Questions Remains After PS5 Launch

Usually, video game console launches are grandstanding affairs, held in grand ballrooms or cavernous conference centers in which the great and the good of the gaming community gather to genuflect before a black box slightly bigger than the one which came before it.

Sony's first proper public unveiling of the PlayStation 5, the logically if unimaginatively named successor to the 100 million-selling PlayStation 4, was none of those things. Thanks to the ongoing constraints of the coronavirus pandemic, the refreshingly futuristic box which houses the hopes of dreams of housebound gamers took its bow in an hour-long video stream heavy on gameplay clips and marketing buzzwords but frustratingly light on concrete details like price and release dates.

Like the vast majority of the estimated three million people who tuned in, Simon Rutter, EVP Head of European Business at Sony Interactive Entertainment, watched the show from his front room. However, speaking to the Telegraph immediately after the broadcasts, he maintained the unconventional circumstances had in no way diminished the event.

"I’ve been at Playstation for about 23 years now and I’m probably as exhilarated today as I was when I saw my first reveal of the PS2 just after I first joined," Rutter revealed via a video link taking place, somewhat ironically, on Microsoft Teams.