PlayStation 5 showcase stream delayed

Sony has announced that this week’s “Future of Gaming” livestream, designed to be the biggest showcase for the PlayStation 5 to date, has been postponed indefinitely.

“While we understand gamers worldwide are excited to see PS5 games, we do not feel that right now is a time for celebration and for now, we want to stand back and allow more important voices to be heard,” read the company’s statement on Twitter.

Though the post does not explicitly mention the ongoing nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, that’s the apparent motivation behind the delay. In recent days, both PlayStation and Sony have posted statements of solidarity with the black community and the Black Lives Matter movement, alongside a number of other gaming brands.

This PlayStation 5 event was to be the first major showing of games on Sony’s new console, with more than an hour of new reveals. Sony had even begun advertising the stream on television networks like ESPN, so it’s quite significant that the company decided to postpone it just a few days in advance.

The PlayStation 5 is still scheduled to launch this holiday season.