Topic: PlayStation 5 --OT--

@KilloWertz Yeah, I was surprised that Spider-Man showed up since it was reported to be 3rd party/indie. Technically Helldivers 2 is 2nd party, with Sony funding and exclusivity.

@MaulTsir You were begging people to agree with you? Read your post and you'll figure it out.

Anyways, it wasn't all bad. Like I said, obviously the trailer and release date for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a huge deal for me and honestly matters more to me than almost anything else they could announce themselves, but the continued secrecy behind mostly everything they are doing themselves is well passed annoying.

I'm looking forward to Phantom Liberty as Cyberpunk 2077 has been one of my favorite games this gen so far. Again, we've already known about it, so seeing more of it is a bit less exciting, but like Spider-Man 2 I've had it pre-ordered for a while now. Spider-Man 2, well, enough said. Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways is something I'm looking forward to as well, probably more than some as I've never had a problem with Ada's voice actress.

So, in the end we both had 4 games/DLC from it that we are looking forward to. Judged solely on what was presented, it was ok. I would have been able to shrug it off solely based on the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth trailer, but the way Sony has been so secretive with their 1st party road map this gen, there has to be a limit to letting them slide.

@Th3solution I was not aware of that about Helldivers 2, but I guess having no interest in online games doesn't help. I have read nothing about the game, and the only thing I've seen from it is from the presentation before this one when I actually watched it live.

@KilloWertz I’m also not really interested in this stable of online MP games that are being developed, but I just remember the first Helldivers from PS3 and Vita and it had a small following. It was completely different as a top down shooter, as I recall, but was MP-centric as well. This sequel looks much more sophisticated.

I’m not sure what the deal is with Arrowhead Studios as to whether it’s a situation like Kojima studios and Quantic Dream studios where they have had such a strong relationship with Sony making exclusives and yet don’t really want to be owned and wish to keep independence, or whether it’s more from Sony’s side that they don’t really want to commit to owning Arrowhead since they aren’t quite confident in their long term productivity. I suspect it’s the latter. And if Sony doesn’t watch out, it’ll end up like Ninja Theory, where the studio makes some banger PS exclusives and drags their feet on acquiring the studio so Microsoft just swoops in and buys them from under their noses.

@Th3solution I have no knowledge of the studio, but Sony is usually good in regards to either buying or keeping developers like that close. Unfortunately a Ninja Theory occurrence does happen from time to time though, and that is a shame as I loved every game I've actually played of their's. It was a smart move by Microsoft though.

@KilloWertz Sony's first party Road map in particular is somewhat concerning to me too. Apart from the upcoming Spider-Man 2 and then possibly Wolverine (although I haven't seen any news/game-play to be sure) are the ONLY games I know of that interest me.

I have zero interest in Marathon, Foamstars, Helldivers 2 or Fairgame$ at all - I know not all are 1st Party, but that doesn't fill me with excitement for the future. I have never really been a fan of 'typical' Japanese Games like Final Fantasy, Nier etc, no interest in VR either so I am concerned about what the road map ahead looks like for me.

With Spider-Man 2 launching soon, that would leave only Wolverine to look forward to and as its Insomniac, how long after will it release? What else can I expect in the 'near' future? Do they have anything that appeals to me?

I am sure that their future line-up will appeal to others a LOT more than some, myself included, but I expect there are others like me who want more games like Uncharted, Infamous, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima, Last of Us etc and have little/no interest in GaaS/MP based games that are really designed to sell Cosmetics in a market saturated by these...

I definitely fall into that camp.

@BAMozzy I am sure they are still making plenty of those signature single player games, but the main problem is we have no idea what they are actually making. I know games take longer to make, but there's no way that at least some of them don't have something to show by now.

Things will probably be fine in the end, and it's not like there's a shortage of things to play on the PS5, but this version of Sony where they keep almost everything they are doing a secret is quite annoying and just borderline lazy.

Speaking of Insomniac, hopefully now that Spider-Man 2 is basically done, that we can get another Ratchet & Clank game along with Wolverine. Given how good Rift Apart was and how it ended, leaving multiple possibilities for future games, I'll be pretty pissed if we only get one Ratchet & Clank game yet again this console generation.

@BAMozzy @KilloWertz It feels like either (could be both) Sony went too heavy into live service territory and went silent because they've realized they made a mistake (Suicide Squad and the May PS Showcase were negatively received) or they're being cautious about announcement timings because of what's incoming on other platforms.

There is the situation of the Activision acquisition (May showcase was announced the day after the EU approved it so something similar may happen if the CMA approve the adjusted deal in mid-October) and Switch 2 (the September Direct made it very clear that new Nintendo hardware is inbound in 2024).

@BAMozzy Yeah, it seems like many of the single player third person games are going to come from second party in the short term — notably Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2, etc.

Still, first party certainly has an Uncharted game, and a single player Horizon game in development (plus all their other Horizon projects like that MMO or whatever). The new Uncharted game won’t be a ND game but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is far enough along that we hear about it within the next year. We also are confident that TLoU part 3 is in development and ND is rumored to have two projects in development so the other project will possibly be first to come out. Factions 2 appears to have been cancelled, I suspect.

We also know Ghost of Tsushima 2 is underway. Probably a couple years out. And Santa Monica is working on something which is apparently not GoW but likely is the genre they are strong with in that 3rd person action space that most of us prefer.

And I feel like we’ll hear about Sony Bend’s project before too long. It’s certainly of the third person narrative action genre also.

The games are definitely in development and that’s just off the top of my head - so about 6-7 of those style games coming from first party, probably spread out over the next 3 years. I would guess we get 2, maybe 3 per year.

But there’s no question that the lack of updates (and even lack of any confirmation beyond rumors for some of these things like Uncharted) is making the Sony fanbase uneasy. So far 2024 is all second party or third party exclusive — Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, FF7 Rebirth, and maybe DS2. Could Wolverine be 2024? I doubt it. So what’s the first party single player game coming next year? Uncharted? Maybe the Bend game? Maybe whatever BluePoint has on deck? Could Housemarque’s game be that close? Doubtful but who knows.

Thankfully we have third party coming through with bangers like the recent Baldur’s Gate 3 and FF16. But yeah, nothing quite scratches the ‘narrative-action’ itch quite like first party.

@KilloWertz I listed some of those up above. But yeah, we don’t know detail about them.

I think part of the lack of info is the silence due to the ABK deal pending, but also because so much grief is thrown Sony’s way from gamers about them being so one-note with their games so they are focusing marketing efforts on everything they have that isn’t a ‘narrative-driven stealth-action third person’ game.

@Th3solution Technically none of them have actually been announced. It's all assumptions. Likely valid assumptions on most, if not all, but Sony has failed to actually announce much of anything from the vast majority of their single player developers.

Obviously I can't say why for sure, but if what you are saying is true, it's still not really an excuse. I'm not criticizing you of course, but hopefully Sony is better with this next year (I'm not expecting anything the rest of the year info wise).

@KilloWertz @Grumblevolcano @Th3solution We don't know for sure that these games are in development at all and whilst I do expect Sony to continue making Single Player narrative driven cinematic style games, the only game officially revealed is Wolverine right now.

I also know that games are taking longer to make - the time between Infamous 2nd Son and GoT by Sucker Punch was 6yrs and Horizon had 5yrs between the first and its sequel. It also seems like Guerillas next project is a Horizon online game and if Factions was cancelled, I doubt we will see a 'new' ND Single Player for a good few years having spent time on Factions and LoU ports to PC.

As far as Multi-platform releases are concerned, I do have alternative choices on where to play as I have PC gaming hardware and a Series X too - so whilst there isn't likely to be a 'shortage' of something to play on my PS5, I don't feel like I am looking forward to playing anything 'specifically' on PS5.

In truth, there aren't enough 'gaming' hours to play EVERYTHING and finish every game I want to every year. Every year, my backlog grows and I still have a LOT of PS4/5 games to finish, let alone whatever 'new' games get added to that. Even if Sony don't release another game this gen that appeals, there is more than enough content to fill my gaming time easily. Its just that the vast majority of it I could play elsewhere and don't particularly feel that Sony in particular have an 'exciting' near future ahead that appeals to me. I am feeling somewhat disappointed right now with the 'immediate' future.

Even when MS had a terrible year in 2022, I still felt that they had a LOT of projects to come that appeal to me and even now, we still have a good idea of what many, not all studios have in development. Arguably you could say that Fable, Hellblade 2, Avowed etc seem to be taking their time but I'd rather have that situation than be 'hoping' that Sony Studio's are making the type of games I expect based on their history all whilst hearing rumours of these studios making GaaS, Online MP games etc

All I am saying is that the recent Sony Shows have done 'nothing' to excite or fll me confidence that Sony in Particular are making the types of games that I fell in love with Sony for. I am sure they will have these games but right now, nothing officially has been revealed and I find it 'difficult' to be excited for the next few years for 'Sony' when the vast majority of games I am excited for on PS5 are playable on PC/Xbox.

I think it's a lose-lose situation as while Sony's silence has created lots of speculation about them ditching single player in favour of live service, the reason we know so much about XGS future is because most of the 1st party games Microsoft announced in 2019/2020 still haven't released yet.

Everwild - Announced November 2019, release TBA
Hellblade 2 - Announced December 2019, release 2024
Forza Motorsport - Announced July 2020, release October 10th 2023
Avowed - Announced July 2020, release 2024
State of Decay 3 - Announced July 2020, release TBA
Fable - Announced July 2020, release TBA
Perfect Dark - Announced December 2020, release TBA

While I dislike the approach with a few announcements like TotK and Prime 4 (those are very long gaps), I feel that Nintendo for the vast majority of the time in the Switch era has handled the timing between announcement and release for games extremely well.

So now you’re a fan of Sony’s first party interactive-movie, one-and-done walking-simulators… you can’t make this **** up 🤣… wait a minute, you just did 😉

@Grumblevolcano I know that MS has announced 'numerous' games that are yet to materialised having been announced within the last 4yrs. But I also remember when Sony had Games at E3 for several years before they arrived and its been 2yrs since Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine were announced. Considering we are 3yrs in to this Gen and apart from Insomniac, we don't have any idea of what Sony devs can actually do with the PS5 hardware as 'most' were built with Last gen releases in mind. God of War: Ragnarok is a 'PS4' game that's been 'enhanced' by the extra resources available in the PS5 hardware. Not saying there is anything wrong with that, but I want to feel confident in the future of PS5.

Most of the games you mentioned from MS are UE5 games and were announced as UE5 games before UE5 was even released. Even before Forza was announced, it was known that Turn 10 were taking a break from the 'bi-annual' update to actually build a new Game Engine with Next Gen consoles firmly in mind. In fairness to most of those Studios too, they have released and/or continued to update their games - Rare with Sea of Thieves and its regular content drops, Obsidian with Grounded & Pentiment and Playground with Forza Horizon 5. State of Decay to State of Decay 2 took 5yrs too so I never expected them to turn around a much bigger game, built in UE5 which wasn't out in 2020 - but at least we know what these Studio's have planned to release, what they are actually working on and what we can look forward to in the 'near' future.

Games are taking 4yrs+ in general - even its a sequel with a lot of work/assets/animations/scripts etc etc you can carry forward. So I don't expect to hear about what Studios are working on immediately after they release a game - a year or two later - even if its still several years away. Even if most of those 7 Xbox games, as well as others they have revealed since - Clockwork Revolution (InXile) or South of Midnight (Compulsion) don't come out in the next 6-12months, They are still games to look forward to on Series X (or PC if you play there) coming from Microsoft owned Studios. It gets through 'lean' times (like 2022) knowing that the future is still looking 'solid' and for the next 'few' years at least.

I've already invested in BOTH premium Consoles but if I hadn't yet upgraded or was considering either, Yes Playstation has a LOT of great Legacy Exclusives in their back catalogue, but after Spider-Man 2, its looking somewhat uncertain of what's coming 'next', what exciting exclusive can I look forward to whilst delving into their great Library and 'multi-platform' games until that next big Sony game. On Series X, they too have a LOT of great Legacy exclusives but not so many IP's so seem even more limited than they already are, but after Starfield Comes Forza Motorsport and 2024 onwards looks quite solid too.

With the prices of PS+ going up significantly - already was more expensive than Gold and the direction that Sony themselves are at least 'projecting' to us, their Customer, I am not even sure I want to 'keep' that either for the 'few' Single Player games that require 'online' and/or few online game modes I may enjoy (although most of these are multi-platform). If that happens, then that also would likely to push me further away from gaming on my PS5 - even clearing some of my backlog as that would also mean I'm much less likely to purchase multi-platform games on PS5 and use it ONLY for offline Sony SP Exclusives. I'm not cancelling yet, I still have months left, I just don't know if it's worth considering renewing - because as far as Sony is telling me with their 'Silence' and with what they have Officially stated, I may as well just wait until they come to PC long term and give up PS5. I want to be excited by the upcoming year ahead, and it seems 'bleaker' than MS's 2022, but at least there was a lot of light at the end of that tunnel.

I know that there will still be Exclusive games from '3rd Party' devs to bulk out their own studio output - whether its timed or permanently blocked from releasing elsewhere (inc PC, Xbox, Nintendo, Epic, Steam etc) or just select hardware (Xbox), but Sony themselves aren't making me excited for the future and seem more intent on taking more money from me without providing a 'better' service and or reason to be excited for the future.

It may excite you/others etc but after however many years its been since I got my first Playstation back in the 90's, I know they've had tough times (PS3 launch and then subsequent server hack which forced me to change my GT), they've all had light at the end, something to look forward too...

@colonelkilgore I have never said I wasn't - I loved Killzone too - but Shadowfall wasn't the best, but Horizon:ZD was probably my favourite Sony game of the PS4 generation. I much prefer Uncharted to Last of Us and always enjoyed the R&C and Resistance games of Insomniac before they joined Sony.

I wasn't a fan of the Original God of War games, never enjoyed those, but Platinumed the reboot in 4/5 days, HZD in 6days btw and Infamous 2nd Son too in a week or so. I miss Motorstorm as well but I could go on and name lots of IP's that I enjoyed and I wouldn't call any of these 'Walking' simulators and I'd like to see these types of games to be made, the reason I bought Playstation through the years. I don't want online GaaS ONLY games designed to sell Cosmetics for the price of a complete game (in a sale maybe but still a whole game) to make as much money with the least effort...

@BAMozzy that’s the most succinct post you’ve ever typed, I feel that I’ve just popped a diamond cheevo getting you there… you’re keyboard is also incredibly relieved. Long may your new found brevity continue 👏

@BAMozzy I understand your disappointment, but personally, I wouldn’t bet against Sony. Specifically in their ability to release high quality single player games. I do think their release schedule for them is going to slow, because of the weird obsession with live-service and the fact they are probably overreacting to the criticism of making too many of those SP cinematic games.

But yeah, my advice is don’t sell your PS5 just yet.

You should look into Final Fantasy while you’re waiting on the first party output. FF7 Remake and Rebirth are quite western feeling in a lot of ways and FF16 is very westernized

It is a slightly strange situation that all the games currently announced by Sony‘s first party are coming from insomniac in the teams purchased after them. Nothing has been announced in relation to what old Sony is working on. By that I mean the teams that were part of first party before insomniac was purchased.