Sony has been under fire for months, especially since the PS5 launch, due to its less-than-ideal communication with players. Statements often need to be corrected or explained in more detail, while at other times, the company makes statements and then simply remains silent.
Former arrogance has returned.
This rather anonymous communication style is a particular criticism leveled at PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan, who is clearly less adept at communicating directly with players. Instead, he readily engages with financial portals and investors. This contrasts sharply with his predecessors, such as Shuhei Yoshida, who evidently enjoyed interacting with players. This approach is now increasingly backfiring on the Japanese company and is sometimes interpreted as the same arrogance displayed during the PS3 era and the subsequent success of the PS2.
When this became a critical factor in the urgently needed success of the PS4, the right adjustments could be made, resulting in a successful outcome. 'For the Players' The slogan was a real hit, and Sony consistently acted in the players' best interests. This ultimately helped Sony regain its position at the top of the industry. 117 million PS4 consoles have now been sold..
However, we've now reached a similar point to where we were before, perhaps not in terms of what Sony is directly stating, but in terms of how opaque and incomprehensible their subsequent actions are. The biggest mistake CEO Jim Ryan has made so far with the PS5 is likely his statement "We believe in generations"" This would have been the case just a few weeks before major titles such as Horizon, God of War or Gran Turismo Ryan has also confirmed this for PS4. He hasn't really explained himself on this point, so the accusation that he may have deliberately lied to the players back then persists.
But in other areas, too, one feels poorly informed by Sony, where promises are made that aren't kept for months and years, where there are no updates whatsoever, and where things are simply allowed to fizzle out. Added to this are opaque procedures for cross-gen upgrades, right up to the point of facts, as is currently the case with... Horizon...where they conceal the inexpensive upgrade from the PS4 version to the PS5. There are now many such confusing examples, which hardly reflect well on Sony and their treatment of players. If they want to charge for their upgrades, they should state this clearly; the way it's been handled so far is an absolute disaster and anything but customer-friendly.
Impersonal shows
The State of Play shows are viewed with similar criticism, now delivered in complete anonymity by a robotic voice and on an assembly line. Could it get any more impersonal? Sure, the COVID-19 pandemic makes large shows like those at E3 quite difficult right now, but these were precisely the kinds of events that contributed significantly to the success of the PS4 and its games, where you could feel the enthusiasm even if you were only watching from home. That's where Sony needs to get back to!
The list of inadequate communication could go on forever, whether it's regarding backward compatibility, SSD expansion, ray tracing on the PS5, etc., where they consistently remained vague and ultimately offered complicated solutions. And let's not even get started on the 8K claim on the PS5 packaging, which everyone knows is impossible to achieve with current hardware.
It will be interesting to see how they deal with the allegedly planned PlayStation Plus upgrade This will circumvent what has been speculated about for weeks. Of the once radical improvement intended as a response to Game Pass, not much remains lately. Just another point added to the endless list.
Yes, nice article, I see it the same way 100%.
It's really unnecessary for Horizon to hide the PS4 version on the PS5 or to still offer the PS5 version for €80.
I also don't understand why upgrades can only be performed at release. There simply isn't a technical or administrative hurdle to it (if there is, then it's sad where all the money from PS Plus subscriptions goes).
For example, I pre-ordered Horizon PS4 digitally and have already downloaded the 90GB. I can only upgrade on the release day and then have to download another 98GB (which takes 3-4 days with my internet connection).
Sure, you could say it's my problem, but why, for example, does the Xbox store immediately show the best version for the system you're logged in with?
Either Sony is incompetent or it's intentional; there's no other rational explanation.
And by the way, why is the PS5 version 8GB in size, or even over 90GB in general? Back at the reveal, they said the SSD was so small because games wouldn't need duplicate assets and would become smaller in the future. Now that the SSD upgrade is out, nobody cares about compression anymore? Or is the PS5 version of Horizon actually a PS4 version with a next-gen patch?
You're getting upset about things that will never be the same again; the Horizon situation is the absolute exception, the fact that things work the way they do now.
Ghost of Tushima or Uncharted Collection could only be upgraded on the release day; that's just a fact.
Ah, believe me, I haven't gotten worked up about it for a long time; it was just a description of the situation. Sony as a brand means nothing to me anymore. Whether Sony continues to dig itself in deeper or a sack of rice falls over in China, it amounts to the same thing. If they didn't have their brands, I wouldn't have owned a PS long ago.
Capcom, Square, Namco and older Konami games can also be played on the Xbox.
Why would you upgrade on release day? You might as well just buy the new version.
Because the PS4 version costs €10 less digitally, that's the point.
I can't upgrade to the PS5 version right now; I have to wait until the release (hopefully).
I can upgrade on release day, and only then can I download the PS5 version again, because preloading was only possible with the PS4 version. And with my internet connection, that takes at least three days.
Horizon is listed twice in the store.
-One PS4 version for €70 with free upgrade (according to Jimbo's promise in the Washington Post)
-And a PS4/5 version for €80
The PS4 version can only be found/purchased with difficulty in the PSN, web, and phone stores.
That's precisely the point of the criticism in the article: Sony is unable to communicate effectively with the community, or rather, they make it as difficult (opaque) as possible. Personally, it's not about the €10 for me; it's about the principle.
Why change the underlying systems... just for this one exception? The fact is, the way things are now with Horizon will never work again, and this situation will never occur again.
This cumbersome purchase, as you call it, only took me 15 seconds on my phone.
The fact that you only download 30GB in 24 hours, as you say, is nobody's fault, nobody has such bad internet anymore…
No one can do anything about my personal stuff, and like I said, €10 is no problem for me. If I were willing to pay five times that for a character in Genshin Impact (exaggerated), then...
It's a matter of principle; Sony could simply price both versions at €70 instead of making such a model.
That may be partly true; a few examples would have been nice.
State of Play, at least the last one for GT7, was amazing and absolutely not robotic; the guy is just bursting with passion in all the videos!
It would be interesting to see if the next article will say that Phil Spencer finally has to stop lying, because this has been going on for years!