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[LakeOf9]

One side, however, attributes that success largely to Sony's own efforts, especially the fruition of decades of work at establishing PlayStation Studios and its generally excellent pipeline of games.

The other side points out – uncharitably, if not entirely baselessly – that all Sony has really had to do for the last two generations was execute competently while its most direct competitor, Microsoft, slipped on every banana peel in sight like a painful slapstick gag that goes on for an uncomfortably long time.

There's been some criticism of Sony's first-party line-up this generation, and to some extent that may be warranted; you could certainly argue that the PS5's first-party line-up isn't as impressive as the PS4's at an equivalent point in its lifespan.

Some of that is just down to timing; a lot of key studios delivered really major titles right at the end of the PS4's lifespan and treated the ports of those titles as their first PS5 releases before settling in for a four- or five-year development cycle on their next big thing.

Some of it, though, is certainly down to strategic decisions: it's not quite clear just how much damage has been done to the release pipeline by the attempt to get key first-party studios to focus on live service games, but it has certainly soaked up significant resources with no return thus far.

Such criticism may be reasonable, but it's worth noting that it doesn't change the nature of what Sony has accomplished with PlayStation Studios – and most arguments claiming that the PS5 has been a "disappointment" in terms of first-party games tend to resort to fairly bad-faith tactics like fiddling with the definition of "exclusive" to exclude games that were later ported to PC, or games that had PS4 versions despite PS5 being the lead platform.

As the company's financials made clear this week, its gaming business is in rude health and the PS5 is, for all intents and purposes, the de facto home console as the industry enters the back half of 2025 and approaches 2026.

Its key challenges come from systems with quite different formats and use cases – expensive gaming PCs, the mostly-handheld Nintendo Switch 2, and the marginal but arguably rising threat of PC gaming handhelds are all rivals to watch, but none really threaten PlayStation on its home turf.

If Sony had one commercial mission for this generation, being established as the default home console platform by the time GTA 6 launched was it; absent any shocking last minute reversals, that mission appears to be accomplished, a success that will likely be worth hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars to the company.

Ah yes – the elephant in the room. Sony is executing well, it is capitalising on the failures of its rival, and within the games business, the planets are aligning for a very very good 2026 for the company.

In spite of the tough economic climate, the PlayStation business looks robust and Sony's confidence seems well-placed.

It's not that Sony is infallible – it's made some major errors over the years (most recently, it just can't seem to keep its badly scalded hands away from that burning hot live service stove).

Its track record for seeing off tough competitors and confounding naysayers, however, remains deeply impressive – and if the sun comes out in 2026, as all forecasts predict, then Sony will be exactly where it needs to be in order to make hay.

Sony’s confidence in PlayStation is well-placed | Opinion

There are basically two camps in any discussion of the success of PlayStation in recent years.

www.gamesindustry.biz

The writer seems a lot more confident in PlayStation than I am, and I imagine many on GAF are not that hot on PlayStation right now either.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

PlayStation is now the de facto home console

If you want a box that sits under the TV and runs GTA, EAFC, Madden, CoD, Elden Ring etc then you just go with PS5.

First party exclusives are important, but they're not as big a deal to the mass market as people here make out.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

PlayStation is now the de facto home console

lol ok.

 

[lughnasadh123]

I wouldn't take the pulse of confidence from a bunch of disgruntled people shit-posting on forums.

 

[ecosse_011172]

Sony’s confidence in PlayStation is well-placed | Opinion

There are basically two camps in any discussion of the success of PlayStation in recent years.

www.gamesindustry.biz

The writer seems a lot more confident in PlayStation than I am, and I imagine many on GAF are not that hot on PlayStation right now either.

My mostly handheld console is 100% docked.
Clowns.

 

[SILKYSMOOTH30FPS]

If the system was well placed, we wouldn't need reassurances from sony and articles from gaming sites.

 

[Aldric]

There's been some criticism of Sony's first-party line-up this generation, and to some extent that may be warranted

You think so? They just had the worst disaster in the history of videogame development and are apparently going to have another one soon, but apparently this isn't a big deal for this bozo.

 

[ecosse_011172]

"Such criticism may be reasonable, but it's worth noting that it doesn't change the nature of what Sony has accomplished with PlayStation Studios – and most arguments claiming that the PS5 has been a "disappointment" in terms of first-party games tend to resort to fairly bad-faith tactics like fiddling with the definition of "exclusive" to exclude games that were later ported to PC, or games that had PS4 versions despite PS5 being the lead platform."

A crock of shit, author knows fine well there hasn't been enough 1st party exclusives.

 

[Kacho]

PlayStation is fine.

I hope their handheld offers something unique to stand out. That would pull me back in. I haven't gamed seriously on PlayStation hardware since the PS3. Their western games are so fucking played out IMO

 

[roosnam1980]

over-confident

 

[darrylgorn]

PlayStation is now the de facto home console

If you want a box that sits under the TV and runs GTA, EAFC, Madden, CoD, Elden Ring etc then you just go with PS5.

First party exclusives are important, but they're not as big a deal to the mass market as people here make out.

 

[Topher]

"There's been some criticism of Sony's first-party line-up this generation, and to some extent that may be warranted; you could certainly argue that the PS5's first-party line-up isn't as impressive as the PS4's at an equivalent point in its lifespan."

 

[vaibhavpisal]

First party exclusives are important, but they're not as big a deal to the mass market as people here make out.

You seem to have already given up on them.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

You seem to have already given up on them.

Have I?

I've certainly not bought as many as I did on PS3/PS4, but I've enjoyed AstroBot, GT7, Demon's Souls and GOW:Ragnarok so far this gen.

Bulk of my PS5 collection is Japanese third parties though, more like my PS1/PS2 collection.

 

[Baemono]

Saying Microsoft slipped on every banana peel imaginable is a very funny but accurate image

 

[Darsxx82]

article sponsored by.....

The author of The article appears to be a shareholder

 

[Horseganador]

What's said on the forums and what happens in the real world is very different, and 2026 is going to be huge for PS5 with GTAVI.

 

[LordOcidax]

Let's be real, one thing is Sony going third party and people in forums joking about this, but in the real world Sony is going to make a lot of money, this companies a billionaires for are reason.

 

[Fake]

I not old enough to remember when Microsoft started to make market about how good Xbox Series X is for playing third party games. Ends up very well.

 

[Baemono]

Let's be real, one thing is Sony going third party and people in forums joking about this, but in the real world Sony is going to make a lot of money, this companies a billionaires for are reason.

Yes and no, the music industry is far from being super healthy, their movies don't do well at the box-office (besides Spider-man, and they make even less money now since Disney forced them to split the money more than before), they don't really make money on their TVs, cameras or even smartphones, so PS is the only division keeping them afloat.

 

[PlayStaytion]

PlayStation is now the de facto home console

If you want a box that sits under the TV and runs GTA, EAFC, Madden, CoD, Elden Ring etc then you just go with PS5.

First party exclusives are important, but they're not as big a deal to the mass market as people here make out.

Liking every exclusive is tasteless.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Let's be real, one thing is Sony going third party and people in forums joking about this, but in the real world Sony is going to make a lot of money, this companies a billionaires for are reason.

This, also, don't forget, Nintendo is gonna go 3rd party maximum 10 years from now.

Finally, mushroom kingdom toddler stuff in glorious 4K

 

[Topher]

Let's be real, one thing is Sony going third party and people in forums joking about this, but in the real world Sony is going to make a lot of money, this companies a billionaires for are reason.

Following the money has been a thing with gaming because a platform that is financially successful usually means the company has more reason to continue investing and providing for that platform. Early in the console years, financial viability of the company was a huge concern for those thinking about what system to buy. This is the first time that I can recall where I am actually seeing the negative consequences of too much success. Investment in the platform is secondary now as platform competition is greatly diminished. I believe I saw where this is the first FY where Sony had actually decreased investment in PS. This is great for stockholders, but not so great for gamers as we get fewer games from Sony. The accountants want larger margins and great games don't fit in that equation. Live service, ports and remasters do. This is why Sony's output sucks and why we are getting no showcases, only shitty State of Plays. The war is over so Sony is in maximize profit mode. Nothing wrong with making money, but when, as a company, you forget the foundation laid that made you those "billions" then the platform you created can become hollow, much like how Xbox has become where they need everyone to pretend everything is an Xbox. So I imagine Sony will eventually copy that stupidity as well. But they are raking in profits from the Maddens and Call of Dutys of the world and don't have to worry about anyone getting in their way of dominating the traditional console market. Guess we will see if PlayStation is now "too big to fail" as they saying goes.

 

[Kilau]

Sony’s confidence in PlayStation is well-placed | Opinion

There are basically two camps in any discussion of the success of PlayStation in recent years.

www.gamesindustry.biz

The writer seems a lot more confident in PlayStation than I am, and I imagine many on GAF are not that hot on PlayStation right now either.

 

[Nydius]

and most arguments claiming that the PS5 has been a "disappointment" in terms of first-party games tend to resort to fairly bad-faith tactics like fiddling with the definition of "exclusive" to exclude games that were later ported to PC

LOLWhat? If a game is ported to PC it is no longer platform exclusive. If you don't need a PlayStation to play a PlayStation Studios game release, it's NOT "exclusive".

This paragraph is the only thing arguing in bad-faith.

 

[TGO]

Their confidence outweighs their competence.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

PlayStation is now the de facto home console

If you want a box that sits under the TV and runs GTA, EAFC, Madden, CoD, Elden Ring etc then you just go with PS5.

First party exclusives are important, but they're not as big a deal to the mass market as people here make out.

. Playstation 5 is the second best selling PS console launch aligned in history
. It is also the most expensive console ever from them (even PS3 was less expensive after 3 years let alone 5). The only country where the price never increased (USA) sales are ahead of even the PS4, so it's the fastest selling PS console EVER in there.
. They already earned more money with the PS5 than with all other gens...together

. Sony makes 100% of revenue of their games sold on their store...and 30% of all 3rd party sales go to their bank accounts. If they shifted to PC to have these conditions they would need their own storefront...and they know they would flop. That's why they sell their games on steam...where they only get 70%. That will never be a priority to them. They would also lose all the money from MTX from 3rd party games.
. Sony realized something most of NEOGAF hasn't and that is: Even if their games come out on PC at a later date, they won't lose console sales because (and this will be shocking here) people still like to buy consoles. Over 30% of people that bought PS5 didn't have a PS4 before it...that's huge. Xbox was always in a different position because they were never the "default" console for 3rd party titles, except for a short period during the 360 gen. AS soon as PS5 was widely available, suddenly Series S/X sales fell off a cliff and that wasn't a coincidence. It was also when they started thinking of releasing games on PS.
. That leads to to why Sony will release certain games on Xbox...easy. Again they won't lose potential buyers to that platform and still make money of the users they got. Xbox realized they can't "steal" users from PS a long time ago. The reason Gamepass exists is literally because they couldn't compete with Sony and they admited that on court documents back when they were trying to buy Activision.
. Most people that have built their libraries on PS won't just abandon those to go to Xbox or even PC and start again.
. 1st party titles were NEVER the best selling games on PS paltforms, not even during the PS3 and 4 eras and they built a catalog of games during their first 2 gens mainly with 3rd party exclusives like Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro (yes...even these 2 weren't from 1st party studios. Nowadays people wouldn't count them as 1st party titles because well...console wars)
. They are building the PS6 to be as affordable as possible while MS isn't doing that with Xbox. Again it will be a nich product like their portable meaning one is still remaining competitive and the other one isn't.

The list goes on and on. Why shouldn't Sony be confident on Playstation when the brand was never this strong?

 

[Karim]

Sony’s confidence in PlayStation is well-placed | Opinion

There are basically two camps in any discussion of the success of PlayStation in recent years.

www.gamesindustry.biz

The writer seems a lot more confident in PlayStation than I am, and I imagine many on GAF are not that hot on PlayStation right now either.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Sony’s confidence in PlayStation is well-placed | Opinion

There are basically two camps in any discussion of the success of PlayStation in recent years.

www.gamesindustry.biz

The writer seems a lot more confident in PlayStation than I am, and I imagine many on GAF are not that hot on PlayStation right now either.

Don't equate our being angry at Playstation selling out to them not performing well in the market.

The same could be said about Nintendo. Many here hate them but a much lower number actually believe they will have difficulty in the market.

It is true that Sony is doing things that many of us hate.

It is also true that the PS5 is the current defacto home console and at least their intermediate term future is looking bright.

Sony needs better competition, otherwise they will get richer and richer being the lesser evil.

 

[Bernardougf]

 

[TheTony316]

lol ok.

I mean, what else is left?

Xbox is a walking corpse and Nintendo has nowhere near the third party support compared to PS.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

lol ok.

Reality's a bitch, huh?

I remember when Gaf was convinced Xbox would crush Playstation when current-gen was announced back in 2020.

 

[Fbh]

It's true Playstation is basically the default home console right now, which is making them a lot of money and reducing the importance of exclusives.
Sony's primary target isn't the hardcore PC player that only sees value in a Ps5 if it has exclusive, it's the casual player that wants a relatively cheap box they can put next to the TV to play third party games like COD, GTA and Fortnite. A PC player that's going to get a Ps5 only to buy 1-2 games a year, isn't going to subscribe to Ps+ and isn't going to buy other software on it has little value to them, and they can still get money from them by releasing their games on PC.

But I do think having a large part of your business model depend on third party software is dangerous. While it might work well for them now, I think having no direct control over the main appeal of your product isn't ideal.

 

[nial]

Sony has already announced 4 first-party games this year, including 2 of them just as of last week. At some point, you end up realizing that people are only arguing based on the titles they personally want to see.

LOLWhat? If a game is ported to PC it is no longer platform exclusive. If you don't need a PlayStation to play a PlayStation Studios game release, it's NOT "exclusive".

This paragraph is the only thing arguing in bad-faith.

A SIE game being also released on PC or PS4 doesn't mean that it's not a PS5 first-party game, you really missed the point there.

 

[corgiix3]

If your involved with the stock market its hard to argue with any of those points.

 

[Ebrietas]

It's true Playstation is basically the default home console right now, which is making them a lot of money and reducing the importance of exclusives.
Sony's primary target isn't the hardcore PC player that only sees value in a Ps5 if it has exclusive, it's the casual player that wants a relatively cheap box they can put next to the TV to play third party games like COD, GTA and Fortnite. A PC player that's going to get a Ps5 only to buy 1-2 games a year, isn't going to subscribe to Ps+ and isn't going to buy other software on it has little value to them, and they can still get money from them by releasing their games on PC.

But I do think having a large part of your business model depend on third party software is dangerous. While it might work well for them now, I think having no direct control over the main appeal of your product isn't ideal.

PC players have no problem with buying a Switch 2 just to play a handful of exclusives. If Nintendo were releasing their games on PC after 1-2 years, you think any of them would bother with a Switch?

Sony needs to have some exclusives of their own, even if they don't rely on them 100% like Nintendo does. Just enough to differentiate their platform from the others. That doesn't mean everything they make needs to have a 100m budget and 5 year+ development time though.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

aka they take PlayStation success for granted

 

[nial]

Live service, ports and remasters do. This is why Sony's output sucks and why we are getting no showcases, only shitty State of Plays.

January 2024: three SP (Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach + Physint), one GAAS (Helldivers 2), one remake (Until Dawn)
May 2024: one SP (Astro Bot), one GAAS (Concord), one remake (Until Dawn)
September 2024: two SP (Lego Horizon Adventures, Ghost of Yōtei), one remaster (Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered), two DLC (Stellar Blade, Astro Bot)
February 2025: two SP (Saros, Lost Soul Aside), one remaster (Days Gone Remastered), one DLC (Stellar Blade)
June 2025: one SP (Ghost of Yōtei), one GAAS (Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls) one DLC (Astro Bot)

Not to mention that, since then, Sony has showcased several of its games through different venues (ChinaJoy, SGF, TGA, PAX, EVO, etc.), and guess what? Most of them are also SP (Lego Horizon Adventures, Lost Soul Aside, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, DaBa: Land of Water Scars, Exiledge).

 

[Topher]

January 2024: three SP (Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Physint), one GAAS (Helldivers 2), one remake (Until Dawn)
May 2024: one SP (Astro Bot), one GAAS (Concord), one remake (Until Dawn)
September 2024: two SP (Lego Horizon Adventures, Ghost of Yōtei), one remaster (Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered), two DLC (Stellar Blade, Astro Bot)
February 2025: two SP (Saros, Lost Soul Aside), one remaster (Days Gone Remastered), one DLC (Stellar Blade)
June 2025: one SP (Ghost of Yōtei), one GAAS (Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls) one DLC (Astro Bot)

Not to mention that, since then, Sony has showcased several of its games through different venues (ChinaJoy, SGF, TGA, PAX, EVO, etc.), and guess what? Most of them are also SP (Lego Horizon Adventures, Lost Soul Aside, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, DaBa: Land of Water Scars, Exiledge).

I'm not doing the list war thing. If you are happy with all that then that's perfectly fine. I'm not.

 

[nial]

I'm not doing the list war thing. If you are happy with all that then that's perfectly fine. I'm not.

First off, it's not a list war because we are only talking about PS5. And second, it's one thing to personally dislike the lineup, but a completely different one to frame it as just 'live service and remasters', when it clearly isn't that.

 

[Topher]

but a completely different one to frame it as just 'live service and remasters', when it clearly isn't that.

That is not what I said

 

[RodriGames40]

. Playstation 5 is the second best selling PS console launch aligned in history
. It is also the most expensive console ever from them (even PS3 was less expensive after 3 years let alone 5). The only country where the price never increased (USA) sales are ahead of even the PS4, so it's the fastest selling PS console EVER in there.
. They already earned more money with the PS5 than with all other gens...together

. Sony makes 100% of revenue of their games sold on their store...and 30% of all 3rd party sales go to their bank accounts. If they shifted to PC to have these conditions they would need their own storefront...and they know they would flop. That's why they sell their games on steam...where they only get 70%. That will never be a priority to them. They would also lose all the money from MTX from 3rd party games.
. Sony realized something most of NEOGAF hasn't and that is: Even if their games come out on PC at a later date, they won't lose console sales because (and this will be shocking here) people still like to buy consoles. Over 30% of people that bought PS5 didn't have a PS4 before it...that's huge. Xbox was always in a different position because they were never the "default" console for 3rd party titles, except for a short period during the 360 gen. AS soon as PS5 was widely available, suddenly Series S/X sales fell off a cliff and that wasn't a coincidence. It was also when they started thinking of releasing games on PS.
. That leads to to why Sony will release certain games on Xbox...easy. Again they won't lose potential buyers to that platform and still make money of the users they got. Xbox realized they can't "steal" users from PS a long time ago. The reason Gamepass exists is literally because they couldn't compete with Sony and they admited that on court documents back when they were trying to buy Activision.
. Most people that have built their libraries on PS won't just abandon those to go to Xbox or even PC and start again.
. 1st party titles were NEVER the best selling games on PS paltforms, not even during the PS3 and 4 eras and they built a catalog of games during their first 2 gens mainly with 3rd party exclusives like Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro (yes...even these 2 weren't from 1st party studios. Nowadays people wouldn't count them as 1st party titles because well...console wars)
. They are building the PS6 to be as affordable as possible while MS isn't doing that with Xbox. Again it will be a nich product like their portable meaning one is still remaining competitive and the other one isn't.

The list goes on and on. Why shouldn't Sony be confident on Playstation when the brand was never this strong?

Flawless explanation. The Playstation division has literally nothing to fear, there's no other high performance box in the market right now able to play absolutely all games other than PS5, when you get this entrenched with your value proposition it's hard to ever see it taken away from you.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

I mean, he's not wrong. GTA6 and Sony's studios coming through in the second half of the gen is going to be huge for Sony, even more huge with MS becoming a Asus sticker.
People tend to forget that most of the ps4 1st party bangers was the last 2-3 years of the generation.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

PlayStation is fine.

I hope their handheld offers something unique to stand out. That would pull me back in. I haven't gamed seriously on PlayStation hardware since the PS3. Their western games are so fucking played out IMO

Agreed.

Despite a lousy GAAS strategy lately, the gaming division is sill making good money and selling PS5s. And the financials will do better as more PC and console ports happen, where the PS ecosystem isnt going to suddenly tank.

As for handheld, I dont care about owning one or even following handheld gaming. But if Sony can make a good one it'll interesting to see how much more powerful it'll be vs Switch 2 since Ninty systems are always 1 gen behind since the Wii days.

 

[LordCBH]

PS5 + Switch 2 is the ultimate wombo-combo.

 

[nial]

That is not what I said

You pretty much said that 'great games' are not on Sony's focus due to them not fitting in their pursue of higher margins as live service titles (also implying that these are inherently bad) and remasters do. You also said that the latter two being priority is why State of Plays suck and we don't get Showcases.
Except that none of that is true!

 

[Cakeboxer]

Pc + Switch 2 is the ultimate wombo-combo.

Ftfy

 

[Topher]

You pretty much said that 'great games' are not on Sony's focus due to them not fitting in their pursue of higher margins as live service titles (also implying that these are inherently bad) and remasters do. You also said that the latter two being priority is why State of Plays suck and we don't get Showcases.
Except that none of that is true!

Close enough this time, but I'm not going to debate it. How I see it is how I see it.

 

[Kacho]

Close enough this time, but I'm not going to debate it. How I see it is how I see it.

Nothing you said is controversial. Many other Sony fans feel the same. I see it everywhere.

 

[nial]

Close enough this time, but I'm not going to debate it. How I see it is how I see it.

Maybe, but it would be nice to stop using GAAS as the scapegoat and just say what you really want, i.e. more AAA $200M action-adventure games, because two of them per year is not enough, apparently.