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[Jigsaah]

I honestly used to enjoy this approach as well from Sony. It's like the triumphant return of Goku in many of the Dragonball Z sagas. Unfortunately, like Dragonball Z...sometimes there is just too much filler and I'm starting to lose patience. I figure if they don't drop the bomb right after Xbox's presentations in May or June then that's gonna be the last straw.

 

[ethomaz]

An IPhone is revealed and launched within a month.

In tech that’s what a powerful brand can do, capture your attention and your wallet from the moment it is revealed. It doesn’t need to go on tour for months.

In a sense the marketing has been done for years now, it’s called a PS4.

After PS4 launch Sony really wanted to do a more like Apple launch... they are decreasing the time between reveal and launch.

Pro was revealed in August and launched in November.

 

[ethomaz]

PS4's reveal pattern was pretty much exactly the same as the PS5's has been so far. Tech specs in a developer conference, followed up by controller reveal, then came E3 with the actual console reveal.

I really don't understand why people are so desperate to get things before the schedule.
Said that the plans probably changed after March with coronavirus.

If I have to guess they probably had a big event a few weeks before E3 to reveal PS5... now they needs a digital event probably around the same time.

Guys, everything is marketing. The logo, the controller shape, the choice of specs, what's revealed and even what's not revealed, the schedule, the events, social media, feeding info to journos etc.

That is very true.

 

[nani17]

Like the PS5 one, this talk is focused to devs in a dev focused conference. They aren't marketing focused to consumers.

I know that's what I've been saying since it happened even their tweet mentioned it was a look into the architecture its just media site's used click bait titles like PS5 reveal. Instead of saying what it actually was

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

There truly is a defense force for everything. Even no marketing gets turned into the most genious marketing strategy ever.

I mean, in fairness, the DualSense announcement got how many millions of interactions? That’s free marketing at a massive scale.

 

[Thirty7ven]

I really don't understand why people are so desperate to get things before the schedule.
Said that the plans probably changed after March with coronavirus.

If I have to guess they probably had a big event a few weeks before E3 to reveal PS5... now they needs a digital event probably around the same time.


That is very true.

It’s just the usual crowd who’s desperate. The idea that somehow Sony would have to strategize their marketing campaign around what MS does is so misguided. These people want this thing to be over right now, how anxious they are.

 

[Fun Fanboy]

There truly is a defense force for everything. Even no marketing gets turned into the most genious marketing strategy ever.

Some people are so pumped up for the defense they're posting multiple post in a row! Now that's marketing!

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I really don't understand why people are so desperate to get things before the schedule.
Said that the plans probably changed after March with coronavirus.

If I have to guess they probably had a big event a few weeks before E3 to reveal PS5... now they needs a digital event probably around the same time.


That is very true.

For me I think it’s just more of a selfish thing, like I personally just selfishly want to know e everything there is to know right away because I’m excited for next gen. I understand timing is important and Sony has their own plan, and it’s gonna be great. I just get hyped by console/hardware reveal stuff and can’t wait

 

[sircaw]

I'm curious, are there any specifics you are anticipating? I am not sure what else they can unveal that MS can't also match. We know about the SSD/storage bandwidth already,

While I wish we had seen more from Sony at this point, I can't argue with their social media tidal waves. The DualSense reveal won the internet, for sure. I just wish we knew what the system looked like, but I suppose that will come in the next couple months and will be enormous, get insane views/reactions

I am specifically talking about games, the things that really count.
We have had nothing from Sony, and for me that tells me that preparing something massive for a marketing knock out punch.

I am expecting something really big in terms of an unannounced games or franchise acquisition.
Besides the plethora of wonderful games they have, i personally believe they will show a remastered bloodborne for the new console running at 4k and 60 fps if that is possible on that old game engine.

After that they will hit the audience with a Blood borne 2 trailer, They will show a hand pulling at the back of a characters shoulder, as the character's face turns around, it turns out to be the doll from blood borne, the comments of "Welcome back Hunter" follow. No release date, no gameplay, just the promise of the game.

Can you imagine the response, the press, these forums, the internet will blow up.

So yer, that with all the Spiderman 2, god of war, uncharted suspects. Sony have a massive shotgun in terms of marketing and its a double barrelled one.

 

[The Alien]

They could release a picture of a toilet bowl with a pile of shit in it and a ps5 sitting on it and their fans would still jerk off to it. They dont need proper marketing. They dont have to do anything they have a rabid fanbase similar to apple.

So the logo reveal then? Lol

 

[_Spr_Drnk]

Well I suppose it's better than 'Giant enemy crabs" and "Get a second job", but I'm not sure that's saying much.

 

[Hostile_18]

All polls (that include GAF pools) disagree with you.

Only Xbox users trend to buy new Xbox.
Everybody else is planning to go PS5.... that is what 60% or more of the users will do.

But even a 10% change is still a massive financial loss to Sony (hell any downturn in marketshare). If everyone only stayed on the platform they owned we would not had the mass exodus to the Playstation 4 this generation.

Sure theres fan boys who will stick to a console no matter what like a football team but theres a sizable proportion of us that will make wiser, more educated decisions (or just buy both). The older we get, the more console generations we live through you find blind loyalty isnt as appealing as it once was, not in the long run.

 

[thelastword]

My my. OP, every now and then I see a brilliant and thoughtful writeup on GAF and I have to give some props, very insightful and thoughtful breakdown and its one which many of us have been saying in bits and pieces but it's nice to see it summarized so nicely and so eloquently worded...Always nice to see a long and well thought out post. I hope some don't see this as a slight on their console of choice, which such a breakdown would typically devolve into, hope we can have a nice discourse here.

My take is this: I agree with you completely. I do think that the type of fans you have is important. Are they the fans who want to discuss the fine details of the tech and design or are they fans who only care about who has a certain bigger number without consideration for any other metric... Are they the fans who are desperate enough to create discords to battle the competition or fans who are more engaged on tech details and having the best games...... Fans who are not quick to believe any non-truth about the competition, just because it favors them..... I think all of this goes a long way in how a console is perceived. If you lie about how great the divide is between your console and the competition and minimize the strengths of the competition at every turn, this will do more harm than good.... For example, Sony's SSD, DUALSENSE and Tempest Engine may prove very valuable to the most impressive games next gen and people will remember the marketing which tried to downplay it as opposed to just talking their own vision and strengths...... In essence, marketing that has severe overhype, lies and fed, has a tendency to have the opposed effect, a significant backlash and lack of trust and belief in a product.

In the end, I don't think Sony is ever worried about how much a certain set of fans say, they are not talking. At this point, I'd say we know more about the PS5, at least we know more upcoming games on it vs the competition. The only way I'd say we know less about PS5 is because there is so much more to it than your traditional console, that they have much more features to reveal still........ And let's be honest, that is the case, their hardware is much more nuanced and their new controller is not a simple uptick over the prior gen. They have VR to show, the camera to show, the OS to show, they have the games to show....

People are not deciding on Sony based on what they say, people are hyped for Sony based on what they've done with 4 consoles so far, they have never failed gamers on games and support till the end of any generation where there was PS involved.....

 

[Honey Bunny]

I'm not sure cinematic quality cooling systems are going to sell themselves so it better be good.

 

[KlickKlack]

I think PS5 "marketing" can be summed up in 6 parts so far (unless I missed some):

1. Last year. Spiderman SSD video

2. Last year. Cerny talks vaguely about PS5 to Wired.com

3. I think November 2019. Sony releases some more vague info (the same day some Sony people got fired)

4. VGA awards. Godfall announced for PS5

5. Cerny does his GDC stage show

6. PS5 controller officially announced

but what is the vision for the future of Sonys console gaming?
MS: "players are the center"

Sony:?

 

[Matsuchezz]

I really want to know everything as everyone else regarding PS5, but I am ok with their current strategy, we still have a couple of AAA to be released from SIE and i am catching up with my backlog these past weeks due to COVID-19, as soon as I finish Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of US 2, I will definitively be really angry(not really) if the PS5 tear-down has not come to pass, we have not seen the PS5 console/box, the game cases, demos and launch date and games.

SIE is not in a hurry, it is closing the generation with awesome games, I am currently playing FFVIIR and it is an awesome experience, GoT and TLOU2 will close the PS4 Gen with flying colors, since I have really cool games to play, i am not that desperate to know more of PS5.
What i do really miss is a really good spokesperson like Jack Tretton or Andrew House, those guys knew how to answer questions in a polite manner, and spill information when it was needed. Jim Ryan is not as affable as those guys.

 

[MHubert]

Some in this thread has suggested that Sony's current approach are detracting them from buying PS5.. like, isn't it kinda weird to buy a product based on how you review their marketing, unless you are oblivious to their output during the last four generations? At some point they will have shown all their guns, and this period of info dripping will be a thing of the past.

Also, it's a bit funny how the 'you're a fanboy' gets thrown around in this place as if it isn't the pot calling the kettle black. I'm a Sony fan(boy, I guess), but that doesn't mean i hate Xbox or Nintendo and want to see them fail. It just means that I will keep prioritizing buying a Playstation as long Sony keep making me a happy customer.

That's not marketing, that's just a reflection of the standard we hold Sony too. They don't even have to try, bare minimum is considered good marketing and greeted with endless fanfare.

Its not just marketing, its marketing that every other major player in the videogame space would kill to have. I'm actually a little bit surprised that some people can't see how effective this is. Sure, I, like a lot of other people, think its a bit annoying that we haven't had more info at this point, my anticipation is through the roof, but I understand Sony's strategy and honestly, to say that they are doing terrible right now at marketing PS5 is ludicrous. I agree that this might be a situation where 'arrogant Sony is back', but I guess it is hard not to be that when you are absolutely dominating your market and you can make your own rules.
I honestly believe that Sony's approach is more or less targeting the MS fanbase as a means to make them rile up the Sony fanbase. Celebs do this all the time. It's kinda genius, really, but also quite ominous.

 

[yurinka]

but what is the vision for the future of Sonys console gaming?
MS: "players are the center"

Sony:?

As of now they didn't changed it, so it's the same they already have.
This same one focused on players and games, that MS copied for them because it did work in PS4 while MS was with the TV, TV, Kinect, Sports, TV stuff.

PS5 is more and better, specially a more inmersive experience due to better visuals, better 3D audio, shorter loading times and new haptic feedback and adaptative triggers.

 

[ethomaz]

but what is the vision for the future of Sonys console gaming?
MS: "players are the center"

Sony:?

?

Their slogan didn’t changed lol

4ThePlayers.

Sony vision is already established.. it is not like the Xbox bipolarity.

 

[Tiamat2san]

Most of my friends sent me a lot of messages to know if everything is ok for me during the lockdown.

Most of the time, I don’t answer .
Sometime I respond « I’m good »

In fact I market myself for my great comeback.

 

[TLZ]

my anticipation is through the roof

That right there means it's working.

 

[MHubert]

Most of my friends sent me a lot of messages to know if everything is ok for me during the lockdown.

Most of the time, I don’t answer .
Sometime I respond « I’m good »

In fact I market myself for my great comeback.

Which one of your friends is the Xbox?

 

[iHaunter]

OP doesn't know what marketing is.

They popped one picture of their controller and it had more views than anything ever. Settle down.

 

[farmerboy]

What marketing?

I'm sure it'll be good and there'll be plenty to show when it starts though.

 

[Urprobablyright]

I kinda wish people would stop starting threads with that line. If you have to claim a thread isn't a console war thread, something is wrong. Don't say your thread isn't about warring, just write a thread that actually isn't about warring. Kinda like people saying "I'm not an asshole." Don't say you're not an asshole, just don't be an asshole. Prove it.

Iii'm okay with my decision to start it with that.. if you look upon it charitably you might see the choice to make it bold and orange represented a PSA or some token gesture aimed at deflecting the instant fan wars my title may have touched off. I didn't want it to become all about Xbox vs PS,i wanted to talk about my thoughts on the marketing.. in fact i reckon my op opening few sentences makes this pretty clear.

You're right, it was always going to get flame'y, but at least now i can be shielded from the worst attacks by knowing that i made it clear i wasn't just taking up Sony.. again i reckon my op had at least as many positives about xbox as ps~

 

[leo-j]

I see more marketing for ps4 than for ps5.

 

[FZW]

Its not just marketing, its marketing that every other major player in the videogame space would kill to have. I'm actually a little bit surprised that some people can't see how effective this is. Sure, I, like a lot of other people, think its a bit annoying that we haven't had more info at this point, my anticipation is through the roof, but I understand Sony's strategy and honestly, to say that they are doing terrible right now at marketing PS5 is ludicrous.

Fam, im gonna stop you right there, every one I spoke to has told me that the hype has died down for them. The sentiment is basically "wake me when they do something"

 

[DarkMage619]

As of now they didn't changed it, so it's the same they already have.
This same one focused on players and games, that MS copied for them because it did work in PS4 while MS was with the TV, TV, Kinect, Sports, TV stuff.

PS5 is more and better, specially a more inmersive experience due to better visuals, better 3D audio, shorter loading times and new haptic feedback and adaptative triggers.

Just curious if Microsoft is 'copying' Sony why do we know so much more about what Sony's competition is doing? Pretty sure most people would argue that Microsoft and Sony are NOT following the same marketing strategy. I have no idea what you are talking about with 'more and better' on your second point.

 

[entremet]

It sucks completely. They’re coasting on their dominance.

It’s great for megafans who salivate at this stuff. But not mass marketing.

 

[MHubert]

Fam, im gonna stop you right there, every one I spoke to has told me that the hype has died down for them. The sentiment is basically "wake me when they do something"

It doesn't matter, because at some point they will 'do something'. Until then, they are oiling the console war machine and it seems to be working wonders. If they move a finger (show the logo. controller etc.) the internet goes crazy - It even makes headlines in the public media in Denmark, where i'm from.

 

[FranXico]

For now seems pretty good the marketing.

- PS5 tech talk at Wired (focused Tech magazine) 1
- PS5 tech talk at Wired (focused Tech magazine) 2
- TGA GodFall trailer.
- Public PS5 logo reveal at CES
- PS5 tech talk at GDC time (coronavirus affect)
- Public DualSense revel (coronavirus affect)

Now they just need to do the Public PS5 reveal and show games.

Seems pretty ok marketing.

Only the bold are reveal aimed to general public (the actual marketing).
The others are aimed to Devs and hardcore speculation forum users like GAF.

BTW the hype and buzz around these three reveal are working amazing well.

Note that Sony being based in Asia and with close ties to Chinese companies, they already were internally preparing for the corona virus onslaught around CES.

 

[TheDandy]

They have marketing??

Sony marketing team is behind all the secret sauce/gpu doesn't matter propaganda.

 

[yurinka]

Just curious if Microsoft is 'copying' Sony why do we know so much more about what Sony's competition is doing? Pretty sure most people would argue that Microsoft and Sony are NOT following the same marketing strategy. I have no idea what you are talking about with 'more and better' on your second point.

I meant the typical stuff they do every generation: more CPU/faster, more GPU/faster, more/faster memory, moref/faster storage... basically to get better visuals and audio, bigger games, etc. Same popular IPs with bigger games that will have better visuals in addition to new IPs. Improved versions of their technology, features and services (pad stuff/Remote Play/PS+/PS Now/PSVR or a better quality version of the checkerboard to resize the games to 4K/8K etc). Maybe this generatioin they buy a studio or two that worked with them in several games in the past, etc.

Not reinventing the wheel, following mostly their same current strategy doing again what already worked for them -most things- with the obvious next gen improvements, and tweaking/fixing the weaker areas (loading times, loud noise with some games, maybe server speed due to the related partnership they did with MS, etc).

Normal, being in a dominant position. Instead, MS has a way smaller market share so they heavily reworked their stuff betting on what works for them (Windows, so slowly moving their gaming division there) and trying to learn from what the competition does better: they bought a lot of gamedev studios to be more comparable with Sony, made their version of Remote Play and PS Now, switched their focus to from 'tv/tv/kinect/tv/sports' to games, etc. I assume that later this generation they'll join the VR wagon too, as they mentioned that they were planning to do in the past.

Sony already has the players convinced. I mean, they just shown the PS5 logo -that is literally just the PS4 logo replacing the 4 with a 5- (ultra mininum effort) and had an historical record in gaming social media. So Sony doesn't need to make a great marketing effort, MS is the one who needs to make a lot of marketing and PR to earn market share selling consoles and games. Even if it means they need to give away their AAA games for 'free' day one and stuff like that in a desperate move for attention.