PlayStation 5: the video games console is not dead yet

As other video games companies move towards Netflix-style streaming and subscription services, Sony has doubled down on a new console. The company's Simon Rutter explains what the PS5 brings to the table

Last night in a livestreamed broadcast, Sony showed its new video game console, the PlayStation 5, for the first time, along with 28 new games that will be out this year or next. It is a futuristic-looking thing, all white curves and black and blue-LED accents and a touch of mid-00s service robot about it. One version is digital-only, the other comes with a drive for people who prefer to buy games on disc.

As cloud-based and Netflix-like subscription services have gained traction in the video game world, the end of the console" has become a popular conversation point. Two years ago at E3, the yearly video games conference, Microsoft's Phil Spencer told the Guardian that we pivoted about three or four years ago to thinking about the gamer first, not the device first ... Our focus is on bringing console quality games that you see on TV or PC to any device." But Sony is doubling down not only on the idea of the games console, of generational technology shifts that make new kinds of games possible, and on the idea of selling a new box by funding games that can only be played on PlayStation 5.