PS5: Sony shares more about first-party exclusives in 2021 and when to expect them

The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are now officially on sale and marks the official start of the next-generation console race. Meanwhile, the PS5 will launch on Friday for select regions while a global release will follow on Nov. 19. As it stands right now, it is too early to call which game system will triumph over the other moving forward. Sony appears to be banking on its first-party exclusives which now have an estimated release timeframe.

Several titles that are only available for the PlayStation 5 are slated to release along with the platform this week. These include the highly anticipated and controversial "Spider-Man: Miles Morales," the visually stunning remake of "Demon's Souls," and others more. "Godfall" was originally included, but it was recently revealed to be on its way to Microsoft's consoles later next year. "Destruction AllStars" has been delayed to Feb. 2021, while cute adventure game "Bugsnax" was confirmed for the PS4 as well.

"Halo Infinite" was originally intended to be a launch game for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S but has been delayed indefinitely. This apparently gives Sony a substantial head start even though the PS5 hits retailers several days behind Microsoft. Next year, on other hand, appears to have a slew of staggered releases for Sony's new console. It's a common strategy for manufacturers and game developers to space release dates accordingly to maintain a momentum of interest for consumers.

In a new PS5 ad from Sony titled "New Worlds to Explore," people spotted text below the screen which listed the estimated release windows for several games. It appears "Ratchet $ Clank: Rift Apart," Gran Turismo 7," and "Returnal" have been pegged for the first half of 2021. As for "Horizon Forbidden West," it was listed for the second half of 2021.

Therefore, most of the first-party exclusives for the PS5 have been moved to later dates as to not overcrowd the market this holiday. Given that backward compatibility is what Sony and Microsoft have been promoting since their respective systems' debuted, players actually have a huge library of titles to play on day one. In fact, most of these will receive visual and performance enhancements when played on the latest platforms.