4 Mistakes Sony Could Make in 2018

FOCUSING TOO HEAVILY ON GAMES AS A SERVICE

With the well-respected Andrew House stepping down as President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment towards the end of last year, there’s been a lot of talk by his successor, John Kodera, regarding the future of the PlayStation brand and the potential behind cloud gaming, or ‘games as a service.’ Kodera was chosen to replace House in part because of his prior experience as President of Sony’s network services division, responsible for both PlayStation Now and the PlayStation Store. With that experience behind him, there’s an expectation that both microtransactions and games as a service will grow over time on the PlayStation platform under Kodera’s leadership, and that has a few fans concerned.

A move towards games as a service means more titles that spread their content out over time, potentially focusing on online-only content like Destiny 2 or seasonal content like IO’s Hitman Season 1. While early adopters have been hit and miss with their interpretations of the concept, having more titles that fall under that same design umbrella would lead to higher costs over time for fans who want the full package, or at least the full experience.

Time will tell if Kodera can continue the wonderful work of House, but right now it’s too early to say what kind of concepts he might bring to the table. For the not too distant future things certainly look bright, with The Last of Us Part 2 and God of War leading an exciting lineup of exclusive titles, but that can all change in an instant.

LOWERING SUPPORT FOR PSVR

It’s an unlikely scenario for Sony to just drop all support for the PSVR, but we’re at an age where technological trends can change overnight and the interest in VR could very well vanish in an instant.

The PSVR itself has had a good run, solid figures suggest there’s plenty of maintained interest thanks to some high-quality releases, Bethesda’s Skyrim VR and GT Sport among them. Skyrim itself was proof positive that a fully fleshed out game could be effective in the virtual world, more so than the shorter experiences that have largely dominated the release schedule. A system that’s comparatively more affordable to a higher cost PC and an HTC Vive/Oculus Rift kit means more people have their hands (or in this case, their eyes) on Sony’s service, and that’s a good thing not only for Sony but for VR in general.

Then again, Sony has been known to cut ties with previous hardware launches as soon as they become unfeasible. Hardware such as the original PSP and PSVita both slipped silently away in the West while various other hardware releases like the original PS Move, the Wonderbook and PlayTV failed to reach an audience (though the Move controllers have since been reconfigured for VR). There’s a precedence there that Sony could just as easily drop its VR support as soon as hardware or software sales slip backwards, either through consumer fatigue or a lack of quality.

Cutting back funding now could also be detrimental not only to its continued potential but to any second generation version at some point in the future. With an HTC Vive Pro out in the wild, the technology is only going to get more convincing in its portrayal of the worlds we can only imagine, and Sony’s current position affords them the chance to deliver that kind of experience to a broader audience that the competition hasn’t quite tapped into just yet. Unless Augmented Reality breaks through in 2018 in a big way or the currently solid sales numbers begin to fall, it’s unlikely to suggest that PSVR will be going anywhere other than up anytime soon.

RELYING ON NOSTALGIA INSTEAD OF NEW IPs

One of Sony’s strengths over the years has been the continued development of new IPs, going back to the early days of the original PlayStation right through to upcoming PS4 exclusives such as Ghosts of Tsushima. That constant stream of new content has ensured Sony’s continued evolution over the years, with one new franchise to take over when another has run its course. The easy way out of that? Go back to the past and rejig a few old IPs, of course.

Right now the biggest of these remasters, Shadow of the Colossus, is looking rather tasty ahead of its launch in a few short weeks and, after that, there’s the returning MediEvil franchise later this year. Let’s not forget Sony’s E3 2015 conference, which rested heavily on the nostalgia factor thanks to the Final Fantasy VII remake and the sequel to Shenmue, of which we will no doubt see more of this year. Oh, and then there’s the constant stream of requests for Spyro to return.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with nostalgia, but it’s easy to lose sight of the future if one’s eyes are always turned to the past. If Sony wants to continue to delve into the seemingly bottomless pit of ideas that they have at their disposal, any remakes or remasters they decide upon can’t be to the detriment of those studios who are keen to try something new. The aforementioned Ghosts of Tsushima is a positive sign that there’s continued interest in supporting studios who have something new to pitch, but if future funding suddenly shifted to a safer bet like a whole pile of remakes? No offense to any Ape Escape lovers out there, but that might not be such a good thing.

CONTINUING TO IGNORE CROSS-PLATFORM PLAY

It’s that niggling little issue that just doesn’t want to go away. While Microsoft and Nintendo are more than happy to support cross-platform play for those developers keen to implement it, Sony continues to be a little stubborn on the idea.

In an interview with Eurogamer back at E3 2017, Sony’s global marketing boss Jim Ryan outlined one major reason why there’s been such a reluctance, suggesting that they do not want PS4 users who have signed up for their own online services to be exposed to services that they have no control over. It’s an opinion that’s divided many in the industry, including Xbox chief Phil Spencer who found the notion rather confusing.

The PS4 does support some form of cross-platform multiplayer – see Rocket League’s PS4-PC support – and a number of other big names including Minecraft and Ark: Survival Evolved are keen to get the ball rolling, but for now, there seems to be a continued push against a unified service for players. It’s a decision that will no doubt rear its ugly head on multiple occasions this year for Sony, which is determined to ensure that the PS4 is ‘for the players,’ but not for sharing with Xbox One and Switch fans. A decision that could come back to bite them.