In the wake of tough talk from Sony and Microsoft, neither hardware manufacturer has shown what it will look like when customers are actually playing video games on the systems.
Microsoft was roundly criticized for its May 20/20 Showcase event which promised "gameplay reveals" of third party Xbox Series X titles, when they ultimately showed little in of actual gameplay. There was some rendered in-engine footage, yes, but almost nothing that could legitimately be labed "gameplay," nothing that articulated to viewers what their experience would entail once they held a controller in their hands. Sony has announced a formal PlayStation 5 reveal on June 4th (1pm PT), and it's imperative they don't make the same mistake as Microsoft.
Sony is aware of the backlash against Microsoft's recent marketing reveals. VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb stated that Sony is keenly aware of the competition and will make sure their own event succeeds where the competition faltered. If Grubb is correct, this means they will show gameplay footage of PlayStation 5 games running on real hardware, not just vaguely-defined "in-engine footage."
When it comes to the next generation consoles, it feels like the hype train is stuck between stations. With the notable exception of Bright Memory Infinite on Xbox Series X, very little next-gen gameplay footage has been shown of any titles. Even the exciting Unreal Engine 5 tease last week was just a technical demonstration, and not a true indication of what a next-generation games will look like. Executives can talk endlessly about the technical specs of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X - and backward compatibility and library size at launch - but words like "teraflops" and "SSD" don't mean much to the majority of video game enthusiasts who only want to see one thing: next-gen gameplay.
Source: PlayStation LifeStyle
