We are two months from the launch of the new consoles, but it already seems that Sony won the generation.
For a while, I thought this console generation would be different. Sony seemed to be struggling a bit, barely saying anything about the PS5 as Microsoft advanced the narrative that the Xbox Series X was the most powerful console, the Game Pass grew and grew, and huge acquisitions were made. However, even after snapping up Skyrim and Fallout dev / publisher Bethesda, it is now difficult to see how the PlayStation will not continue to lead by a reasonable margin – at least in the powerful console space.
As I said elsewhere on the site, Microsoft has a lot to prove and is not doing much at the moment to allay fears, although I am quite confident that the Xbox is in a much better position now than it was seven years ago. Sony, on the other hand, came out of the gate with a series of superb PS5 games, a supposedly less powerful console that outperforms the most powerful machine on paper and, more importantly, has games that are known and partly dated .
Destruction All Stars, the competitive racing game that delayed the release of the PS5, arrives in February and is being included on PS +. It is a genuine PS5 exclusive, but perhaps the least talked about game on the new Sony console. Giving it to all Plus members will at least ensure that it has a decent chance of gaining an audience, and while I haven’t seen anything to suggest that this will be the next Rocket League success story, it should offer some emotions multiplayer.
I think Returnal can surprise a lot of people.
The key for Sony is that the games keep coming, even if the first two are not big launchers. In March, Sony will launch Housemarque’s Returnal. There is a bit of negativity around this release as a regular price game, mainly because the studio’s previous titles were arcade-type releases, but it seems extremely unfair on what appears to be a beautiful sniper from a team that almost never set foot wrong.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is the first so-called “big” PS5 exclusive to arrive from Sony in 2021, scheduled to launch in the first half of the year. Insomniac has already managed to dazzle on PS5 with cross-generation Spider-Man Miles Morales, but Rift Apart should allow the studio to show what is possible on PS5 when targeting only the next generation system – although first-year games rarely get the absolute best of a new console. The footage was excellent and the Ratchet & Clank games are always a lot of fun.
In May, MS-owned Bethesda launches Arkane’s Deathloop, exclusively for PlayStation 5 and PC. Arkane is known for offering incredible game mechanics thanks to Dishonored games, and this FPS seems to be just as creative. At a time when Xbox systems seem so short on Xbox Game Studio titles, the fact that it’s locked is gloriously wicked. The same goes for Ghostwire: Tokyo, the most mysterious and supernatural of Tango Gameworks, although it still doesn’t have a set release date.
In the second half of 2021, Sony has a trio of wandering drivers set to launch, with Gran Turismo 7, Horizon: Forbidden West and God of War: Ragnarok. While Forbidden West is also confirmed for PS4, and Sony has not clarified the status of the launch platform with Ragnarok, there is no denying that the sequences of three of the biggest PlayStation franchises within a year of the PS5 launch are great and with sure to make fans extremely happy.
GT7 is likely to be huge for Sony and the PS5.
GT7 is set to be the first real game in the series since 2013 and will arrive with great expectations and the knowledge that Polyphony has accumulated by supporting GT Sport as well as it did. What’s more, we can get Gran Turismo on PS5 before getting a new Forza on Xbox Series X, something that many would bet against. There was a sigh of disappointment when Sony revealed that Horizon: Forbidden West was also coming to PS4, a feeling that we might not see Guerrilla Games being able to fully flex its technical skills, but that debut trailer still looks pretty good if you ask me.
I still don’t really believe in God of War: Ragnarok being released this year, but not because I heard something suggesting otherwise – I just didn’t expect a sequel to my favorite PS4 game to arrive so early in the life of the PS5. If Sony Santa Monica can really get the game ready for the end of this year, even if it is also released on PS4, it will surpass what already seems to be one of the best in PlayStation history. And there is every chance that the year will deliver more, even without considering which games are coming from third-party publishers.
What I think Sony has done brilliantly is to give PS5 owners and potential buyers a clear idea of next year. As a PS5 owner, I am happy with the games I have, and there is a steady drop in quality-looking titles scheduled for the coming months. Can the Xbox beat the PS5? Perhaps, but a turnaround of this magnitude in 2021 seems highly unlikely.