So, the Playstation 4 has been revealed. Some people enjoyed the presentation and what was shown, others weren't as satisfied. I was interested in a few of the things shown, but mostly the "play while you download" feature. There is one thing that seems rather fishy though, I cannot get over it.
Back when the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 were still in development, Sony said that they would allow Microsoft to reveal their console first. A few months later, not only did Microsoft reveal it first, it released the Xbox 360 first. There was a pretty substantial gap, one whole year apart.
Sony's CEO, Kazuo Hirai, said on January 21st, 2013 that Sony will let Microsoft go first again this generation. He said on The Times that " Why go first, when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better?" Of course, Kazuo's reasons are a bit inflated. At this stage in the development cycle could be a little too late for any drastic changes. Regardless, the plan was to let Microsoft go first again.
Then on January 31st, only ten days later, Sony releases the "See the future" trailer. A trailer that teased the date of February 20th and pretty much announced that the Playstation 4 will be revealed on that date. This is where it gets fishy. Why would the CEO of Sony, Kazuo Hirai, say one thing then only ten days later, do the exact opposite of what he said?
Something must've happened for a corporation like Sony to go back on their word on probably the biggest announcement of their year. To make matters even more questionable, the Playstation 4 console was not shown at the event. Sony revealed the Playstation 4 controller, camera, social features, games and some the Playstation 4's hardware specs.
Normally, it works the other way around. The console is revealed first along with some key features, then the exclusive games and functions are announced. When Kotaku asked about the absence of the console, Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony's Worldwide studios, answered "..We have to keep something new for later. Otherwise, you'd get bored." We wouldn't.
In an interview after the event, Hiroshi Kawano, President of Sony Computer Entertainment, stated to 4Gamer " If I'm being honest, I also haven't seen its final design. Even the controller we showed today, I saw the final design around yesterday or so." This is the president of the Playstation division, mind you.
Also Allthingsd spoke to Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, and asked about the missing console, his reply was " I mean, we’re certainly capable of showing playable game content, but we don’t have a mass-production box that we can bring out and pull out. That’s still in development in terms of final specs and design." That is fine and understandable, I mean the specs are what really matter.
Although, the reason Jack Tretton gave was reasonable, it still raises the idea that maybe Playstation rushed the reveal? Something happened that made Playstation change their strategy. I mean an unveiling announcement only ten days after they publicly stated on The Times that they would wait for Microsoft? And a Playstation 4 reveal without the actual console? I'm not jumping the gun, but I am curious as to why things went down as they did. Even everything about their cloud and streaming technology will be "rolled out in phases" said David Perry of Gaikai.
I have no problem with the Playstation 4 itself, it's fine. The manner of how it was presented makes me curious. It seems like they made a pretty big and hasty decision to have the event earlier than planned. This could all be a marketing stunt or it could be something totally different. I believe that the two consoles, Playstation 4 and the next-gen Xbox, will have a lot in common, maybe too much in common. So much so that, what if Playstation wanted to beat them to the punch? Or maybe Playstation wanted an event that would all be about them? Then again, why announce you'd let Microsoft go first?. I personally feel that the event must have been rushed, the question is why? Let us know what you guys think in the comment section below.