Sony postpones PlayStation 5 event, says it wants to 'allow more important voices to be heard'

In light of the ongoing US protests due to the death of George Floyd under police custody in Minneapolis, Sony has postponed the PlayStation 5 event that was scheduled for 4 June.[caption id="attachment_7871581" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

The new PlayStation 5 logo. Image: Sony[/caption]"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," Sony said in a tweet posted on Monday.

Earlier this week, Google also postponed the unveiling of Android 11 and the rollout of the first beta.In a separate interview, Sony executive also announced that PlayStation 5 games will not work on PlayStation 4.Sony’s strategy seems to be opposite to that of Microsoft, which has announced that its first-party Xbox Series X games will be playable on existing Xbox One machines.Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony Interactive Entertainment's president and CEO Jim Ryan said that the company is not interested in making games for the upcoming console run on older hardware.(Also read: PlayStation 5 will be 100 times faster than the PS4)"We believe that when you go to all the trouble of creating a next-gen console, that it should include features and benefits that the previous generation does not include," said Ryan.He said that they are planning to offer the PlayStation community something new, which can only be enjoyed on PS5.However, Ryan clarified that the company wouldn't be shifting their attention away from its 100-million-strong PlayStation 4 audience any time soon."We have always felt that we had a responsibility to serve that [PS4] community for several years after the launch of PS5," he said.According to Eurogamer, Sony has told PS4 game developers that new titles submitted for certification must be compatible with PS5.The company has decided to work with developers individually to make sure that the PS4 games’ work on the next-gen console.Ryan has also revealed that PS5 will launch this year globally, and its first-party games are on schedule.