Official: PS5 will be unveiled on June 4

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced it will hold a PlayStation 5 digital event on Thursday, June 4.

It will last for more than one hour and offer the first look at PS5 games, boss Jim Ryan said on the platform’s Blog.

The presentation will begin streaming at 1pm PT / 4pm ET / 9pm BST / 10pm CEST.

[UPDATE: Sony has postponed its PlayStation 5 reveal event planned for Thursday, June 4, in light of a wave of anti-racism protests across the United States.]

“There are few things as exciting as the launch of a new console,” Ryan said. “While this road to launch has been a bit… different, we are as thrilled as ever to bring you with us on this journey to redefine the future of videogames.

“We’ve shared technical specifications and shown you the new DualSense wireless controller. But what is a launch without games?

“That’s why I’m excited to share that we will soon give you a first look at the games you’ll be playing after PlayStation 5 launches this holiday.

“The games coming to PS5 represent the best in the industry from innovative studios that span the globe. 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.”

Earlier this month Sony said it would reveal a “compelling” line-up of PlayStation 5 games in the near future.

Company president and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida announced the plan during Sony’s corporate strategy meeting, where he claimed increased speed, enhanced sensory perceptions generated by PS5’s DualSense controller, and sound delivered in 3D audio would combine to create revolutionary next-gen game experiences.

“Games for the PS5 that deliver this new game experience are being made by both first and third-party developers and we plan to introduce a compelling line-up of titles soon,” he said.

Sony also said it was too soon to judge its PS5 marketing campaign, in response to criticism about its promotional activities lagging behind Microsoft’s Xbox Series X product reveals.

In a GamesIndustry.biz interview published on Friday, Ryan discussed the challenge of announcing a new games console without a physical event.

“Obviously the shows, whether it’s GDC, PAX, E3, Gamecom… they’ve all gone,” he said. “We have to live in a world where that particular oxygen isn’t available to the industry. It’s not available to PlayStation or anybody else.

“We just have to come up with ways to communicate what we’re doing, and try and engender the same level of adrenaline, excitement, buzz that we get with thousands of people in an auditorium in Los Angeles. And do that somehow remotely.”

Ryan also said Sony is aiming to offer “the best possible value proposition” it can with PS5, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the lowest price.