In the wake of September’s PS5 event, despite all of the awesome new game announcements, there’s still been a degree of controversy surrounding some of the new titles. These problems aren’t necessarily with the PS5 and the game’s themselves, but rather the messaging Sony employed when discussing some of the exclusives and timed-exclusive games coming to PS5. Sony’s dealt with confusing messaging from executives before, but the exclusivity messaging for PS5’s big games resulted in a lot of ultimately unnecessary confusion.
Gaming enthusiasts know that Sony has employed the use of exclusives for a long time, but especially so with the PS4 this generation. After Sony capitalized on Xbox One’s marketing issues, PlayStation continued that momentum with huge exclusive titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man and Ghost of Tsushima. Of course, Sony would want to keep up the momentum with PS5, but now PlayStation is dealing with its own marketing snafu. While not as severe as Xbox’s issues in 2013, Sony has created quite a bit of confusion around the PS5’s exclusive games.
While it’s perhaps not the most consumer-friendly approach, Sony’s been employing the use of exclusives since the beginning of its entrance into the gaming industry with PlayStation. Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy 7-10, God of War, Ratchet & Clank, all of which were or still are PlayStation exclusives to this day. Of course, this was back when all gaming companies were utilizing exclusives, like Sega and Sonic The Hedgehog and Nintendo with Super Mario Bros. Every console maker needed its big-ticket game to bring players into the ecosystem over its competitors. To some degree that still holds true in 2020, but definitely not in the same vein as it used to be.
As the gaming industry moves into the ninth console generation, a lot has changed in the last decade alone. Nintendo has largely broken free from any semblance of comparison to Sony and Microsoft, while Microsoft’s Xbox brand has taken a far more consumer-friendly/consumer-first approach. Meanwhile, Sony holds true to the conventional approach of offering the perception of a premium experience on PlayStation. This was a pivotal reason as to why PlayStation 4 sold so incredibly well; the use of exclusive titles made PS4 the best place to play on console.
Console exclusivity on its own has only proven to be mildly controversial, as many gaming fans will assume it’s just good business. However, when the precedent of exclusivity is broken, that’s when controversy ensues. Sony’s been experiencing some of that recently with PS5, as several of the titles unveiled during the September showcase were confirmed and then de-confirmed for additional platforms. At first it was Demon’s Souls Remake, which was initially announced for PS5 and also coming to PC, but was then corrected to just a PS5 exclusive. Final Fantasy 16 was announced as a timed exclusive and was also coming to PC, but the situation there is far more confusing.
Demon’s Souls Remake ended up being an unfortunate mixup with Sony’s marketing team, which was rectified quickly. Plenty of PC fans were disappointed, but considering not very many PlayStation exclusives have ended up on PC, none were really surprised. On the other hand, Final Fantasy 16 was where controversy was much more vocal. The game was announced as a timed-exclusive from the get go, but also mentioned a PC release would be available too. Official trailers were subsequently replaced after the showcase to reflect a timed-exclusivity without mention of PC. While Sony’s made no comment, Square Enix mentioned there’d be no official comment on other platforms.
The biggest problem with these exclusivity announcements is the unusual coyness that comes from both Sony and the developers/publishers. Demon’s Souls Remake may have been a mistake, but Final Fantasy 16‘s heel turn to total exclusivity is clearly a tactical walking back for PS5. The thing is, this wouldn’t have been a huge issue if both games were simply announced as console exclusives. Scrubbing and re-releasing trailers to emphasize exclusivity is the perfect way to make it clear to consumers that they “need” a PS5 to play these games. It doesn’t help that any official communications Sony and publishers has only made things more vague/confusing.
For now, Final Fantasy 16 and Demon’s Souls Remake will be exclusive to PS5. Where there was certainty before that these titles would be coming to PC, and potentially other consoles like Xbox Series X/S in the future, now the terms of both games’ exclusivity are uncertain. All of this could’ve been avoided if both games were announced as exclusives immediately, rather than what’s happened now. Sony’s set a precedent of using exclusives before, so there wouldn’t have been as much backlash to the announcement anyway. However, the confusion only made matters worse. It won’t be a huge deal in the long-run, especially if they’re timed exclusives, but it’s still not a good look.
The PS5 launches on November 12, 2020.
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