Sony is on the verge of announcing a new PlayStation — here are 5 crucial things it needs to do to stay on top (SNE)

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  • It’s true: The PlayStation 5 is in development, and may arrive sooner than you think.
  • Between Sony’s own confirmations and media reports, a clear picture is emerging of the still-unannnounced next PlayStation console.
  • How Sony intends to keep its lead over the competition remains to be seen, but there are a few foundational elements it will need to stay on top.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The next PlayStation is closer than you might think.

Not only is Sony already talking about the successor to the wildly successful PlayStation 4, but the company is making some pretty clear moves to prepare.

With over 90 million PlayStation 4 consoles in the wild, Sony is ahead of the competition from Microsoft and Nintendo by tens of millions of units. But can the PlayStation stay on top as the game industry transitions to digital storefronts and streaming services? 

That’s the big question! Here’s a look at what Sony needs to maintain its lead:

SEE ALSO: Microsoft is on the verge of announcing a new Xbox — here are 5 crucial components it needs to compete with Sony’s huge lead

1. More than anything else, Sony needs major exclusive games.

Say what you will about the relative differences between the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One — in the long run, we’ll look back at the two consoles as remarkably similar pieces of hardware.

What differentiates the two mainly is games: Sony simply has more major exclusive games than Microsoft. Whether you’re talking about “Uncharted” or “Bloodborne” or “Spider-Man” or “God of War” or, well, the list could go on and on.

Microsoft has some biggies — like “Halo” or “Forza” — but this generation of consoles was primarily led by Sony because of a consistent stream of excellent, exclusive games.

But that well is seemingly running dry: “The Last of Us: Part II” and “Death Stranding” are the last two unreleased major games announced as exclusively coming to the PlayStation 4.

Sony is even outright skipping the annual game industry trade show, E3, this year for the first time ever. The reason? There weren’t enough games to show.

“We wanna make sure that when we do come together at some point, bring all our fans in under the invitation that PlayStation has something marvelous to share with you, we wanna make sure that we do. And E3 this year just wasn’t the right time for us,” PlayStation head Shawn Layden told Business Insider earlier this year.

2. A move toward PlayStation as a digital platform.

With few exceptions, new generations of game consoles come with the expectation that anything from the previous system will not work on the new console.

PlayStation 3 games don’t run on the PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Wii U games don’t run on the Nintendo Switch. Such is the way of most modern game consoles — with the exception of the Xbox One.

Instead, Microsoft turned its Xbox Live subscription service into a kind of persistent digital library. If you owned digital Xbox 360 games, and those games are supported on the Xbox One, then you automatically own them on your new console once you log in with your Xbox Live account. 

It set an important precedent: With the Xbox One / PlayStation 4 generation of game consoles, console owners expect their digital purchases to carry forward like they would on smartphones.

But Sony never quite caught up with that notion, and it remains an important distinction between Sony and Microsoft’s consoles. With the PlayStation 5, Sony has a chance to fix that oversight — and it must, as Microsoft is likely to tout this persistence as a key feature of its platform.

Moreover, with nearly 100 million PlayStation 4 consoles in the wild, this decision has a far-wider impact than most others.

3. A real push into video game streaming.

Sony has been operating a subscription-based video game streaming service in PlayStation Now for five years-plus at this point.

The service enables players on PlayStation 4 and PC to stream PlayStation 2, 3, and 4 games without a download. It costs $20/month or $100/year.

PlayStation Now hasn’t made a major splash despite being the only service that’s widely available to consumers right now. The reasons for that are complex and varied, but its limitations and high price are two main factors.

If the promise of game streaming is to bring your games to any device, PlayStation Now fails to do that. It offers a slightly-aged library of games on devices that are capable of playing brand new games.

If Sony is going to compete with the likes of Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Project xCloud, it will need to offer something more competitive than the current iteration of PlayStation Now.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider



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