We need to talk about the 2 biggest problems with PlayStation...

[Bryank75]

...and they are public relations and understanding of their audience and who their audience are.


Particularly during the ABK deal, it has become massively apparent that Sony just do not communicate their position to the media well, they are basically silent and allow the message to be controlled by Microsoft and are being framed as the 'bad guy'.

This was apparent since Jim Ryan took over, there's very little engagement with media, no PlayStation representation in the media and then an overwhelming amount of media people siding with Xbox and MSFT due to Sony's tactics and lack of ability to counter any message.

The few attempts at PR and user engagement I see are usually incompetent.... sending people like Parris Lilly PSVR2 and Dualsense Edge controllers despite him being one of the most prominent Xbox voices around and basically a marketing arm for MSFT.

I notice that people like Parris, JordanPMS and other Xbox (claim neutral) are given more attention than real PS gamers, people like Cory and others appear using Steam Deck and pushing PC instead of PlayStation. Neil Druckmann is putting up messages about PC ports and how PC is a priority and ignoring all the PS fans that just want them to focus on their next game, not a stupid port to pc.

Meanwhile real voices for PlayStation, that have been there for years and done things the hard way (starting from nothing) have been ignored.... Last Stand Media, Jaybari, MBG, Crossfire Podcast, BRAP, Reforge gaming, Mystic etc...

No proper show in 2 years is hard to take too and there seems to be very little value placed on excitement and hyping up products anymore.

Are things ever going to tighten up? When will they realize that their PR is crap?

Anybody feel like me or am I overreacting?

 

[Remij]

You're definitely overreacting dude. Neil Druckmann is the co president of Naughty Dog... it's his job to speak to all of their audiences. Yes he does talk about the Steam Deck a lot though and loves his. He is always tweeting with pictures of it. But relax dude..

And yeah sure their dev studios are the ones that convinced Sony to let them make their games for PC as well... but console is always the focus.

Don't tell me you're getting jealous over some old PS games..

 

[Zzero]

In the real world nobody is on Twitter.

 

[Yobo]

If it was showing up in sales it'd be an issue. Public relations is a tiny portion of the marketing mix, and PR on Twitter is a tiny portion of a tiny portion

Microsoft are the only ones hamming it up on Twitter. Don't see Nintendo doing it. Don't see Apple or Disney. Don't see Coke and Pepsi firing up soda wars.

Why would you expect it of Playstation just because Xbox does it?

 

[AshHunter216]

I think you're letting the social media bubble warp your perspective too much. The only people being convinced by MS PR blitz against Playstation are people who already didn't like them.

I also think it's too early to know what they'll ultimately settle on for their PC strategy and what the effect on their actual Playstation games will be.

I agree that it's annoying that the main ones speaking about Playstation on social media clearly don't like it, but in the grand scheme of things it means very little.

 

[Swift_Star]

Twitter is irrelevant, Bryank. The games and the marketing do the talking. MS is desperate weaponizing their fanbase and they’ve been doing it for more than a decade. It didn’t work, did it? Actually the only branch of MS that does this is Xbox itself, all the other branches are radio silent.

 

[ksdixon]

Finally people talking about things, and not just getting concern trolling as replies.

I don't believe you're letting social media bubble warp your perception, BryanK. Not only are Sony fumbling their communication, but they're doing to and adding to MS' proven astroturfing/media hype vindictive/underhanded tactics on marketing.

Yurinka, my man, I love you too, but Sony's messaging isn't fine. Anyone else remember the endless fud that followed gaffs like multiple games having confusing/restricted/money-grubbing upgrade paths and bundles. Or the one about TLOU P1 being lazy and not having TLOU2 combat? Could have shown that product in teaser trailers in the years of no shows, received the feedback that most want TLOU2 movements and added a toggle setting. Instead their poor communication and marketing lead to the expected dogpile. They're undermining themselves.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Internal dev teams and PS5 hardware (Cerny) are the ones pretty much carrying the PS5 while Sony and the PlayStation leadership just coast on past success.

Communication and marketing has been shit tier for years, they don't even acknowledge their core audience most of the time. They are extremely secretive about everything as if they were developing secret weapons for the government instead of games.

Future PSVR2 line up? Secret. Future PS5 games? Top secret. Future PS Showcase? Another secret. You are expected to just trust Sony all the time and they don't feel like they need to provide any assurance.

Are you a Bloodborne fan and want to know if a remaster, sequel or even just a patch will ever happen? Then enjoy 8 YEARS of silence. Your passion for the game is not worth any answer from them. Access to PS3 games with anything other than cloud? Again, they can't bother addressing it at all. You tune in on another boring State of Play hoping that it will finally pay off and they mock their own audience by announcing PC ports and promoting shit like Goodbye Volcano High.

Sony treats PlayStation users as second class citizens. MLB is included on Gamepass but Sony charges for it instead of including it on PS+. You pay for Horizon FW day one and less than one year later they include it on PS+. They just take their core audience for granted and they are losing all their good will, if PC wasn't so shit now with DX12, all the stutter and bad ports it would be time to jump ship.

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

...and they are public relations and understanding of their audience and who their audience are.

It seems their audience prefers games over constant social media drama. and there are a LOT of them.

So, I'm fine with that, actually I don't want a mascot CEO, please.

Particularly during the ABK deal, it has become massively apparent that Sony just do not communicate their position to the media well, they are basically silent and allow the message to be controlled by Microsoft and are being framed as the 'bad guy'.

Sony has always been like that, they let the drama do its thing then they lay down the truth. MS does all its things in communications, but they rarely seem to act, unless it's time to release a refrigerator or a new controller skin.

The gaming media is out of touch.

 

[ksdixon]

I do want to add a weird note that we think of just Twitter being small, but it's really reddit, Discord, gaming websites, youtubers clout chasing, Facebook groups like gaming bible which reach "normies" and spread those gaming website/youtube clickbait misinformation.

Sony would do well to have more transparency with what they're working on/how it's going/blah blah blah. Even if it was just to shut down the bullshit of the week which whilst it might not be their doing, still gets bandied about and reflects badly on them even if it's not true. Their not being more communicative is allowing that to happen.

 

[John Elden Ring]

Companies will always prioritize the casual consumers for proofit, since they represent the biggest demographic of their brands.

The hardcore fans hardly are the main focus from such companies, unless it mean proofit.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Companies will always prioritize the casual consumers for proofit, since they represent the biggest demographic of their brands.

The hardcore fans hardly are the main focus from such companies, unless it mean proofit.

All the PlayStation dominance and enthusiasm for the platform comes from the core audience, the Fifa/CoD/Fortnite crowd just follows the system that has more momentum. If they don't get it at this point then they are out of touch.

All we see is how they want to appeal to PC players, focus on TV series, mobile players, F2P/GaaS players, streaming players, eSports. Clearly taking the core audience for granted and just leaving them in the dark. At this same point last gen we were in the thick of "greatness awaits" where they were hyping up the future of PlayStation games.

 

[Dabaus]

I agree they havent done a good job framing WHY the activsion deal is bad for the games industry, even though it is. I think another problem is all of this rumored hardware they want to drop in the near future but not really buying software compaines to make games for said hardware. Like MS is buying out whole publishers, maybe locking down key partners should be a priority for now so you actually have someone to make games for your new hardware? And no, I dont mean little indie start ups with no IP to their name.

 

[Deleted member 223]

Their PR and Marketing has been barebone dogshit since the restructuring. You can make a case of saving money but there is also a lot of incompetence on the basics beyond just excusing it all on shrinking marketing costs and consolidating.

As long as PS5 consoles fly off shelves, Sony's CEO won't slap SIE's hands nor will they take a serious look at the operation overall and their marketing arm. As always with big institutions, the symptoms go missed. The voices that warn are suppressed and marginalized as alarmist in nature - specially if critical of the performance of top or key top people (it's the aura of being bigger than self). Only when shit hits the fan do all of the sudden there is care... with the idiotic heads who slept on the wheel acting surprised and wondering how the hell the mess got so big in the first place. No one takes blame, everyone tries to shift the blame, or create a caricature of "inevitable events".....aka jump through a million hoops to justify their decisions. Solution as always: fire their ass surgically. You gotta know when you smell BS, even if quality BS.

It's a human condition. Nothing new, won't be the first, or last. You see it all the time in the corporate world, it's a reflection of normal human behavior.

As for studio heads flying off the reservation. Comes with the territory when fans elevate them to glorified brand icon status. Don't elevate them, and they won't have the reach where doing some dumb shit reflects negatively on the brand or has the potential to cause harm to the brand. But humans love hierarchy so. Ass snifers are bound to prop them up.

Gags are loose that's for sure.

That goes for Neil/Cory and all the other studio heads. Specially straying into politics or business choices like multiplatform support or rivaling product choice etc. They become soft influencers.

It's what it's.

 

[kyliethicc]

Are you a Bloodborne fan and want to know if a remaster, sequel or even just a patch will ever happen? Then enjoy 8 YEARS of silence. Your passion for the game is not worth any answer from them. Access to PS3 games with anything other than cloud? Again, they can't bother addressing it at all. You tune in on another boring State of Play hoping that it will finally pay off and they mock their own audience by announcing PC ports and promoting shit like Goodbye Volcano High.

8 years of silence is called a no lol

are you like the kind of guy who texts a girl over and over again for months getting no replies wondering if she's still interested? (shes not)

game was 2015, everyones moved on

 

[Gods&Monsters]

I just saw Jim Ryan at the salon. He doesn't give a fuck.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Jim Ryan said

We're going to let the games do the talking

 

[nongkris]

Remember people had the same worries about Sony's PR at the start of this generation, and all that paid Xbox FUD backfired when PS5 continued to be the hottest product and Series consoles sit on shelves. The games are the only thing that matter to the majority.

 

[Nhomnhom]

8 years of silence is called a no lol

are you like the kind of guy who texts a girl over and over again for months getting no replies wondering if she's still interested? (shes not)

game was 2015, everyones moved on

They can bother with a port of Sackboy to PC to sell 10k copies but can't remaster Bloodborne? Gtfo... look at all the effort to produce an absolute shit port of TLoU Part I that sold like close to nothing on PC yet they can't bother with a new version of what is arguably From Software best game?

Fuck Sony then and specially Jim Ryan. Couldn't bother with a PS4 Pro patch, couldn't bother with a PS5 patch, couldn't bother with a remaster, couldn't even bother saying anything.

Sony reminds me of R* now, something is off with them.

 

[Remij]

PS fanboys crying on gaming forums while Sony's breaking console sales records left and right... despite having started their PC gaming initiative for over 2.5 years now.. lmao.

Chill.