Whispers in the gaming community are now turning their attention towards a new Sony PlayStation successor, predictably dubbed the PlayStation 5, or PS5.

However, precisely when it will arrive is the subject of much conflicting discussion, with suggestions from multiple analysts and industry insiders claiming a range of release windows.

Some of the boldest claims imply that, with PS4 sales slowing down, Sony may launch a new PlayStation inside 2018.

SemiAccurate, one source for this rumour, says that PS5 DevKits are already being used by developers.

Even if that is the case, in our view a 2018 arrival seems quite unlikely, although it must be said Sony will surely have been working on a successor model for some time now.

Moving into more moderate territory, analyst Michael Pachter, along with many others, thinks that both Sony and Microsoft will launch new-gen consoles in 2020.

Speaking to Gamingbolt, producer of Defiance 2050 Matt Pettit said he hopes the current-gen of consoles "last longer in order to take full advantage of the processing power available," he added that during this time he wants OEMs like Sony to innovate with the next-gen of consoles. Although he didn't mention specifics, we can only assume this would mean a bolder move into Virtual and/or Augmented Reality.

"To create a gap between what is currently available with the Xbox One X, technology in the gaming space would have to innovate in order to offer anything that isn’t just a small technical increase," he said. Pettit's hope would likely mean a new-gen of consoles wouldn't arrive until late 2020 or some time in 2021 at the earliest.