On Feb 20th, Sony announced the successor to the PS3. They hosted a large scale revealing event in the middle of New York City where thousands of industry professionals and reporters arrived on the scene. The PS3 was released a year after Xbox360 and the slow start gave Sony quite a hard time to catch up to the competition. Learning from their mistakes, Sony decided to unveil the PS4 before the next Xbox. The event was streamed worldwide over the internet with millions of viewers expecting to see the next generation of home entertainment. Famous developers and publishers went on stage to showcase their excitement for the machine, demonstrating what they could achieve on the new platform. The interior chipset for the PS4 was shown showcasing the power of the new machine. However as the event drew close to the 3 hour mark, Sony still did not show the actual machine to the world. Sony teased the audience even more by showing the new controller, but ultimately the machine was not shown at all.
Many people were angry at the event, feeling that they were letdown by the hype. Nintendo did this years ago with their gaming systems and it worked to a certain extent. It gave the world a glimpse of the console, revealing more and more in future events. This way they can still keep their competition at bay, while continuing to generate buzz and excitement. I think it’s a great tactic. Why show all of your cards at once? Once Microsoft reveals their machine, Sony still has the chance to improve the design accordingly. Regardless it’s a good time for investors and gamers with the next step in home entertainment.
