PlayStation Lifestyle Branding Backfiring

Sony has cultivated a lifestyle brand through PlayStation. Through Street Fighter, Kratos, Grand Theft Auto, and Spider-Man, Sony has built a cool kid empire. That sense of winning runs all the way up to CEOs like Jim Ryan, proclaiming on his resignation paperwork that PS2 sold 162 million consoles (GG, Nintendo).

What happens when that cool kid empire turns toxic? Not much when you are winning, but losing is another ball game. Pride is a bad thing when help is needed. Last financial quarter for Sony was a win on 3rd party sales. This next quarter is the holiday season and Sony is off to a bad start with PS5 Pro struggling so much that scalpers are selling below cost. Without a major release, how does Sony make money?

In a strange turn of events, the major PlayStation release is an Xbox game. Indiana Jones and The Great Circle has released a Deep Dive trailer and currently, surprisingly, it has more views on the Xbox channel than it does the PlayStation channel. It also has more likes and generally more positive comments on the Xbox video.

The comments on the PlayStation video are bizzare. Comments about 3rd person, the watching view, being more immersive than the being someone, 1st person view. Voyeurism kinks aside, 3rd person doesn't give the player an ADS view during gun fights, or the sense deprivation and claustrophobic squeeze of tight, dark, tomb corridors. 3rd person doesn't deliver the tension of sitting next to your enemies, playing the dangerous game of cat and mouse and wondering which cup is laced with poison. 

3rd person was never about immersion. But the PlayStation Lifestyle has warped players experience and now they don't know what is better. The comments talk about wasting the likeness of Harrison Ford as if it is the face, not the voice, that ties together the greatest roles of Harrison Ford. 

There is a weird disconnect in the comments. The PlayStation comments want to win a console war, not play video games. Sony needs them to play video games. They didn't play Concord. What if they don't play the only major holiday release that Sony has lined up?

PlayStation fans need to let go. They are like LeBron fans learning that LeBron isn't in the top 40 of NBA all-time, not even #1 Cleveland Cavalier, winning percentage players. They aren't here for the game. They are here for the player. Sony needs them to be here for the game.