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Was it?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 2,185 69.7%
  • No.

    Votes: 948 30.3%

  • Total voters
    3,133

toad02

Banned
Oct 10, 2018
1,530
PS5's barebones backwards compatibility news were the cherry on the top of the atrocity this conference was.
 

Dekim

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,301
How can people say Sony didn't mean for this talk to be for the mainstream when they put the talk up on their main YouTube channel? Does Sony has a habit of putting GDC talks on their main YouTube channel?
 

MrS

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,085
It will be quickly forgiven if they show Demon Souls and other games looking face meltingly good, but yes it was an unforced error. The BC stuff leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
 

Raonak

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
2,170
Not at all, i really enjoyed it, it's a pretty solid spec reveal.

now they just need the big games showcase.
 

Remeran

Member
Nov 27, 2018
3,896
How can people say Sony didn't mean for this talk to be for the mainstream when they put the talk up on their main YouTube channel? Does Sony has a habit of putting GDC talks on their main YouTube channel?
This. Even MS separated they're GDC talks and put them in the MS Gamestack channel. They should have revealed the specs to the public first then did a deep dive at GDC. If they would have just publish an overview of specs yesterday it would have been better.
 
Jan 21, 2019
2,902
Yes. While I enjoyed the deep dive. I think it was a bad timing. This kind of video should have come after a more general reveal like the Xbox Series X.
 

hank_tree

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,596
It was a disaster but I don't think it'll matter much once they do a proper reveal.
 

YukiroCTX

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,995
Yes. Even if Most consumers may not watch the event itself but they will hear key points about it and the worst thing is not having any footage of any games to accompany the spec talk like they did with the first meeting to set expectations on what the specs meant for consumers. They chose to live stream this as the first event of the year for PS5 which is about the worst idea they could have done after a logo reveal in Jan.
 

Theorymon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,377
While this is fine for GDC, doing this before a more consumer facing PS5 reveal just seems like a bone-headed idea to me.

Yeah sure this isn't like a Xbox One reveal, Wii U E3 Fireworks, PS3 E3 2006 level disaster, but few reveals are as bad as those. If Sony wasn't ready to do a consumer focused PS5 reveal, then I think they would have been better off delaying this GDC-like livestream. Doing this first just made the PS5 look worse compared to the XSX, and there's also that whole BC debacle too.

Will it screw over the PS5? I doubt it. But, this certainly wasn't good messaging in any respect. Hopefully they get their act together later.
 

Andalusia

Alt Account
Member
Sep 26, 2019
620
Yes. No need to for them to make a big deal out of it in the first place. They either should have shadow dropped the video with no announcement before hand or if they were going to make an announcement it should have been along the line of "Mark Cerny is going to be delivering a technical presentation on the future of Playstation that would have taken place at GDC prior to it being cancelled". Instead they marketed it as a laymen level PS5 event on all their English language platforms and they only mention of GDC was from a Japanese tweet that very, very few would have seen. If they were presenting this at GDC would they have even mentioned it before hand? Don't know, but I doubt it would have been in this same "Road to PS5" vain they did today.
 

Jobbs

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,639
it's funny how MS and sony keep trading places. One is hungry and doing things right, the other is clueless and out of touch. Back and forth back and forth
 

Egida

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,382
Absolutely. The technical talk, the bc fiasco, not even a sneak peak at some new game, we're still a long time from launch but boy, they couldn't be handling this worse.
 

dodo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,997
i think it was fine and was exactly what they said it was going to be. anyone going into this expecting an E3 demo reel blowout only had themselves to blame.

THAT BEING SAID: it is weird as hell how little in the way of game announcements, videos, screenshots, etc we have from Sony and Microsoft for consoles that are supposedly launching this year. From Xbox we've seen a real-time demo of two Ninja Theory projects (and maybe the Halo Infinite trailer from E3? was that in-engine?) and for PS5 we've seen Godsfall or whatever. That's it.

it's a bit less weird now given the, you know, whole pandemic situation throwing plans into flux, but it's still shocking to me how little we've seen in the way of software for these things
 
Oct 25, 2017
7,987
México
One thing I have noticed. People's reaction to Mark Cerny.

It might be that social media was different back when he first did the same talk about the PS4, but social media is destroying Cerny this time around.
 

banter

Member
Jan 12, 2018
4,127
It truly shows how little the gaming population knows about how consoles even work and it's sad tbh.
 

coredecepts

Member
Oct 27, 2017
532
It was a GDC talk. They did this before the PS4 launch also, and I don't remember people getting bent out of shape. If you expected a big press event, that's on you.
 
May 31, 2018
978
You are allegedly ready to ship games In 7-9 months. Those games should have been included in the first "it's here!" spectacle.

OR

Have a date ready to announce when the fun show will be with all the games. Not "Thank you for your time." This all could have been saved with a single screen with character silhouettes and a date for the software unveil.
 

Heri

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,427
I understand what was the purpose of this presentation but I agree with Jason, they should have shown games.
 

Kinsei

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
20,532
I do think it was a mistake to do this before a more consumer focused reveal. Though Sony did say exactly what it was going to be, hence why I didn.'t bother to watch.

It truly shows how little the gaming population knows about how consoles even work and it's sad tbh.
Why would we? It's not our job to care about this stuff.
 

Megabreath

Member
Oct 25, 2018
2,663
The video was fine, if they explained what it was and released it a month ago no one would be upset.

But why are people upset about it? I just don't understand. You won't be able to buy one for another 8 months (hopefully) anyway.

That said, that Series X Gears tech demo looked great!
 

Iwao

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,795
It was meant to be a GDC talk, it was a GDC talk. I guess Sony didn't have much choice but to let as many people see it as possible given they would have no physical presence at GDC.

Though, like with most things people get concerned over with Sony and PlayStation, it will be forgotten about when more exciting news about the console is revealed, such as the games. The Last of Us Part II comes out in just over 2 months, so expect a HUGE, HUGE preview event for that in just over a month. The mindshare from that game will smoothly lead them into the next PS5 marketing rollout. Sony knows what the fuck its doing.
 
Last edited:

nanskee

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 31, 2017
5,071
Either should have called it something else or didn't tell the masses via twitter

Like on twitter they should've titled it a developer conversation about the PS5 or something, that way it isn't marketed towards average consumer and average consumer cannot complain.
 

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,670
"Our console isn't as strong, so teraflops don't matter anymore. And we aren't going to run at full clocks all the time also, because it would melt it. Our revolutionary SSD technology is really impressive, but we don't have any game to show how it improves gaming, which is unfortunate because third parties probably won't take full advantage of this awesome piece of hardware on which we focused so much. But hey, we went full crazy on audio. 3D Audio, yes, audio is so important, forget graphics, who cares?. Oh, and our GPU isn't that great, so we'll probably use ray tracing for shadows and global ilumination".

And all of that is fine, they chose price over performance. But than they should have made that clear: "oh, and we are announcing that our console will be $399".

Seriously. Something to convince people who're on the fence or underwhelmed would've gone a long way. The price would've done that. A game or two would've done that.

So Sony tells you what to expect, you decide what you want to expect, and it's their fault for delivering what they said they would and not delivering what you expected

It wouldn't be a problem if EVERY EVENT Sony is involved in for the past year and a half or more didn't have a pre-event caveat of "hey this isn't what you're looking for". Maybe they should just...give people the information they want instead of going radio silent for months, only to emerge for five minutes with yet another "temper your expectations" event, before retreating back into the shadows.
 

Moogle

Top Mog
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,771
All will be forgotten once game reveals, price, and what shade of black it is this time are unveiled.
 

Booya_base

Member
Oct 31, 2017
747
Jersey
Yeah, I think it was. Had no effect on me because obviously amazing games will be coming out on it but they really needed to show some gameplay of something, its hard to get excited about tech specs from any console maker in a vacuum. Hellblade 2 was the first actual exciting thing about next gen. That said, the stuff Cerny was saying does make me think they have really thought this through and I'm sure the performance is unreal. Loved that he dunked on the PS4 multiple times too, I never expected that.
 

Deluxera

Member
Mar 13, 2020
2,587
Not really. What matters is the information, not the way it was delivered. Also we are still a long way until launch.

The ambiguous and conflicting statements about backwards compatibility may do much more harm if Sony doesn't come very soon to clarify things up.
 

Rotobit

Editor at Nintendo Wire
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
10,196
I knew what it was going in, and pretty much got to see exactly what I expected

But still, I don't think Sony should have hyped it up in the way they did through mainstream channels. Sure you could argue it was on the viewers for expecting too much, but it was still very dryly delivered, and we have no idea what the company's roadmap even is going forward. Even if there was a simple "we plan to reveal more in April/May" it would have gone down a lot better.

Doesn't help that Microsoft has been delivering much the same info in a much more successful manner, deliberately targeting hardware enthusiasts and letting the important bits trickle down to the masses naturally through word of mouth.

In the end though I don't think the PS5 has been damaged by this, it was just a very silly call.
 

amstradcpc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,768
I love PlayStation, but this conference(?!) wasn't really good, at least for normal people who don't know much about these things. I know it was a GDC type event, but I think they could at least use a tech demo to show PS5 power, not just some slides and an hour of talking about SSD and...
wasnt good because tried to sell you why small and fast is better and now variable clocks is a good thing in a console. They knew all the spec checkboxes were lost and tried to hide it in suoer deep technical explanations.
 

nanskee

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 31, 2017
5,071
Either should have called it something else or didn't tell the masses via twitter

Like on twitter they should've titled it a developer conversation about the PS5 or something, that way it isn't marketed towards average consumer and average consumer cannot complain.


Nothing terrible though, 10 minutes in, I knew what it was and turned it off
 

cyrribrae

Chicken Chaser
Member
Jan 21, 2019
12,723
Not a blunder in and of itself. But a predictably badly timed and executed endeavor. They should have pulled it.

For THIS to be the first thing they show after all this silence? Cmon. Even without Xbox, that's just pathetic. The fact that they're now revealing info after their competitor - doing it in a less impressive and more confusing way - and revealing less exciting stuff...?

Sony maybe just banking on people only paying attention to ps channels... But.... They should have led big with their strengths. And they did not. Show the games. Pimp out the storage solution. Heck, flaunt an attractive price.
hey didn't do a full blowout. So why was there such a long silence??

To me, that was the blunder. This video in isolation was fine. Making everyone beholden to this one video to get all their hopes up? That was the marketing mistake that made this video now struggle.
 

chrisPjelly

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
10,496
It's boring and flaccid but it's not TERRIBLE or outright "wtf are you doing" territory like the Xbox One was. People are being waaaaaay too overreactionary to the PS5 being weaker than the SX. It'll be (relatively) cheaper and more successful like older Sony machines, it won't be expensive and gimmicky like the WiiU and Xbox One (with the mandatory Kinect). So long as Sony brings the games and doesn't fuck up anything else, they'll hype up the crowd. But I do worry about what will even release on time with the current Corona situation :/
 

Altair

Member
Jan 11, 2018
7,901
It was a GDC talk. They did this before the PS4 launch also, and I don't remember people getting bent out of shape. If you expected a big press event, that's on you.

They had already fully revealed the console before doing their GDC talk for the PS4. This isn't the same situation. Nobody would care if they had already revealed the console along with some games but they haven't. This is the first significant talk they've done regarding the PS5 and it's not something that's aimed at consumers. This would be more for devs than anybody else.
 

Deleted member 1594

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,762
It was just a GDC talk. Gave the same one with the same name the exact same way for the PS4.
People just be thirsty for news, I get it, but this info was more for developers than consumers
Thank you.

Does nobody remember "The Road to PS4?" Exactly the same kind of video.

It's great to hear him talk about this stuff for almost an hour. Just like John Carmack. I can listen to these guys all day.
 

UltimusXI

Member
Oct 27, 2017
994
I was afraid it was going to be like this and it was. I feel like the only way they could have pulled a presentation like this off is by having superior performance (reflected by numbers most people care about), because for the masses, that is all that sticks. If not, do not do a presentation like this before the console has been unveiled at least in the same way as in the PS Meeting for PS4.
 

Kingsora

Member
May 19, 2018
1,055
And in one or two months Sony will show off some good looking games and we will al forget about this.

It's not going to matter in the long run, really. Btw from how they phrased it, it was clearly that this presentation would be just what it was, nothing more.
 

ADee

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
963
Sweden
Holy shit the hot takes in this thread.

The switch is vastly inferior in comparision to the Xbox One X. The PS5 and the Series X aren't even as far apart as the One and PS4 were at launch.

What does Switch have to do with anything you quoted?
Also the Switch has been out for three years, but most important; the Switch is a handheld, PS5 and XSX is not.
 

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,670
Thank you.

Does nobody remember "The Road to PS4?" Exactly the same kind of video.

It's great to hear him talk about this stuff for almost an hour. Just like John Carmack. I can listen to these guys all day.

Didn't that video come AFTER the PS4's formal announcement though? That's the problem - this is the first time we're seeing the PS5, we know nothing about its games or anything, and all we get is a slow-paced stats-nerd video that pretty much just reveals how the system is worse in almost every regard than the competition, with no real tech demos of any kind to explain its few strengths and how they'll benefit gaming.

If this came out AFTER a formal PS5 reveal people wouldn't be nearly as upset but Sony has dragged their feet for months with nothing to show for it.
 

Scottoest

Member
Feb 4, 2020
11,353
It was a GDC talk. They did this before the PS4 launch also, and I don't remember people getting bent out of shape. If you expected a big press event, that's on you.

Change of venue means a change of expectations. This video was literally called "The Road to PS5", and contained a first look at all of the information core fans had been waiting for, so they knew those people would watch it.

I don't think it was some earth-shattering, generation-altering blunder like the fateful series of decisions and statements Microsoft made in the run up to the Xbox One, but it was definitely a "blunder" in the sense of being a response to Microsoft's roll-out so far.

All I walked away with, was that their SSD is faster, pretty much everything else is slightly slower, and their back compat is going to be nowhere near the state people hoped it would be in.

Like I said - it's not the end of the world. Once people see games, the only people who are going to bother flexing about minor spec differences are the fanboys whose minds were made up anyway. But I don't see how you don't call this video a "blunder".