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I thought yesterday’s Summer Game Fest was a brilliant broadcast for PS5 owners, and when paired with the State of Play demonstrated Sony’s impressive command of the industry at large.
I wasn’t counting, but to my memory there were only a handful of games during Geoff Keighley’s event not targeting the PS5 – the most noteworthy of which being 1666: Amsterdam, but I think that’s just a case of limited developer resources. Heck, even Guild Wars 3 is coming to the PS5!
I suppose it was interesting, though, that Resident Evil Veronica, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, and Stellar Blade: Blood Rain all opted to wait until SGF for their respective reveals. I already said I thought the State of Play earlier in the week was decent, but adding any one of these would have lifted it up to another level.
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It’s led to a lot of discourse online about whether Sony is losing its grip on third-party publishers, at a time when the industry becomes more multiformat than ever.
It’s worth noting that all of the above games are coming to the PS5 – it’s not like anyone’s skipping Sony’s console. Technically Stellar Blade: BLOOD RAIN hasn’t been announced for any platforms yet, but its trailer included PlayStation button prompts, and I don’t think there’s any chance Shift Up skips the system where it built its brand.
So the discussion isn’t about these games swerving Sony’s console, it’s more about PlayStation no longer being the venue for their reveals.
A quick look at the PS Blog illustrates the kind of discourse taking place.
One user wrote: “SGF made me feel like PlayStation is no longer working as closely as before with other publishers. In the past, some of these games would have been shown in the PlayStation show instead.”
Another added: “Capcom running away from you, saying consoles are effectively worthless, which stems from Sony diminishing their brand advantage.”
It’s fascinating to see people react this way, and I’ve been intrigued to see it spill onto the ResetEra forums as well.
One user wrote: “So let me recap: a new Resident Evil, Final Fantasy 7, and Stellar Blade were announced at a Geoff Keighley show just three days after an actual PlayStation event? What is this clown reality that we live in?”
Breaking all this down, I do think there’s something to discuss here, although I’m not sure how much it actually matters in the grand scheme of things.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, for example, was never going to be announced by Sony.
Square Enix has been aggressive about its multiformat stance for a couple of years now, repeatedly reiterating that the third instalment in its remake trilogy would be multiformat from launch. There’s no way the publisher was ever going to allow PlayStation to show that game with PS5 logos only.
Exactly how much this is going to benefit the series, I’m uncertain; I tend to think Revelation is just going to split its sales between more systems, but I’m not expecting a massive increase in buyers compared to Rebirth. Time will tell whether I’m wrong.
As for Resident Evil Veronica, I think it’s just a case of timing and marketing deals. It’s not like Sony’s never announced a Resident Evil game before, it just didn’t unveil this one. I don’t think it’s a particularly big deal.
Stellar Blade: BLOOD RAIN is an interesting one because it’s clear Shift Up needed Sony’s marketing clout to help establish the brand, especially in the west; now that’s no longer needed, the relationship has largely served its purpose. I think the new game is still years away anyway.
One other thing I’d add is that I do wonder how much money Sony’s got tied up in GTA 6 this year. Obviously Rockstar works to its own timeline and schedule; it doesn’t need State of Play or Summer Game Fest or any other event to showcase its game.
But if PlayStation’s footing a chunk of the game’s marketing budget in return for PS5 logos on every TV commercial, billboard, and poster, it may not have much budget left over for other games right now. And that may be why publishers are announcing their products elsewhere.
Another thing worth considering is that the PS5 may just be a victim of its own success here. It’s the biggest platform for franchises like Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, et al.
I think that’s part of the reason why we’ve seen publishers like SEGA turn to rivals Xbox for a bunch of reveals; it knows PS5 players are going to show up for Yakuza and Persona regardless, so it’s focusing on other systems to grow its fanbase.
As always, I think there’s context for a lot of this, but ultimately I think as long as publishers are continuing to target the PS5, it really doesn’t matter where these games get announced.
Yes, it’s an interesting sub-plot to this week’s Summer Game Fest and State of Play, but I do think fans are overthinking it somewhat.