PlayStation 5 coming sooner than expected?

Sony UK has hinted that the PlayStation 5 could arrive a lot quicker than did its predecessor the PS4.

Part two of the big PS4 launch takes place tonight as the UK will get its hands on Sony's new box – and we can truly fire the starting gun on the next-gen race.

Microsoft says that the Xbox One is a 10-year console, but how long before the the PlayStation 4 gives way to the PS5? We asked Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Fergal Gara whether the PS4 is in it for the long stretch.

"I think there's reasons to believe that the next cycle might be shorter in markets such as the UK," he said.

"It's probably a sign of the times and how much has changed in seven years, but I think the willingness and the appetite to pick up new technology fast has probably changed quite a bit."

Going the distance

However Gara added that it was too early to tell what the future will hold for the PlayStation 5 console, and Sony has every faith that the PS4 will swing big. "We're going to have a much better feel for it once we're a good few months in and we can see how the dynamics are emerging."

But although initial uptake of the PS4 has been fierce, new contenders such on the horizon such as Valve promise to make this a very different generation to the last.

"What we do know is that the uptake [of the PS4] is going to be very sharp," said Gara. "Does that mean this is going to be a much bigger cycle? Maybe. Or it might mean that it's just a bit more compressed into the first few years, that the latter years are a little softer."

• The PS4 - what do we reckon, then?