Yesterday, Sony hosted its October State of Play, and after the presentation was over many viewers took to the internet to express their dismay over the quality of the showcase. While the presentation wasn't packed full of major announcements, it still showed off a lot of what's to come to the PlayStation platform in the coming months. As most who have been following major release dates for PS4 and PS5 exclusive titles likely know, there isn't a whole lot other than some smaller indie games.
The presentation was by no means a failure, but because it wasn't as full of exciting announcements as other recent presentations, many fans expressed that it should have been a simple PlayStation Blog post or even just included in the weekly PlayStation email. This isn't the first time that a State of Play has let down PlayStation fans, so it seems like it's in Sony's best interest to work on the branding surrounding the presentations in order to properly set expectations for what's to come in future showcases.
Solidifying What a State of Play Is
It seems like the biggest issue with State of Play presentations is that fans never know what to expect from the announcements. Sometimes Sony gives a detailed explanation as to what's going to be showcased, but other times it leaves fans completely in the dark. Similarly, some presentations are filled to the brim with major announcements, but others exclusively feature smaller indie titles that don't always have the mass appeal that some of PlayStation's first-party games have. The problem is consistency, something that Sony needs to address if it doesn't want to leave fans disappointed.
The solution to the consistency issue is to define what sort of announcements fans can expect from State of Play shows. When looking at another company that also does frequent, semi-regular online presentations like Nintendo, Sony could learn a lot. Nintendo has its Mini Directs, Indie World Directs, primary Nintendo Directs, and different solo presentations for some of its major franchises like Pokemon or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. If Sony can do something similar, it can begin to help set fan expectations before the State of Play showcases start.
Introducing a New PlayStation Presentation Type
As it stands right now, to do the suggested solution above, Sony would need to introduce a new type of presentation to its current roster. Right now, Sony hosts State of Plays and PlayStation Showcases, one for more frequent, semi-monthly updates, and the other for its major announcements. The current problem with that model is that major announcements sometimes make their way into State of Plays giving fans hope that every State of Play will have something major hidden inside it, but frequently walk away feeling disappointed.
If Sony introduced a "PlayStation Indies" showcase, it would be able to help fans understand what they're getting into before the presentation starts. It seems likely that if yesterday's showcase were called something similar to that suggested title, fewer people would finish the showcase disappointed. More fans would be adding a new indie game to their lists of titles to check out later this year, instead.
This would then allow Sony to save a big announcement or gameplay trailer of a major upcoming title for State of Play, giving fans a better understanding of what to expect. PlayStation could still reserve the "PlayStation Showcase" title for the big presentations that feature the company's biggest games and announcements. There's plenty of merit to showcasing smaller games like Little Devil Inside or We Are OFK in yesterday's State of Play, but Sony isn't doing itself any favors by keeping its fans generally in the dark when it comes time to watch its showcases.
