Starfield – are PlayStation fans just salty? (pic: Microsoft)
A reader is disturbed by the amount of criticism Starfield is getting from PS5 fans and fears the console wars are about to get nasty.
It’s been a pretty wild few weeks for video games. The not-E3 season of showcases proved to be a lot more interesting than expected, even if it was often because of what wasn’t shown, rather than what was. Even Nintendo got in on the act in the end, with an okay Direct, but of course the main rivalry was between Sony, who had a terrible showcase, and Microsoft, who had a great one.
I’ve seen many people try to explain why the PlayStation one was so bad, but I think the simple truth is nobody knows. Maybe it was to do with the Activision Blizzard acquisition or maybe not but for whatever reason they chose to show nothing new of importance and even the big game they did unveil, in Spider-Man 2, was kind of weak (I’m sure the game is good but that whole demo trailer was kind of underwhelming).
By comparison, Microsoft had far more interesting games than anyone expected and while almost all of them were not this year, and there wasn’t a lot of gameplay shown, there’s no doubting it was all very new and exciting. The scene stealer was Starfield though, which looked so good I think most people forgot that Bethesda had actually shown off gameplay before – which just goes to show the importance of a well edited trailer compared to something slapped together with less care.
Over 30 minutes was spent highlighting Starfield and it’s a measure of the game that not only did that not seem too much, but you felt there was a lot more you still wanted to know about it by the end. Microsoft knew they had something special on their hands and they made the most of it, showing off every aspect and ensuring it wasn’t relying on just pre-rendered cut scenes.
I can understand that if sci-fi isn’t your thing that maybe Starfield wouldn’t look that good but beyond that I cannot fathom anyone not being impressed by the game. And yet in the last week we’ve seen an endless parade of people trying to find fault with the game and questioning Bethesda’s qualities as developer.
I admit, in terms of Bethesda, that they do have some consistent problems but what I’ve found refreshing about the way they talk about Starfield is that they’ve admitted these faults and said they are purposefully addressing them, even getting id Software in to help with the action.
So there are some legitimate reasons to be cautious but I think it’s pretty clear what’s going on with the majority of the complaints: fanboyism. Rather than being sober debates about the game’s likely quality most of the criticisms about Starfield are angry screeds that seem mad with anger at the game, Bethesda, Microsoft, and the Xbox itself.
I know console wars are not a new phenomenon, but I’ve never seen it as bad as this for a long time. I think the reasons for this are two-fold: PlayStation fans are angry and frustrated with Sony for being so uncommunicative for so long and for the showcase being such a disappointment.
On the other hand Xbox has been in the doldrums for so long, and nothing close to a threat to Sony, that its sudden resurgence has been a big surprise to many – especially with the Activision Blizzard acquisition looming.
If I can generalise, I would say that, in my experience, PlayStation fans always seems to be surprisingly thin-skinned, despite how long Sony has been dominant.
I guess Xbox fans are used to being the underdog (Microsoft might be rich but that hasn’t helped them so far) and perhaps PlayStation fans realise, subconsciously at least, that any company’s dominance can be overturned quite easily – as the long history of video games shows.
I’m not sure if the petition to make Starfield a PlayStation 5 exclusive was a parody or not but the fact that you can’t easily tell says it all. If Starfield ends up reviewing well, as I suspect it will, then I really worry about what will happen to gamer communities split apart by the rivalries.
Nobody complained about Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom getting out of this world review scores and yet the mere suggestion that Starfield might be well received has sent some PlayStation fans into a frenzy. It’s not healthy and it’s not going to end well.
By reader Galen
he reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.
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A reader is disturbed by the amount of criticism Starfield is getting from PS5 fans and fears the console wars are about to get nasty.