Cognition Dissemination: Sony Should Keep the State of Play Around

Sony Interactive Entertainment held the State of Play stream a couple of days ago, an experimental presentation that contained several announcements and new previews of upcoming games for their platforms. It… wasn’t great, as you can see through the number of “thumbs down” votes on the bar below the video. Several projects were shown within the surprisingly short 20-minute timeframe, but many were PlayStation VR titles. The reactions to the presentation showed how the audience expected far more non-PSVR games from the presentation. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of them still coming for PlayStation 4, despite rumors about the next generation of consoles intensifying on a monthly basis.

On the other hand, this is exactly the kind of show they need, and they should keep it around.

The show and the overall format were unsurprisingly familiar. It wasn’t immediately clear as to whether this would be Sony’s attempt at a presentation inspired by a Nintendo Direct or an Inside Xbox one, but it was no surprise that it was more inspired by the former. But given that it was their first attempt, it also wasn’t a surprise that it contained more of a resemblance to Nintendo’s earlier and less memorable offerings, which made it feel like a trial balloon.

It’s been years since Nintendo regularly held live conferences to announce upgraded hardware, software, and peripherals, which they stopped after their underwhelming E3 2012 show. Though the first replacement Direct for E3 2013 didn’t work well thanks to severe streaming issues that made it unwatchable at times, and despite how the gaming audience was leery of the idea of them replacing conferences at all, Nintendo eventually succeeded in normalizing the trend. It’s possible Sony could be preparing for a similar transition, as seen through some recent moves they’ve made and the reception to their recent presentations.

The PlayStation E3 2017 Media Showcase was a series of trailers outside brief interruptions from Sony’s executives, and had few new announcements. It wouldn’t have lost anything if it was presented in the form of a Nintendo Direct, unless you absolutely need to hear cheering after every trailer. They later held a series of on-stage roundtable discussions instead of a conference at PlayStation Experience that year, despite holding a pretty good conference the year before.

They also tried an altered approach for their E3 2018 presentation, which was interesting in concept, where the conference focused on four games. Two of them, The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima, where demoed in special venues that looked nice for those of us watching at home, though attendees found them hot and uncomfortable. The other presentations followed the same format as their E3 2017 conference, where it again wouldn’t have lost much if it was simply a streamed presentation. They also didn’t have a PlayStation Experience at all last year, and confirmed how they won’t be attending E3 2019 at all this year. The last point is remarkable because of how it goes beyond anything Nintendo did, since they won’t even have a booth this year.

It’s been over half a decade since Nintendo shifted to the Direct format instead of having conferences around E3 and Tokyo Game Show time (they never attended TGS proper, but held their own show beforehand). Sony could be considering doing the same, as implied through SIE Worldwide Studios president Shawn Layden’s comments about E3 recently. Layden told CNET last month that the event has lost impact, and explained how there are easier ways to reach consumers in the age of the internet. He also suggested that E3 should embrace the fan side of the show, which would make it more like other gaming-centric conventions that happen during the year, like the Penny Arcade Expos (or PAX).

With a viewpoint like that, they should have prerecorded presentations to accompany events, though it’s a pity this first State of Play lowered expectations by being a dud. It would have been a good idea to have one accompanying the PAX East convention happening in Boston this weekend, to provide a show mostly spotlighting all the indie games coming to PlayStation platforms that will be showcased at the convention. You know, the kind of indie showcase they used to have during their conferences before those segments were phased out when big-budget AAA games became plentiful. This was a missed opportunity, but hopefully they’ll stick with the format.

Switching to prerecorded presentations for their primary format won’t end live conferences. They’ll undoubtedly have one when it comes time to reveal the next generation PlayStation platform (likely called “PlayStation 5,” but I’m not taking any chances here). But they should engage with their audience in the time between that impending next-gen hardware and software showcase and now, and between the times where they don’t feel the need to hold conferences to advertise upcoming PS4 games. They just need to actually take it seriously, and hopefully they will if they have a next one.

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