To clarify, I don't mean me specifically, I mean, as a type of consumer that tends to be interested in social and multiplayer experiences. Over the past few years, we've seen Sony shift away from this style of game, with their studios focus on singleplayer and open world games instead.
You might argue that Playstation has never been known for their multiplayer titles, but I would argue that this is isn't true. On the original Playstation, most of my time spent was playing games like Crash Team Racing and Twisted Metal , and the platform was flooded with exclusive multiplayer games, like Tekken and Street Fighter Alpha. Moving on, with the Playstation 2, I felt like Sony really started to focus on this audience with games like Socom and Killzone. Killzone was the first online multiplayer game that I ever played on a video game console, and I had a really good time with it.
It felt like the Playstation 3 was Sony's golden era of this style of game. With a tonne of experimental multiplayer titles released by Sony and their studios. At the time I had an XBOX 360 initially, and I shifted to Sony's hardware again to play games like Killzone 2 and Uncharted multiplayer. Honestly, the number of high quality online multiplayer experiences released by Sony on that hardware was astounding. I'm going to spotlight a few of these briefly below.
Warhawk
Warhawk always had a strong following on the PS3, I think its highlight was the high skill ceiling on its flight controls. Interestingly, Warhawk also featured split screen multiplayer, catering to both players who wanted to play online, or with friends locally.
Starhawk
Starhawk was a sequel to Warhawk which shifted things up with some interesting building mechanics. I really enjoyed it personally, though again the learning curve was quite steep. I loved the fast past dogfights once again on this one. Shame the base building wasn't as appreciated.
MAG
Mag was one of the most interesting multiplayer titles on the Playstation 3. Supporting 256 player engagements, MAG put me in gameplay scenarios that I wasn't able to see in any other game. The game certainly had its flaws, it didn't look all that fantastic visually, and the game became a little repetitive over time, but it was a unique and interesting multiplayer experience.
Motorstorm
This one's a little different because it's not a shooting game, but on the PS3 this was a title where I spent many of my online gameplay hours. Motorstorm offered stunning off road races that could be played online, and I found the diversity in racing lines afforded by the sprawling tracks and distinct vehicle classes made online competition really interesting.
Uncharted Multiplayer
Honestly this was one of the premier multiplayer experiences that really drew me in to playing on the PS3. Uncharted multiplayer was one of my favourite titles. I loved how the flexible climbing system created new gameplay opportunities for a third person shooter.
This is one of the few franchises in this list that could be considered still supported, as Uncharted multiplayer still exists on the PS4 version of the game. With that said, the PS4 version of Uncharted 4 multiplayer feels quite content-bare compared to some of the multiplayer offerings in Uncharted 2 and 3, featuring far fewer maps and game modes.
Fat Princess
Often forgotten, I think Fat Princess was a really phenominal multiplayer title. It was a sort of stepping stone into multiplayer and social gaming, a game that everyone could easily pick up and play, but one that had enough depth (through team coordination and strategy) for you to invest 100s of hours into with a group of friends. I had a tonne of fun with this one, and Sony really squandered this franchise.
The Last of Us Factions
Factions was a huge surprise for many people, offering a tight tactical third person experience in Naughty Dogs 'the last of us' world. The mechanics from its singleplayer experience gelled perfectly with the slower paced multiplayer setting, with elements like resource gathering and crafting making every decision meaningful.
Resistance
Resistance was an interesting multiplayer franchise because Insomniac did something very different with each installment. Personally I enjoyed the multiplayer in Resistance 2 the most, as it felt great to play and the 64 player battles were really action packed compared to the smaller scale stuff in Resistance 1 and 3.
Resistance 2 also featured 8 player co-operative style missions, which felt like a pre-cursor to things like strikes in Destiny.
Killzone 2
Perhaps my favourite multiplayer title on the PS3, Killzone 2 was everything I wanted from an online first person shooter. Unlike games like Call of Duty at the time, it placed emphasis on team coordination and tactical abilities. Almost like a sci-fi battlefield, or something of that ilk. For its time, the games graphics were incredible too.
You can still play Killzone multiplayer in some form, by playing Shadowfall on the PS4. Despite that, it's a pretty old game so you'll rarely find anyone playing anymore. The last time I logged in I declared myself the world champion, as I was the top scorer of the only lobby available.
Other titles
There were many other, cool and experimental titles that Sony released during this era too. Games like Twisted Metal, Playstation All Stars and Socom 4. I haven't listed these in detail because I think these games had quite a few flaws, nevertheless it was clear that Sony was trying to cater to the type of experiences that I was interested in, and I was always keen to try their new multiplayer titles.
On the PS4 and PS5, very few of these titles exist. You can still play Factions with TLOU remaster, and you can still play Uncharted multiplayer in Uncharted 4, but these experiences don't feel as though they ever received the support they deserve. Both of these games feature peer to peer networking and low tick rates, which makes them very rough in 2020, where most games have much better networking provisions. Beyond that, I guess we do have games like Destruction Allstars, but that game is pretty darn terrible, and the work was outsourced to an external studio (Lucid games).
But this sense that Sony aren't interested in this type of experience anymore, is more than just games. It's the hardware and system level software too.
The Lack of Pro Controller Hardware on PS5 and PS4
While Microsoft boasted their XBOX One Elite controller, Sony waited over a year before announcing that they would be supporting third parties that wanted to produce their own Pro controllers for the PS4. Most of these third party controls were crap, for one reason or another. Sony's backpaddle attachment was released in small shipments worldwide, and still neglects many of the benefits of more premium hardware.
Competitive players across the board, play with controllers that feature paddles on the back, and typically not just two paddles, but four. So why Sony chooses to ignore this audience is honestly beyond me. Again, this goes back to the feeling that Sony do not care about this type of consumer anymore. They are not making the effort to provide them with the best experience with their hardware. Sony have doubled down on this, by making all PS4 hardware obsolete on the PS5. Those expensive pro controllers that people bought for the PS4, do not work on a PS5 outside of PS4 backward compatibility, meanwhile, Sony is offering no alternative.
The PS5 UI does not feel as though it was designed with the 'social player' in mind
The revised party, friends and message system on the PS5 feels as though it was designed by someone that does not use these features. Finding your messages is a pain in the ass, finding your friends list is a pain in the ass, even simply joining a party is a pain in the ass. Hot swapping between the party menu and the game is no longer possible with a double tap of the PS button either, making it difficult to quickly switch between the game and party interface. On the whole, I would argue that everything about social play is worse on the PS5 as compared to the PS4.
Summary and points for discussion
On the whole, I just feel like Sony isn't offering, or planning to offer the types of experiences that I'm interested in, anymore. It doesn't feel like these multiplayer titles are simply missing at the moment, it feels as though Sony have no plans or interest in supporting this type of experience. I understand why Sony may have wound down some of their studios like Zipper Interactive, but it feels as though Sony aren't investing in multiplayer or even broadly, social gaming experiences anymore.
As well as my own personal discontentent with Sony's offerings, I think this is really a story of missed opportunities for Sony. Using Fat Princess as an example, the sequel felt so tone-deaf as to what the community actually wanted from that franchise. Instead of offering a competitive multiplayer experience that built on the mechanics of the first game, the PS4 Fat Princess title is a co-operative adventure game that feels like it's designed for children under 10 years old. The adult humour is stripped out, and it's a simplified (and overall bad) Diablo-esque experience. And that's not the first time this has happened. Socom 4 was released with the most basic of design errors. For instance in Socom 4, a third person shooter game designed for hardcore competitive play, you cannot switch the side that the camera sits over your characters shoulder. That alone meant that the game was fundamentally broken as you would always be severely disadvantaged whenever as opponent approached you from the left hand side of a piece of cover. Like, what? How does this pass a 5 year development process?
Most of my game time is spent on PS5 but I also have a capable PC and I have XBOX Gamepass, and it speaks volumes that some of the most fun I've had over the past year has been with titles like Sea of Thieves and Grounded via game pass. I'm wondering if anyone else feels the same way? I'm happy with Sony's singleplayer offering, games like Horizon Zero Dawn are cool, and I can appreciate them as better games than games like Killzone Shadow Fall, but I miss having all of those novel multiplayer experiences with my friends.
What I'd really like to see is
1) a pro controller
2) a redesign of the PS5 UI with emphasis on social play
3) a new multiplayer IP from Sony's first party studios
4) on-going multiplayer support for Sony's flagship franchises (let's say, The Last of Us Factions and Killzone get a 'service model' instalment)
Also I know Sony will never undo this mistake so I won't ask for it but Sony should have enabled all PS4 hardware to be enabled in-game on PS5 games, at the developers leisure. Yes the DualSense features are cool, but we also know that almost all PS5 games so far can be played without them, and yet none of the old controllers work. Sure, Sony want people to buy new controllers, but those with expensive controllers will just be waiting for adaptors and whatnot anyway. It would be a cleaner solution to simply, natively support these devices. It's a more accessible approach too, as it enables bespoke setups required for accessibility use cases to be used on the PS5 hardware.
End of complaining.
You might argue that Playstation has never been known for their multiplayer titles, but I would argue that this is isn't true. On the original Playstation, most of my time spent was playing games like Crash Team Racing and Twisted Metal , and the platform was flooded with exclusive multiplayer games, like Tekken and Street Fighter Alpha. Moving on, with the Playstation 2, I felt like Sony really started to focus on this audience with games like Socom and Killzone. Killzone was the first online multiplayer game that I ever played on a video game console, and I had a really good time with it.
It felt like the Playstation 3 was Sony's golden era of this style of game. With a tonne of experimental multiplayer titles released by Sony and their studios. At the time I had an XBOX 360 initially, and I shifted to Sony's hardware again to play games like Killzone 2 and Uncharted multiplayer. Honestly, the number of high quality online multiplayer experiences released by Sony on that hardware was astounding. I'm going to spotlight a few of these briefly below.
Warhawk
Warhawk always had a strong following on the PS3, I think its highlight was the high skill ceiling on its flight controls. Interestingly, Warhawk also featured split screen multiplayer, catering to both players who wanted to play online, or with friends locally.
Starhawk
Starhawk was a sequel to Warhawk which shifted things up with some interesting building mechanics. I really enjoyed it personally, though again the learning curve was quite steep. I loved the fast past dogfights once again on this one. Shame the base building wasn't as appreciated.
MAG
Mag was one of the most interesting multiplayer titles on the Playstation 3. Supporting 256 player engagements, MAG put me in gameplay scenarios that I wasn't able to see in any other game. The game certainly had its flaws, it didn't look all that fantastic visually, and the game became a little repetitive over time, but it was a unique and interesting multiplayer experience.
Motorstorm
This one's a little different because it's not a shooting game, but on the PS3 this was a title where I spent many of my online gameplay hours. Motorstorm offered stunning off road races that could be played online, and I found the diversity in racing lines afforded by the sprawling tracks and distinct vehicle classes made online competition really interesting.
Uncharted Multiplayer
Honestly this was one of the premier multiplayer experiences that really drew me in to playing on the PS3. Uncharted multiplayer was one of my favourite titles. I loved how the flexible climbing system created new gameplay opportunities for a third person shooter.
This is one of the few franchises in this list that could be considered still supported, as Uncharted multiplayer still exists on the PS4 version of the game. With that said, the PS4 version of Uncharted 4 multiplayer feels quite content-bare compared to some of the multiplayer offerings in Uncharted 2 and 3, featuring far fewer maps and game modes.
Fat Princess
Often forgotten, I think Fat Princess was a really phenominal multiplayer title. It was a sort of stepping stone into multiplayer and social gaming, a game that everyone could easily pick up and play, but one that had enough depth (through team coordination and strategy) for you to invest 100s of hours into with a group of friends. I had a tonne of fun with this one, and Sony really squandered this franchise.
The Last of Us Factions
Factions was a huge surprise for many people, offering a tight tactical third person experience in Naughty Dogs 'the last of us' world. The mechanics from its singleplayer experience gelled perfectly with the slower paced multiplayer setting, with elements like resource gathering and crafting making every decision meaningful.
Resistance
Resistance was an interesting multiplayer franchise because Insomniac did something very different with each installment. Personally I enjoyed the multiplayer in Resistance 2 the most, as it felt great to play and the 64 player battles were really action packed compared to the smaller scale stuff in Resistance 1 and 3.
Resistance 2 also featured 8 player co-operative style missions, which felt like a pre-cursor to things like strikes in Destiny.
Killzone 2
Perhaps my favourite multiplayer title on the PS3, Killzone 2 was everything I wanted from an online first person shooter. Unlike games like Call of Duty at the time, it placed emphasis on team coordination and tactical abilities. Almost like a sci-fi battlefield, or something of that ilk. For its time, the games graphics were incredible too.
You can still play Killzone multiplayer in some form, by playing Shadowfall on the PS4. Despite that, it's a pretty old game so you'll rarely find anyone playing anymore. The last time I logged in I declared myself the world champion, as I was the top scorer of the only lobby available.
Other titles
There were many other, cool and experimental titles that Sony released during this era too. Games like Twisted Metal, Playstation All Stars and Socom 4. I haven't listed these in detail because I think these games had quite a few flaws, nevertheless it was clear that Sony was trying to cater to the type of experiences that I was interested in, and I was always keen to try their new multiplayer titles.
On the PS4 and PS5, very few of these titles exist. You can still play Factions with TLOU remaster, and you can still play Uncharted multiplayer in Uncharted 4, but these experiences don't feel as though they ever received the support they deserve. Both of these games feature peer to peer networking and low tick rates, which makes them very rough in 2020, where most games have much better networking provisions. Beyond that, I guess we do have games like Destruction Allstars, but that game is pretty darn terrible, and the work was outsourced to an external studio (Lucid games).
But this sense that Sony aren't interested in this type of experience anymore, is more than just games. It's the hardware and system level software too.
The Lack of Pro Controller Hardware on PS5 and PS4
While Microsoft boasted their XBOX One Elite controller, Sony waited over a year before announcing that they would be supporting third parties that wanted to produce their own Pro controllers for the PS4. Most of these third party controls were crap, for one reason or another. Sony's backpaddle attachment was released in small shipments worldwide, and still neglects many of the benefits of more premium hardware.
Competitive players across the board, play with controllers that feature paddles on the back, and typically not just two paddles, but four. So why Sony chooses to ignore this audience is honestly beyond me. Again, this goes back to the feeling that Sony do not care about this type of consumer anymore. They are not making the effort to provide them with the best experience with their hardware. Sony have doubled down on this, by making all PS4 hardware obsolete on the PS5. Those expensive pro controllers that people bought for the PS4, do not work on a PS5 outside of PS4 backward compatibility, meanwhile, Sony is offering no alternative.
The PS5 UI does not feel as though it was designed with the 'social player' in mind
The revised party, friends and message system on the PS5 feels as though it was designed by someone that does not use these features. Finding your messages is a pain in the ass, finding your friends list is a pain in the ass, even simply joining a party is a pain in the ass. Hot swapping between the party menu and the game is no longer possible with a double tap of the PS button either, making it difficult to quickly switch between the game and party interface. On the whole, I would argue that everything about social play is worse on the PS5 as compared to the PS4.
Summary and points for discussion
On the whole, I just feel like Sony isn't offering, or planning to offer the types of experiences that I'm interested in, anymore. It doesn't feel like these multiplayer titles are simply missing at the moment, it feels as though Sony have no plans or interest in supporting this type of experience. I understand why Sony may have wound down some of their studios like Zipper Interactive, but it feels as though Sony aren't investing in multiplayer or even broadly, social gaming experiences anymore.
As well as my own personal discontentent with Sony's offerings, I think this is really a story of missed opportunities for Sony. Using Fat Princess as an example, the sequel felt so tone-deaf as to what the community actually wanted from that franchise. Instead of offering a competitive multiplayer experience that built on the mechanics of the first game, the PS4 Fat Princess title is a co-operative adventure game that feels like it's designed for children under 10 years old. The adult humour is stripped out, and it's a simplified (and overall bad) Diablo-esque experience. And that's not the first time this has happened. Socom 4 was released with the most basic of design errors. For instance in Socom 4, a third person shooter game designed for hardcore competitive play, you cannot switch the side that the camera sits over your characters shoulder. That alone meant that the game was fundamentally broken as you would always be severely disadvantaged whenever as opponent approached you from the left hand side of a piece of cover. Like, what? How does this pass a 5 year development process?
Most of my game time is spent on PS5 but I also have a capable PC and I have XBOX Gamepass, and it speaks volumes that some of the most fun I've had over the past year has been with titles like Sea of Thieves and Grounded via game pass. I'm wondering if anyone else feels the same way? I'm happy with Sony's singleplayer offering, games like Horizon Zero Dawn are cool, and I can appreciate them as better games than games like Killzone Shadow Fall, but I miss having all of those novel multiplayer experiences with my friends.
What I'd really like to see is
1) a pro controller
2) a redesign of the PS5 UI with emphasis on social play
3) a new multiplayer IP from Sony's first party studios
4) on-going multiplayer support for Sony's flagship franchises (let's say, The Last of Us Factions and Killzone get a 'service model' instalment)
Also I know Sony will never undo this mistake so I won't ask for it but Sony should have enabled all PS4 hardware to be enabled in-game on PS5 games, at the developers leisure. Yes the DualSense features are cool, but we also know that almost all PS5 games so far can be played without them, and yet none of the old controllers work. Sure, Sony want people to buy new controllers, but those with expensive controllers will just be waiting for adaptors and whatnot anyway. It would be a cleaner solution to simply, natively support these devices. It's a more accessible approach too, as it enables bespoke setups required for accessibility use cases to be used on the PS5 hardware.
End of complaining.
