I grew up withPlayStation. I never intended to be a fangirl of the console brand, but as a child it was the console that was put in front of me while my siblings received theGameCubeandXbox. All of a sudden, I was a soldier in the console war and spent the next two console generations playing every PlayStation exclusive under the sun.
There was a laundry list of classics to choose from. Uncharted, Killzone, The Last of Us, Gravity Rush, Demon’s Souls, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Ratchet & Clank, and myriad others did a tremendous job of showcasing the malleability of the console brand. It was hard to define what PlayStation truly encapsulated because, during its lifespan, it broadened every horizon and tried to stretch the definition of what a video game could be. But at the end of thePS4generation, we saw it settle into a predictable cadence of narrative blockbusters.
PS5 Could Have Been So Much More
Whenever a console generation has come to an end, you’re able to look back at what it did right and what it did wrong, championing the best exclusives and overriding trends that made the console so memorable. I’ve done that with every PlayStation console right down to thePSPandPS Vita, but when it comes to the PS5, I’m clutching at straws.
Sony has wasted the past four years on pouring millions into live-service games that have either beena miserable failure(Concord) or cancelled long before their release as the bubble bursts around them (Horizon,God of War,Factions 2,London Studioetc). It has cast aside giving resources to studios and trusting them to make great games in favour of chasing dying trends that has resulted in closures, layoffs, and cancellations galore.
Demon’s SoulsandRatchet & Clank: Rift Apartare both excellent games, but they are now the exception rather than the norm, and one is a remake. That isn’t going to change unless the industry takes a long, hard look at itself.
I’ve written about the PS5’s depressing lack of worthwhile exclusives before, and even back then I naively believed Sony would eventually prove me wrong, that a number of games were in production waiting to be announced, and soon the console would be just as wondrous as its predecessors. I was very wrong.
There have only been a few first-party titles released since then. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Silent Hill 2, and Helldivers 2, have all since been ported to PC or were available there in the first place.Astro Botis the clear exception, and is almost certainly a game worth buying a PS5 for, but one masterpiece in a sea of relative mediocrity is a far cry from what PlayStation used to deliver.
It’s tragic to see an experience designed as an homage to the platform’s history scoop up an endless number of accolades when its future feels so nebulous. If we’re lucky,Sony will learn from its success.
PlayStation Should Go Back To How Things Used To Be
I feel like an old lady demanding that things change moving forward, but I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. Nor am I saying that live-service behemoths likeFortnitemust be cast out in order to recapture the glory days.
you may have incredible single-player games likeGhost of Yoteiand seasonal multiplayer games like Helldivers 2 and still possess a console identity that operates foremost on passion and creativity. But for PlayStation, that vision has fallen by the wayside in a fog of focus groups and spreadsheets with executives determined to make big multiplayer games to rake in profits regardless of whether they have a reason to exist.
I wouldn’t object to Sony once again taking a chance on smaller titles, whether that comes in the form of new IP or revivals of long dormant properties. Give me Vib-Ribbon 2!
Even back in the PS4 era when lukewarm exclusives likeDays Gonefailed to impress, at least there was a drive and a passion behind them. A desire to create something that could stand on its own two feet and exist for a greater purpose than nickel and diming players for eternity.
You were frequently exposed to new characters and genres in games that were clearly designed with a fundamental vision at their core, and I’d rather have a console filled with games like that than overwrought live-services and predictable narrative blockbusters that all follow the same formula.
And, if you didn’t like it, another exclusive would arrive soon after.
When you view the PS5 from this perspective, it can’t be seen as anything other than a monumental disappointment. It isn’t what PlayStation is or should be.
This is a defining reason whyPS5 Prowas met with such derision from players. Back when the PS4 Pro first broke cover it was in the middle of a generation when PlayStation was still firing on all cylinders. Horizon Zero Dawn was months away from launch and Sony had yet to be swallowed up by the greedy maw of live-service obsession.
There was a reason to purchase this more expensive console because there was a guarantee you’d have games to play on it. A list of new games we’d never seen before that aimed to push the medium forward, and I’m just not sure if those exist in that landscape anymore. Not until PlayStation accepts its mistakes and leaves its current hubris behind.
Console exclusives are slowly becoming a thing of the past, which is understandable considering that the way we play games has changed so much, but PlayStation still sells itself on having the best games you’re able to’t play anywhere else, which I’m not sure is true anymore.
For the past several years, we have watched Sony try to justify the existence of PlayStation, and while it remains the most popular console on the market right now, the exclusive games and unique experiences that once defined the brand are nowhere to be seen.
