Over the past few weeks, Sony have made a few announcements and decisions that haven’t been very well received. I’ve always been quite fond of Sony and PlayStation but that doesn’t mean I’ll turn a blind eye to their mistakes. Sony rarely makes big mistakes but recently there have been quite a few that stand out. I won’t go as far as to say that all of Sony’s recent decisions have been bad but I will say that they could have done a far better job at managing some of their recent moves. Here are 4 poorly managed moves Sony have made recently which could have a lasting negative effect on Sony’s reputation.

1. Increasing PS Plus Subscription Fees

For those who don’t know, Sony will be increasing their PlayStation Plus subscription prices on the 22nd of September 2016. In the US, the yearly subscription will be increased form $50 to $60 and the three-month subscription will be increased from $18 to $25 while the monthly subscription will remain at $10. It’s no surprise that many aren’t happy with the increased cost of being allowed to play online. What makes it worse is that Sony’s online servers and general online service hasn’t been very reliable lately. Players have complained about not being able to get online for days at a time. Increasing the subscription fee for a service that is barely acceptable is quite a – to put it gently – risky move by Sony.

In my opinion, the price increase isn’t such a bad thing but it could have been handled much better. Sony should have worked on improving their online services first before announcing any form of price hike. If the players were able to experience their improved online services for a reasonable amount of time before news of the subscription price increase they would have been far more likely to continue their subscription. It would have also been easier for Sony to explain the reason behind the increase and keep their user base happy hence allowing Sony to keep their reputation as a more consumer friendly company.

2. Not Allowing Mods on PlayStation 4

Bethesda have recently revealed that their efforts to include mods in the PlayStation 4 versions of Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition have been denied by Sony. Bethesda published a blog post on their website saying “After months of discussion with Sony, we regret to say that while we have long been ready to offer mod support on PlayStation 4, Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim Special Edition.” Sony’s reasoning behind this decision remains unclear but the fact of the matter is this decision will not benefit anyone.

So, I’m a bit confused by this. I can’t see any benefit from their decision to deny mod support on PlayStation 4. By denying mod support — which will be available on every other playform — the PlayStation 4 version will be considered the inferior version of those games. Not only that, after Bethesda have made their experience discussing mod support with Sony public, I can’t imagine other developers being very excited to work on mod support for their games with Sony. It doesn’t benefit Sony, it doesn’t benefit Bethesda and it doesn’t benefit the consumers. An unnecessary blunder. Bad move by Sony.

3. No UHD Blu Ray Drive in PS4 pro

Since Sony announced the specs of the PlayStation 4 Pro, many have been questioning Sony’s decision to not include a UHD Blu Ray drive in their latest version of PlayStation 4 console. The entire existence of the PlayStation 4 Pro is questionable because it’s the first time Sony has released an upgraded mid-generation console but the main gripe among fans is the lack of a UHD Blu ray drive. While the PlayStation 4 Pro is capable of streaming 4K movies and running certain games at 4K resolution, the lack of a UHD Blu ray drive means that the console will not be able to play disc based 4K movies. Many are disappointed, unsurprisingly so, because the recently released Xbox One S already has a UHD Blu ray drive.

To me, this particular decision is somewhat understandable because the PlayStation 4 has always been a more gaming focused console compared to the Xbox One which was built as an all-round entertainment hub. Perhaps Sony thought that it was unnecessary to include a UHD Blu ray drive because it wouldn’t provide any added benefit to the console’s gaming performance and they would also have to increase the price of the console due to the extra cost. Whatever the reason may be, it’s not a good thing to not have a significant piece of hardware that your direct competitors are able to provide. There has been quite a strong backlash from fans but whether or not this will significantly affect the console’s sales remains to be seen. We’ll have to wait for the sales figures to find out whether Sony made the right decision.

4. Trying To Take On PC

Sony has recently stated that with the release of the PlayStation 4 Pro, their main competitor is no longer the Xbox One, it’s the PC. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO, Andrew House said “I saw some data that really influenced me. It suggested that there’s a dip mid-console life cycle where the players who want the very best graphical experience will start to migrate to PC, because that’s obviously where it’s to be had.”. So, the PlayStation 4 Pro is Sony’s way of trying to solve this and hopefully keep players gaming on a PlayStation instead of opting for a PC.

Now, here’s how I see it. Just the idea of releasing a mid-generation console in order to compete with PC is absurd. Also, Sony’s approach at competing with the PC makes very little sense. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think that charging more for an online service that isn’t very reliable and then disallowing mods is going to make people choose PlayStation over PC. No console should ever be made with the purpose of competing with PC because if somebody wanted to game on a PC, they would get a PC and if they wanted to game on a console, they would get a console. You wouldn’t buy some yogurt if you wanted some ice cream. It would make much more sense for Sony to focus on providing a great gaming console instead of a mediocre PC substitute. It would also make so much more sense if Sony had waited at least a year in order to release that updated console along side Microsoft’s project Scorpio. Some would argue that Sony needs to release the Pro because the regular PS4 isn’t capable of running VR games but that’s just not true. The regular PlayStation 4 has been used at various expos to show off VR games. PlayStation 4 Pro could have also been a way to reignite the hype for PSVR if it doesn’t manage to reach expected sales figures by the end of next year.

The gist of it is this. There isn’t much for Sony to lose if they had decided to release an updated PlayStation 4 at the end of next year. However, releasing the PlayStation 4 Pro at this point in time is a gamble for Sony. I am very curious to see the PlayStation 4 Pro sales figures. I may think it’s an unnecessary console but that’s just one man’s opinion. It might turn out to be a very lucrative move by Sony. Only time will tell.