State of Play(station).

 

I’ve just come off of watching Playstation’s June 4th “State of Play”, their stake in the E3-but-not-E3-Season, aka “Keigh3”, aka “Summer Games Fest”.

And honestly? It’s not so much that I’m not impressed (and to be honest, I am not), it’s that I am categorically tired. I’m fucking exhausted. 

In 2020 SIE held its inaugural “Playstation Showcase” to set the stage for its then-upcoming Playstation 5. During this showcase, Sony gave viewers a look at the following titles:

Final Fantasy XVI

Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Hogwarts Legacy, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Resident Evil Village

Deathloop

Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition

Oddworld: Soulstorm

Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach

Demon's Souls

Fortnite Battle Royale

God of War Ragnarök

The titles in bold were exclusives, console exclusives, or timed exclusives. In any configuration, these were titles that told you, the viewer, that you had to buy a PS5, that these titles wouldn't be guaranteed anywhere else, that the PS5 was the “Best Place to Play”. After a juggernaut 8th console generation in the PS4 with Sony seemingly learning from the woes of the PS3, it felt like Sony could do no wrong. In 2020, it felt like the obvious choice of the 9th console generation was the PS5.

5 years later, I cannot bring myself to believe in that sentiment.

Sony would roar into the 9th generation, offering Spider-Man 2, Ratched and Clank: Rift Apart, and Returnal. Reviews aside, these titles were, and still are, either commercial or critical successes, or both.

With success, however, comes ego. The same ego Sony had coming off of the almighty Playstation 2. Greed and the insistence of pleasing stockholders over a playerbase would backfire spectacularly. Instead of doubling down on the “must-play” experiences that had bagged them an entire generation’s worth of “Game of The Year” trophies and nominations, Sony would instead indulge in one of the most decadent and glutinous business endeavors this industry has ever seen.

Sony would announce the internal development of 12, twelve, live service multiplayer games to try and capitalize on the booming market. Playstation Studios, the publisher who could seemingly do no wrong, and the most lucrative offering in gaming seemed like a natural conclusion. However, just because a Cheetah is the fastest animal on land, that does not mean it’s the fastest animal in water, and Sony would learn this lesson, fast. Moreover, even though Sony said it was 12, it was way, way more.

Let’s check in on some of those, shall we?

Helldivers 2 - Released

Concord - Dead

Marathon - Uncertain

Fairgame$ - Uncertain

Horizon MMO - MIA

Gummy Bears - MIA

God of War live service - Dead

Bend Studio live service - Dead

Twisted Metal live service - Dead

The Last of Us multiplayer live service - Dead

Spider-man live service - Dead

These are not cheap games. If I had to guess I’d go so far as to say that at the very least each of these games on average had used 9 figures in funding. We’re talking no less than a $1Bn and only one game has anything to show from it. That one game was made by a studio Playstation does not own.

Sony bet an entire generation on an initiative in a space they had no idea how to operate in, taking advice from Bungie; a studio that’s clearly lost its own way, and had to shutter almost all of them. How has this been remedied? It really hasn’t.

Since 2020 “Playstation Studios” has released 36 titles:

• 1 was a pack in game (Astro’s Playroom)

• 11 are remasters or rereleases

• 4 are MLB The Show

• 3 are base-game expansions

That leaves us with 17 “full releases” published by PS Studios. They are:

• Sackboy: A Big Adventure

• Spider-Man Miles Morales

• Destruction Allstars

• Returnal

• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

• Horizon Forbidden West

• Gran Turismo 7

• God of War Ragnarok

• Horizon Call of The Mountain (VR2)

• Firewall Ultra (VR2)

• Spider-Man 2

• Helldivers 2

• Rise of The Ronin

• Stellar Blade

• Concord

• Astro Bot

• Lego Horizon Adventures

Of these releases, 5 were not made by SIE owned studios, and 2 of them are dead. Which leaves us with 10 genuine releases out of Sony. Which would be quite stellar, if it weren’t for the fact that 8 of them are available on another platform.

What we have left, remarkably, is that, since 2020, the PS5's only true software exclusives that are still viable and that sony can take pride in having offered to its player base from an in house developer are: Gran Turismo 7 and Astro Bot.

None of this is to minimize, I am not just throwing shit out there to act like the PS5 “doesn’t have games”. I’m saying all this to show you that after 5 years, there are only two incentives to buy and own a PS5. All of the resources that could’ve counteracted this fate were plunged into studio suicide by being forced to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into live services. This is not a “oopsie we goofed everything will be fine now” issue. This is a “the generation is probably cooked” issue. None of this feels like “The Best Place to Play”, none of this feels like a well-manicured machine. It feels like Sony and SIE misfired severely and now have to recover whatever they can while the video game industry collapses around them.

The PS5 has been heavily carried by 3rd party releases and remasters. While there are games in the pipeline, there is no reason to expect that Marvel’s Wolverine, Intergalactic, or whatever Santa Monica is doing won’t be on PC relatively soon after.

There are 70 million PS5s in circulation, it is one of the most successful consoles of all time, Playstation needs to sell games to the people who bought their consoles and not try and dump their fucking playerbase to corral an audience from people who did not buy a PS5. You know what company decided to dump its core audience in hopes of finding salvation in another sector? Bungie. We know how that’s going.

The PS5 has served me reasonably well, I have spent thousands of hours on it, it’s on most of the day, most days. However, I’ve spent most of that time playing games that were released on PS4, or games that are available on other platforms.

I think the thing I’m most tired about is the constant psychological reinforcement that, despite a Playstation 2 being in my living room the day I was born, my time with Playstation is waning.

In 2027 or 2028, when the next console generation comes around, I just might buy a PC instead, or face the music and move on from gaming altogether. I am a true-blue Sony fanboy. I have never hidden this fact, gaming to me isn’t real “gaming” if it doesn't have a Playstation logo slapped on it. I have a PS5, a PSVR2, a 30th anniversary controller, 3 other controllers, and a PS5 Pro, and none of it does anything of note. Jesus even the friends I play games with came from my PS4 days.

Maybe I’m in denial and just frustrated, god alone knows how many times I’ve been done with Sony only to lap up another 60, 70, (now I guess) 80 dollars for their next game. But when 2027 comes around and I have to decide on buying a PS6 or taking the $2000 I’ve spent on PS5 hardware and putting it into a gaming PC, at least I’ll know that I’ll be able to play all the new Playstation games.. Except for Gran Turismo 8 and Astro Bot 2.

That State of Play sucked, and every one that passes renders me less and less invested in Playstation. Just before the show started I told a friend of mine that there was largely nothing they could announce that would really surprise me, that I’d be underwhelmed by anything they had to offer. This is not true, there are two titles that would get me right back into Sony Pony Land: Bloodborne Remastered, and Santa Monica’s next game.

But, y’know… Neither of those will be Playstation exclusives, at least not for long.

Are you starting to get why I didn’t like that show?