PlayStation 5: all of the news from Sony’s next-gen game showcase

Insomniac Games has confirmed that the newly announced Spider-Man: Miles Morales will be a standalone title for the PlayStation 5, quashing rumors that the title was simply a remastered version or an expansion of the original PS4 Spider-Man that have been swirling since the reveal. Spider-Man: Miles Morales will reportedly be smaller in scope than the original, though, per a Bloomberg report that compared it to Uncharted: The Lost Legacy in scope.

Part of the confusion stems from comments from Simon Rutter, EVP head of European business at Sony Interactive Entertainment, who commented in an interview with The Telegraph, “I guess you could call it an expansion and an enhancement to the previous game.” Rutter went on to explain, “There’s a substantial Miles Morales component — which is the expansion element — but also within the game as well there’s been major enhancements to the game and the game engine, obviously deploying some of the major PlayStation 5 technology and features.” 

Sony finally revealed its PlayStation 5 console hardware this week, and while the console design will undoubtedly be labeled divisive, the real surprise was Sony’s plans for two PS5 models. There’s a PS5 Digital Edition that will ship with the same hardware specs as the main model, without the 4K Blu-ray drive. Sony didn’t mention pricing for either variant, but the PS5 Digital Edition will obviously be priced below the model with the optical drive. It sets Sony up for an interesting price war against Microsoft’s Xbox Series X.

Microsoft has long been rumored to be preparing to launch two next-gen Xbox models. The Xbox maker has already revealed the Xbox Series X, but a second, cheaper Xbox (codename Lockhart) has also been in the works. Like Sony’s PS5 Digital Edition, the Lockhart model is likely to ship without an optical drive, but it’s also expected to include changes to at least the memory configuration and GPU inside that make it less powerful than the Series X.

Ahead of the long-awaited arrival of the next generation of video game consoles, Microsoft had clearly grabbed the initiative. Its reveal of the Xbox Series X at the Game Awards came out of nowhere, and Sony’s weak response at CES a few weeks later was to show off the PS5 logo. (It’s a PS4 logo with a 5 in it.)

Then the coronavirus hit, and all plans went out of the window. Sony stumbled by hyping a dense, tech-heavy presentation, which was intended to be a Game Developers Conference talk, while Microsoft pulled together a slapdash, wholly unimpressive collection of minor titles running on the Series X. E3 would have been the time for each company to make a major statement; instead, they’re making news on their own terms. 

Sony finally unveiled the design of the PlayStation 5 today and it certainly... stands out. You won’t be able to miss it next to your TV or your on your desk. Whether or not that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. (At least there’s no way that people will get the PS5 confused with a fridge.)

Twitter, of course, immediately had opinions, and the memes are already flowing strong. Here are some of our favorites.

In case you weren’t watching the live-streamed event, Sony showed off a slate of games, including a few exclusives, coming to the PlayStation 5.

The wait for details on next-gen games has been long, but the good news is that there seems to be plenty in the pipeline coming this holiday when the PS5 launches, and shortly thereafter in 2021. What came as a surprise during the event was that we got a closer look at the DualSense controller and the actual console itself, which had yet to be revealed to the public.

Sony officially revealed what the PlayStation 5 console will look like. Alongside it, the company also announced a range of accessories for the new console, including a wireless headset, a camera, a media remote, and a charging dock for the DualSense controller. Details on the new accessories are slim, although Sony has given a bit of information as to what to expect.

The new HD Camera (which has dual 1080p lenses) is likely meant to replace the old PS4 camera accessory and is meant to let players stream footage from their living rooms while playing games — potentially making it easier for amateur streamers to live stream with a PS5.

Sony had one big surprise it snuck into the final minutes of its PlayStation 5 reveal event: a digital-only version of the upcoming next-gen console.

Simply called the PS5 Digital Edition, this version of the hardware has no optical disc drive, as you can see in the image Sony provided on its live stream. There is a noticeable thinness and lack of visible disc slot to the digital version where the disc drive is located on the standard model.

A remake of Demon’s Souls, FromSoftware’s punishing action roleplaying game, is coming to PlayStation 5, Sony announced today. Bluepoint Games, which also developed the PlayStation 4 remake of Shadow of The Colossus, is working on the game.

In Demon’s Souls, players set out as a customizable adventurer exploring a land full of monsters. The game — like its follow-up Dark Souls — is known for its incredible difficulty; the allure is for players to build their own personal skills and strategies, rather than rely on the game itself to improve their ability.

Sony is finally revealing what the PlayStation 5 looks like. After nearly an hour of PS5 game announcements, Sony revealed the hardware design after teasing it for the duration of its PS5 live event today. The PS5 console includes a white-and-black design to match the new controller that will be included in the box.

The PS5 stands vertically, like the Xbox Series X is primarily designed to be placed, and will include two versions: one with a 4K Blu-ray drive and a pure Digital Edition. The PS5 variant without the optical drive looks substantially thinner than the regular model, thanks to the removal of the drive.

A Horizon Zero Dawn sequel, titled Horizon Forbidden West, is coming exclusively to PlayStation 5. Guerrilla Games is working on a follow-up, announced today, to the 2017 action roleplaying game. No release window was announced at the event.

In Horizon Zero Dawn, a young hunter named Aloy is looking for clues to her past in a “post post-apocalypse” world. It’s a futuristic story with prehistoric vibes, one in which Aloy spars often with huge, robotic creatures. The game launched as a PlayStation 4 exclusive, before a PC port was announced for this summer.

The co-creators of indie hit Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP are back after nearly a decade with a new game, called Jett: The Far Shore, coming to Sony’s PlayStation 5 this holiday season. Little is known about the title save for an atmospheric teaser trailer showing a spaceship of some sort traveling in space and then through an almost isometric-looking overworld design on an alien planet. It will feature music by artist SCNTFC and is being co-created with a company called Pine Scented.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, developed in partnership with indie developer Capybara Games, was an early and wildly successful mobile hit, arriving first on the iOS platform exclusively for iPad in 2011. It later came to the iPhone and then to other platforms, like Steam and traditional consoles. It eventually even came to the Nintendo Switch in 2018. Its storied, multiplatform journey has made it a rare success story in the indie gaming industry.

Gran Turismo 7 is heading to the PlayStation 5, Sony announced today. It’s the next game in Polyphony Digital’s popular racing series. Sony didn’t share a release date.

Sony didn’t reveal much about the game, but it did show a map that seems to be used in the game’s campaign mode as well as an extended scene from inside the cockpit of one of the cars.

Sony kicked off its PlayStation 5 reveal event on Thursday with the announcement that Rockstar Games’ seminal open-world blockbuster Grand Theft Auto V will be releasing for the next-gen console in the second half of 2021.

The game was first released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles back in 2013 at the end of the sixth generation of consoles. GTA V was shortly thereafter ported over to the new generation, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. It’s one of the bestselling games of all time behind only Minecraft, and its online mode continues to be a huge moneymaker for Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the sequel to 2018’s PS4-exclusive Spider-Man, is officially heading to the PS5, Sony announced today at its PlayStation 5 gameplay event. A teaser trailer showed off a first look at the upcoming sequel.

Miles Morales appeared in developer Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man as a playable character, but it wasn’t until the end of the game when the character — best known for donning the mantle of Spider-Man in Marvel’s Ultimate universe comics and the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film — was bit by a radioactive spider, setting up the newly announced sequel.