the eponymous bollock wrote:Thought this might be an interesting discussion following an E3 in which the strongly prevailing opinion is that Microsoft knocked it out of the park whereas Sony flubbed it?
A couple of points to possibly support this view:
- Starting their E3 presser in a strawberry floating church they built just to demonstrate TLoU2 then expecting people to be happy hanging around while they shifted a few hundred people to another theatre.
- Continually being tone deaf on community desire for crossplay support.
- Falling behind MS on ecosystem QoL stuff like backwards compatibility, name changes, general PSN jank.
- No 4K Blu-ray drive.
- Answering the Fortnite account blocking outcry with a statement basically gonna saying ‘look how many PS4s we’ve sold’.
I’ll leave personal thoughts on any of those for a while, but does any of this start to suggest we might be seeing the beginning of a stumble similar to the beginning of the PS3 era?
Or, are Sony at such a strong position with their first party exclusives that any of the above is just inconsequential?
There are many criticisms that can be made about Sony and their PS4 platform but most some of those you mentioned don't fall under the category of hubris (arrogance and not listening to the public). They sound like general complaints.
Not hubrisThe 'church' move was intended to be a clever way to promote The Last of Us but it wasn't thought out well. This wasn't arrogance - it was badly organised.
The showcase wasn't good at all. There was a deliberate decision by Sony, for their own reasons, to not reveal new titles this year.
No 4K blu-ray - users of this would likely be a very small percentage, however it would add to cost of hardware from $20-$30 at least for hardware and licensing. Keeping cost low and console focused on games is keeping true to the philosophy that Sony promoted that the PS4 console is not focused on being a multi-media device, it's primarily a games console.
PS3 Backwards compatibility. - Different hardware between PS3 Cell and PS4 x86 architecture. PS4 not likely powerful enough to emulate PS3 games.
Falling behind MS on ecosystem. I don't think anybody can legitimately claim that either Microsoft or Sony is a generation ahead of each other in this field. Sony innovated with the Share button and features which MS took time to properly integrate. Microsoft has more in-depth achievement tracking. Sony allows you take control of a friend's game etc, etc.
HubrisName changes. There may well be a fundamental technical balls-up for this not being possible and to admit this may be seen as a sign of network and technical inferiority, however Sony really should have properly addressed the public. Even a short statement 'We have heard loud and clear the needs of PlayStation gamers, and you can rest assured we are working on it. It is a long-term process and we will update you when it's ready.' Instead nothing. Just years of speculation. It makes it appear that Sony is deaf to the public.
PS1 & PS2 backwards compatibility. For sure PS4 can emulate these. Sony have said that they don't think most gamers care about that. But then charging people to rebuy modified PS1 games (with trophies and minor graphic improvements) whilst preventing them from using their original discs
is arrogance.
Cross-platform play. The Sony thinking (as was Microsoft's when they were leading with 360 sales) is that they have the leading platform and don't want their massive userbase to migrate anywhere. Traditionally this has been a perfectly acceptable business attitude - why should a business allow their hard fought customers to migrate? Sony allow it with mobiles and PC but not other consoles. Complaints are from a vocal minority. I don't think this one is hubris... yet.
Blocking Fortnite saves transfer to Switch - Games as a service means character saves can be multi-platform. Although save-transfers was never advertised as a feature people who have spent money in Fortnite on PS4 not being able to transfer their characters to Switch does seem anti-consumer and, yeah is hubris.
Mafro wrote:their main first party output now all seems to be the same identikit big, story-focused cinematic adventure style of game.
I said something similar in the Sony E3 conference thread. That the PlayStation advantage of all these great exclusives might become a negative if they don't diversify their output. Perhaps create an FPS or RPG or dare I say it.... try and do what MS has tried to do with Fable Legends and Sea of Thieves - create a successful game as a service title. But the actual games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and God of War are not in themselves any sign of hubris, they are Sony making games that the public want and delivering them to the highest standards.