Why Sony must deliver today at Leipzig

Sony should count their lucky stars that the Playstation brand name is so strong, for they have, in recent times, been walking along a very thin tightrope. The Playstation 3, rather than being the revolutionary heir everyone expected to the immensely successful Playstation 2, has stuttered, stumbled and limped through its first two years. Such a diagnosis may seem a trite overblown, but to consider the brand foundation, and legacy, that it had to build on is to wonder how Sony took Playstation into such unpredictable health.

The rehabilitation is progressing smoothly, however, after a series of ill-judged missteps. It is difficult to forget the justification for the launch price (effectively an overconfident, and somewhat arrogant ‘if we build it, they will buy’), but the games were for some time the complete opposite: totally forgettable. The Playstation Network was desperately unreliable, the Sixaxis a curious experiment at best, and the loss of backwards compatibility an unfortunate casualty of frantic cost-cutting. It was at times like watching an awkward teenager going through adolescence, blighted by chronic acne, poor dress sense and unsavoury body odour; underneath it all, however, there was always hope that these wouldn’t be permanent afflictions.

It is in clinging to this hope that the Sony faithful showed their loyalty to the Playstation brand. Patience has been tested to the limit, but to endure is to enter better times. Blu-Ray has won the HD war, Sony have at last delivered a Playstation Network which is robust and growing in stature (Trophies, finally!), and the big exclusives are rolling in. The Playstation 3 is maturing into the console everyone knew it could be, but Sony must now deliver a big show at Leipzig.

E3 was efficient for Sony. The press conference was solid, if uninspiring, but it cemented Playstation 3’s status as a console on the mend. Microsoft, while throwing up huge announcements such as Final Fantasy 13, found that their dashboard redesign received a somewhat damp reception. There is an opportunity at Leipzig for Sony, with their bold and confident ’12 announcements’, to show the world that it can fight its way back. ‘Home’ has to have a convincing showing, to begin to transform the considerable doubt in its future into belief. The games need to deliver the kind of shockwaves that MAG, at the end of the E3 conference, just couldn’t send out through the industry. In the passionately vociferous gaming community, countless wisecracks have been fired at Sony in recent times; this is now the time to provide the ammunition to shoot back.

This may seem like an over-hyping of the Leipzig conference, but it is a vital opportunity to build on a solid 2008 to date and illustrate the exciting future. It seems that Microsoft, and of course Nintendo with their lack of attendance, are striding into Leipzig with less confidence in the convention than Sony seem to be. ‘This is Living’? Come on Sony, now is the time to really show us why.