It’s
still a little early to know if Sony has something else up its sleeve, but
after the PS4 announcement I feel like Sony isn’t meeting the competition head
on. The Xbox 360 has been the PS3’s primary competitor, and the Xbox 360 has dominated
the living room in terms of gaming and Internet video streaming, as well as being
able to be used as a pay TV STB in some instances. Sony logged success with its
streaming services too but Microsoft has been more aggressive and successful at
taking over the living room for gaming and video streaming.
Microsoft
hasn’t even officially announced the next generation Xbox yet and we have
already heard significant rumors about focus on TV integration, use as a pay TV
STB, DVR, and Internet streaming, as well as traditional gaming of course. We have seen the official PS4 announcement
that promises a new controller and the integration of cloud gaming for backward
compatibility. In addition Sony wants to focus on “gaming everywhere.”
With
the announcement of the PS4, why does it appear that Sony has shifted visions with
this new “gaming everywhere” focus? Similar to the familiar “TV everywhere”
system and movement, Sony wants to bring gaming wherever the gamer may happen
to be. This is an interesting concept for consoles, which in years past have
sought to bring the gamer into the living room and tried to convince him or her
to use the console for more than just gaming (to use it for all kinds of
entertainment in fact).
Why
build a sophisticated piece of hardware to plop into a living room and then
send the gamer out into the world? Why
not just allow them to update their PS3s and other Sony hardware devices, making
use of the recently acquired Gaikai cloud gaming capabilities?
Not
emphasizing a “media center” aspect of the new system appears to be a change in
strategy, or at least, messaging.
To be
fair, many people will appreciate the focus on gaming, but I believe a wider
audience will not be available down the road for this device unless it offers
more than games.
