Sony Pulls Ad Featuring Upside-Down PS5

Sony posted an ad on Twitter this morning showing a dad capping off his day by playing some God of War. Typical fare, as far as these things go, except that the video also featured an upside-down PlayStation 5. Gasp! After fans pointed this out, the tweet got deleted with no explanation for its removal. But c’mon.

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but its marketing for the PS5 has been crystal clear about how to set up a horizontal console. The bulging disc drive goes on the bottom, not the top, facilitated by a plastic stand that keeps the console from rocking on its uneven side. Never mind the fact that the PS5’s ostensible top is the only flat surface on the dang thing, a choice that makes it look like you’re supposed to rest it on that side. For some, the design has proved puzzling.

Oh, and before you jump to the comments talking about how it’s actually not that confusing, PlayStation Studios head Herman Hulst—who, it’s safe to assume, has intimate knowledge of the console and how it’s supposed to be set up—at one point positioned his horizontal PlayStation 5 upside-down too. His video, posted in December 2020, was also removed at the time and replaced with a version that cropped the offending video game system out of the shot.

Around the time of the PlayStation 5 launch, Kotaku writer Ari Notis consistently insisted the console looked better upside-down. It’s weird putting discs in art-down, he admitted, but likened orienting the PS5 the way the manufacturer intended to “putting a t-shirt on backwards.” I’ll fess up to absentmindedly situating the console upside-down when I got mine last year before realizing I was going about it all wrong.

I’ve since decided to keep my PlayStation 5 vertical but, yeah, it really does look better upside-down if you choose to go horizontal. And I’m guessing some poor production assistant thought the same thing while staging this commercial.