Sony's recent Xbox Series X gameplay stream and felt like a true E3 stand-in. Part of the success comes from a more substantial showing of gameplay, but Sony's timing and overall PS5 reveal strategy also contributed.
The June PlayStation 5 event came after a year of only occasional PS5 information drops. Since it first started discussing the PS5 last April, Sony had only revealed the system's name, logo, technical specs, and controller, but hadn't shown any public gameplay. Microsoft, on the other hand, revealed the Xbox Series X console in late 2019 and followed it up with several feature and gameplay demonstrations.
An Inside Xbox event in early May was d to have third-party gameplay but turned out to show relatively little - especially disappointing when it came to the show's Assassin's Creed Valhalla trailer - and Microsoft itted afterwards it set the wrong expectations for the Xbox stream. The recording gained almost 1.3 million views on YouTube, but its like to dislike ratio is nearly 50/50. This put pressure on PlayStation to deliver something more significant when it finally decided to reveal PS5 gameplay, and it's safe to say Sony succeeded.
How PlayStation 5's Gameplay Reveal Beat Xbox Series X's
After beginning its event with a GTA 5 port announcement and a Marvel's Spider-Man spin-off reveal, Sony made clear it wouldn't repeat Microsoft's mistakes. Gran Turismo 7's gameplay trailer was followed by a few minutes of uninterrupted gameplay, and the same played out for the Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart reveal. Most of the PlayStation 5-exclusive announcements included at least some gameplay footage (besides the Demon's Souls remake and Horizon Forbidden West) rather than being just vague teasers, and third-party trailers also included a significant amount of gameplay footage, including Bethesda's Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop.
Other than Sony's first-party games and a number of timed exclusives, many games showcased in the PS5 stream weren't PlayStation exclusives. Theoretically, Microsoft could have waited and orchestrated a similar, E3-like presentation with third-party games bolstered by first-party reveals, so it appears Sony's long-haul strategy paid off. Holding exclusive gameplay and the physical PS5 console reveal for a single event helped Sony garner incredibly high viewership figures and hype. Microsoft will have its more traditional summer press conference soon (digitally, of course), and it could feasibly make up for May's failure then. But it remains to be seen if the earlier event's disappointment will have lasting effects.
The PlayStation 5 will launch sometime in the 2020 holiday season.
