If I was in charge of Sony I’d make PlayStation multiformat – Reader’s Feature

PS5 Pro trailer (YouTube) — What would you do if you were in charge of PlayStation? (YouTube)

I would not be wrong to say that Sony have been acting out of sorts for a good few years now. I can’t quite put my finger on when but 2019 would be a good place to start. This was when they officially left E3 behind them and shifted to the online State of Plays, which have averaged around three to four a year ever since.

But in-between these events there are often long periods of silence with events (often leaked beforehand) being announced just days before. Or information, like the reveal of the PlayStation VR2 being shared via the… PlayStation Blog. Which I’d bet a lot of gamers aren’t even aware of.

Well, this all ends today, as I am electing myself Head of Sony Interactive Entertainment in order to turn things around. Here we go:

All PlayStation exclusives that have been remastered or are older than three years will arrive on PC and Xbox. This will help create extra revenue, which will in turn help offset rising production costs.
For those on PC who want to experience more of the PlayStation brand, PlayStation Plus PC will be available. This will also feature a catalogue of exclusive PlayStation titles allowing a whole new group of players to experience the PlayStation brand.
New exclusives will be released to all PlayStation Plus subscribers around 18 to 24 months after release. These will not include DLC, but it will be available at a discounted price.
Live service games will be free to all PlayStation Plus members. Controversial perhaps, but how many people would have at least tried Concord in that first weekend? Would it have caught on? Maybe, maybe not, but it would have reached a far greater audience and probably lasted more than two weeks.
There will be a State of Play every month. These will not only feature game previews but also interviews with PlayStation studios about upcoming plans and insights into the development process. The fact that most games are now leaked months or even years in advance means Sony are able to get ahead of leaks and control the flow of information. Also, mentioned will be the month’s free PlayStation Plus games, with one of the featured games also having a developer interview. PlayStation will have a presence at the Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards.
There will be a minimum of two PlayStation exclusives developed by PlayStation Studios released every year, not including live service titles. Although there is some dissatisfaction with PlayStation, there have been well received exclusives this year, including Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Astro Bot – the latter being the only PlayStation Studios release.
More studio acquisitions. I think most can agree that Sony overpaid for Bungie. The purchase seems to have been made to both keep them out of Microsoft’s hands and for their experience in live services games, which we are yet to see. Personally, I would have asked them to double down on Destiny 3, while slowly decreasing content for Destiny 2. So going forward, let’s buy smarter, not bigger.
As well as new IPs these studios would also bring back games from PlayStation’s past with a fresh take, much like 2018’s God Of War. Including, but not limited to InFamous, Resistance, Killzone, Twisted Metal, and WipEout.
A Bloodbourne sequel and remaster which finally includes a 60fps mode.

I’m not sure this will fix all the dissatisfaction with the brand, but this a good starting point going forward.