IcaroRibeiro said:
Sales (and overall revenue) indicate their popularity in PS5 generation is about the same as PS4 generation, at least when it comes from hardware manufacturer side. I'd say they are clearly less popular and well liked than during PS2 generation, even if only because their price policy make them a little cost prohibitive for some As a software developer they reached their all time high during PS4 generation and I'd say they have been less eventful during PS5 generation because their software output has been weaker, but their IPs are about as popular as PS4 generation. The best evidence is their pricing police, during PS4 generation their games lose their value rather fast, here they are selling Ratchet & Clank, Demon Souls, Returnal and Mile Morales all by full price (70 USD) after some years. I think from their major first party only Horizon got a price cut (is selling for 50 USD I think) and seems more like a panic discount because the sequel sold like half of the first game TLDR: I don't see Sony really having a decrease in popularity compared to PS4 generation |
Maybe I should clarify: Popularity referring to favorability. Similar to the concept of “How hard is this?” refers to difficulty, “How popular is this?” is being used to referred to favorability.
That being said, I think most of what you say is something I’d be in agreement with. Sony was a strong software developer during PS4, they had very positive perception during PS1/2/4, etc. PS5 is just too safe, filled entirely with sequels which fail to hit the same highs of their predecessor. Definitely Sony’s worst gen as far as software development is concerned, I believe.