PS5 is in crisis and Sony can’t afford another bad State of Play

A reader is worried that Sony has lost its mojo and hopes that rumours of a major pre-E3 showcase are true, for their sake and for fans.

At this point it seems almost like kicking someone when they’re down, to complain about another disappointing State of Play or dumb decision from Sony. There’s no doubting the one on Thursday was bad but this has happened so often now there has to be a reason for it. Sony must know the reaction they’re getting, and they must be doing it on purpose for some reason. There’s no explanation that’s made sense to me, but this week we do get some speculation.

That theory is that Sony don’t want to show off anything that looks too good because it would prove Microsoft’s argument that they’re doing fine as they are, and it won’t matter if the Activision Blizzard acquisition goes ahead. So, for example, if Sony announced a bunch of new first party games then Microsoft could point and say they haven’t got anything like that, so they need to buy other developer to compete.

That’s certainly not something I would’ve thought about but I guess it has a certain amount of logic to it. The other part of the same rumour is that Sony is saving up all their reveals for one massive pre-E3 event. I’ve heard that one before though. How many times have fans become convinced Nintendo has a mountain of games to unveil, because they’ve had nothing for months? And it turns out they just have the normal amount and there was no big secret plan after all.

I find it hard to believe that it would be any different for Sony, especially if they’re trying to look as non-threatening as possible to monopoly investigators. Logic aside though I do think it would be a good idea. Sony has been acting like a wet blanket ever since the launch of the PlayStation 5. News has to be dragged out of them like blood from a stone and they always seem to want to get away with the bare minimum of hype and marketing.

That aspect of things still has no explanation, that I’m aware of, but I guess they feel the plan, whatever it’s supposed to be, is working because the PlayStation 5 is selling so well. To us on the outside though it feels like Sony has lost its mojo, that it’s just going through the motions and it’s not Microsoft that is their biggest enemy but themselves.

I think back to some of their previous E3 shows, which Sony were always much better at than Microsoft, and they were so energising and exciting for fans. Their greatest moment was undoubtedly 2015, when they showed off The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Shenmue 3 (all Japanese-made games, one might point out) all at once and the internet went wild and the PlayStation 4’s dominance of the generation was set in stone.

It doesn’t really matter what they show this year, as long as it looks good, but we need that sort of excitement again. We need, as GC said, some showmanship. We need to know that Sony are excited about what they’re doing. At the moment everything is presented as if its success and quality is guaranteed, which a lot of the time it is, but that just comes across as arrogant and impersonal.

Sony shouldn’t be coming across as this uncaring, distant overlord they need to show themselves as a bunch of passionate and enthusiastic gamers. And they’ve got their chance. Whether this rumour about a big pre-E3 show is true or not it should be. That’s exactly what they need to do.

The sales are on their side but that’s in large part because Microsoft still isn’t offering any real competition. The minute that changes Sony is going to find that their success is built on a foundation of sand and suddenly, but perhaps too late, they’ll realise they need to get people excited about more than just one game a year.

By reader HBR

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