With the current console generation recently surpassing its fifth year, it’s only a matter of time before Microsoft and Sony begin to start unveiling their next pieces of hardware. Some may have thought that was happening sooner rather than later due to the handful of fake PS5 reveal event invites that were being sent out. While they looked official at first glance, the emails crumbled under close scrutiny.
These fake PS5 invites were sent to a variety of outlets and caused a bit of a stir. Sites like PSU posted (and later fixed and apologized) the report, stating the event for the “future of PlayStation” was coming on February 20. However, Jason Schreier from Kotaku tweeted that it was fake and then proceeded to post the bulk of the email’s contents on Twitter.
Upon closer scrutiny, the email used to send the hoax (email.press.sieofamerica@gmail.com) is quite unofficial, despite multiple keywords in its address. If Sony were planning to send invites to a reveal event, it would surely not use Gmail.
This fake PS5 event’s similarities to the original — and very real — PS4 reveal event were likely made to further confuse people. The PS4 event also took place on February 20 back in 2013, talked about the “future of PlayStation,” and was held in New York. However, the only deviation in this fake PS5 invite was the time as the PS4 reveal was held at 6 pm ET.
Even though this isn’t the only fake PS5 “leak,” this doesn’t mean Sony isn’t working on the PS5. Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida stated in October 2018 that the PS5 was “necessary” and the company was also hiring for the “next generation of PlayStation devices” that same month. Those positions were for “marketing campaign manager and Senior Software Engineer for its network software services.” So even though Sony hasn’t been explicit towards the next generation doesn’t mean it won’t be revealed soon. It just won’t be revealed on February 20.
