Going into 2014, Sony was showing a dominant lead in video game console sales, with the PlayStation 4 clearing millions of units sold worldwide and preparing to debut in other markets, including Japan, where video game sales were quite popular.
However, the following twelve months would prove to be a bumpy ride for the company, with both a series of highs and lows. The highs came with the introduction of killer software, including games like The Last of Us Remastered (which originally released on the PlayStation 3 a year prior) and LittleBigPlanet 3. The PlayStation 4 also managed to make big sales moves over the year, with 13.5 million units sold worldwide before the holiday season, since the console’s debut last year.
The company faced its hardships as well, though. The introduction of its streaming PlayStation Now service was innovative, but met with harsh criticism due to an uneven pricing model, with most games costing quite a bit of money to rent. (Sony has insisted that it will continue working on it in the months ahead, however.) The PlayStation consoles also saw some heavy outages over the holiday season, with PlayStation Network being down over the course of the Christmas holiday. Finally, certain titles, like DriveClub, had their own problems, resulting in less-than-stellar sales.
Still, the company is primed for a very successful 2015. Various games are promising to be huge sellers in the new year, including the action-packed The Order: 1886 and Bloodborne. The return of hero Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End should also be quite promising, and several “indie” titles should help bolster the company’s line-up as well.
Finally, the debut of the PlayStation Experience showed just how devoted Sony was to its fanbase, with three days full of events, exclusive announcements and other surprises. It ended up being a tremendous success, and with Sony booking Las Vegas space over the next four years, it looks like it’ll be around for quite a while.
Yeah, Sony hasn’t exactly had the smoothest of years, but it still impressed with its line-up of games, and managed to work its way through errors to still surface as a winner in the industry for 2014. And chances are things will just get bigger and better the next year around…
