In today’s blog I’m going to look at what Sony is up to, you know, before Gamescom kicks off properly and it’s all news, news, news.
So what is Sony doing? Well they are not doing a press conference at Gamescom this year, however they will be on the show floor showing off some of the good stuff they’ve got lined up such as Horizon: Zero Dawn, which I mentioned yesterday. Sony announced months ago that they were skipping the press conference at Gamescom but there would be one at Paris Games Week. So the question on everyone’s minds is, “Why Paris?”
The short answer is simple – timing. Sony going to Paris Games Week from 28th October to 1st of November makes much more sense for them than Gamescom, which is happening this week. Given the somewhat peculiar situation they find themselves in as a publisher of games. This autumn Microsoft have Forza 6, Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider coming as big AAA exclusives and Sony has frankly nothing on the AAA side, they have a vast array of Indie titles like Firewatch and No Man’s Sky to offer which is nothing to be sniffed at that’s for sure, but perception is everything.
The perception is that Sony doesn’t have the system selling games from its first party studios but Microsoft does this year. Sony has been riding high on the wave of goodwill generated by the console announcement/launches and they are banking on, whether by design or accident, the third party titles to carry the flag for PlayStation while the Indies continue to impress and do their own thing. What a year they’ve picked too with Fallout 4, Rainbow 6: Siege, Star Wars: Battlefront plus getting the exclusivity deal on Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, if you were to pick a year to rely on third Party AAA titles then this is the year I would’ve picked.
I would wager that Sony are working furiously in order to bring some fantastic new announcements to Paris Games Week. It being so much later in the year gives them a chance to bring something substantial to the table and set out their plan for 2016, my hope is that they use that opportunity to fight back and set a new challenge for Microsoft.
In the meantime; PS+, Indies, the third parties and a good PR team will just need to cover the gap. Maybe they could start by addressing the #BetterPSN campaign…
As always thanks for reading! Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for my thoughts on Microsoft’s conference. You can find me on Twitter @adamthomas1994, Facebook and here on Outoflives.net
