Despite releasing some big name exclusives, 2011 was a rough year for Sony. The company's lackluster security led to one of the worst hacking scandals in recent history, and its solution to motion-controlled gaming fell flat in light of nearly nonexistent support. But these disappointments pale in my mind to the company's failure to capitalize on three little words.

Play, Create, Share. It's a tag line Sony coined alongside the first LittleBigPlanet, one that wasn't just supposed to be a flashy slogan, but a new way to play video games. It was meant to be a feather in Sony's cap – one the company could certainly use.

The LittleBigPlanet series provides virtually unlimited replayability

Sony doesn't have a lot to differentiate itself from the competition nowadays. The allure of free online gaming lost some of its luster when the company's network went down for almost a month and countless users had their personal information stolen. Move, while probably the most accurate form of motion-based gaming on the market, hasn't had any compelling releases to justify the peripheral's existence. Sony has pushed 3D gaming hard in recent months, but you don't need a Sony television or a PS3 to play your games in the third dimension.

For many gamers, the decision of what console to buy largely comes down to system exclusives. Sony has plenty of great exclusive franchises – arguably more than Nintendo, unquestionably more than Microsoft. However, gamers who don't own a PS3 can have similar experiences as most of Sony's biggest franchises from multi-platform games and Nintendo and Microsoft titles.

Except for the handful of games that fall under the Play, Create, Share umbrella. Nintendo's cutesy and entertaining platformers have nothing on LBP 2's 3+ million user-made levels, and being able to create your own race tracks in ModNation Racers is something every kart racer should have. Same goes for the under hyped mission creator in Infamous 2, which is exactly what open-world games need to remain entertaining long after the single-player campaign is over.

ModNation Racers shames other kart racers with its ability to make and share tracks

Sony released two great games this year featuring the Play, Create, Share style of gameplay: the aforementioned LittleBigPlanet 2 and Infamous 2. What's on the horizon for this new subgenre? Nothing but tumbleweeds. The PlayStation Vita will be getting retreads of LBP and ModNation Racers, but Sony hasn't announced anything new for PS3, didn't really advertize the mission creation feature in Infamous 2, and has done nothing in the downloadable space to capitalize on its new form of gaming. Instead, Sony tried to lazily apply the motto to Uncharted 3, based on its multiplayer character customization and Facebook integration. Sorry, Sony: that's not Play, Create, Share. It's Play, Customize, Bug Your Friends.

Sony's failure to capitalize on user content-focused titles is even more disappointing given how wide open the field is. The Wii's barebones approach to online gaming makes it virtually impossible to cultivate the kind of community LittleBigPlanet has, and Microsoft has firmly established its intent to charge gamers for every piece of downloadable content it can. Not only does this indifference give Sony an advantage with consumers, it could attract developers interested in creating user content-oriented games. One only has to look at PC gaming to see how many developers support modding, and the types of communities those tools create, to see what console makers are missing.

Infamous 2's mission creator proves user content isn't just for cartoony titles or PC games

The Play, Create, Share concept isn't right for every game, and as such, I don't want to see Sony shoehorn it into the wrong experiences. However, the company should be actively encouraging developers to incorporate user-created content into their games, creating new Play, Create, Share titles with its first-party studios, and scanning the industry for up-and-coming developers who are working on likeminded projects for potential partnerships. Xbox 360 owners will soon be getting an exclusive version of the wildly popular Minecraft – what's Sony's next move?

If Sony has an answer, it's not sharing it publicly yet. I enjoy many of the PS3-exclusive franchises, and think Sony does many things better than the competition (like the PS3's UI, for one), but I hope the company does more with its Play, Create, Share brand this year than it did in 2011.

That's an interesting editorial from GameInformer. But after the PSN outage I think Sony wanted to return to basics. Focus on the fundamentals, promote the fun stuff.

That also explains the price this year as well. Sony tried to do everything they could to improve their image with the mass market. User Generated Content is not something that drives mass market appeal. inFAMOUS 2 and LittleBigPlanet 2 both have sold over 2 million in under a year and not released in a holiday shopping window.

We will see Sony getting very aggressive in 2012. Mark my words. The PS3 might be able to stay flat sales wise, but PlayStation as a whole will be firing on all cylinders.

Don't forget that Vita has cross game chat, trophies and those "re-treads" of LBP and MNR aren't actually just re treads. Brand new tools are being added that wasn't possible on PS3. Touch controls.

Plus build your own online/local lair in Ruin.

I kinda agree with most of the stuff you have said above. 

I personally dont think the play, create, share thing is that great. It worked with LBP because it was new and innovative, and you could create a whole range of very different levels involving fpses and other genres. That same freedom is not offered in other play, create, share games such as Modnation and Infamous2. Modnation focuses on the creation of races/characters (?) and I2 on missions. A pretty good thing to have and one a number of people enjoy and one that extends longevity of the game but its limited in what it can do, and from sales clearly not a huge drawcard. Perhaps its simply a matter of sony not emphasising these features when promoting games but I really dont see it increasing sales too  much even with greater promotion.  

MS/Ninty can easily copy this and thus wipe away sony's competitive edge...but then again it is very unlikely that they would want to waste their effort on a concept that is clearly trivial/niche...Sony's problem is a fundamental one not this.

Man, if I wanted to create and share, I'd buy a PC. Truth be told, even though I own both Little Big Planet games (and the PSP game), I haven't created a single level. It's just not fun for me. And, while I've played quite a few user created levels, they just feel like user created levels. It was a fun novelty but that wore off really quickly. I'd rather play the real thing instead of some fan created FPS, Mario ripoff, or LBP Limbo.

I'll just stick to creating custom wrestlers in WWE '12. That's good enough for me.

LBP2 should have been bundled to every sold PS3. Media Molecule already said LBP was once meant to be F2P, and i think it should have been. The more people have it, the more content is created, the more people want it. And they'd sell more of their DLC.

Sony's biggest mistake of 2011 was letting Monster Hunter get away from them. If Hirai had to personally blow the whole Tsujimoto family and assassinate the rogue Inafune to keep it, that's what he should have done.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Slow down. Let's look at everything you said. Wii U isn't confirmed for 2012. I've checked upcoming releases database (I work at Gamestop) and the launch window was narrowed down, but to the final 6 months of 2012. It could get pushed back to 2013 (depending on how they plan the pricing of the system and the longevity of the Wii sales). Also the new Xbox system launching in 2012? How? Why? Halo 4 and GTA 5 are both coming out in 2012. There won't be a Gears or Uncharted for the 360 and PS3, respectively, but those are two megaton franchises. Add in Twisted Metal, Starhawk, Call of Duty, The Last of Us, Gran Turismo XL, Fable: The Journey and a handful of Kinect and Move games. 2012 won't be the new peak year for either system, but it will be a very strong year.

Yes the Vita needs to be a slam dunk and it will. I'm fully expecting the system to sell 90 million units by the time it dies. Tales of Innocence for Japan in January, Uncharted for North America/Europe in Feburary and MotorStorm: RC/ModNation Racers: Road Trip for Europe in March. Plus Final Fantasy X HD and LittleBigPlanet are coming as well. Vita will do great and the PStore will play a much more successful role for the system than it could for the PSP. Mainly because download speed won't hamper Vita like it does for PSP. (I use my PS3 to download anything for PSP because my new PSP 3000 sucks at downloading anything massive like Dissidia, Final Fantasy VIII or Breath of Fire IV)

The strengthening of the Yen helps Sony in Japan. With Vita being out in Japan now Sony will benefit for a couple months with that. Sony selling off their LCD division to Samsung is not a bad thing. Bravia has been a black hole for 8 YEARS. Why keep trying to turn it around if you don't have the resources to do it. They kept just putting a bandage on a broken bone. They couldn't fix it and it was the largest factor (that they could control) contributing to them losing money as a whole for 4 straight years. So it's a smart business decision. Use that $1.5 billion in a smart way. I say send that money to either turning the "PlayStation" tablets into a VAIO tablet brand.

Hell half the money and send the other half to the new Sony smartphone venture. Xperia Play 2 (with real materials this time and on more than just Verizon) for instance would be a good brand to build upon. So while Sony sold off their TV panel division, they did buy up Sucker Punch and bought out Ericsson of their 50% joint venture. Gaining (I believe) over 4000 patent families for mobile technology, plus complete ownership of the smartphone brands. Yes they lost the panel stuff, but gained way more than they sold.

Also I've never seen Sony ever develop a game for more than one system outside of the sports games. Look at God of War II for PS2, that released in the launch year of the PS3 and that stayed exclusively on the PS2. So I'm not sure what you mean by will The Last of Us remain PS3 exclusive. Anywho, sorry about the wall of text. Figured I would address everything you said.

JC7?