PlayStation’s First State of Play in 2024! How Excited Are You?

If I said it once, I'd say it a thousand times: The PlayStation brand is all about their games and their unique game experiences. Case and point.

Sony Interactive Entertainment, or SIE, makes their money on the game experiences that they give to us, the gamers. It’s what differentiates themselves from Nintendo and Xbox in such a profound way that it is one of the main reasons why gamers gravitate to buying their console over others on the market.

Yesterday, Playstation struck the first blow of 2024. On the 31st of January, Playstation released their first State of Play of 2024 and it has set the precedent for what Nintendo and Xbox have to contend with if they want a piece of the market share this upcoming year. Needless to say, the bar has been set very high this year. But what does it mean for Playstation and their brand in the short-term and the long-term and how will we know if these Playstation exclusive games will really provide value for the Playstation brand going forward?

Let’s check it out! As well, if you’d like to check out the actual Playstation State of Play, the link is here for those of you who are interested.

Now you’re probably going through the entire timeline of the video and thinking that there is no one shining moment of their State of Play because every single title shines like a inferno of light: Stellar Blade (Game of the Year contender), Son x Shadows Generations (I’m VERY pumped for this), Silent Hill 2 (Game of the Year contender), Judas (from the people who created the BioShock series), Dragon’s Dogma 2 (Game of the Year contender) , Rise of Ronin (Game of the Year contender) and finally: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Game of the Year 2025).

This isn’t a fair fight. It’s not even close.

Now a good number of these titles have a lot of equity backing them because they’re IP’s that have already existed and have done either fairly well, or if not have become pivotal moments in Playstation’s history. I’m speaking primarily about the BioShock franchise, the Silent Hill franchise, and Hideo Kojima’s child: Death Stranding. Now, if you scroll down on the video to the comments to get a grasp on customer sentiment, the one game that stands out amongst the rest is Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and, honestly, I’m not surprised. Death Stranding is a game that you can download from the Playstation Network for free with their Playstation Plus subscription.

Now why would Playstation give one of their biggest IP’s, that has sold millions of copies since the day of its release and has had numerous iterations since its 2019 debut, for free?

One word: Legacy.

Playstation is in it for the long-term gains, and you can see it in which games they give more air time to. These games will live on in our memories for years to come and Playstation knows it, which is why they show us these games now so that the publishing team and the marketing team can work together to generate the perfect storm to achieve the greatest sales possible for each of these incredible games.

But what about the short-term gains? Long term may show health and wealth, but short-term pays for the bills.

Playstation has many games in their catalog that enhance their brand in the short-term. In this State of Play they’re probably going to be games like Helldivers 2, Zenless Zone Zero, V Rising, Foamstars, and Metro Awakening VR. These games, even though they may not enhance the brand as profoundly as the other games that will probably go on to contend for the Game of the Year award, they’re important in that they round out the brand as a whole and provide variety to the players who want a very specific experience. They show the player base that Playstation can provide every gaming experience that they crave, even if they may not be a world-class experience.

So how will we know if the gamers are fully engaged with Playstation’s lineup?

2.4 million views with almost 100k likes in 2 days...that’s a good start. But they should also pay very close attention to the comments, listen to their player base, and most importantly allow your game developers the time they need to polish the game. Playstation has been number one for so long, all it takes is one misstep for it all to come crashing down.

Until then, Nintendo and Xbox better start running, they have a lot of catching up to do if they want to ever dethrone Playstation. But what did you all think about the State of Play and how do you think it reflects on the Playstation brand as a whole? Let me know!

As well, if you want to look at the latest Steam game phenomenon Palworld and how they created the perfect storm to become one of the best-selling early access games of the year, you can check out my article over here!

And until next time, you know where to find me!