It wasn’t just a few days ago that Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan mentioned during GI Live: London that he was a bit frustrated that more gamers weren’t enjoying PlayStation games. Much of this has to do with the lack of PlayStation 5’s to go around, with most of those issues being thanks to the pandemic. The world is suffering from most things, including the lack of silicon and other components that have put lesser companies out of business. Thanks to all this, Sony has found itself in a precarious situation.
PlayStation can’t get enough PlayStation 5’s out there for gamers, while on the end of the spectrum, gamers aren’t able to get their hands on the consoles thanks to the capitalism aspect with scalpers using whatever means they can to snag up every PlayStation 5 that they can. Don’t forget that we’re in the middle of a generation transaction, with Sony and Microsoft doing their best to promote their latest consoles while trying to push the prior generation aside.
It’s here that’s is frustration Jim Ryan and for a good reason. Now, I’m not going to go into the entire article, as you can read that article about everything Jim said here. No, instead, I wanted to offer up some suggestions that perhaps Sony Interactive Entertainment should be taking to ease some of the frustration that Jim and the audience of PlayStation fans is feeling.
More PlayStation games on PC would help
It’s no secret that PlayStation has dabbled with releasing games on the PC. A few years back, the company did this with lesser-known games and, more recently, with larger titles such as Death Stranding, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Days Gone. Those aren’t the last games, as PlayStation recently announced that several Uncharted games are also coming to the PC. That’s Sony releasing that ignoring the PC is essentially leaving money on the table while also ignoring a considerable player base. While the PlayStation and Xbox have massive numbers, the PC has been on a growth spurt as a gaming platform. This is why companies such as XSEED, Capcom, Nihon Falcom, Koei Tecmo, Bandai Namco, and countless others have been porting their games to the PC — and they’re selling. So, of course, PlayStation wants a chunk of that.
No, this isn’t port begging; this is making a valid point. In my eyes, as someone who’s both a console and PC gamer, Sony isn’t doing enough. There are other major games that PlayStation owes that could make a massive impact on the PC. Could you imagine Marvel’s Spider-Man, God of War, The Last of Us, and yes, even Bloodborne (please do this next) over to the PC? Can you imagine how many players would gobble up those games on the PC? I’m not saying bring over the PS5 games to the PC, but that’s not a bad idea. With the PS5’s equivalent to finding water in the desert, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. Of course, that opens up a nasty can of worms, such as console gamers upset about the once-exclusive games coming to the PC, and I’m sure Sony doesn’t want that. However, if it works for Microsoft and Xbox, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work for Sony and PlayStation.
Making PlayStation Now viable needs to happen
Then there’s the massive missed potential in PlayStation Now. I already mentioned in a previous article that PlayStation has dropped the ball by not doing anything with its once hopeful cloud gaming service. Instead, PlayStation is one of the biggest missed potentials in the gaming scene. We all know that if one company comes out with someone amazing, usually another company will attempt to emulate it. So why isn’t PlayStation emulating just about everything that Xbox is doing with Xbox Game Pass? I know people are likely tired of hearing this, but Xbox Game Pass is easily one of the best deals in gaming, and it shows. Now you can play Xbox games on Apple iOS and Android devices, as well as on PC. And Microsoft isn’t stopping there as they’re making it possible for Xbox One to play Xbox Series X|S games in the future. To me, that’s massive, and that’s something that PlayStation should have been working on.
The shortage of PS5s has been known for quite some time, yet we haven’t heard of Sony doing anything outside of producing more consoles. Retooling PlayStation Now and making PlayStation 5 games playable on PlayStation 4’s, would be a win/win scenario. Despite the shortage of PS5s, the console’s games would be played. Obviously, something would need to be in place to ensure PS5s would be sold after we’re out of this mess, but for now, this would be fantastic for Sony to incorporate.
I can’t be the only one thinking about these two ideas, and I know someone at Sony Interactive Entertainment has likely mentioned this.
There’s no doubt that the PlayStation 5 will eventually find its way once we’re out of the pandemic. Even if we aren’t, once 2022 gets here, we’ll get some significant reasons to scoop up a PS5. Sure, we’ve had Demon’s Souls, Returnal, Ratchet, and Clank: Rift Apart, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Astro’s Playroom. Which, in my eyes, was the only reasons to own a PlayStation 5. Every other title was available on the PlayStation 4, including some that weren’t headed initially to the console. This made it even harder for many to justify purchasing a PS5. Yes, that trend will continue in 2022, but we’ll likely see the gap offered by cross-generation games widen. Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West, and God of War: Ragnarok will be PS4 and PS5 games, but I guarantee that most gamers will want those games on the PS5. Then there’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine, both PS5 exclusives, and plenty of other games we haven’t heard of that are being worked on for the PlayStation 5.
BUT for now, perhaps making it possible to play those PlayStation 5 games on other devices might ease some of the frustration that Jim Ryan is feeling. That’s just how I feel about the entire situation.
