Sony debuted a new ad this week, Variety.com was the first news outlet to unveil it. The ad (watch it above), titled “The Edge” shows some computer CG images worthy of a Hollywood film. But, in what has become an increasingly odd strategy by Sony, no actual gameplay footage of any game was shown in it.
The company had previously shown another ad to illustrate the new controller’s features, including the haptic feedback, but again, no gameplay footage was shown either.
It is a strange marketing strategy, as Sony has chosen to make “Movie like” ads showing wondrous worlds, but has refused to include game footage, or even PS5 visual targets on the videos.
According to global head of marketing Eric Lempel, the spot is meant to “evoke some of the feelings you would get from PlayStation 5.”
“It’s really just talking about who we are as a brand and exciting and thrilling our fans. We want to excite and thrill you. We want to show them a path to the mysterious unknown… what you’re seeing is them coming to the edge and then going beyond. And really, that’s what we’re trying to signal here. It’s not about the features. It’s a brand spot. You’re going to see a lot of the games start to play into these campaigns very quickly”- Eric Lempel
The ad, seems partially inspired by Japanese Role Playing Games, as it features flying ships striking across a fantasy world after crossing what seems to be a portal like “edge”.
Sony, clearly wants to appeal to the ‘Epic Fantasy Adventure’ crowd with the commercial, but still, with games like Demon Souls on the company’s launch window catalogue, I think is overdue that they show an ad with actual gameplay from its games.
The Ad’s visuals, while spectacular, remain purely a CG work. The CG presentation might, or might not be a representation of the target visuals for the system. I am not doubting that the PS5 can produce something similar, as the trailer of Horizon Forbidden West certainly looked as good.
Screens show a vast difference in visual fidelity between current’s get Aloy, and her next generation version. Even at 1080p (in which the trailer was captured), shows a clear improvement over PS4 Pro’s 4k Capture of the game.
Clearly, Sony could, in theory, created commercials showcasing its games, and they would have a major ‘wow’ factor going for them. The company, however, remains stead fast in its approach to market the PS5 by utilizing ‘Hollywood’ movie trailer styled commercials.
Fair play to them, but gamers would appreciate a showcase of the actual games for the system at this point.
Horizon Forbidden West, isn’t a launch window title, but here is hoping that Sony eventually prepares a trailer with new game footage of that, and other titles on its repertoire. Perhaps,Wednesday’s rumored games showcase will unveil more footage of the already known launch window games, and other new titles.