Sony's Shady Behavior

 By: Patrick Morris

Alright going to try to keep this one as short as possible. After God of War 5 got delayed I felt like Sony was dipping back into one of the strategies they used in the lead up to the PS5 release that was a big difference maker in what pushed me to play more Xbox than PlayStation this generation. It's only natural that people do some of their best work when they're backed into a corner and Microsoft is fighting like someone who has been backed into a corner, but instead of rising to the challenge I think there have been plenty of signs that Sony is putting more work into appearing as though they are rising to the challenge than they are actually working to rise to that challenge.

 

Basically this entire article is going to be calling Sony out on some of their recent behavior and I know how rabid fanbases can get so I just want to put out a quick disclaimer: if I were to make a rough estimation I would say I played at least four times as much PS4 as I did Xbox One last generation. I own both the Series X and a PS5 and I have played both quite a bit. So I'm not some Xbox fanboy shitting all over Sony I'm someone who enjoys video games on all platforms and is concerned with calling Sony out on some recent shady behavior.

 

In late May 2020 Sony's Jim Ryan said "We have always said that we believe in generations…We believe that when you go to all the trouble of creating a next-gen console, that it should include features and benefits that the previous generation does not include. And that, in our view, people should make games that can make the most of those features." Sony was very concerned with making it crystal clear that their first party developers would be moving from the PS4 to the PS5 fairly quickly and there wouldn’t be many cross generational released. This was, of course, in response to Microsoft's very loud messaging that every single game that worked on the Xbox One would work on the Xbox Series and they would be continuing to support the Xbox family of consoles for years to come. Sony and Microsoft were utilizing very different strategies and Sony wanted that to be known.

 

What carried the PS4 to its monumental success was the killer first party exclusives. Game's like Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima, and depending on who you talk to The Last of Us Part 2 were some of the best games of the generation and without a doubt what compelled many gamers to buy a PS4 over an Xbox One. Understandably Sony wanted to keep that momentum going into the next generation. So the strategy became bringing those first party exclusives front and center. And that's exactly the play they ran over and over again during the PlayStation events in the back half of last year. 

 

Starting at their June event Sony gave us our first look at Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West at their big PS5 reveal event. All throughout the video presentation and in the subsequent posts across various social media websites Sony failed to mention that both games would also be coming to the PS4. That important tidbit of information was left buried in the post on the Japanese PlayStation blog. Also included in that June event was the first trailer for Gran Turismo 7 with a "PlayStation 5 Exclusive" watermark in the corner. And just recently Sony confirmed that Gran Turismo 7 will also be coming to the PS4. Then they doubled down on their strategy of either hiding or in some cases blatantly lying about platform exclusives at their September event. The show opened with the world premiere trailer for the hotly anticipated Final Fantasy 16 and at the end of the trailer after the title card the words "PlayStation Console Exclusive" with the the PlayStation logo filled the screen. It was shortly found out by internet sleuths that Final Fantasy 16 was in fact not a console exclusive, at least not in the way Sony presented it as such. On SquareEnix's own website the asterisks reads "not available on other consoles for a limited time." Again, I have no problem with Sony paying to have Final Fantasy 16 as a timed exclusive for the PS5, but what I do have a problem with is them presenting it as though it will always be a console exclusive. 

 

And the hits have just kept coming, the latest of them being God of War 5 and new information surrounding the development of Horizon Forbidden West. Sony Santa Monica confirmed recently that God of War 5 has officially been delayed to 2022. Let’s all be honest with each other, anyone that thought that game was coming in 2021 when it was first announced was foolish and to still believe it up until the delay was official leaves me actually wondering if you are truly delusional. The delay of God of War wasn’t a problem, it was the uncertainty introduced by the juxtaposition of the context of the announcement occurring during a PS5 showcase presentation paired with Sony's previously stated commitment to generations and total ambiguity of whether God of War 5 would be exclusive to the PS5.  But with the announcement of the delay also came the announcement of the PS4 version of the game and once again Sony had misled their customers into thinking a heavy hitting exclusive would be a true PS5 game. 

 

Now before I wrap up in case I haven't made it absolutely crystal clear I have no problem whatsoever with cross generation games. In fact, some of my favorite games of all time have been cross generational and I love to discuss which was the better version of the game. What I have a problem with is Sony intentionally hiding information that will undoubtedly effect someone's purchasing decisions and in some cases out right lying about platform exclusives to make their console seem more appealing. It comes as no surprise to me that Sony wouldn’t want to abandon more than 110 million PS4 owners that they could potentially be selling software to, and I would never fault them for that, they have to be allowed to make money if they are going to continue to deliver some of the best games we have ever played. Had Sony not leaned so hard into their messaging about believing in generation's all of this would be a moot point, but they did lean, they leaned hard. What I have a problem with is the fact that their ambiguity feels intentionally misleading in an effort to sell consoles. It feels as though Sony is working harder to look like the PS5 is a great console to buy than they are at actually making the PS5 a great console to buy, and that is not a consumer friendly practice.