The PlayStation Classic : A Bad Move By Sony?

How Much Does Nostalgia Cost?

Sony recently announced the PlayStation Classic, and anyone who watches me on twitter knows, I'm not exactly a fan. But before I dive completely into cynicism and go over everything wrong with this decision lets discuss what exactly Sony is selling for $100. 

"The console will come pre-loaded with 20 classic titles, including fan-favorites such as Final Fantasy VII, Jumping Flash, Ridge Racer Type 4, Tekken 3, and Wild Arms. The mini console is approximately 45% smaller than the original PlayStation, and it emulates the original’s look and feel by featuring similar controllers and packaging. Long-time fans will appreciate the nostalgia that comes with rediscovering the games they know and love, while gamers who might be new to the platform can enjoy the groundbreaking PlayStation console experience that started it all. All of the pre-loaded games will be playable in their original format." - PlayStation.blog

Sounds pretty sweet right? The perfect way to commemorate the system's... 24th anniversary? Yeah... well I'm not buying it, metaphorically and literally. This product was clearly made to take advantage of current trends while ignoring the true interests of their customers.

Where Did Sony Go Wrong?

Honestly Sony has done a lot of good for their customers over recent years. They arguably made indie games mainstream, made a lot of exclusive deals, and offered their console at a much more competitive price. So, let's not ignore all the progress Sony made since the PS3. But, with that said, that makes it that much more important to point it out when Sony reverts back to their corporate focused ways. The fact is, the PlayStation Classic is a cash grab. It's not a celebration of any kind of anniversary, although it's funny how the blog makes it sound like it's celebrating "Almost 25 years". In other news, I'll be celebrating my grandmother's 'almost 90th' Birthday soon, I mean she'll be 89, but 90 sounds cooler.

Seriously though, it should be obvious that Sony believes that Nintendo has put a price on nostalgia and intends on cashing in. All while looking as though they're bringing back their classic games as if they were hidden away in Walt Disney's Vault. When the fact is, Sony simply sees this as a much more profitable way to give their customers access to old games without providing backwards compatibility.

Can't Go Back

  
PS4 not having any form of backwards compatibility was a hot topic for many fans. Especially after Microsoft announced that the Xbox One would have access to Xbox 360 and original Xbox games through the store. Online petitions were created to raise awareness of the issue, but all fans got was a brief and simple answer during the 2015 E3. The boss of PlayStation Shuhei Yoshida said, "Backward compatibility is hard ."- Gamespot Article

And since then, that remained Sony's stance on the subject. Looking back now, a more comical quote from the boss of PlayStation Europe is,

"When we've dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much. That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?"

Looking back and seeing how Sony is now creating a dedicated system to play those same 'ancient' games is laughable. So that proves to us that Sony isn't doing this for the dedicated Sony fans who have asked for this, they're doing this because they got tired of Nintendo being the only one having a retro system that continues to sell out in stores. Because Microsoft has proven that backward comparability has a following and can be made accessible through the system's store. But why let the consumer pick and choose the games they want to play, when depending on the price, the average gamer may spend only $50 to play old favorites. Why do that when Nintendo has paved the way for a new product that locks the consumer in at a $100 entry fee to access 20 pre-selected games. Even those who might only be interested in playing 2 of the 20 games will still buy the system just to get that nostalgic feeling of the good old days. You know, those days when nostalgia didn't have a price tag.


But what do you think? Is it worth it, are you gonna wait for it to go on sale, or are you still holding out for PS4 to be backward compatible.