Sony Snubbed By Time Magazine
We're about to move into a brand new decade, making it a perfect time to stop and reflect on all the technological progress we've made in the last ten years. This is exactly what Time Magazine did with its feature, "The 10 Best Gadgets of the 2010s." On this list, most — but not all — of gaming's major players were recognized for their technological advances. Sony, however, was snubbed altogether.
Time Magazine considers the following do-dads to be the "decade's most important and influential gadgets."
- Apple iPad (2010)
- Tesla Model S (2012)
- Raspberry Pi (2012)
- Google Chromecast (2013)
- DJI Phantom (2013)
- Amazon Echo (2014)
- Apple Watch (2015)
- Apple AirPods (2016)
- Nintendo Switch (2017)
- Xbox Adaptive Controller (2018)
While all these gadgets are certainly worthy of recognition, Sony's exclusion feels glaring. What about the PlayStation VR? The PSVR made the world of virtual reality more accessible than ever, selling millions of units and effectively becoming the go-to Christmas gift in its heyday. The Nintendo Switch is the only gaming console that apparently enjoys Time's favor. It does, admittedly, have a unique hybrid design previously unseen in gaming consoles, setting it apart from the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.
VR is completely absent from Time's list, which is meant to be about gadgets that tell "the story of a new way of thinking, a slow-moving paradigm shift set to change the way we approach the personal technology we interact with on a daily basis." Hasn't VR introduced a new way of thinking? Even if Sony's PSVR was excluded, shouldn't the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift have garnered Time's attention? The Oculus Quest took a big step toward the kind of VR interactions only dreamed about in science fiction: cordless and comfortable, using your natural hand motions to control the world around you.
So maybe Sony shouldn't feel so bad. Time Magazine might not have a very high opinion of VR's influence in the last decade, PSVR or otherwise.