Sony’s new console makes a bold statement in the battle for our living rooms: innovation over iteration

BY CHRIS SCHILLING

When you have a head start in any race, your most dangerous opponent is complacency. It’s not unfair to say that in the past seven years, PS4 has left its nearest competitor choking on its dust – this August, unit sales surpassed 113 million, more than twice the number of Xbox Ones sold over the same period. And yet there have been signs of late that Sony might be at risk of letting its lead slip. Many have detected whiffs of PS3-era hubris in its mixed messaging around PlayStation 5’s backwards compatibility, self-inflicted confusion surrounding the exclusivity or otherwise of games such as Final Fantasy XVI and backtracking regarding its ongoing support for PS4. Its giant stride into a new hardware generation seems a little more tentative now, and rumours suggest PS5 has come in at a lower price than originally planned in light of Microsoft’s aggressive strategy.

In a way, it’s surprising. As a format holder, Sony has always been proactive rather than reactive. But in a year when the usual rules have been thrown out of the window, maybe we shouldn’t criticise it too harshly for its willingness to adapt, to change its mind, to pursue a more player-and wallet-friendly approach. Releasing a console during a pandemic can’t be easy, so you can perhaps forgive Sony for not having its house entirely in order (and besides, he stepped down three years ago). As we said last month, the momentum is usually with the underdog. Yet if Sony is on the back foot, you wouldn’t think it from your first encounter with PS5. Big, bold and unusual, its design alone feels like a bullish statement of intent.