Update: Sony has postponed this showcase in light of ongoing protests against racism and police brutality. On the morning of 2 June (NZST), PlayStation shared the following statement on Twitter:
We have decided to postpone the PlayStation event scheduled for June 4.
While we understand gamers worldwide are excited to see PS5 games, we do not feel that right now is a time for celebration and for now, we want to stand back and allow more important voices to be heard.
It’s the right move. Standing up to racism, fascism, and police brutality is always going to be more important that announcements for new video games and consoles.
Original story:
Next week, Sony will be giving a first real look at some of the games that will be coming out for PlayStation 5, with an hour-long showcase set for next Friday.
“PS5: The Future of Gaming” will kick off at 8am on Friday, 5 June NZST (1pm on Thursday, 4 June PDT), broadcasting on Twitch and YouTube. It’s scheduled to run for just over an hour, and will focus on games coming out around the PS5 launch window this holiday season.
“The games coming to PS5 represent the best in the industry from innovative studios that span the globe,” said Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, in announcing the showcase. “Studios, both larger and smaller, those newer and those more established, all have been hard at work developing games that will showcase the potential of the hardware.”
Sony has been talking publicly about a successor to PlayStation 4 since April 2019, and PlayStation 5 was officially announced later that year. Since then, the company has shared details on technical specifications and the new DualSense controller, but has been quiet about games in development for the console.
There have since been a few third-party announcements for multi-platform games, like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, DIRT 5, Scarlet Nexus, Outriders, Paradise Lost, and Watch Dogs: Legion. Sony also confirmed previously that PlayStation 5 will be backwards compatible with most PS4 games, and according to Eurogamer, they’re reportedly requiring any PS4 game submitted for certification after July 13 to be PS5 compatible as well.
Next week’s showcase will be the first Sony-led presentation of PlayStation 5 software, so it’s likely that we’ll see at least a few first-party games, exclusives, and unannounced titles. “This is part of our series of PS5 updates and, rest assured, after next week’s showcase, we will still have much to share with you,” said Ryan.
Earlier this month, Microsoft held a similar showcase for Xbox One X games. It was skewed more towards third parties and indie developers, a move I’ve seen a lot of criticism for—though I personally really liked that approach.
