Hey everyone! Nayan from Playism here. I just recently got back from Sony Computer Entertainment’s 2nd annual PlayStation Experience event, where we showed Croixleur Sigma on the PS4, and I wanted to share my feelings about the event. I want to, mostly because it actually felt different from our experiences at events like PAX or BitSummit. Maybe there was something in the air, or maybe it was the circumstances of the event, but the whole thing felt so unique.

Let’s start at the beginning. I arrived in San Francisco, got to my hotel, and immediately sat down to check my email. Since we were going to have a booth at the show, I needed to double check which days we would be able to set up, and when we needed to be on the premises to show off our game.

When I checked the schedule, I was reminded that PlayStation Experience has its own press conference, just like Tokyo Game Show or E3. The unique thing, though, is that anyone attending the event could attend it in person.

Despite working in the game industry for three years now, I’ve never had the opportunity to attend a press conference live and in person. I’ve always had to watch them on TV or online. Thinking this was an opportunity I couldn’t miss, I lined up with everyone else at 9am, and found myself a seat in the theater.

The energy was palpable. Every single person with their butts parked in a chair was there to find out what new PlayStation games were being announced, whether they be first or third party. The press conference itself was also geared towards the fans. Packed with announcements for long awaited sequels, brand new titles available the same day, and free downloads for anyone attending PSX, the press conference really was meant to be a big fat “Thank you, and don’t worry” from SCEA.

The most interesting part for me, though, was who attended. Unlike PAX, or TGS, or E3, if you’re attending PlayStation Experience, you probably either have a PS4 or a Vita. As a result, I noticed that attendees treated the show floor differently than those attending a less focused event like PAX. Every person who had a chance to try out Croixleur Sigma would immediately say “I loved it. This is really cool. When’s it coming out and how much is it?”

At first I was taken aback. I was used to having to volunteer that information before they walked off to try something new. Instead, every single person was incredibly interested to know how they could own this game they just played. I suppose it makes sense. As an attendee, every single game on the show floor is a title you can own in the future, because it’s always on the system you already own at home.

As a result, the show floor becomes a physical catalog of all the games you can own in the future. Attendees treated booths as lines of demos for games they can most definitely own, rather than cool games that, yeah, maybe might be cool if they ever buy a gaming PC/tablet/console.

With that came enthusiasm. We had quite a Playism fans come by just to tell me how much they were looking forward to more Playism PS4 games. Others came by to try the game purely because they read my blog post on the Official PlayStation blog.

Much like PAX, people were there to celebrate their hobby and check out upcoming games with their friends. Unlike PAX, though, the audience was focused on celebrating the world of PlayStation.

Sony’s recent campaign over the last few years has been a community focused one, and it’s been successful. If PS Experience is indicative of their commitment to connect with fans and give them what they want, then I’m excited and honored to be a part of the future of PlayStation.

And we will be! While we started with PC games, PlayStation titles are quickly becoming a main part of Playism’s future, and we couldn’t be happier.

So, from all of us at Playism, have a wonderful holiday, and when you’re not spending time with family and friends, how about spending some time on that video game you’ve been meaning to finish?