Sony and PlayStation 4: Silence Is Golden

Not knowing everything about PS4’s future is part of its charm.

 

by Colin Moriarty

November 26, 2013

After what seemed like eons of waiting, the PlayStation 4 is finally here. In its first 24 hours on the market in the United States and Canada alone, it sold a staggering one million units, blowing away day one (and even week one) numbers from some of the biggest consoles of all-time, like PlayStation 2 and Wii. (A couple million more are on backorder.) With its European release imminent – where the PlayStation brand was strongest in the PS3 era – and 2013 launches planned for other parts of the world, PlayStation 4 is looking at a few million sold before the calendar year ends.

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Only Guerrilla Games and Japan Studio delivered launch titles on PS4… where is everyone else?

With such huge sales comes equally huge expectations, and it’s here that some gamers think Sony – and the PlayStation brand itself – may be lacking. It’s hard to deny just how “next-gen” PlayStation 4 looks and feels, with a lightning-fast UI, heavily ingrained social functionality, and a bona fide second screen option. But Sony’s own extensive roster of fully-owned, first party studios are largely late to the game. Only Guerrilla Games and Japan Studio delivered launch titles on PS4 -- in the form of Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack, respectively -- begging a simple, logical question: where is everyone else?
To be fair, the situation in Sony’s stable of first party developers is as fluid as ever. Two games – Evolution Studios’ Driveclub and Sucker Punch’s Infamous: Second Son – are coming in the early part of 2014. Naughty Dog recently revealed that Uncharted is coming to PS4. And there are other exclusives – like Ready at Dawn’s The Order: 1886 – that are coming to PlayStation 4 next year from outside the first party family. But it’s fair to say that most of Sony’s studios are working on completely unknown titles, and this, to many PlayStation fans, is frustrating and mystifying all at the same time.

Take heart. Infamous is coming!

Historically, a console’s longterm success largely hinges not only on its exclusive offerings, but in the timing those offerings are unleashed on consumers. It’s why the NES trounced the Master System, the Super Nintendo edged-out Genesis, and the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 outsold its competition combined. These days, though, there’s more to the equation than just that. Xbox 360 largely outperformed the PlayStation 3 for most of last generation because of its cohesive online environment and emphasis on entertainment. The Wii beat both the 360 and PS3 because it entered the mainstream consciousness. Sony needs to be (and seems to be) mindful that it has to play its hand just right. It has to do things differently than it did during the PlayStation 3 era.

 

 

“Sony needs to be – and seems to be – mindful that it has to play its hand just right."

With PlayStation 4, Sony appears to want to take a more thoughtful approach, knowing full well that when it makes promises, it has to deliver on them. It readily admits that all 16 studios are working on PS4 games, but Sony won’t divulge more information than that. Yeah, it’s annoying that we don’t know what Sony Bend, London Studio, or Media Molecule are working on for the new console, but there’s something kind of exciting about it, too. Between first and third party games, PS4 players will have plenty to stay busy with long before the curtain is lifted on those studios that are, at this point, conspicuously silent.
There’s another way of looking at this, too. Sony promised games during the last generation that it simply didn’t deliver on. The Getaway 3 and Agent – the latter a collaboration with Rockstar – never came to fruition even though both were given ample reveal time at E3 conferences. And the biggest no-show of them all – Team ICO’s The Last Guardian – is apparently still in development, and has been for a staggering eight years. But even if it does come out, Guardian’s stumble into development hell is a blemish on Sony’s internal studios’ reputation, and it’s unlikely it’ll live up to the hype and mystique surrounding it for so long.

Sony is wise to avoid a repeat of the embarrassment of The Last Guardian.

By keeping its cards close to its chest and being slower and more thoughtful with game announcements, Sony isn’t only cleverly stringing gamers along. It’s also saving itself last generation’s multiple embarrassments by not revealing what it can’t necessarily deliver on, a continuation of Sony’s remarkable propencity in 2013 to learn from its many mistakes. When pitted against the Xbox 360, Sony was announcing products from a place of weakness and trying to catch up. It was throwing anything and everything out there to get people’s attention and slow (and eventually halt) the sinking of its overpriced console. But the PlayStation 4 has changed the landscape, and it doesn’t have to do that anymore.

 

“Sony likely understands that its launch lineup isn’t quite as good as Xbox One’s..."

 

Remaining quiet gives Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack time to breathe, and gets players amped for the most imminent of first party releases next year: Driveclub and Infamous: Second Son. Sony likely understands that its launch lineup isn’t quite as good as Xbox One’s, but it didn’t stop the console from experiencing record sales, and it hasn’t quelled excitement for what’s to come. It doesn’t have a showstopper like Titanfall or something as loveable as Super Mario 3D World, but it is stemming the tide with a flood of affordable, worthwhile indie games – like the amazing Resogun – and the promise of something better to come. Indeed, Sony's emphasis on indies shows that it understands exactly where the industry is slowly-but-surely headed in the future.
I understand the frustration. I’d love to know if Sony Bend is working on a new Syphon Filter, if Sony Santa Monica's space game is actually real, and if Media Molecule is really going to incorporate PlayStation Move into its new project. But let’s not ignore what’s in front of us, too. Killzone: Shadow Fall is a lot of fun, Resogun is rad, and Infamous: Second Son looks staggering. (Knack, on the other hand, didn't fare so well.)
Silence isn’t necessarily a negative. Not if it suggests something bigger is in store.

 

Colin Moriarty is IGN’s Senior Editor. You can follow him on Twitter.