Sony Boss Jim Ryan Doesn't Know if Starfield's Coming to PS5 Anymore

I can see Microsoft releasing some if not all Bethesda games but maybe after they have been on Xbox and PC for a while first.

I like Jim's response. Stay humble and keep bolstering those first party studios you've worked so hard to build

I think it will and I think Fallout 5 will as well, I think it would be a poor decision but then again it would sell Xboxes yet i fell Microsoft are heading back to there roots for software more than hardware

@Rob_230 Yeah like Naughty Dog, which they bought

Like Insomniac, which they bought

Like Guerrilla Games, which they bought

Like Bend Studio, which they bought

Like Sucker Punch, which they bought

Like Media Molecule, which they also bought

lmao "worked so hard to build" They're no different from Microsoft in actuality. Most of the big name studios that we commonly associate with PlayStation now were previously third party to begin with lol. The people who worked so hard to build those studios did that on their own terms and THEN Sony stepped in much later

The only studios Sony actually built from the ground up themselves are the regional ones like Japan Studio, Santa Monica Studio, San Mateo Studio, London Studio and xDev. The big name ones we actually associate with the brand now were not at all established with Sony's involvement. If anything Microsoft is just doing what Sony BEEN doing for years

Phil Spencer and Todd Howard have no clue if its coming to PS5 so its pretty obvious Jim Ryan didn't

@TheFrenchiestFry To be fair, Mm, Guerilla, etc. either started exclusively developing for PlayStation from the get-go, or they hadn't made anything notable up to that point. Nothing of the Bethesda caliber at least. I think we can all agree on that.

I think Starfield's probably going to be the first one they make fully exclusive to Xbox and PC. Especially given it's a whole new IP not tied to anything else like Elder Scrolls or Fallout, it'd just be easier for MS to come out and introduce it as a new wholly original first party IP for the Xbox brand

@TheFrenchiestFry 99% only ever worked with Sony from the jump so your reply is a little simplistic to the bigger picture.

let's see how Bethesda is doing in say 5 years under MS management! because the other studios they bought are closed or a shell of what they once were Rare.

@captainsandman Bethesda's first few console games were Xbox exclusives like Morrowind and IHRA Professional Drag Racing

Even after the fact DOOM 3 was only on Xbox before it was even acquired by them.

In addition to that, whenever a multiplat game was released, Xbox always had some sort of agreement that either gave them timed exclusivity over a console release like Oblivion, or one year early access to all the DLC for their preceding games well before PlayStation ever got them.

Bethesda is basically to Microsoft for WRPGs what Square Enix was to Sony for JRPGs back in the early 2000s. Bethesda was heavily favored by Microsoft this entire time over Sony despite their lack of involvement directly in any of their projects, just like how Final Fantasy was treated during the PS1/PS2 era. Of all the third party multiplat acquisitions, this one was actually pretty smart considering they've been buddy buddy since Microsoft first entered the console market altogether

"selectively bolstered by acquisitions"

Aren't half their studios acquisitions? I guess you still can call that selective, but still sound like trying to minimize it.

@David187 I love Sea of Thieves. Rare went through the Kinect years, which sucked, but SoT is a blast to play with friends.

@Texan_Survivor I mean that's nothing out of the ordinary for Bethesda games on PlayStation at this point if Oblivion, Skyrim and Fallout 3 were any indication

I guess small or new ip will be exclusive while big ip like elders scroll will be multiplat like minecraft, I just don't see microsoft buy zenimacs for 7.5B and give all their big games freely on xbox and pc gamepass, unless their games are suddenly full of mtx.

@TheFrenchiestFry Your argument is really laughable. Naughty Dog, Guerrilla etc were pretty much low-key talents scouted, bought and helped built up by Sony. BETHESDA is a MAJOR publisher + developer that's well-known all over the planet that can survive on its own. MS just went in and bought a well established firm. There's a difference.

@captainsandman Point being, you can't act like Sony grew most of their studios organically. That's the point. It's honestly baffling when people make such claims that Sony did all of this themselves when most of the big name studios they eventually curated got bought out by them in the exact same fashion, but when Microsoft does it it's apparently not OK?

In fact this is probably a direct response if anything to the fact Sony is hellbent on moneyhatting every multiplatform game under the sun to make sure it comes to only their platform first. Apples and oranges

If Sony can get a pass on literally taking away big name games like Final Fantasy XVI for a whole year, or getting an exclusive character in Avengers permanently in addition to other advantages when multiple AAA releases are played solely on their console, then I say Microsoft buying a big multiplatform studio is honestly kind of justified because how else would they have responded that wouldn't have made nearly as much of a statement on how competitive they are?

If Sony can have Spider-Man and Final Fantasy, Microsoft can have Elder Scrolls and Fallout. That's all I'm saying. But no apparently my argument is 100% invalid because I'm about to be called an xBot or a Microsoft shill when it's literally just competition breeding competition. Sony does one thing and Microsoft responds with another.

@Salt_AU I seriously doubt those decisions have even been made and they're possibly even above their pay grade

@TheFrenchiestFry The issue working with Sont is obviously an influence in these studios. Look at the difference with Insomniac working with MS and Sony even. Sony hopes those studios befit entry acquired them.
It’s like someone being a major father figure to someone for years, then adopting them when they are 16, then people saying they didn’t raise a good kid, they simply adopted a good 16-year old.

@TheFrenchiestFry
"Naughty Dog, which they bought
Like Insomniac, which they bought
Like Guerrilla Games, which they bought
Like Bend Studio, which they bought
Like Sucker Punch, which they bought
Like Media Molecule, which they also bought. "

I think this argument is misleading. Buying a giant company for $7,500,000,000 is very different than buying a small startup that had only ever made exclusive games that you have funded. Media Molecule had made one game prior to being bought by Sony, which Sony funded. The same is essentially true for Bend. Most of the others you listed had only previously made one or a few games that nobody has ever heard of. And these studios were tiny at the time - it does not even come close to Microsoft buying Zenimax. The closest comparison is Sony buying Insomniac, but Microsoft's deal was 3,200% bigger than that.

"PlayStation bigwig Jim Ryan, of course, doesn’t know what’s going on"
-Push Square

@KippDynamite The issue there is that because Don Matrick never worked at Sony, Sony has all the IPs, studios, and talent they had developed over the past 20 years. At MS, Matrick fired everyone and closed the studios, and their IP they funded, they allowed the developers to retain the IP (which was actually quite generous. Publishers rarely do that.) And when those devs were bought by other companies (Bioware to EA, Insomniac to Sony, ironically), those other companies now own the IPs MS funded. Matrick ran a scorched earth program over at XBox and left it in ruins. It's easy to say "meh, Sony grew their studios and IPs organically over decades and MS bought their way in!", but what was MS going to do, tell the world to sit tight and buy Playstations for the next 15+ years while they work on building a studio system and franchises? This is the only route they really had available, and they have the money to do it.

Then again, Sony did much the same thing only on a relative smaller scale appropriate to the 90's when they bought their way into the console space by paying for exclusivity on endless third party games with their comparatively deep coffers at the time. Nintendo and Sega built their platform organically from the inside, then in walks Sony with a wallet full of cash buying out what's popular out from under them. So MS is just on a time delay.

But when we talk about the gaming pedigree of each company, we talk a lot about Sony's past and the IPs they've funded into reality. We can't forget some of the franchises MS has funded into existence even though Matrick basically stole it all from them. Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Crimson Skies, SW: KotR, Age of Empires (PC only), etc were all once landmark franchises that were funded and grown by MS, only for them to be lost. Heck, Sony has Sunset Overdrive now, technically, funded into existence by MS.

A straight comparison doesn't really hold up. Plus everyone they're buying, including Bethesda, was basically a PC-only shop that eventually also made console ports, and those ports were almost always superior with XB as the lead.... so they're also sticking with existing close partners to pull in house.

I mean this is probably the wrong site to have this opinion on but it’s pretty hypocritical to be mad about this after what Sony has done particularly in the PS4 era. I mean exclusive games, exclusive companies, in the end it’s about getting exclusives on your platform and PS owners have been fine with it so far 🤷

Yeah it sucks Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Starfield could be Xbox/PC exclusives but remember Demons Souls, MGS4, Bloodborne, Neir (timed), Death Stranding, and many things in Call of Duty and Destiny.

All is fair in love and war... and capitalism.

@NEStalgia I'm not saying Microsoft couldn't or shouldn't have bought Zenimax (though I personally don't like it), just that equating Zenimax with Bend Studio is a rediculous comparison not even worthy of discussion. It's like buying Wal-Mart versus them buying the corner store in a rural farming community.

Microsoft used to have the same philosophy as Sony and Nintendo (i.e., exclusive games are the heart of the business), but for about ten years they haven't done much to reinforce that they believe in this. Buying Zenimax was the strongest indication, though they may have the games go multiplatform because that's what's most cost effective. As you say, they've developed and nurtured great series, but now they're to the point where they just released a new console with literally no exclusive games.

@KippDynamite Fair enough. But yeah, that all goes back to Matrick. OG XBox was about exclusives, and they had some great ones. 360 started that way, and then Matrick took it off the deep end, focused on targeting Wii with Kinekt, and by the time One launched they changed their goal to be explicitly not being about exclusives, only timed exclusives, and they shuttered most of Game Studios. He really dealt a blow that would have killed any other company. And they let a lot of great partner studios like Bioware slip away to other buyouts. But that was all him.

Spencer did immediately reverse course on that, but he didn't get the reigns until 5 years or so ago. You can't build many AAA games in 5 years, and a lot of the acquisition studios weren't even finalized until 2-3 years ago or sooner. That's a monumental task to go from basically a platform holder with zero internal studios (short of 343 the Halo Studio and Coalition, the Gears studio). Even Turn 10 and Playground, the Forza (now Fable) studios weren't internal studios until the past few years. This launch was always going to be a big challenge. Sony was always going to come out swinging with sequels from big franchises, and MS (which was originally to have Halo) knew that they were still a few years off from the buyouts bearing fruit. They're doing great with what they're working with, and they have a lot of what appears so far to be top notch content in the pipeline. But their challenge was to demonstrate the value of the platform prior to the big titles coming out. Really, no other company could really have pulled out of a tailspin like they were in. It's been tremendous watching the combination of deep pockets and very passionate leadership rebuild from ashes into a major player. Kind of like watching Hirai & co rebuild during early PS4. Tough position. They decided a few years back to go back hard into first party.....and then have to wait until it's all together and ready. And keep customers feeling confident in the platform.

It'll keep Sony on their toes though. It would have been easy for Sony to front-load the generation. Do a big "year of dreams" blowout, announce some must have titles, and then just go into Nintendo mode, sit on their hands, and do nothing the rest of the gen. It looks like MS is poised to back-load the generation with most of their major heavy hitters coming out in the second half, including the big Bethesda titles. That means Sony's going to need to keep their momentum going. It also means my backlog in 5 years is going to be soul crushing.....

Let's be honest here, we all know what fanboys are like, they would have absolutely no problem if it was PlayStation who bought Bethesda.. They would love it and be rubbing it up, but the fact is they couldn't afford it.

@TheFrenchiestFry None of those devs were big before sony touched them.

So yes. Sony built them

@TheFrenchiestFry Bethesda without ms would have been Bethesda. Can't say the same about Naughty Dog and Sony.

Hell. Perfect example. In one, you have sunset overdrive and the other you have spiderman, resistance and ratchet.

@TheFrenchiestFry I agree with you on this,because at the end of the day,people here have to make up there minds,if they are mad at Xbox,because they bought a studio,or because they bought a AAA studio,If it is the first reason than Sony has done the same,thus hypocricy,if it is the later,than i still do not see the difference here,they may be AAA ,but they are still a studio.

Yes, the later allows for higher chance of success,but at the end of the day,both cases creates some type of exclusion within the gaming community ,thus they are both bad for gaming,like what is stopping insomniac and guerrilla games from releasing,Spiderman and HZD on Xbox?

Of course they're not going to ps5, until the deal is not finalised, this answers will always be vague. The only games that maybe will be MULTIPLAT, are the MMO'S.

@Rob_230 they acquired most of them . not built "hard"

I WILL buy an xbox to play Bethesda games, even if those are the only games I play on it. Much as I love the playstation, Bethesda makes my favorite rollplaying games. With as many hours as I put into them, it'll probably be money well spent.

@carlos82 The only person above Phil Spencer's pay grade is Satya Nadella, he leads the entire games and entertainment division (Xbox division). Are they the executives they lead the company, or do you think the shareholders decide whether the games will be exclusive for not?