Sony vs. Microsoft vs. Nintendo: Which Company Was Best to Gamers in 2018?
Sony
“For the Gamers” has been Sony’s slogan for the PlayStation 4 since its reveal. Following Microsoft’s fumble regarding game-sharing and always online requirements, Sony doubled down on the idea that games were more important than anything else.
That philosophy has continued well into 2018 with their slate of exclusives blowing the competition out of the water. God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Detroit: Become Human from first-parties would have been enough on their own, but exclusives from third-parties meant that PS4 was the only place to play many of 2018’s best games.
Dragon Quest XI, Ni No Kuni II, Tetris Effect, and more all came to PlayStation 4 first, giving fans of any genre something exclusive to play on their PS4.
Elsewhere, however, due to their dominance this generation, Sony has often been outdone when it comes to other initiatives. In order to preserve their place at the top, they’ve shied away from ideas such as cross-play.
However, 2018 saw their stance change slightly. After some backlash, a cross-play beta program was opened up for Fortnite Battle Royale (recently being joined by Rocket League) which saw Sony begin to play nicely and join Nintendo and Microsoft in offering cross-play options.
They’ve got some way to go to match the competition in how open they are to it, but steps are being made in the right direction.
Elsewhere, Sony finally answered players’ calls for an ability to change their PSN names, with another beta program being introduced. There are some kinks to be worked out and caveats to consider, but it’s a solution that should please many gamers.
Some gamers may be disappointed, though, at the lack of events that are scheduled to showcase what Sony have coming up. PSX didn’t happen late in 2018 and the company announced that they’d be skipping E3 in 2019.
We’ll still see everything they have to offer in one way or another, but celebration events like the great E3 press conferences of recent years are exciting and we’ll be missing that this year.
With the likes of Days Gone already scheduled, The Last of Us Part II and Death Stranding coming soon, and a PS5 announcement on the horizon, Sony will continue to treat gamers with stellar titles over the next few years.
