Why Sony Struggles With Launch Games For the Playstation

Where's The Killer App?

If you think of the console wars like a huge horse race, Sony's horse is always the racer that starts off with a limp.  Eventually the system takes full speed and stays neck and neck with the competition.  This is the 6th console/handheld to be unleashed on the market and it comes as no surprise that there is no killer app in the lineup.  Historically, Sony has never had very strong starts since the PS2 arrived.  Look at the other starting lineups.

When the PS3 was released we were introduced to Genji, Untold Legends and Resistance: Fall of Man.  Resistance was the only game that had a future in the lot.  The other games sizzled out.  When the PSP was released Sony tried to entice its fans with Untold Legends, Wipeout Pure, Ape Escape and Lumines.  When the Playstation Move came out, Sony barely scraped by with Kungfu Rider, The Fight: Lights Out and Sports Champions.  The trend continues with PSVita's Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and Modnation Racers: Roadtrip getting forgotten.  Finally, with the PS4 welcoming gamers into the new age, we had Knack and Killzone: Shadowfall weighing in against Xbox One's Killer Instinct, Ryse: Son of Rome and Dead Rising 3.  Knack and Shadowfall got critically mediocre scores* leaving gamers to have to find solace in Octodad: Dadliest Catch (What?) and Contrast.

This should have dominated the launch markets.

The Playstation medium is a struggling artist, trying desperately to meld beauty with creativity.  Usually, if you are going to get a Playstation it is because you love Anime, want a game that feels like a movie or you want to control a beautiful flower through a luscious landscape.  Sony can hold its own despite not being the preferred system for frat college boys and competitive shooter leagues.  I always cringe a little when Playstation enters the foray and the games are either half baked, uninspired or rushed.  You can't fault the system, Sony has tried desperately to fight against the Halo and Mario tide with each new system and it feels like they can't win for losing.

If and when the PS5 comes knocking at our door (2020) will we expect to find the same lackluster trend?  Is it better for Sony to skip right to the JRPG and something from Quantic Dreams Studios?  No one can predict these things, but I have strong suspicion that the PS is haunted by what I like to call Crowd Winning Control.  That is the pressure for a system to release 1 or 2 games at launch that truly capture the audience and spirit of the system.  For the Xbox it is always a sci-fi FPS, a racing game or a Kinect game.  For Nintendo it is a Mario game, a Donkey Kong game or a Zelda game.  The Playstation, on the other hand has not really had a recognizable or solid Crowd Winner and that is where they struggle.

System's biggest strengths: Little Japanese boys with swords

And maybe that is why Sony eventually picks itself up by the boot straps and carves out its own niche in the market, it does not rely on a formula like the other guys.  While it may fail to dominate the crowds with a launch title, it gains momentum by throwing unpredictable wild pitches, surprising and lovable gems (like Little Big Planet).  So while Sony can't seem to entice with a killer app that can scratch the Halo/Fable/Mario itch it will emerge with something beautiful.  Playstation is the vintage wine of systems, it gets better with age. 

*

To be fair, the Wii U and Xbox One should be on this same chopping block for lackluster launch titles, but those systems can easily tide over gamers with a Mario game or a Halo.  Even when Sony leads with a sequel that has been known to sell well (Uncharted and Killzone) the games still do not make as big as a splash.