Microsoft revealed almost everything there is to know about the Xbox Series X earlier this week, although crucial details like SSD capacity, price, and the release date were left out of the surprise announcement. We’ve since told you that Microsoft’s new Xbox Series X announcement is putting pressure on Sony, which hasn’t revealed anything exciting about the PlayStation 5 since October when it announced some of the DualShock 5 controller’s new features. We’re now nearing the end of February, a month that should have brought us the PlayStation Meeting 2020 event, according to some reports. It was at a similar event seven years ago that Sony unveiled the PS4. But then the coronavirus happened, and Sony pulled out of several big tech events like MWC, but also two upcoming gaming shows. Don’t worry though, PlayStation 5 fans, because the wait might soon be over. A new potential leak may have just revealed the exact day and time Sony will announce its big PS5 press conference.
Considering that Microsoft resorted to a simple blog post to reveal more Xbox Series X details, Sony could use the same tactic for a limited PlayStation 5 announcement. But unlike Microsoft, Sony hasn’t shown the world the actual design of the Xbox, and that’s the kind of revelation that would work great during a press conference. Judging from Sony’s recent moves though, the company doesn’t appear interested in attending any big trade shows, and it might not even want to host its own big press conference. Earlier this week, Sony’s mobile division staged an online-only announcement of the Xperia 1 II flagship phone, which would have been unveiled during a Sony media event on the first day of the now-canceled Mobile World Congress.
The newest PS5 rumor originates from Reddit (via Inverse), where a user posted the following image:
The post says that Sony will announce the date, time, and location of its PS5 press conference on Thursday, February 27th. We’re looking at an alleged PS5 note that Google’s search robots indexed from Pastebin. That post has been deleted since then, as was the image from the Reddit thread. As I said before, we have no way of verifying this rumor, given its origin, and this is precisely the kind of online trickery that can be used to generate false news. Why would anyone associated with Sony post such sensitive information on Pastebin in the first place? And if an insider created the post, did he or she get caught and forced to delete it?
That doesn’t change the fact that Sony is under pressure to make some sort of PS5 hardware announcement in the near future, so it can keep up with Microsoft’s new Xbox. As a reminder, Sony sent out invitations to the PS4 launch event on January 31st, 2013, and hosted the event itself 20 days later.