Let me preface this post with a major caveat: I haven't actually owned a PS4 in over a year (not for lack of wanting one, just life stuff). These observations are based on news, reactions, threads here, and my own research.
I've been a lifelong Sony fan (something that would probably be immediately obvious with even a cursory look at my post history), but I'm feeling more disappointed in their actions, or lack thereof, as a company than I have in a long time. This may come off as a bit of a rant, but here are a few of the ways I feel that they've stagnated/lost touch, in no particular order:
I hesitate to say that Sony is "arrogant," as I never much cared for that term, but I think "complacent" is an accurate characterization. Many will argue that it's natural for a market leader to rest on their laurels, but Sony has been squandering opportunity after opportunity in the last few years to continue to elevate the brand. They should be building off of their massive install base and offering reasons to believe that the PS5 will be a solid evolution of their efforts. Instead, it feels like they're coasting to the end of the generation.
I've been a lifelong Sony fan (something that would probably be immediately obvious with even a cursory look at my post history), but I'm feeling more disappointed in their actions, or lack thereof, as a company than I have in a long time. This may come off as a bit of a rant, but here are a few of the ways I feel that they've stagnated/lost touch, in no particular order:
- Crossplay – Not much needs to be said here that hasn't been said in countless threads already. Sony used to be the crossplay king, but they have retreated into their walled garden in recent years. I fear that they'll end up on the wrong side of gaming history if this continues.
- System updates – The last couple major version firmware updates have been lackluster at best, laughable at worst. 4.5, 5.0, and 5.5 have all had one or two good features surrounded by a bunch of blah. Compare this with their competition and it almost looks like they're not even trying. Dozens of highly-requested features remain absent or half-baked, and that's not even getting into PSN name changes. And why can't I use a disc install to play a digital copy?
There's so much here specifically that I could get into—small and large tweaks that would vastly improve the user experience—but I won't bog this down with a feature request list. You all know what you'd like to see.
- Inventive smaller games – These still come around now and then, but there aren't nearly as many faux-indie games like we enjoyed in previous generations. Where are the weird games like Tokyo Jungle, Pain (hey, I enjoyed it for what it was), Noby Noby, etc.? I know that actual indies have come in to fill a lot of these gaps, but I really miss the weirdness from Sony's smaller developers/partners.
- Webstore/online shit – Sony's web presence continues to be a mess, with a webstore that regularly prevents you from using credit cards that worked the day before and sites that are incredibly clunky to navigate. They added a wishlist a couple years ago, but you still can't gift games, and to top it off, you have to manually delete games from the list that you've purchased. Plus, and maybe this is something on my end, I'm pretty sure the mobile version of the store hasn't worked for several weeks now.
- PSVR – I haven't tried it, so I can't speak to the actual quality, but it seems like a massive oversight to release a VR system but essentially require relatively ancient Move controllers. I've seen the patents for the new controllers, but they should have launched alongside the initial headset. I do get that they needed to strike a balance between capabilities and affordability, but I think they swung too far in the affordability direction. I also personally don't think there would have been anything wrong with limiting VR to Pro in order to maximize the available power, but that's a personal thing and I know many would disagree.
- Backwards compatibility – Yeesh. Obviously PS3 BC on PS4 is a nonstarter, I never expected it, but the PS2 on PS4 initiative has been a joke, and its borderline criminal that we can't play our PS1 and PS2 classics. I won't even ask for the ability to read my old discs; just let me fucking play the games I've purchased from the webstore. The recent PSNow download news is interesting, but I don't see it solving this issue at all.
- PS+ – The offerings have improved in recent months, this much is true, but the service is still not what it should be. Cloud saves should not be tied to the subscription service when the competition offers them for free. I'm not sure what you could offer as a subscription incentive beyond better free games, but the service feels barebones.
- Studio closures – I'm not a business expert, so I can't say that the various studio closures over the years haven't been warranted, but it's rough as a gaming fan to see so many of their smaller studios get shuttered over less-than-stellar performance, especially for a company that always seemed to pride themselves on the freedoms they gave to their studios. 989, Studio Liverpool, Evolution, Zipper, Incognito, Guerilla Cambridge: RIP. (Yes, I'm aware that not all of these closures have been recent.)
I hesitate to say that Sony is "arrogant," as I never much cared for that term, but I think "complacent" is an accurate characterization. Many will argue that it's natural for a market leader to rest on their laurels, but Sony has been squandering opportunity after opportunity in the last few years to continue to elevate the brand. They should be building off of their massive install base and offering reasons to believe that the PS5 will be a solid evolution of their efforts. Instead, it feels like they're coasting to the end of the generation.
