I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that collective Sony fans are ravenous for new PS5 info. After all, Sony has been pretty tight-lipped about details, while Microsoft has been throwing around trailers and announcements like they’re going out of style.
Given this collective attitude, is it any wonder that the entire internet was fooled by a hoax one weekend in early 2020? This PS5 boot screen may be fake, but the hype surrounding it was most certainly real.
A Look at How Rumors Spread Online
It’s a testament to the internet as a construct that something like this can spread so quickly over the course of 48 hours or so. It all started with a Reddit post, as these typically do (note: The video is now listed as fake, but that wasn’t the case when it first went live).
#PS5 boot up and console ???!!!!!. pic.twitter.com/ZzGQP7q4HI
— Jose Miguel Esparza (@P0sitiveEmoti0n) January 25, 2020
From there, it went to Twitter and spread across the internet, where media outlets latched onto it and arguments flew across the digital sphere about whether it was real or fake.
People on the fake side of things quickly pointed out discrepancies ranging from use of a Google Play logo to a QR code, which isn’t something you normally see on PlayStation hardware.
The Jig is up, Now What?
By the end of that cold weekend in January 2020, the original YouTube channel uploaded a second video confirming the fake PS5 boot screen. Not only that, but the video, titled “How to win the interwebs. -make a PS5 video” walked viewers through the process that went into this prank.
The purpose? To see how far the rumor would go. Pretty damn far as it turns out. The process even involved a sound designer and programmer to help create something that would at least seem plausible.
I honestly don’t know whether to applaud this guy or reach through the interwebs to smack him. On the one hand, it’s an impressive fake, but on the other hand, why? Just to troll people?
What do you think? Did you buy into this hoax or were you sure it was a fake from the get-go? Let us know in the comments!
Article by – Bradley Ramsey
Insert date – 1/28/2020