PS4 Documentary: How Sony Became the King of Consoles Again.

it's a thrill to be with you here today the stakes are high for what we're going to show you our vision for the future is consumer centric developer inspired and characterized by an unwavering commitment to phenomenal play experiences the demands for a new platform were clear a reimagine a ssin of the gaming experience that has been developer LED consumer inspired and powerfully and thoughtfully engineered by Sony Computer Entertainment it's designed to make accessing the content gamers a lot easier than ever it's conceived as the most personalized gaming experience available today it is consistent with our heritage in gaming delivering the most powerful platform ever it is simple and adaptive with socially enriched content this is the foundation of our next generation platform PlayStation 4 [Music] you [Music] launching the PlayStation 3 in 2006 was nothing short of a disaster for Sony Corporation while the company managed to redeem themselves at the end of the ps3's lifecycle their closest competitor led the market for seven years it was only until 2013 after multiple price drops services triple-a games and more that led to Sony shipping more PlayStation 3s than Xbox 360s but arguably both consoles pretty much evened out in the very end a Nintendo saw tremendously high sales for the Wii despite a severe lack of proper third-party support it was a redemption story for Sony but still not really the former glory they once had with the original PlayStation of PlayStation 2 early into the ps3's lifecycle the company knew they had a problem the recently launched gaming console was five hundred and six hundred dollars respectively the company was selling it at a loss as it cost roughly eight hundred and forty dollars to manufacture one system the ps3 cell processor was overly complex and difficult for developers to work with and to make matters worse Sony's PR wasn't doing the company any favors either Sony and the PlayStation 3 were the laughingstock of the internet with memes and PR statement saying that you should get a second job to afford the company's console after the platform launched in 2006 Sony got to work quick amongst helping developers adding Rumble back to the controllers and getting triple-a games out the Sony hardware team spent a year working on getting the cost of manufacturing ps3 down but by 2007 a post-mortem analysis of the ps3 began identifying what did and didn't work specifically to begin direction with the next console by 2008 the company began the early stages of what would become the PlayStation 4 with their analysis of the ps3 the new foundation was laid out Sony would collaborate internationally have open conversation focus on the architecture and deliver what third parties wanted most perhaps the most notable and integral part of ps4's early development was the platform's lead architect mark Cerny Sony was no stranger to the games industry at the time he was a 25-year veteran first landing a job at Atari in 1982 then moving on to Sega and eventually finding himself at universal interactive Studios working on early successful PlayStation games like crash bandicoot Sony had formed his own company Sony games in night where he would provide consultation for developers on their games and over the years certainly worked on a vast array of Sony's first party titles but November of 2007 Sony spent a lot of time research in the history of x86 PC architecture and the feasibility of it being used in a console today he did this on his own desires without having any real responsibility or involvement in PlayStation 4 which at the time wouldn't even be out for another six years but what he determined is that x86 could be embraced instead of improving the ps3 cell processor with his research and 25 years of experience he approached Sony Shuhei Yoshida and as if he could be the lead architect for the ps4 to his surprise the answer was yes and final approval came from Sony Computer Entertainment CTO masa Chi Thani surprisingly so is this would be the first time major Hardware would be led by an American at Sony Computer Entertainment which is headquartered in Japan where mark would now move to and work from ken kutaragi well known for being the father of PlayStation has now mostly left the company after wrapping up the PlayStation 3 and while ken was a visionary in how he approached game creation he was often overly ambitious and his desires were getting more visuals more on-screen enemies and advancing the technology to the absolute max certainly did not want to approach ps4 this way and instead utilize his research and the ps3 analysis to mold ps4 and it mostly began with fielding out with third-party developers wanted from next-generation hardware the company would send out questionnaires to developers in an attempt to not make it look as though they were asking about ps4 but even in 2008 to 2009 developers knew and they provided the feedback necessary to get ps4 off to the right start developers wanted unified memory and a very powerful GPU the most out of anything gearboxes Randy Pitchford even told Sony at the time that if they didn't go with 8 gigabytes of RAM they'd be dead at times marks already recalled how he would be booed during presentations with developers but with all of this an x86 and mine Marc's Rd wanted game development on ps4 to be easy and accessible so instead of spending 6 months to a year on ps3 to get a graphics engine up to speed it would take as little as 1 to 2 months on ps4 this one a lot of developers to get their games on ps4 faster more efficiently and come while at the same time still allowing extra wiggle room for the developers that want to pursue more graphical fidelity if they choose to do so over the consul's lifecycle with mark Cerny officially at the helm the creation of ps4 began [Music] you [Music] on the outside ps4 rumors didn't start up until mid 2011 when it was reported sony was aiming to release the next-generation in 2012 by the same time next year it was reported that dud kits were sent to developers and the hardware was codenamed Orbis it didn't take much longer for Sony to send out press invites for an event simply labeled see the future it would take place February 20th 2013 in New York City and sure enough this is the event where they would reveal to the world their plans for PlayStation 4 it was nearly a two-hour presentation going over what the ps4 was going to be and how it was going to change the way we play games this is the foundation of our next-generation platform PlayStation 4 [Music] Sony Computer Entertainment president and CEO Andrew house initially announced the council that quickly allowed ps4 s architect mark Cerny to take the stage and go over the consoles controller hardware and features cerny showed off the system's new and improved Dual Shock 4 which was the first radically redesigned controller for the company in PlayStation history aside from the ps3 boomerang prototype that never ended up being released but the Dual Shock 4 would sport a light bar for camera recognition and a touchpad as a new input method for game developers it features a dedicated share button to take screenshots and video and share them instantly to social media but more so mark Cerny went over the ps4 his innards it was in fact x86 with 8 gigabytes of unified gddr5 memory much to the surprise and Cheer of many developers around the world cerny also revealed for the first time ever he'd be directing his own game called neck this would be the first ps4 game the world would ever see but further into the presentation it was detailed how ps4 was a connected platform that offered immediacy to the content you're looking for you could suspend games and resume at will you could live stream right from the new and improved user interface and Sony also demonstrated PS Vita Remote Play capabilities claiming that ps4 and Vita were designed in tandem and that every ps4 game would be remote playable to Vita demonstrating thus fittingly with sirnas game knack the rest of the announcement was filled with major first party games being revealed a new Killzone and infamous game were shown with Sony's now-defunct evolution studio showing off their new racing game drive Club Media Molecule and Quantic Dream demonstrated some tech demos and multiple third parties made an appearance to pledge their support for the platform as well oddly the physical ps4 console was not shown at all but the conference was received mostly positive amongst fans and critics the general air in the games industry was now left wondering what does Sony's closest competitor going to do with Sony just now reaching sales parity with the Xbox 360 a brand new console generation was about to start early rumors of the next Xbox weren't the most promising as it was suggested that Microsoft was looking into ways of controlling used game sales the project was codenamed durango and eventually Microsoft showed the world the next Xbox on May 21st 2013 ladies and gentlemen introducing Xbox one [Music] [Music] Microsoft spent an hour showing off the newly named Xbox one an all-in-one entertainment system that was designed with connecting everything in your living room into one platform that unifies seamlessly Xbox had Don Mattrick initially showed off the physical console and Xbox is yousef MIDI promised exclusive games that would be shown at greater length at e3 but for this specific presentation Microsoft would be demonstrating the consoles features more specifically its newly improved Kinect camera and how it would allow easy sign-in to Xbox Live and voice controls for live TV the company that moved on to EA and its commitment to the platform with EA's new engine for sports games Phil Spencer then arrived to recommit the promise of games with 15 exclusives coming within the first year eight of which would be a brand new IP the event then closed out with the announcement of a live action halo TV series and a closer look at Call of Duty ghosts this initial reveal was met with widespread anger and uproar has not only did a vast majority of the conference focus on TV and sports but shortly after it was revealed Xbox one would require an internet connection to verify the licenses of your games Microsoft initially tried to deflect this issue by claiming it wouldn't need a constant connection but every 24 hours the system would have to connect at some point or your games may be unplayable there was also extremely vague answers regarding used games it wasn't long after until Microsoft gave firm answers basically stating retail discs would be tied to your gamertag and that buying and selling used games would be possible at partnered retailers and video game publishers would in fact have leverage over charging a fee on used games Microsoft was now in extremely deep water they were sinking fast as the entire internet was vowing to boycott Xbox many had voiced concerns over the anti consumer policies that Microsoft would be imposing under loyal customers with an awful reveal and an even worse digital rights management in place Sony was now in a much better position than ever before 2013 was essentially a far cry from their position in 2006 the company knew this and they took advantage of it to the best of their ability come III 2013 you [Music] Microsoft was up first their conference was early in the morning and excitement was tepid at best the company eventually went on to show a number of promising game announcements much like they had promised at the reveal event Ryse son of Rome sunset overdrive titanfall Killer Instinct Dead Rising 3 crimson dragoon minecraft and project spark were all revealed new footage for Metal Gear Solid 5 forts of 5 and quantum break were shown as well smart class and upload studio were also demonstrated for Xbox one the show ended with Xbox this fell sponsor revealing the console will launch in November at $499 despite a strong showing of games most gamers were still full steam ahead with ignoring the platform entirely due to Microsoft's awful DRM policies later that day Sony began their press conference and had a few extra platforms to cover after going over a few ps3 and Vita related announcements the company officially showed the ps4 s console design it was two-tiered and slanted in a way to hide cords in the back from being too visible with a blue LED indicator going across the top half of the unit Sony went on to show a number of upcoming ps4 titles neck and driveclub were confirmed to be launch titles though driveclub would go on to miss this infamous got a new trailer ready at dawn revealed the order 1886 and Kingdom Hearts 3 was revealed final fantasy vs. 13 a game originally slated for ps3 years ago was now renamed to Final Fantasy 15 interestingly Sony took a moment to show their newfound commitment to independent developers by highlighting a number of titles at one time the company went on to announce 30 titles were in development at Sony's worldwide studios with 20 coming in the first year 12 of which being a new IP and overall games would be 140 in development with a hundred in the first year and 40 having in some way shape or form exclusive experiences it wasn't until nearing the end that the show really started to heat up when Sony Computer Entertainment America president and CEO Jack Tretton acknowledged recent developments with used games and reassured the room that ps4 would be a normal console like it's always been for instance PlayStation 4 won't impose any new restrictions on when a gamer buys a ps4 this they have the rights to use that copy the game they can trade in the game at retail sell it to another person lend it to a friend or keep it forever PlayStation 4 disk based games don't need to be connected online to play and it won't stop working if you haven't authenticated within 24 hours shortly after PlayStation had Andrew House announced the price I'm very proud to announce that PlayStation 4 will be available at 399 dollars and that was it the show is over and collectively almost every gamer committing to buy a next-generation console was more than likely going with ps4 and Sony didn't stop they even went on after to release a video essentially mocking Xboxes youth game policies Sony Scott Road II had discussed after the conference that ps4 was always going to be a regular console but after so many people on Twitter pleaded that Sony not have any restrictive policies the company instead waited on reassuring people until they could do so publicly on the e3 stage he even mentioned that after Microsoft revealed the price everyone at Sony was walking around with smiles on their faces this was it it couldn't be a more perfect storm for PlayStation 4 to get off on the right foot and get an edge on the very competitor they had spent the last seven years catching up to Microsoft had to act quick a little over a week after e3 On June 19 2013 Microsoft announced a complete reversal and Xbox one policies the system would basically function much like anyone would expect with no required internet connection and the ability to buy and sell used games the system would actually require a day one update once - presumably remove the originally intended functionality and by July 1st it was announced that Xbox had Don Mattrick would be leaving the company to work as CEO of Zynga for money these were the announcements needed to get back on for both Xbox but for most it was likely too late as a vast majority of gamers still voiced their anger with Xbox on the Internet [Music] November 15 2013 the PlayStation 4 officially launched in North America and becomes the fastest selling PlayStation console lover selling over a million units in just 24 hours Xbox one would launch just a week later on November 22nd and it too saw successful launch in North America Europe and Australia Microsoft also achieved a million units sold in just 24 hours both consoles received plenty of attention and praise throughout the holiday season with exciting games and eager consumers around the world just waiting to get into the next generation but as the weeks rolled on one interesting element seemed to crop up frequently and that's that many games on ps4 were performing at higher resolutions or frame rates compared to Xbox one versions many developers would even openly admit that ps4 was the more powerful platform and that in some instances the differences were significant a lot of these stories were highly publicized and was ultimately damaging the Xbox's image long term which didn't do them any good when Microsoft was already selling the machine at a 100 dollar premium over the ps4 due to the included Kinect sensor to make matters worse Sonam is now making major third-party exclusive deals the once Xbox first called blue team at PAX were now going to Sony for this generation and Sony was also partnered with developer Bungie right away for exclusive content on their upcoming game destiny going into January 2014 both companies gave updated sales figures Sony had sold 4.2 million PS Wars by January 7th and Microsoft had sold approximately 3 million by January 6 as the months roll on another issue seemed to crop up over and over and it was Microsoft's controversial parity clause a stipulation the company had with developers in their ID at Xbox program the requirement being that if a game wants to come to Xbox it must release the same days other versions otherwise it cannot come at all unless it's an exclusive game or offers exclusive content this was very off-putting to many small developers and this often caused these teams to simply ignore Xbox and just released their games on ps4 and PC which played out nicely for Sony because the company was already doubling down on independent developers and welcoming them with open arms the rest of 2014 saw a few things a successful Sony where they slowly start to release some first party games and Microsoft who starts the journey to repairing Xbox the company starts with making head of Xbox game studios Phil Spencer head of Xbox entirely sponsor took over late March 2014 and by May 2014 his decisions already began Xbox one would remove the Kinect sensor and begin selling consoles alone for $400 the Xbox Live Gold requirement for streaming apps like Netflix and Hulu would also be removed and as consumer friendly as the company was now being November 2014 would be the last time Microsoft ever released official sales figures with roughly 10 million Xbox one shipped worldwide Sony on the other hand was now at fourteen point four million the sales gap was only growing larger Oh Xbox one that's that thing and if I wanted to go buy and if I don't I won't regaining that trust and the mind share with the customer the gamer is incredibly difficult 2015 was a steady year for the ps4 as the council saw big-budget releases like blood-borne and until dawn meanwhile Microsoft made the incredible announcement at e3 2015 that Xbox one would be receiving backwards compatibility via software emulation a crowd-pleasing pro-consumer announcement for sure just not one that seemed to make any significant push and sales toward the PlayStation 4 throughout the year Sony saw tremendous success as the console climb in sales from 18 to 30 million by the end of the year 2016 was the year of new hardware and price drops both Sony and Microsoft revealed revised hardware via ps4 slim and Xbox one US and Sony now launched their Virtual Reality hardware PlayStation VR by years on PlayStation 4 Pro also launched a more powerful ps4 that would use checkerboard rendering to achieve 4k like visuals or allow increased frame rates on 1080p televisions through 2016 ps4 was now bolstering its library of exclusive games even more with games like Uncharted 4 The Last Guardian and ratchet & clank Sony was now fully flexing its vast array of first party studios and at a time with many quality releases even more were still to come with trailers and excitement surrounding games like horizon zero dawn Gran Turismo sport Detroit become human and God of War with Microsoft recently announcing the closure of line had studios and only releasing a handful of exclusives up to that point the sales gap widened even further an intense pressure was now being placed on the company to match Sony's worldwide studios this is the foundation of our next generation platform PlayStation 4 [Music] [Music] presently Sony has sold 82 million playstation fours compared to Microsoft being around approximately 38 million Xbox ones at the time of this video with a two to one lead the conditions for Sony have completely changed for the eighth generation of video game consoles and it wasn't necessarily one thing it was a perfect storm lead architect mark Cerny completely rethinking how Sony can make a playstation Microsoft completely missing the mark with what consumers want a team of worldwide Studios working hard to release incredible games everything fell into the right place for Sony to redeem its long and arduous battle from PlayStation 3 even 2019 and Beyond still has more to come for ps4 as gamers eagerly await games like the Last of Us part 2 days gone and death stranding ps4 will likely reach 100 million units before the PS 5 comes and Microsoft has fully admitted on multiple occasions that they're not going to be able to match Sony however that doesn't mean they aren't prepared Sony learned a lesson from ps3 and applied it to ps4 Xbox will now do the same and with the recent announcement of Microsoft acquiring four new game studios within the last year this is the earliest sign of Xbox committing to gamers again the battle for your loyalty is not lost on Microsoft and with the advent of streaming and next-generation consoles on the rise both Sony and Microsoft are preparing for yet another round but for now in the eighth generation Sony prevailed with PlayStation 4 hey it's Ryan thank you so much for watching this documentary I hope you enjoyed it and if you did subscribe for more I'll be doing more documentaries not just on PlayStation but various aspects of the video game industry but also subscribe for the best PlayStation news reviews and updates here on YouTube so that's it for me in this video and I'll see you all on my next one take it easy [Music]

Channel: Mystic

Views: 631,576

Rating: 4.8403063 out of 5

Keywords: PS4 Documentary, PS4 vs Xbox One, PS4 Wins, Console War, 8th Generation, Video game consoles, PlayStation 4, Sony, Xbox One, Xbox One Lost, Mark Cerny, Interview, PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro, PlayStation, Sales, PS4 2018, Sony vs Microsoft, Xbox Fail, PS4 Fail, Fail, PS4 news, Gaming documentary, Video game documentary, Consoles, Console Gaming, PS4 beat Xbox, E3 2013, Sony E3 2013, DRM, Used games, Phil Spencer, Xbox Boss, CEO, Failed, Price, PS4 2019, Exclusives, PS4 exclusives

Id: PdtKyMKJXSw

Length: 25min 39sec (1539 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 24 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Gadafro]

Microsoft messed up, that's how. If it weren't for that abysmal reveal, I suspect this gen might have been closer between the two.

Also, this looks like self-promo. Video doesn't seem to be affiliated with PlayStation/Sony at all.