That's not really what the CEO is saying lol
“If you talk to [PlayStation CEO] Nishino-san, who has a very product-led background, he’ll say, ‘PlayStation is just a plastic box without content.’ And third-parties are the lion’s share of the content. So, it’s critical that we continue to lean in and drive, and be ambitious and bring new voices to the platform. If we ever stop doing that, the industry will stop growing. We have, as an industry leader, a responsibility to continue to drive and push and to grow the whole industry, not just our own business.”
The "Playstation is just a plastic box without content" isn't a literal statement where is saying there is no content. He is saying "Without content, all Playstation would be is a plastic box". He is saying the system has content and that they need to continue working internally and with third parties to continue releasing quality content.
We've seen stuff like Stellar Blade, Marvel Tokon, Marathon, Lost Soul Aside and many many more titles powered by direct publishing funds or at least technology/marketing assistance from Sony to get out of the door. That's part of what they're talking about. Which, I know many of us are generally unhappy with their output for one reason or another, but I think they're doing fairly ok.
- God of War: Sons of Sparda
- Marathon
- MLB The Show
- Saros
- Marvel Tokon
- Wolverine
- Kena 2
And that's just what they're directly publishing/developing. That's almost one game a month. Now the only games from that list I care about are Marathon, Saros and MLB The Show (which I only buy every used the next year anyway) so it isn't like the lineup speaks to me like some of their old lineups do, but in terms of raw numbers it is clear that they are showcasing some level of value to people who care about their ecosystem. Marvel Tokon is a hugely anticipated game and Insomniac's Marvel games get tons of people excited and Wolverine is no different. Kena 1 was a bit of a surprise hit and I'm glad the studio is getting to make a sequel. Sons of Sparda is a gorgeous and unique looking side scroller and I'm glad Sony gave a solid budget to a studio to make a 2D spin-off of a beloved IP that takes us back to the Greek saga. MLB The Show has been in a bit of a stagnant state for the last couple years, but when you have your sport so thoroughly represented in digital form there isn't much to be done. As always, sports games should never be annual releases anyways, but as far as sports games go MLB the Show maintaining its high level of quality and getting just a bit better every year is refreshing when the last decade has seen every other sports franchise deteriorate into dogshit.
Rambling aside, while I don't like modern Sony for a lot of reasons, I can't sit here and pretend they don't release games anymore. Their era of chasing live service ending a year or two ago was a great sign and I can only hope the new approach to development going forward leads to stellar and varied output from studios in the coming years. Other than that, I can only hope that tech stops being ludicrously expensive before their next system comes out because aint no way anyone is dropping $700+ on a console that isn't a moron.
RageBurner
