Looking Back On Sony In 2015

2015 was another year where the games division of Sony mostly played it safe with a solid line-up of exclusive games and downloadable content but also showcased some forays into virtual reality experimentation.

Let's examine the publisher's highs and lows this year.

Sony Ships Over 30 Million Units

In October, Sony revealed that the Playstation 4 had shipped over 30 million units worldwide since the console's launch in November 2013. This makes the PS4 the best-selling console for Sony, outperforming the Playstation 2 when it was at the same point in its lifespan.

The Vita Continues Its Backslide Into Obscurity

The PlayStation Vita is a fantastic device for playing JRPGs, digital PS One games, and a handful of indie titles. Still, 2015 was another year where quality exclusives for the portable powerhouse were in short supply.  The PS TV, introduced in October 2014, provided a glimpse of hope that there might be a wave of incoming first-party games but 2015 proved that wasn't the case. Shuhei Yoshida, the president of Sony's Worldwide Studios explained that the TV didn't succeed because "It didn't capture the consumers' imagination."

In that same interview, he goes on to talk about the lack of big-budget AAA games for the Vita, like Killzone Mercenary, because "the expectation and size of the world for these types of games have risen after the launch of the Playstation 4."

Bloodborne Arrives

One of the most hotly-anticipated exclusives for the PS4, Bloodborne was released in March 2015 to strong reviews and favorable reactions from both Souls fans and newcomers alike. Daniel Tack gave it a score of 9.75 in his review and wrote:

"Bloodborne is a blood-drenched horror gem that has only the faintest of cracks in its façade. Bloodborne succeeds through sparse storytelling, lush atmospheres (conjuring up notions of the best of Lovecraft's work), and tight combat that forces you to be aggressive. While this new IP doesn't stray far from the established Souls franchise, it is a magical, wondrous work that admirably instills both terror and triumph in those brave enough to delve into it.

Shenmue 3's Kickstarter Is Announced

A third installment in the Shenmue series was revealed at Sony's E3 show. Well, kind of, anyway. It was a Kickstarter announcement for the game, one that managed to hit its goal of 2,000,000 in less than a day. While this seems like a dream scenario for fans of the series, others found the Kickstarter campaign to be deceptive and preying on would-be backers' nostalgia. Our news editor Mike wrote at length about the shady quality of Shenmue 3's crowdfunding campaign:

"In order to make an informed decision, backers deserve transparency. The first Shenmue game cost $47 million to make, so the $2 million won't go far in making a true sequel that fans expect Suzuki to deliver. That primary funding coming from other sources is essential to this project's potential success.

Whether Suzuki received bad counsel from Sony or other investors or thought it wise to obfuscate the true nature of the project budget doesn't matter. There is one currency that rules everything on Kickstarter. It is not cash. It is trust, and Yu Suzuki has so far squandered it."

No Backwards Compatibility for Playstation 4

Earlier this year Microsoft announced that they were working to make a number of Xbox 360 titles capable of being played on the Xbox One at no extra charge to users. Sony has introduced no such feature with The Playstation 4, instead putting a small amount of emulated PS2 games on the store page and charging $14 for each of them.

Playstation 4 Players Get A Lot Of Exclusive DLC

Games likes Destiny and Assassin's Creed Syndicate weren't PlayStation exclusives but owners of those games sure got a lot of perks if they played them on PS4: platform exclusive guns, armor, and costumes. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that PlayStation users will get access to Call of Duty maps before Xbox One users when it used to be the other way around.

from www.GameInformer.com - Top Five http://bit.ly/1Oyf445