Though there are far more immediate and serious consequences of recent global events, it’s been a problematic year for businesses and marketing. The coronavirus continues to cause massive problems for various spokes of the entertainment industry and far beyond – leading to a wave of delays, postponements and cancellations of a variety of films and television, concerts and sporting events. Some businesses, even major names, have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by the unexpected losses and the necessary restrictions placed upon dealing with customers. This week some of the stores and companies that had just about weathered the pandemic found themselves on the frontline as the street-protests about the death of George Floyd – who died after what appeared to be video-captured police brutality – escalated aand some suffered vandalism, arson and property destruction by opportunistic agitators who used the cover of the demonstrations not to protest but to pilfer.
In the wake of such headlines, PlayStation has just announced they feel it would be insensitive (not to mention impractical) to launch their new console as had previously been planned. The long-awaited PlayStation 5 (PS5) with its tweaked look but familiar, controller was due to finally be revealed on Thursday after being touted for several years and is expected to formally go on sale just ahead of this year’s holiday season. SONY have claimed it will be 100x faster than the PS4 but will still be backward-compatible with PS4 games, even as new PS5 titles are released.
The statement, though not specifically referring to either COVID or George Floyd, was announced on the company’s official twitter account:
“We have decided to postpone the PlayStation 5 event scheduled for June 4. 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.“
