Have you noticed something strange over the past week? Because I certainly have. Kingdom Hearts IV showed up during a Nintendo Direct. Persona 6 was teased at the Xbox Games Showcase. The final chapter of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy made its appearance at Summer Game Fest instead of a dedicated PlayStation event.

Then you have games like big Japanese IPs like Resident Evil and Persona 6 embracing the multiplatform approach without PlayStation feeling like the obvious centerpiece anymore. Individually, none of these announcements mean much. Together, however, they paint a picture that’s difficult to ignore.

For the first time in decades, PlayStation no longer feels like the unquestioned home of Japanese gaming. That might sound dramatic, but if you’ve been around since the PS1 or PS2 era, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

There was a time when PlayStation and franchises like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid, Persona, Dragon Quest and countless others almost felt inseparable. Even when games weren’t technically exclusive, Sony’s marketing made them feel like they belonged on PlayStation. It became part of the brand’s identity.

That identity wasn’t built overnight. Sony spent years cultivating relationships with Japanese publishers. Timed exclusivity deals, marketing partnerships and a shared vision helped create the image that if you loved JRPGs or Japanese action games, PlayStation was where you belonged.

It was one of the biggest reasons the PS2 became the best-selling console of all time, and it remained a major strength throughout the PS3 and PS4 generations. Today, that advantage is disappearing. To be fair, this isn’t entirely Sony’s fault.

The gaming industry has changed dramatically. Development budgets are larger than ever, publishers need to reach as many players as possible, and platform exclusivity simply isn’t as attractive as it once was. If you’re spending millions of dollars making a game, limiting yourself to one console is increasingly difficult to justify.

Square Enix has openly admitted that its future lies in multiplatform releases after several PlayStation-exclusive projects failed to meet sales expectations. Persona is also launching on Game Pass.

Conversely, Nintendo has become far more aggressive in securing major third-party announcements. Summer Game Fest has established itself as a neutral stage where everyone gets equal attention.

The economics have indeed shifted. But I also think Sony deserves some criticism here. Over the past several years, PlayStation has slowly moved away from many of the qualities that originally made it unique. The company placed enormous emphasis on cinematic, Western-developed blockbuster games.

While many of them are fantastic, they also started to define the entire brand. Meanwhile, Sony invested heavily in live-service projects, a strategy that produced more cancellations than successes and culminated in the spectacular failure of Concord.

At the same time, many longtime fans began feeling that Sony wasn’t listening to the audience that helped build PlayStation in the first place.

Whether it’s aggressive content policies, a stronger focus on Western studios, or simply the perception that the company has become more corporate than creative, the image of PlayStation has changed.

Perhaps more importantly, Japanese developers seem to have noticed. Nintendo has rebuilt many of its relationships with third-party publishers.

Xbox, despite still struggling in Japan, has aggressively pursued Japanese games through Game Pass and marketing partnerships. Even if these companies aren’t “winning” the market outright, they’re making themselves impossible to ignore.

Sony, meanwhile, no longer feels like the automatic first choice. Does this mean PlayStation is in trouble? Not even close.

The PS5 continues to sell exceptionally well. Sony still owns some of the strongest first-party studios in the industry, and games like Marvel’s Wolverine and Grand Theft Auto VI will undoubtedly move millions of PS5 consoles.

Most of these major Japanese games will probably still sell the majority of their copies on PlayStation hardware simply because of its enormous install base. But that’s not really the point. The point is that PlayStation has lost something far more difficult to measure than sales figures. It has lost part of its identity.

There was a time when seeing a Final Fantasy trailer immediately made you think of PlayStation. Today, that same trailer could appear during a Nintendo presentation, an Xbox showcase, or Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest without anyone batting an eye.

Brand identity is one of the most valuable things a console manufacturer can have. Nintendo immediately makes you think of Mario, Zelda and innovation.

Xbox has spent years reinventing itself around accessibility and Game Pass. PlayStation’s identity used to be crystal clear as well: it was the premium destination for cinematic adventures and the undisputed home of Japanese gaming.

Now, only half of that statement still feels true. Personally, I think Sony needs to reconnect with what made PlayStation special in the first place. That doesn’t mean abandoning blockbuster Western games.

But it does mean strengthening relationships with Japanese developers again, investing in that side of the brand, and reminding players why PlayStation earned its reputation in the first place.

Because while the future of gaming is undoubtedly multiplatform, brand identity still matters. The companies that remember who they are will continue to stand out.

The ones that forget often discover that rebuilding an identity is much harder than losing it. And judging by this year’s biggest gaming announcements, PlayStation might already be learning that lesson.