Sony's U-turn - Should first party games be cross-gen?

[Runa216]

Like all things in life, there needs to be balance, context, and nuance to the argument; the solution has to take all of this into account.

Nintendo's historic 'when we start a new console the old one might as well be dead to us' mentality isn't good. Microsoft's 'we don't believe in new generations, consoles are like PCs' take isn't great, either.

When sony said 'we believe in console generations' I was stopping to wonder if maybe it'd be better if there was a blend, and it appears there are. I do see the value in making sure that a new console has experiences one can ONLY get on that console, as it gives the console incentive. I also see the value in making some games come out on both generational consoles since some people can't afford to get the new console and others just can't find any consoles available for purchase.

Putting more niche or specific experiences exclusively on PS5 (Demon's Souls, Ratchet & Clank, and Returnal) is good for making the console have some games and experiences that only it has, and thus gives consumers incentives to invest. But for those who can't invest or are okay waiting, putting one's bigger games like Horizon, Spider-Man, and god of War on both will maximize sales and ensure nobody feels left out.

And this generation is by far the easiest transition of any console generation, ever. This goes for PS5 and XSX, because a lot of those games purchased last generation can be automatically updated to the new generation free of charge, which gives incentive for folks who can't make the leap to the new generation to go ahead and buy those cross-generation titles. I know some folks will scream 'fangirl' at me, but I do feel that Sony has taken the best of all three parts of this equation into consideration and given us the best overall transitional period of all times. The Ps1 to PS2 transition was pretty damn great but given the lack of installs and downloadable games, you couldn't get a 'free' copy of the game on the newest generation. They have the true exclusives that are more niche but take advantage of the system's power, the cross generational titles that will sell well on both consoles and serve as a transitional period for those who can't or won't make the change yet, and for those who do wait the cross-buy/free upgrades means that nobody is missing out no matter what route they take.