In recent months both Sony and Microsoft have released new ad campaigns, ahead of the launch of the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and S later this year. Both ads are epic, beautifully crafted celebrations of gaming’s ability to transport us into new worlds – something which has been a lifeline for many people while stuck in lockdown.

But while the ads are undoubtedly skilfully made, there’s a lingering sense of something missing. Perhaps it’s the generic taglines – Power Your Dreams and Play Has No Limits. Or maybe it’s that they feel so similar, both leaning heavily on CGI spectacle to create that feeling of escapism. Possibly it’s because neither of them are even immediately recognisable as belonging to a particular brand. Whatever it is, the two campaigns feel surprisingly bland.

“I think weirdly enough they reflect the relatively strange situation that consoles have found themselves in,” says writer and consultant Alex Wiltshire, who’s written extensively about games, design and technology. “I agree that they are pretty bland. They’re very much following an escape from reality [narrative]. The games industry has been peddling that idea, but with much more visually and intellectually exciting advertising in the past. It’s strange that a new generation of technology is coming through, and the imagination with which that is being communicated has gone down.”

While, in the past, a new console would have meant a leap forward in terms of graphics and power, Wiltshire points out that companies such as Sony and Microsoft are now finding themselves in a world of “diminishing returns”. Technology is no longer improving exponentially, meaning consoles can rely less on boasting about the hardware itself. What a console stands for is becoming a much more nebulous concept.

Other selling points, such as Xbox’s subscription service or the PS5’s lack of loading time, might be important to players, but they’re not necessarily sources of great creative inspiration. It’s putting console makers in a difficult spot. As Wiltshire says: “It’s a pretty hard sell for them to say that this new generation is definitely better in a way that the mainstream public will particularly notice or care about.”

Sony’s advertising legacy makes the situation more complicated. There have been some truly weird and provocative PlayStation ads over the years, which helped cement the console’s place in culture. Many of these channeled a very specific sense of surrealism that made them almost instantly identifiable as a Playstation ad. Sony did venture a little way into this territory recently for a grisly Valentine’s Day ad released earlier this year, but its latest campaign adopts a notably different tone. Xbox’s also pushed boundaries with ads including Mosquito and Champagne, which saw an explosive childbirth scene, and a baby launched through the world like a cork, ageing as it went.

“PlayStation said, ‘Hey, these things are part of culture – you can go out and go clubbing and come home and play this’,” notes Wiltshire. “It’s part of your life, and part of culture, and plays into the music you’re listening to.”

“I think that message still exists in these two ads, they’re both placing it in people’s lives, especially the Microsoft one,” he continues. “But it’s so cosy. It’s domestic life. The guy is sitting down in his apartment. There’s something much more exciting about the idea that PlayStation or Xbox is out in the world with you, and something to aspire to, as opposed to something you settle into when you’re at home. It’s accurate, but it’s not very exciting.”

This particular brand of comfortable escapism feels particularly contentious in a difficult year, when films, TV shows, music, and games have become channels and worlds people have been forced to rely on – in the absence, for many, of real-world experiences.

The other thing that makes this a tough creative brief is the audience. In earlier days, console makers were advertising to a much younger group of people. Now, gaming has reached the point where the audience encompasses a huge age range – which means advertising has to speak to a vast set of individuals. “You’ve got anyone from the age of eight, or much younger, to 55, who are viably going to be buying a console,” says Wiltshire. “And they’re all buying the same games more or less, or buying into the same ecosystem.”

Just to further complicate matters, games brands are having to navigate an increasingly blurred media landscape. “All digital media is having the same problem right now,” says content strategist Chappell Ellison. “The same thing is happening with streaming TV and film. There’s so many gatekeepers that everyone’s jockeying to be that next major gatekeeper.”

“I honestly think most of gaming is having a bit of an identity crisis right now,” she adds. “This industry is now filled with indie companies and developers who are breaking all sorts of ground. In the last year, one of the most popular games was about a misbehaving goose. There’s no longer an aesthetic that encapsulates gaming, and I think that is a little scary for people who are having to market those products – how do you go forward with an aesthetic that feels like it fits everyone? Do you become more of an Apple, where everything is so clean where it doesn’t feel like you have any style?”

On a purely nostalgic level, it’s easy to yearn for the golden days of PlayStation ads, but as Ellison points out, it’s not necessarily as straightforward as returning to that. These ads might have been edgy, she says, but they also often walked the line between acceptable and offensive in a way that adverts these days can’t get away with, particularly when speaking to what is now a mainstream audience.

“Some might argue that we’re missing that,” she told CR. “I don’t think it’s necessarily that, but there was a sense of humour and oddness in old ads. Across the board, in a lot of industries, ads were so much weirder in the 80s and 90s than today. I’m not sure why, but it does feel like they’ve become more formulaic.

“Those PlayStation ads were so bizarre, but I think as with many companies, when they start they work with a lot of young people. Naturally they need to mature and grow up. Every company has to go through this moment where they decide it’s time to grow up. I think PlayStation absolutely did that a while back, and it’s hard to grow up without losing some of the humour – you don’t necessarily want to be known for that. The more competitive every industry gets, the more scared they are of alienating anyone through bizarre humour.”

In many ways, for huge brands like Sony and Microsoft, half the battle is already won – in terms of actual console sales. Sony’s first round of PS5 pre-orders sold out immediately, as has the Xbox series X and S. Both companies know there’s a die-hard legion of fans who will buy their hardware, regardless of whether they see an ad campaign or not. But there’s, arguably, still work to do in terms of who can stake their place in culture.

This will become increasingly important as cloud gaming becomes a major competitor, and titles become less tied to specific systems – as has already happened with Sony titles migrating to the PC and Switch. As the promise of ever-greater power slips out of company’s hands, they’ll be forced to find a new way to differentiate themselves. That might not be the Third Place, or PlayStation symbol-shaped nipples, but it also doesn’t feel like either of these two campaigns either.

rotational.co.uk; chappellellison.com