PS5: 4 Ups & 4 Downs After 4 Months

1. It Feels Like Sony Are In Reaction Mode

After Sony let PS2 sales numbers go to their head, saying we'd want to "work two jobs" to pay for a PS3, they've very much been a reactive company.

Achievements take off? Cool! We'll do Trophies. Xbox Live Arcade's a thing? Cool! We've got PlayStation Minis... for a bit. Virtual reality finally a thing? Awesome, here's the PS VR - but we'll use the leftover PS Move controllers for now.

Cut to 2021 and you're seeing a company largely reacting - in real time - to what has always been a careful, calculated play by Xbox, to nail all the areas Sony were lagging behind.

Xbox tout backwards compatibility, Sony make a handful of titles cross-compatible. Xbox soar with Game Pass, Sony revisit their "Play at Home" initiative from last April, attempting to counter Xbox's landmark March offering with another slew of freebies.

Sony need to stop with the blog post reveals for things like PS VR 2's controllers, lead with why you need to stick with PlayStation, and restore confidence around titles like God of War 2 or whatever Naughty Dog and Hideo Kojima are doing next.

Xbox are clearly content waiting 2021 out, already seeing record Game Pass subscriber numbers. If all those third-party deals continue to go to Xbox and the terrain shifts towards monthly payment models and less towards exclusives across the generation, it'll be far harder for PlayStation to keep up.

Sheer value for money states the Series X is better bang for your buck. Sony's reputation and love of first-party exclusives certainly gives them the edge, but many months in, their business plan feels notably scattered.