When Sony and Microsoft launched their next-gen consoles last fall, you foolishly assumed they were better. As you waited in online purchase queues, you said, “Oh, it’s totally okay that there are basically no new or exclusive games for these systems I am trying to pay hundreds of dollars for!” But as a gaming journalist, my standards are a bit higher than yours, and this so-called “next generation” is a colossal disappointment.
Look, I don’t care if all the new and old games on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have better graphics, performance, and gameplay. That’s not what being a gamer is about! We all know that new experiences trump good ones. Sony and Microsoft’s failure to immediately deliver breathtaking new IP and surprising exclusives has already doomed the new systems.
I’ve already played every good game from the last generation (like most people), so I don’t care about optimized versions of them. So what if God of War, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, or Assassin’s Creed Valhalla are amazing games made better by the use of the next-gen technology? They are ancient history now! And don’t even get me started on the lack of console exclusives; if a title releases on multiple platforms, my excitement level plummets. Games are art, and by definition, art is better and more important when it is accessible only to a limited audience. Letting everyone experience a piece of art only cheapens it.
I don’t think my expectations for this generation of consoles are unreasonable: I just want to play completely mind-blowing games that are unlike anything I have ever seen before and that transform my personal idea of what interactive entertainment can accomplish. What’s so hard about that?
