Defined PlayStation games just wasn’t enough in 2022

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PlayStation Expands Beyond Console in 2022, Illustrations: Angelica Alzona

The decision-makers behind Sony’s console behemoth spent much of 2022 dropping rails for 2023 and beyond, wasting money and time growing the PlayStation brand beyond the funky device in your entertainment center. The company wants the PlayStation name to be everywhere, and that means expanding not only in the form of purchases of new video games and services, but also bringing the PlayStation line into new media and markets. So while Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarök booked the PlayStation 5’s 2022 on the video game side, the brand has been busy all year.

Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg bring Nathan Drake and Sully (or the people who are called by those names) to the big screen in 2022.

PlayStation has become a brand for movies and TV shows

PlayStation Productions, Sony’s film and TV company dedicated to bringing adaptations based on the company’s video games, released its first project this year in the form of the Uncharted movie. Featuring Spider-Man star Tom Holland as a vague amalgamation of Nolan North’s original interpretation of Nathan Drake and his own if slightly more stoic version of Peter Parker, the film also features Mark Wahlberg as a character who shares his name (and a little else) with that of Nate’s father, Victor “Sully”. Sullivan. The movie is, at best, very good. It took a critical hit, but managed to gross over $401 million worldwide at the box office. Sony plans to turn Naughty Dog’s cinematic action game series into a full movie series.

While Nathan Drake has placed the PlayStation Productions logo in theaters, the company is spreading its branding on several channels. Amazon is offering a God of War TV show, Netflix is ​​signed on to acquire the Horizon series, and Peacock will stream Twisted Metal. (Yes, Anthony Mackie is set to star in a series based on the vehicular combat franchise that had its heyday on PS1 and hasn’t seen a proper entry in over a decade.) The next project from PlayStation Productions is the upcoming Last of Us project. Our HBO show, which the participants promote in very natural and reasonable ways.

It remains to be seen if any of the above will be useful, but Sony is making deals to put PlayStation characters on more screens and subscription services. The company has clearly decided that PlayStation games aren’t enough, and that they can instead be the point of origin for an expanded universe that ties into games put out by first-party studios. Talking about…

Sony and Naughty Dog have released The Last of Us for the third time with a remake on PS5.

PlayStation Movies & TV is getting re-released links

Putting the Uncharted movie in cinemas and showing The Last of Us on TVs is just one part of Sony’s new business model, but the company is also pairing these live-action adaptations with re-releases of the source material. Just a week before the release of the Uncharted movie, Sony released Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, which brought both Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy to PlayStation 5, a console that can easily be played through backwards compatibility. previous. Oddly enough, this only included the last two games in the series, rather than the three games before them. But it was an Uncharted product that people could buy after seeing the movie, or even before, as it included a free ticket to the movie.

The Last of Us Part 1, a remake of the 2013 original, was released in September to both praise for the source material and the technical update the release was given, as well as a slew of criticisms surrounding its $70 price point. The remake held a cloud over it after a Bloomberg report revealed internal politics at Sony surrounding the project, which began under the PlayStation Support studio before gradually becoming a Naughty Dog product. The whole situation is sky-high, but it fits neatly into Sony’s business model of turning its games into an extended universe. Now, there will be a full-price Last of Us (close) on store shelves when it premieres on HBO on January 15th.

God of War came to PC this year, but its sequel only came out on consoles.

PlayStation continues to expand beyond consoles and the PC

Both re-releases were part of PlayStation’s initiative to get more of its games on PC. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves brought the series (again, just the last two games, rather than any of the foundational games that came before) to PC for the first time in October, and The Last of Us Part 1 will bring Joel and Ellie’s story to a PC near you in March. But it wasn’t just Naughty Dog games that got the PC love, as God of War, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and the Miles Morales spin-off also launch on PC in 2022.

All that said, we still haven’t seen PlayStation release first-party games on both consoles and PC simultaneously. God of War launched four years too late on PC this year, but its sequel, Ragnarök, only came out on PS4 and PS5 in 2022. It was encouraging to see Sony make more strides in the space, but hopefully in 2023 that will We see an immediate commitment to bring its games to those who play on PC.

Sony paid a lot of money to buy Bungie, but Destiny 2 will still be cross-platform

Sony acquires Bungie, Haven, and Savage

All of these mods and ports have been doubling down on established PlayStation brands, but the company has also made its fair share of acquisitions and investments in the company’s future as well. The most notable of these acquisitions was Destiny 2 developer Bungie, which PlayStation bought for $3.6 billion in January. However, it has no intention of making the shooter exclusive to its platform. The company also acquired Jade Raymond-led Haven Studios, which hasn’t even released a video game yet.

Outside of the AAA space, Sony has also acquired Savage Game Studios, whose founders previously worked on mobile hits like Angry Birds and Clash of Clans, in an effort to start a new mobile games division. It looks like the studio is working on a new project for phones and tablets based on the PlayStation IP.

PlayStation VR2 will launch next year, but it won’t be usable with older PSVR games

PlayStation VR2 feels like an upgrade, but with caveats

Sony kicked off 2022 by announcing its second virtual reality headset, which bears the name PlayStation VR2. It feels like a meaningful upgrade from the original PlayStation VR headset Sony released in 2016, with a great-sounding, 4K OLED screen, dedicated controllers so you don’t have to use your old PlayStation Move sticks anymore, and a one-wire setup that will make using Everything is more manageable. However, as news about the device got out, things got a bit more worrying.

The most egregious flaw confirmed by Sony is that the original PlayStation VR games will not be compatible with the PSVR2 headset. This is because “PSVR2 is designed to deliver a truly next-gen virtual reality experience,” said Senior Vice President of Platform Experience Hideaki Nishino on the PlayStation Podcast, noting that much of the new headset technology is not compatible with older PSVR games. Regardless of whatever explanation Sony gives, it’s a bummer that the PlayStation 5 was developed with more future scrutiny in mind, and now we’re dealing with backwards compatibility issues again. So if you want to keep playing your old PSVR games, don’t throw away your old headset.

Oh, and the console will cost $550 when it launches on February 22nd next year, making it more expensive than the console it’s played on.

PlayStation Plus now has tiers, and whether you get much value on it depends on where you live

PlayStation Plus releases new levels with new problems

PlayStation Plus, Sony’s long-running subscription service for playing games online and collecting a wide range of “free” games, saw a revamp this year that brought it more in line with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. He doesn’t seem to get the same resounding love as his direct competitor. PlayStation Plus now has multiple levels, each with different built-in features and perks.

The cheapest is Essential, which is basically what PlayStation Plus has been for years: online play, sales, cloud storage, and a few free games every month. The second tier is called PlayStation Plus Extra, which includes all of the above, plus an on-demand library of PlayStation 4 and 5 games. The most expensive tier is PlayStation Plus Premium, which adds a streaming library of classic games from all PlayStation consoles, and even the PlayStation Portable.

Compared to the Xbox’s native backwards compatibility, streaming older games isn’t quite an ideal alternative, especially for those who live in rural areas where internet download speeds can’t keep up. There’s a lot of potential in what PlayStation Plus now has to offer, but it seems to have a problem. In holding after the big reboot, millions of subscribers canceled their memberships in the months that followed.

The PlayStation 5 is (somewhat) easy to find

The PlayStation 5 is now two years old, but the console is still relatively hard to find due to supply chain issues that are expected to last into 2023, if not longer. But as we get away from the original launch and demand starts to wane, it’s becoming marginally easier to track down and buy your very own PS5. Brick-and-mortar stores are still hit or miss, but Kotaku has had a bit more luck finding the box on digital storefronts. So hopefully by the time Spider-Man 2 releases next year, those still looking for a PlayStation 5 won’t be in for a massive plight.

The PlayStation 4 is nine years old and still getting most of Sony’s big games in 2022, Image: Sony

PlayStation 4 pauses a little longer

That said, Sony wasn’t quite ready to give up the PlayStation 4 in 2023. The company’s biggest games this year, Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, and God of War Ragnarök, all launched simultaneously on PS4 and PS5 and were very good experiences on the console. The console of the last generation. You know, if you’re cool with your PS4 version of it like it’s ready to take off on a trip across the Atlantic.

But looking ahead, it looks like 2023 will be the year Sony really starts to leave the old system behind. That’s ten years of respectable service since its original launch in 2013, and PlayStation Studios now seems squarely focused on the PS5. Spider-Man 2, the VR spinoff Horizon Call of the Mountain, and Insomniac’s take on Wolverine have all been announced as PS5 exclusives, so hopefully as this transition takes root, the PS5 becomes more available next year.

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