4 Reasons Why Sony Fumbled The PS5 Reveal
Let’s face it – Sony can do no wrong. The tech conglomerate is ready to launch the fifth iteration of its wildly successful Playstation console with an outrageously commanding lead in the video games arms race. With an arsenal of world class first party studios, an immense amount of goodwill in the eyes of gamers, and a hardware install base that would make Apple nervous, Sony is primed to reinforce their stranglehold on the gaming industry.
Now that the dust has settled on the June 11th PlayStation 5 reveal event, we can take a step back and evaluate what’s going to be on offer in the early days of the next generation. However, despite the masses seemingly inability to criticize anything Sony does, there has been evidence of complacency on the company’s part over the past few years – much of which was on display last Thursday.
Mile Morales Mix Up
It wasn’t long after the roughly one and a half minute Spider-Man: Miles Morales trailer rolled that people started to question what exactly we’d just witnessed. While it was clear that a follow up to Insomniac’s hugely successful reintroduction of the web-slinger to video games in 2018 was all but inevitable, it wasn’t clear if Miles Morales was an actual full fledged sequel.
After a Sony Executive either misspoke or was misquoted in stating that it was in fact an expansion, Insomniac cleared the air on their official Twitter account by saying that Miles Morales will be a stand alone title. But it doesn’t appear as though it is an actual sequel – rather a stand alone expansion similar to Naughty Dog’s spin-off of Uncharted 4 with Uncharted: Lost Legacy.
If this is the case, what we’ll be getting with Morales is likely a $40 standalone expansion running on the same engine as the 2018 original – albeit uprezzed for the PS5 and taking advantage of the built in SSD for faster load times. It all feels like a bit of a cash grab. Besides, Miles Morales deserves his own fully realized Spier-Man adventure. Why he is likely being relegated to a spin-off seems to serve to understate his character. Further to this, it dilutes the franchise ahead of the real Spider-Man 2 which we can assume will be released in the still early days of the PlayStation 5.
Sony Brought The Wrong FromSoftware Game
Let’s face it – there was a reason why Demon’s Souls was left behind and reinvented for Dark Souls in 2009. The game was just a bit too obscure and difficult for the Western mainstream masses. Despite its unanimously positive reception from critics, it took over a year for the game to ship a quarter of a million units in the west. The original Dark Souls, on the other hand, has sold almost 2.5 million with the Remastered version selling another 350,000 copies on PC alone.
So why we’re getting a remake of an only eleven year old game with a cult following instead of a Bloodborne sequel is a bit befuddling. Yes – a lot of people missed out on Demon’s Souls and had their first From Software experience with either Bloodborne or Dark Souls. But no one was really screaming for this. Besides, despite the original ‘git gud’ experience being over a decade old, it still holds up well by SoulsBorne standards. Those looking to revisit the series’ extended roots can still experience Demon’s Souls on the current generation without much old school jank.
Don’t get me wrong – what we saw of the ground up re-make looks stunning. Seeing the Tower Knight slamming down his boot and shield with modern day visuals sent chills down my spine. I just can’t help but feel this wouldn’t be the best first SoulsBorne entry on the next generation of consoles, especially when Sony could blow Microsoft out of the water with Bloodborne 2.
PlayStation Now Was Absent
There is no doubt that Sony is entering the next generation with the best catalog of first party IPs. With Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, and The Last of Us set to release new exclusive entries on the Sony platform within the next twelve months, there are a lot of very very very good reasons why you should own a PlayStation over an Xbox, should you need to make that choice.
But what cannot be ignored is the expansion of subscription services over the ladder half of this generation. What’s equally evident is that Microsoft has left Sony in its wake in that area of growing competition. Xbox Games Pass has made it easier than ever to enjoy a healthy selection of Microsoft’s softer – yet still quality – serving of first party titles in addition to a plethora of third party games.
Sony has made efforts in the past year to bolster its own service and make it more competitive. By adding to the catalog of games available and lowering the price, PlayStation Now has gone from being an after thought to worth a passing glance. But the services’ absence at Sony’s PlayStation 5 blowout was more than a little curious. Sacrificing something like Bugsnax or Kena: Bridge of Spirits for a couple of minutes on Sony’s plans of making the service more competitive would have gone a long way in showing it intends to take a serious run at Games Pass with the launch of PlayStation 5.
The Box
We’ve finally seen it. Though we were given no guarantee that the final physical console design would make its long awaited first appearance at the June 11th event, the PlayStation 5 was fully unveiled to cap off the evening. And after all that wait what we got was hideous.
Now this is an opinion of course and one that I may be in the minority of. I accept that many people will laud the box for its clean white design complimented by cool blue hues and futuristic angular edges. In actual fact the early reaction on social media showed that most people had an overwhelmingly positive opinion on the design of the PlayStation 5. However, if Microsoft had pulled the veil back on the Xbox Series X to reveal something that looked like that, I can say with certainty they would’ve been laughed off their own stream. The Sony bump works wonders here.
But again, the above is just an opinion. What isn’t an opinion though is that if you opt for the disc based version of the console – either by choice or necessity – you are forced into buying an undoubtedly poorly designed console. The placement of the disc tray completely throws off the uniformity of the entire device. It adds an awkward bump and just makes the console – meant to be the focal point of your entertainment console for the better part of a decade – look ugly and weird.
Listen to the newest episode of The HP Podcast where we talk through the PS5 event!
