidence with the PlayStation 5 has plenty of historic precedent — Sony's PlayStation line of consoles has been wildly successful. The company's most recent console, the PlayStation 4, is its second-best selling with over 100 million sold since launch in late 2013.

That said, early reports on the PlayStation 5's launch point to a relatively low supply and a surprisingly high price point: As much as $550.

That unusually high price — $100 more than the launch price of the PlayStation 4 — is reportedly due to the console's internals, which are driving Sony's decision to price the console higher than in its previous generation. As a result, Sony is said to be producing fewer launch PS5 consoles than it has in prior generations as the company anticipates lower consumer demand due to the high price.

There isn't a set release date for the PlayStation 5 yet, but Sony plans to launch it during the 2020 holiday season. In its latest major reveal, for the DualSense gamepad that will come with the console, Sony reaffirmed a holiday release window.

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