Sony: Future Focused

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Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC is an international, multimedia digital entertainment company, established first in Japan in 1993. It was created to drive Sony’s entrance into the video game industry and has been handling the development, research, and distribution of games and products for the PlayStation since then. The company has undergone a decades-long endeavor to further the computer entertainment industry and according to the Sony Global website, strives to “create appealing workplaces that foster a corporate culture that will lead the company into the future”. They also attempt to foster environments that inspire growth and change; “spaces that encourage employees to take on new challenges”. And that they are.

 

    The idea of Sony being at the forefront of the future of gaming and digital entertainment is reflected in the spaces that the employees exist in, and in turn, can be easily seen in the work that they are putting out. This is most apparent in the top gaming venture of this generation: virtual reality. The PlayStation VR system has been proclaimed as the set with the “Industry Leading Design”, according to their website, and is home to some of the best VR games and most immersive gaming quality (Pino, 2019) that other VR systems simply do not possess. Their VR library currently stands at about 200 games and is ever expanding.

Another way that the company’s mindset is seen through their products is the PlayStation exclusives, games only available on the PlayStation system. 

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    The company has been known to pride themselves on their surplus of exclusives, which rank among the highest rated games as of late. The list includes games like The Last of Us, God of War, Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, Bloodborne, and Marvel's Spider-Man, just to name a few. These games depict the company’s push toward innovation, creativity, and storytelling in a way that other companies do not. What do these games all have in common? They are all single player games, most of which do not multiplayer modes. For comparison, Microsoft’s Xbox One also has exclusives, including The Halo Series, Gears of War, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay, and Titanfall; these are multiplayer games, showing Microsoft’s focus on community centered gaming. This in and of itself is not a bad thing, just different. PlayStation’s list of console exclusives is just a reflection of the worldwide studios’ emphasis on creating games that tell stories and are oriented toward a single player experience. These games are also praised for their animation quality and the importance placed on photo-realism in their characters and environments; this once again brings us back to the innovation- and future-minded company approach to development. 

 

    As a person that has always gravitated toward single player games, Sony and PlayStation will always have my heart. Games like Uncharted and The Last of Us have had huge impacts on my life and my goals toward being a game designer. In my opinion, the PlayStation will always be the home of some of the greatest story-driven games of all time. And that’s the tea.

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 References: 

• “Workplace.” SONY, 29 Aug. 2019, https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/csr_report/employees/engagement/workplace.html

•  “Worldwide Studios.” PlayStation, www.playstation.com/en-us/corporate/about/worldwide-studios/.

• Pino, Nick. “PlayStation VR Review.” TechRadar, 15 Jan. 2019, www.techradar.com/reviews/gaming/playstation-vr-1235379/review.

• “PlayStation VR - Over 200 Games and Counting. Feel Them All.” PlayStation, www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/playstation-vr/.

 

 

Note: This piece was written as a part of a college course about the evolution of video games. Submitted March 29, 2019.