The release schedules are suddenly looking very empty (pic: Sony)
A reader is dismayed to realise Sony has no major first party exclusives currently scheduled and there’s no hint when more might arrive.
A Reader’s Feature a few months ago pointed out that it is now over two years since Sony announced a new single-player, first party game for the PlayStation 5. I found this mind-blowing at the time and I felt sure it was not true and they must’ve forgotten something. But it is true and it’s still true, because Sony hasn’t announced anything new since and the only chance they might this year is at The Game Awards in December.
Now that Spider-Man 2 is out I’d like to point out that they also now have no new first party games scheduled at all. That’s right, anyone buying a PlayStation 5 new this Christmas will have no idea what to look forward to next year or beyond, as Sony hasn’t confirmed anything and nobody has any idea why they they’re keeping things so secret or when they will stop.
Considering what a good job Nintendo and Microsoft have done with their various showcases this year, Sony only looks even worse by comparison and it’s really starting to bother me. Why are they acting like this and why do they think it’s such a good idea to say and do nothing?
Although there’s no indication of when they will be released, since not even the year is confirmed, Sony currently has three games known to be in development, starting with Marvel’s Wolverine by the makers of Spider-Man 2. Considering that only just came out I’d assume there’s little chance of Wolverine being out next year, but that is literally the only single-player game Sony has on its books right now and they haven’t shown anything for it beyond a short pre-rendered trailer.
They’ve also got two live service games announced, called Concord and Fairgame$ – they were in the summer showcase – and there’s no clue when they’re out either. Plus, there’s The Last Of Us multiplayer game but not only have we not seen that, and it doesn’t have a date, but rumours suggest it’s been put on indefinite hold or just outright cancelled.
I didn’t know about it before I started writing this but there is another game published by Sony which actually does have a release date, of February 8. That’s for a game called Helldivers 2 which I have no idea about (whatever Helldivers 1 is, I’ve never heard of it) but seems to be mostly a multiplayer game, that’s not by a Sony developer and is coming out on PC on the same day – so Sony themselves were not involved in making it.
How can we be in this position when the PlayStation 5 is so successful? Let’s assume a best case scenario, where Sony announces two or three new games at The Game Awards, even though I bet that never happens and it’ll be one at most (and probably none).
They’re not going to come out quickly. They’re not going to announce something in December and then suddenly release it in January, with no time for the hype to build up and right in the middle of one of the slowest periods of the year. You’re looking at March at the absolute earliest and probably much later.
This also means it’s going to take a very long time – multiple years – for them to get back into the rhythm of releasing a big new game every three months or so. You can’t just dump these games out and hope for them to be mega successful. Just think how long there was between Spider-Man 2 being announced and it coming out, and how much hype and advertising there’s been in the last six months or so for it.
Microsoft has kind of a similar problem, in that most of the games from its summer showcase aren’t out till next year but at least we know the year they’re aiming for – unlike with Sony – and at least they’ve started the hype train going: announcing the game, releasing a teaser trailer, and giving a rough indication of when it’s out.
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Sony don’t even have that. In fact, it’s more confusing because I’m not sure any of those live service games are actually going to get released now. Naughty Dog, on the back of the huge success of the TV show, announced that The Last Of Us spin-off on stage for the world to see and now it’s probably never coming out.
The whole situation is being so badly handled I literally can’t believe it. I’d say Sony isn’t get any of my money anymore but that’s true whether I had a beef with them or not, because they won’t release anything new for me to buy!
By reader Clint
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A reader is dismayed to realise Sony has no major first party exclusives currently scheduled and there’s no hint when more might arrive.