On June 1, the official PlayStation twitter account tweeted that the recently announced digital event has been postponed. This is as a response to the ongoing political upheaval triggered by events in the USA and the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests.
The post stated that while the PlayStation team understands the excitement around the upcoming PS5 release, they “do not feel that right now is a time for celebration” and that they “want to stand back and allow more important voices to be heard”.
The event will certainly be rescheduled, though no date or time scale for this has been announced.
The tweet announcing the postponement followed a statement by PlayStation, denouncing systematic racism and sharing their support for the Black community. The official Xbox account also showed solidarity with PlayStation’s decision, and has posted similar statements.
What was The Future of Gaming stream going to be about?
After a week of rumours, Sony announced on May 29 that a June 4 event, dubbed The Future of Gaming, was going to be streamed on YouTube and Twitch. The Future of Gaming was replacing Sony’s E3 appearance, which has been cancelled due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
In a post on PlayStation Blog, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan announced that the event would provide “a first look at the games you’ll be playing after PlayStation 5 launches this holiday.”