Sony Needs To Start Setting Expectations For State Of Play

Hype is one of the worst things about gaming, and State of Play should change to tackle it.

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Hype is one of the worst things about the gaming industry. It infects everything, burdening creators with unfair expectations that are often impossible to meet. Much of the time this perception is caused by studios themselves, such as CD Projekt Red with Cyberpunk 2077, but others find themselves wrapped up in a whirlwind of public scrutiny that they really don’t deserve.

I feel this situation has only gotten worse in recent years, with major publishers shifting to their own online presentations to showcase upcoming releases and shine a light on games that might otherwise go unnoticed. The sentiment is positive, with companies like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft seeking to bolster libraries that go beyond blockbuster offerings, but they’re so often demonised for it.

The way in which these online shows are advertised leads viewers to form irrational expectations, painting a picture in their minds of what could appear that makes them believe they are justified in expressing anger and toxicity when it inevitably doesn’t. I’ve seen it happen time and time again, with industry professionals who should know better labelling these presentations as boring or pointless because God of War Ragnarok or Final Fantasy 16 didn’t bother to show up. I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but these things take time to make. I don’t know if I’m just a realist who understands we’re in the midst of a pandemic, but we’re lucky that massive games are being made right now at all.

Take last week’s State of Play for example. It was advertised as a 20-minute presentation set to showcase a number of upcoming games and content updates. Given it was being hosted by PlayStation, expectations were reasonably high, with many believing that big hitters like God of War Ragnarok, Final Fantasy 16, and Horizon Forbidden West would make an appearance. Sony didn’t rule any of these out, so who can blame a hopeful few from getting excited for something that simply wasn’t going to happen?

The reality was far more subdued, with a handful of indie titles being unveiled alongside a few predictable trailers and left field announcements. The biggest hitters were Star Ocean: The Divine Force and free DLC for Bugsnax, two things that I’m not sure the majority of viewers were looking for. It wasn’t Horizon Forbidden West or something similarly massive, so it was thrown to the discourse wolves and decried as pointless. This attitude doesn’t help anyone, and I imagine it makes developers feel like shit because their work is viewed as lesser due to the fact it isn’t destined to sell millions of copies. Not all games are, and those that fall to the wayside are often some of the best.

There are some obvious reasons why some companies avoid setting expectations – they don’t feel the need to appeal to a bunch of rowdy children so they don’t start pissing on the carpet. Nintendo did this with its Indie World presentations, creating a label for smaller games that will ultimately appeal to a much smaller audience. Fully fledged Directs are few and far between, so when it tells us that a 40-minute banger is on the horizon, we know it means business. Yet even when these events manage to produce a number of exciting announcements, people still moan, so perhaps people in this sphere are just perpetually impossible to please.

Sony should follow in Nintendo’s footsteps and introduce a new type of showcase – one designed to highlight smaller games that fall outside of its blockbuster catalogue. The bitter truth is that the majority of its audience are waiting for news on Horizon, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and the rest of its third-person narrative adventures, so ensuring that these announcements land with maximum impact instead of being defined by their continued absence would be a far smarter move than what we have now. I’m happy to see indie experiences sit alongside larger ones, but if they keep being mocked because the biggest game in the world doesn’t show up after them, maybe it’s best to make a change so everyone stands a chance at coming out on top.

Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/sony-state-of-play-indie-ps5-expectations/