How Sony SHOULD Have Revealed The PS5

Being Reactive, Instead Of Pioneering

Over the years, Sony have become an increasingly reactive company. Unsure of how to lead the gaming pack, they instead hang back, see what the competition is doing, then provide their spin.

Achievements all the rage in the mid-2000s? They create Trophies in 2009 to catch up.

Virtual reality the "next big thing" for the 2010s? They had PS VR, a budget headset that does the job, but reused PlayStation Move controllers that didn't ship years beforehand when Wii Sports was in vogue.

The PlayStation 4 was received with a warmth that's gone on to eclipse the PS3 and original PlayStation's sales, sitting in the top-selling consoles of all time. It should have translated into Sony finally embracing their position as leaders of the industry, trying new things or showing off new pieces of kit.

Instead, we get a continued feeling of hesitance.

At time of writing, Sony's own Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki confirmed to VGC that the company are waiting to see what the Xbox Series X will be priced as, before they announce anything for the PS5. In terms of official assets, we know the new controller is the "DualSense", but it was "revealed" through an arbitrary update on the PlayStation Blog, without even a video or gif to show what it can do.

Internally there have been many insider reports detailing parts shortages and manufacturing issues due to the current global situation, but that doesn't explain the messy nature of that Mark Cerny breakdown, leading with Wired interviews over your own conferences, or posting shots of a new controller to a blog.

Sony still have plenty of time to recover and come out swinging, but the last year or so has been completely baffling - especially next to Nintendo and Microsoft playing to win.