The wait is over, Sony finally showed us the PS5 and an impressive bunch of upcoming PS5 games to prove its more than just a pretty ornament. You can examine the PS5 design for yourself, and go crazy over the newly announced games like Horizon Zero Dawn 2 , Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Resident Evil 8: Village, but here's what our team of fans, experts and skeptics made of the show.
"PlayStation dialed in on its old adage of 'For the Players'" - Sam Loveridge
For the players might not be the slogan for the PS5, but the attitude remains. PlayStation waited to reveal its hand in one, beautiful, jaw-dropping slick flourish that let the games speak for themselves. It was a celebration of everything that's so exciting about being a PlayStation gamer. Familiar faces adorned the PS5 games line-up both at launch and beyond, from Ratchet and Sackboy to Aloy and Spider-Man, serving an important reminder that the Sony IPs are hard to beat - especially when presented in one hour slot. But Sony also made space for fresh IPs that really highlighted a diversity of characters and storytelling, and interesting indies to boot. And throughout, Sony still made time to tease hardware without overshadowing its promise to let the games speak for themselves. This curvy monolith is exactly the sexy alien beast I didn't know I wanted, riffing on that unique DualSense pad in a way that feels fresh and new but not so alien it'll look weird in my home. Bravo, Sony, bravo. Bring on next-gen.
"Finally, the PS5 has the style and the games" - Rachel Weber
Oh Sony, you had me nervous there for a few months. While Microsoft drip-fed us information on everything from specs to Smart Delivery, you stayed quiet. When we wanted to see the box, you gave us Mark Cerny and a computing lecture. You had to make this reveal big, and you smashed it out of the park.
The show focused on the games, which is was we all want to really see, and gave us mercifully little chit-chat around them. There was the massive, Horizon Zero Dawn 2, Resident Evil 8, but also the indies and new IP that tickle the old curiosity and make us hungry to know more. And then the box, that big, beautiful sexy robot limb of a machine, all curves and style and come hither blue lights. At this point I don't even care what it costs, I just need it.
"A variety of experiences that plays to Sony's strong suit" - Ben Tyrer
The worry for most people who remember picking up a launch model PS3 was that Sony was making all the same mistakes again. We hadn't seen games, we only knew a vague release window, and the controller reveal was an opinion splitting surprise. Fortunately, some lessons from that period were learned, as this showcase put Sony's games front and center. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a massively exciting launch window title, Ratchet & Clank is the sort of new family-friendly platformer that this generation has been missing, and Horizon Forbidden West brought serious spectacle.
But it's the mix of experiences in the showcase that proves Sony's still making all the right moves. Indie adventures such as Solar Ash, Little Devil Inside, and Bugsnax all looked like they belonged amongst the bigger blockbusters. Sony has made PlayStation the home of big blockbusters and intriguing indies over the past few years, and this showcase proved that remains it's focus.
"A strong, albeit unsurprising, showing from Sony" - Josh West
In little over 60 minutes, Sony put forward its most convincing argument for why you should be prepared to take the leap into the next generation yet. There's clearly a lot to get excited over in the showcase – from the jaw-dropping reveals of Horizon Forbidden West and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, to killer third-party exclusives Deathloop and Project Athia, and a whole host of lovely looking indies – but I'm not overly convinced that I saw anything here that couldn't have arrived on the current-generation of consoles. It's a problem Microsoft has faced time and time again in the last 12 months too, and neither platform holder is likely to find a solution until it can get some of these games into our hands. Still, Sony put together a strong showcase that worked to highlight the diversity of games it currently has in the pipeline, with a surprisingly strong focus on all-ages and subversive independent experiences. I'm eager to see more, but I'm not completely sold that the angled tower will have a place in my home come Holiday 2020 just yet.
"Tim Curry in Command and Conquer voice: GAAAAAAMESSS" - Leon Hurley
I was excited before it started, I was excited during and I'm still excited now. After all the silence to see a raft of things I can actually play - and the box itself - in barely an hour was a rush. It was an interesting mix of things. Things like Bugsnaxs, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Sackboy: A Big Adventure had an almost retro feel to them, some PS1 or PS2 vibes to their fun, platformy feel. There was weird interesting stuff like Returnal, Little Devil Inside, and Pragmatica. And then what were the stand out titles for me: Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon: Forbidden West and Resident Evil 8: Village. They all looked amazing and felt like big exciting event games. The console itself I'm still digesting. I wasn't expecting anything quite so out there and it's definitely a statement design.
"I wanted sexy and I got it" - Alyssa Mercante
Yes, come through with the Stormtrooper meets L3-37 meets the robots from I, Robot, design, Sony. Microsoft gave us a big ol' hefty box and promised it was full of goodies, but you played the long game. You gave us what was in the box, but not the box itself. We've been waiting six months for Sony's hardware response to the Xbox Series X reveal, and boy was it worth the wait. It's sleek, it's elegant, it's got a surprisingly light and modern colorway that somehow feels different from any other type of contemporary tech. From the white plastic rectangular framing that surrounds the curvy black centerpiece to the little cinched waist, it has when it's standing, this is a sexy piece of hardware. The PS5 design was a reveal worth of Dita von Teese, the console equivalent of slowly taking off one elbow-length satin glove, wiggling your fingers at us, then holding that glove between your teeth while you shimmy out of a shift dress, then finally, after what seems like an eternity, we get nipple tassels! Do I want to have sex with this console?
"Sony once again playing the reactive foil to Microsoft" - Connor Sheridan
While Sony never said anything directly about its competition during the PS5 debut, there were a few words from PlayStation boss Jim Ryan that stuck out to me, about being "firm believers in console generations." That's obviously a reference to how Microsoft is electing to blur the lines of console generations with the entire Xbox (and Windows PC) family being able to play many of the same games. It reminded me of that cheeky video Sony did of how you share games on PS4 - taking the disc out and handing it to your friend - that it made to dunk on Xbox One's proposed family sharing setup. It was PlayStation saying "they're trying to do a strange new thing, but we're just going to keep doing the old thing better" back then, and it was the same thing today. The results of those different approaches have spoken for themselves with this console generation, and I wonder how it will work out this time.
"Sony held its nerve, went big, and blew us all away" - Alex Avard
For months, months now, we've been wondering why Sony and PlayStation has remained so silent about its next-generation plans while Microsoft continues to shout about the Xbox Series X from the rooftops. Was it playing hard to get? Could there be trouble in the PlayStation Nation? Should we all just buy a gaming PC and be done with it? On the contrary, Sony once again proved that holding your cards to your chest until a last-minute power play is as effective as ever in capturing our admiration and awe. The Future of Gaming showcase was a non-stop, tightly packed circus of stunner after stunner, offering variety and impact in equal measure. Thank you, Sony, for making me feel the E3 feels once again, even while the world looks bleaker than ever.
"I was genuinely not prepared to be this excited" - Jordan Gerblick
Sat slouched in my chair hunched over a lukewarm, half-empty cup of coffee, I was genuinely not prepared to be this excited about PS5. Though I'm unabashedly partial to Sony consoles, I've become wary to the dangers of stacking high my hopes for something good to come of 2020. But then something did.
I can't even pick my top three, much less number one favorite, from the incredible list of games from new and classic franchises. Insomniac dropped the mic with a Miles Morales Spider-Man, Horizon: Forbidden Forest might be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and Ghostwire is the trippy, supernatural Tokyo sandbox I've always dreamed of. And then that absolute bombshell of a console design - holy hell. Thanks to today's thrilling PS5 reveal, I've never been more excited for next-gen, and I've never felt more buzzed after just one cup of coffee
"PS5 design? It's about time" - Benjamin Abbott
Sony's been playing the long game when it comes to the PS5 design, and it's been driving me crazy. First, they teased the logo. Then there was a reveal of the controller. And now, after what feels like decades of waiting, they've finally shown off the look of the console itself. Thankfully, it was worth the wait. Many guessed that it'd be a departure from the norm after the Dualsense threw in a splash of white to the usual black, and they weren't wrong. What I don't think anyone anticipated was the curvy, space-age approach that makes it look like something from Alienware, though. Honestly, I've got no idea how Sony's managed to fit all those PS5 specs into the case. Witchcraft, I assume.
Anyway. With that out of the way, all we need is the PS5 price… Come on Sony, tell us how much we'll have to fork over this Holiday season.
"Sony is cranking up the nostalgia" - James Jarvis
Having just seen around 25 PS5 games it might be somewhat telling that the things that really stood out for me (aside from having a little moment when that RockStar logo popped up) were the games I remember playing when I first got a PlayStation 2 and PS3. Destruction All Stars looks like it's a spiritual successor to Destruction Derby, there's a new Ratchet and Clank and even a new Oddworld! All games I remember getting excited about around the launch for the previous consoles. Of course, all the new game look incredible and titles like Stray look genuinely different but for all the talk of new experiences and new ways to play in the next generation if Sony can keep reimagining games from past generations and make them look like Pixar films in the process I'm all in. Plus did you SEE that console... OK I'll admit that bit looked like it was from the future.
"Now it feels like a new generation" - Austin Wood
Fair play to Microsoft for trying to make next-gen games more accessible by blurring the lines between platforms and generations, but it wasn't until Sony's long-awaited showing that all of this started to feel like the lead-up to a new console generation. Xbox is building an ecosystem, Sony is all-in on its new console, and today it brought the games to prove it. A lot of them were expected, like Horizon Forbidden West and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, but that doesn't make them any less exciting. And as much as I want new next-gen IP, it's cool to see longstanding PlayStation icons like LittleBigPlanet and Ratchet and Clank get new installments, if only because it helps highlight the start of a next generation. I'm excited to see how Xbox responds in the months ahead because the next-gen hype competition is finally getting started.
"The excitement genuinely didn't stop for a second" - Heather Wald
Not only did we actually get to see the PS5 in all its curvy glory for the first time, but we also got a generous helping of exciting games landing on the next-gen console. Honestly, it really did deliver the goods and then some. I have to say I dig the look of the PS5. I wanted it to have more of sci-fi look to it, and I think it does in a super sleek kind of way. Basically, I'm very here for it. But cosmetic style aside, the PS5 games are seriously where it's at. Aloy is back [insert excited squeals here]. Aloy. Is. Back. I've been hoping for a sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn for a while now, and to know it's coming is beyond exciting. It looks so vibrant and mysterious and I just can't wait to dive straight in. Then there's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Resident Evil 8 and so much besides. I also can't wait to learn more about the likes of Kena Bridge of Spirits and Goodbye Volcano High. I'm more ready than ever for the next generation.
"Now we have the whole next-gen set: specs, aesthetics, design, and games" - Rob Dwiar
Well, that was fun, wasn't it? Sony has left a smile on my face after its presentation, and I can't wait to get my hands on the PS5 and dive into the games. Sony paced the presentation well, covering a range of games and experiences that represents a full cross-section of console players. This pacing has been prevalent throughout the time that the PS5 has been slowly revealed to us over months: snippets here, interviews there, a DualSense reveal one day, and finally some games to top it off. It really does feel like we've got the whole set of information about the next generation of consoles now, from hardware to games - Deathloop, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Horizon Forbidden West are games I'll be preordering, and Project Athia and Returnal look intriguing. On the outside of the console, the design is sexy cool too, I won't hear a word against it. It's nice to see something that isn't a box meant to go out of site instantly like many consoles that have come before. I was even pleasantly surprised by the parade of peripherals and accessories that were presented - everything just looks very cool in terms of the gear; and everything is cool in terms of the games. Bring it on and get it in my veins now.
"So much to look forward to. But maybe not much this year?" - Brendan Griffiths
Wow, that was a lot of games packed into today's video. A lot of them I'll be settling down later with the watch in proper 4K at my leisure without jotting down notes with one eye on the screen. Ratchet & Clank; Rifts Apart takes the prize for my most eagerly-awaited game as I'm a big fan of the series and was so happy to see extensive gameplay rather than bloody cutscenes. I'll save my enthusiasm for Horizon: Forbidden West (OMFG, YES, etc) for when we can see some actual gameplay, but of course, it's great to finally see confirmation of Aloy's return. Newer IP that really caught my eye were Arkane Lyon's Deathloop and Neostream's Little Devil Inside - both ridiculously gorgeous, if not exactly pushing the PS5 on a technical level. As for the surprise reveal of the PS5 Digital Edition. No thank you, Sony. Digital PSN prices for new games in the UK are an absolute joke, costing way more than their physical counterparts so I'll be taking my new PS5 in non-gagged form thank you very much.
