PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has been talking a little more about Sony’s approach to the new console generation, and what it’s doing differently with the PlayStation 5 when compared with the PS4. Speaking with Axios, he pointed to the quality of the format’s first-party lineup, which has seen titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart all launch within the system’s first year.
“Nurturing creative talent is not as simple as throwing money at it,” he explained. “You also must give them the freedom to be creative, to take risks, and to come up with new ideas.” Ryan pointed to Sucker Punch’s open world smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, which represented a dramatic change of direction for the Seattle studio. “We want [first-party developers] to use our hardware as their creative palette.”
The outspoken executive admitted that, while the PS4 generation was excellent for PlayStation Studios, it took a few years for the publisher to find its stride. This time, though, it’s hit the ground running from day one. “If games like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart are examples of what [developers] can achieve in the first six months of the PS5, just imagine what we will see in year two or three.”
[source twitter.com]
Comments 104
Agreed. It's why I'm still skeptical about anything from MS's portfiolio. They haven't done anything to impress yet, and honestly, Bethesda might be all they have. I know they bought good studios, but them working with good studios in the past didn't produce good games. I hope they have some good stuff, but that horror game didn't turn out that great (I know it was timed), or not the way Sony games have.
I just hope they don't rot some of the studios they have away by throwing money in the wrong way.
The man's not wrong, to be fair.
@Jaz007 Idk. Microsoft have managed to make some good and impressive games in the past. Their issue is consistency. I can only think of Playground games who have consistently made good games.
Is that why the majority of Playstation's exclusives for a long while now are mostly single-player games (western at that) , with an open-world template , and a deep narrative , almost like an interactive movie ? The pretentious DEO's at it again.
''Taking risks'' pfft..
Edit : Oh , and ''new ideas'' , lmao .
#FireRyan
@Floki Aside from Forza, which has been consistent, what good game, or maybe I should say great, did they make since the Xbox One released? They did in the 360 days, but managed to even screw up Halo last gen.
Freedom to create, take risks and come up with new ideas, but they shut down Studio Japan that was their most interesting and innovative studio, and basically piggy back their success on third person story focused games. Great stories, and beautify games, but it seems the only risk that is acceptable is spending tons of time and money on making games look as super-realistic as possible.
I mean, the rule book doesn’t say “when” you have to start nurturing. Nothing says they can’t buy em’ up, and THEN start nurturing. Also I’m kinda worried that MSFT will start gobbling up Japanese devs.
@Jaz007 Ori, Sea of Thiefs, Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Grounded, Ryse Son of Rome, Killer Instinct of the top of my head.
Personally I liked the Halo 5 campaign, but for the most part almost everyone loved the Halo 5 multiplayer.
@Tharsman ''but for the most part almost everyone loved the Halo 5 multiplayer''
Thats a lie .
@nomither6 It takes 2 seconds research to see that Halo 5’s multiplayer is both critically acclaimed and loved by players. It’s the campaign that people had issues with.
Bull crap, you’re giving them creative freedom by anchoring them to the PS4, okay.
@nomither6 seems to be a consensus you don’t share, but I did say “almost everyone”.
Microsoft isn't "nurturing talent" anyways, they're buying up studios and publishers that can comfortably survive on their own to force gamers to buy their product instead. Money talks and M$ has a lot of it to throw around.
@ATaco all acquired studios have vouched about the increased resources and how much more they can do now without worrying about going bankrupt. Still to be seen how that translates to Bethesda, but the fact that they are already killing stupid monetization schemes from ESO, and making sure all items can be acquired via gameplay (as opposed to exclusively via direct purchase) tells us they are already worrying a lot less about money than before.
All acquired studios sold out of their own free will, it’s not as if MS forced them to take the money. Usually, if a studio or publisher feels they are healthy as they stand, they are simply not selling themselves outZ.
@nessisonett It takes 2 seconds to google the top ranked halo games , too . halo 5's not even top 3 in just about all of them . i'd say thats more legitimate than a run-of-the-mill game critics review . they're more in depth also .
@Tharsman is that why 343's returning back to the classic formula of the halo franchise with infinite , because of a loud mouthed minority ? i doubt it. Halo 5 consistently dipped in numbers after its release and has had almost no tournament presence amongst the competitive scene . Halo MCC averages higher player counts than Halo 5 does , and the multiplayer for Halo 5 died off almost as fast as 4 did .
@Tharsman
I mean if someone is in charge of me now obviously I'm going to say "the studio is more productive than ever" or "We're going to keep working as we always have." Which is definitely not how rare was treated when they were first bought out. Banjo Kazooie nuts and bolts exists because Microsoft demanded that sort of game...and don't even get me started with the Kinect games they had rare working on.
As to wether nobody is forced to be acquired? I don't believe that either. Every company has a price. After seeing how PlayStation pounded them during the PS4/Xbone gen they knew that they needed something more. They had failed to cultivate new studios and partnerships like Sony had been doing during that gen so they went the easy route. Buy out companies to pull games from other platforms so you either have to get them on the new platform or on PC.
(And then complain when Sony doesn't put their exclusives on PC, LMAO!)
@Tharsman You forgot Lucky's Tale, Sunset Overdrive, State Of Decay, Rare Replay, Zoo Tycoon and two that returned from the 360 era...Disneyland Adventures and Rush. I'm with you, they had a few good first-party titles.
@nomither6 ...what? Because it’s not in the ‘top 3’ then it’s not worthwhile? In a series like Halo?
@ATaco It’s not just talk. Some of these studios even got moved from small offices into entire buildings of their own and more than doubled in workforce. Psychonauts 2 devs had already decided they had to cut a ton of content from the game because of budget constraints, after acquisition all that content came back into development.
Rare was treated terribly, but that was an entirely different company on all sides. Steve Ballmher was managing Microsoft at the top and… ugh… Don Mattrick was managing Xbox….
@nessisonett Uh , yeah ? for the latest game in the franchise not even to crack top 3 is mediocrity ; You're more lenient with your standards but , last time I checked - games are supposed to get better with each new addition , and for the modern-tech advantage and well-established catalogue Halo 5 had for potential , only to not even make top 3 , does not equate to - ''critically acclaimed and loved by players'' . Halo 5 was the second fastest dying Halo game after 4 ; its multiplayer was struggling out of the gate and when the MCC released it was near game over for it . That's not love.
It wouldn't be so bad if there were only a handful of halo games , but considering theres several , and theres actually a handful thats favored above it , says otherwise to what i quoted from you.
@Tharsman Decent games at best, many divided into bad. And Halo 5 was looked as having good multiplayer, but overall the game was considered a solid failure. Not exactly great games, but divisive at best isn’t the best sign when that’s what off the top of your head. Especially with some of the stuff they during the 360 era for exclusives.
That’s also why I said perhaps great. Like, I’m onto gonna sit here and say they were all bad, but nothing that really just stands out sadly.
There was also that Platinum game that just fell apart...:
And on personal experience, Gears 4 was so very disappointing. I bought on PC and was very underwhelmed, along with the person on Xbox I was playing it with.
Last gen I looked at Xbox One multiple times for a reason to buy one aside from the Master Chief collection, and I came up empty handed every time.
Now if they have something good I’ll grab it on PC like I gladly did when Halo came to PC, but I’m not gonna real excited for a MS until they release something great and give me hope again.
@Jaz007 Both Gears 4 & 5 was both impressive and good titles. Halo is what I'm mean with their issue with consistency, but I think the main issue with Halo is just that 343 is a terrible developer. They really need to get rid of Bonnie Ross, just like Disney needs to get rid of kathleen kennedy.
@nomither6 Super Mario Galaxy 2 won’t be in many people’s top 3 Mario games. It has a 97 Metascore. You’re just looking for unnecessary restrictions on what makes a ‘good’ or ‘well-loved’ game.
@ATaco
As someone that still plays Halo 5 MP casually I can assure you that community is still very healthy to this day.
@JLPick Lucky’s tale was already a VR game for PC first, and I think it’s now everywhere. State of decay 2 could count but… as fun as it can be, Its not a game I would consider “great”, it’s quite janky. Maybe State or Decay 3 finally makes it into greatness. And let’s face it, a compilation of old Rare games is not exactly bragging rights (I didn’t mention Master Chief Collection either.)
Not familiar at all with Zoo Tycoon
@Jaz007 if you think Ori is “decent at best” we will never agree on any quality talk because we obvious speak two different languages.
Considering Sony didn't build every studio from the ground up either I find it pretty eye roll worthy when either publisher talks about "nurturing talent from the ground up" or whatever BS PR speak they use to paint themselves as pure heroes of the industry
Both Sony and Microsoft are guilty of this. I can at least understand why they'd buy up talent like Insomniac and Bethesda though given the pure leverage it gives them as console makers.
@nessisonett you're really comparing a primarily single-player franchise with multiple-upon-multiple spinoffs , to a multiplayer FPS franchise ?
& no , what I think is you're just looking for reasons to move goalposts and argue with me dude ; you always seem to have a freaking bone to pick with me . halo's library isn't no where near as huge as marios so that just makes your analogy of comparison even more of a reach. kinda hard to place a top 3 mario game when theres enough different mario games out there to fill a warehouse .
@Tharsman My bad on that one. Missed that. But one great indie game is the best they mustered an entire generation.
@TheFrenchiestFry Say what you will, but Sony has found and worked with developers that have shown progression and advancement in the quality of their games that’s very uncommon with multiple of their studios. They also have mostly bought studios they have close ties to and have worked with. To say Sony isn’t a common factor with what all these studios have accomplished is dishonest. They haven’t been buying random studios, but ones they’ve courted for years. They don’t need PR speech when ten results speak for themselves. Look at what happened when Insomniac developed a game with MS and then with Sony. The difference is astounding.
It’s not that we’re fanboys, it‘a just the games that have come out. I hardly have a wish for MS’s games to be disappointing.
@Jaz007 The only super high profile acquisition Microsoft has really made is ZeniMax if you really think about it
Both Obsidian and Ninja Theory have made multiplaform games. Hell Ninja Theory made Heavenly Sword exclusively for Sony, but they're also still relatively small developers that like studios like Guerrilla and Insomniac, highlight the kind of variety I think both console manufacturers look for when it comes to bolstering their first party output
Bethesda probably stings a bit more for people because by comparison they had a way larger multiplatform presence, but that whole thing started with Xbox to begin with. They were very early supporters with stuff like Morrowind, and Xbox players got all the expansions to Fallout 3 and 4, Oblivion and Skyrim way ahead of Sony users. That in addition to their commitment to PC meant that if there was any major big name that could've been seen as more aligned with Xbox in terms of support and output, it kind of is them. I'm not saying it's necessarily good and I certainly hope that Microsoft now focuses on making good use out of what they have, but there are legitimate business and relationship reasonings for why Sony and MS do what they do. It's always in the name of promoting competition, no matter how unethical it's perceived as being. I'm just glad that Sony isn't going to be a clear winner in all this now and that we have things to look forward to from all sides of the industry.
The last thing I hope for is that this generation becomes a comptetition of who can buy what and lock games to what platform. Sony and Microsoft need to use what they have now instead of worrying about what they can buy with all the money they're making off of console sales or game sales. That way more games come out and more people buy consoles. Healthy competition basically
EDIT: Also Sunset Overdrive was great. I don't think there was a disparity in quality whatsoever. It's probably the Xbox One's best exclusive bar none and I hope it continues even if it's Sony property now
@Jaz007 For what’s it’s worth, I think Gears 5, Ori, Quantum Break and Forza Horizon 4 are all great games. Still only 4 though.
@FatalBubbles In terms of exclusives I'd also add Killer Instinct 2013, Master Chief Collection, Rare Replay and Sunset Overdrive to that list. I also heard apparently Sea of Thieves is way better now than it was when it launched
Killer Instinct in particular is probably "best fighting game of the decade" material with how great its gameplay and especially its online were. It's really not that Xbox didn't have exclusives. They just didn't constantly interest me like the ones from Sony and Nintendo were doing, but to give them credit, them adding Bethesda and Ninja Theory to their internal studios is going to make me pay a lot more attention to them now. I actually have faith Starfield will be good since it looks like it's the A team working on it again instead of whoever was making F76 and their mobile stuff
@TheFrenchiestFry I'm pretty sure Fallout 76 was originally made by Bethesda's A team, and then transferred to their Texas office after release for maintenance and updates.
All I read here is fanboyism. I have both consoles and love games on both. I really need to avoid this site.
Sony needs to make a different variety of games like a deep RPG game to compete with Microsoft starfield, avowed, outer world 2 and FPS games which they have but mainly on the VR, just more variety then the third person action adventure game. I don’t like online multiplayer games but gotta give credit where it’s due to Microsoft for sea of thieves that felt like a risk and a successful one.
@Milktastrophe Wasn't Fallout 76 primarily the Austin or Dallas studio and not the guys who primarily worked on stuff like Skyrim and Fallout 3 & 4? Apparently the Austin studio were the guys responsible for modifying the Creation Engine to work with that game and what they were planning for it so they might've been involved particularly early on
I know Todd Howard oversaw that game's development but I don't think they were sharing a lot of the same team from the numbered Fallout entries since those guys by that point were already prepping for Starfield and possibly TESVI as well
Homegrown talent or bought, doesn't matter one lick to the consumer, or at least to me. So long as the product is good, who cares whether the talent was "nurtured" or bought. I don't look at a game, then think "hmm, time to research each individual who participated in making it, to make sure they've kept their nose clean" or "gee, this game, you know what makes it better? The fact that these developers have been with this console, from the get go"
I have to agree with him. He speaks the truth....to a certain point.
The thing is though that most of the studios that MS bought are also "nurtured" with years of experience and good(even excellent) game releases in their portfolio.
Bethesda wasn't built yesterday. In fact some of their studios are even older than the Playstation brand itself. And in the case of smaller studios(Obsidian, Ninja Theory etc) giving them more resources and let them do their thing(which i hope is what MS is doing) will allow them to grow and be even more creative than before.
What i'm trying to say is that there's always a second side to each coin.
@Syndrome Exactly. I don't want this generation to turn into a spending competition between two console makers but the talent that they both got as a result of having deep enough pockets should be noted. Stuff like Hellblade 2, Starfield, Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 coming out of Xbox as exclusives has made me pay way more attention to them as of late and I'm honestly surprised it took Sony this long to acquire Insomniac given their history together
Money can't buy success but continuous money can
Yup, agree with him, there's some games that I don't think any console makers other than sony can make it, game that's take a huge gamble like death stranding or tlou2 story, or letting studio bend taking a (very) long time to make their games (days gone), and still let them make new ip.
Nintendo has been consistent in producing top level games.
Sony has been consistent in producing top level games.
Microsoft has not. ZeniMax has not.
@nomither6 “Is that why the majority of Playstation's exclusives for a long while now are mostly single-player games (western at that) , with an open-world template , and a deep narrative , almost like an interactive movie ? The pretentious DEO's at it again.
''Taking risks'' pfft..
Edit : Oh , and ''new ideas'' , lmao.”
Ahem. PlayStation VR, PlayStation Link, Dreams, Concrete Genie, Bound, Astrobot’s Playroom, Returnal, Erica, Until Dawn, The Last Guardian, Destruction All-Stars, Gran Turismo series, Drive Club, The Unfinished Swan, Bloodborne, Nioh, Demon’s Souls, Tearaway, Journey, MLB The Show, Sackboy…. Phew… I think I’ve made the point with just a few Sony published games off the top of my head from PS4 and PS5. Sure, the Naughty Dog games, God of War, HZD, and Spider-Man get all the attention because they sell, but absolutely Sony has supported new ideas and fostered innovation. They have plenty of non open-world narrative-driven games out there. I can agree that they haven’t really done much multiplayer recently. It’s been a while since Killzone Shadow Fall. But honestly, that market is so saturated that I think it’s not necessary to try to go there (although rumors suggest a return of the Resistance series, which I think would be a good move). Just broaden your horizon, man. A world of different types of Sony games are out there, you just have to look for them. 😄
@velio84 Ah yeah - good call. And Destruction All-Stars is multiplayer, recently released. Many of their other games have multiplayer modes (GOT legends for ex.) asynchronous MP (Dreams is basically completely online-centric community, Death Stranding is highly dependent on asynchronous MP, Bloodborne, etc), so it’s just a multiplayer FPS lacking, but it looks like Sony have a couple in the works. And I’d forgotten about Firewall Zero Hour, which by all accounts is a good FPS on PlayStation VR.
ON topic, yeah building relationships is good but check the fine print Jim and make sure you have first option to buy them just in case. The other side have deeper pockets and are on a mission to end PlayStation.
@Royalblues mate, you come on here to troll. Don't get high and mighty with me.
I may occasionally read the stories and comments on Square's sister sites but that's about it. Ignore away, couldn't care less.
This comment section demonstrates perfectly why I disliked PushSquare courting N4G users as they have with some of their clickbait articles.
The community here used to be respectful and fun, now its full of nonsense about xbox....certainly less fun to visit this site these days.
So how about removing those censorship policies and not forcing Japanese devs to submit info about their games in English if said game only were intended to be released in Japan? Sure would love to see Senran Kagura 7even actually released
Sounds like he's subtly taking a dig at Microsoft there.
Makes a change because Phil is usually the one taking digs at Sony and isn't subtle about it at all.
For the record Jim is not wrong here. And while Microsoft have acquired good studios they still have not delivered a single game of interest to me with any of them.
And as for Bethesda, their reputation and talent has been going down the toilet for the last 10 years. The Evil Within was the only game produced last gen that I like and that was only published by Bethesda. It does sadden me that PlayStation probably won't get a third entry though.
And if Bethesda's future is service games like Fallout76 and TESO, then I'm not missing out on anything interesting in my opinion. And we all know services are what Microsoft is all about these days to keep people paying that GamePass subscription.
would like to point out Returnal isnt a first party game as sony dont own the studio
@nomither6 @nessisonett @Tharsman
Can I ask what metrics we are using to gauge Halo 5's love?
Critical acclaim? Yeah. It was praised. But it was praised after Halo Reach's MP, and worse, Halo 4's. By the time Halo 5 launched, it had been 8 years since Halo 3, and the competitive experience was near death.
And this is just Arena.
And I mean, it's professional critics, what they praise in terms of MP is questionable at best anyway. As evidenced by the fact many of the reviews I read were quite positive of Halo 4's MP too. The actual critical tones came in retrospect.
Loved by fans?
343i said it had the best player retention since Halo 3, and MS never released sales figures. That is all the info we have. And again, player retention isn't some great win when your game most likely sold a lot less than Halo 3, Reach and 4 (because the Xbone sold poorly) but also, the player drop off for Halo Reach, and especially 4, were abysmal.
In the UK, Halo 5 dropped off the most played 50 in a month or something silly like that (I don't really remember at this point) and I heard similar stories of the game being dead outside the USA because all the servers were based stateside and it killed any chance of anyone else enjoying the game.
The only actual data I get to see on how the community feels about Halo 5's MP is 1) a scattering of different votes on the games, from different online communities, in which, Halo 5 never does well (Halo 3 and surprisingly, Reach, win all the MP votes) And 2) the fact that MS and 343i apparently scrapped Halo 6 for a more classic experience in Infinite with a stand alone F2P MP to avoid all the mistakes they made with Halo 5. If, after 8 years of MP struggles, Halo 5's MP direction was so well loved, why scrap it?
Why bring in so many more updates to MCC and port MCC to PC, and not Halo 5?.
I'm obviously a Halo fan, I'm not 100% sold on infinite yet, because we've only seen a little of the game really, but I'm getting the impression that the community is starting to defend Halo 4 and 5 less and less. And I could imagine there's a future where people talk about Halo 4 and 5 as though it was a universal truth that no one liked them and doing endless praising of MCC and Infinite.
I guess we can pick this up again in a few years to see how the situation sits then.
@trev666 Housemarque is not owned by Sony indeed but that doesn't mean what Ryan is talking about doesn't apply to them. In a recent interview Hermen Hulst talked about how these studios operate under the PlayStation Studios umbrella getting access to Sony's resources and support, and how it really isn't about corporate structure.
Also being funded and published by Sony makes it a 1st party game
"just imagine what we will see in year two or three."
Real PS5 games?
I don't know why some people get triggered. (We see them)
He is probably not even taking shots at xbox.
PlayStation usually avoid talking about the competition unlike Spencer.
I feel Jim Ryan is just speaking honestly his thoughts like he usually does. It's been very consistent for years. PlayStation builds deep slowly.
@JJ2 I read his statement as responding to criticism of Sony rather than specifically shots fired at Microsoft, but then that criticism comes from people watching what the competition are doing, so I'm sure we'll see plenty of "well ackchewaly"ing
Edit: and of course the obligatory "Never trust Jim Ryan" comments. Why do I read the comments again?
@Jaz007 I think they will merge a lot of those studios in a couple of years ,ms will not throw equal piles of money to all those acquisitions, some will suffer ,give it a few months and you will probably find devs leaving ,its happened before with them.
@Residentsteven glad im not on my own ,I thought hellblade as a game was crap ,same enemies ,boring combat and bland environments, it only got the attention it didn't deserve because of its mental issue themes,let's be honest.
@nessisonett well said!
@nomither6 Returnal was the definition of risk taking. And Sony are always the risk takers. Look at Death Stranding for example. These games are the opposite of mainstream.
@trev666 still an exclusive though.
@JLPick haha disneyland adventures is legit the xbox exclusive i want the most as odd as it sounds. Not trolling. Id promised my 4 year old we'd go to disney over a year ago, but then everything happened..so being able to take her there albeit virtually, would be at least a good stepping stone
@The_New_Butler Wow, you don’t want to argue over whether it’s better to own a studio or just help them? You just want to play good games? That’s completely ridiculous. The whole point of being into video games is so you can argue that company “XYZ” is better. End sarcasm
I’m with ya, don’t care how or who makes the games as long as people aren’t worked into the grave. I just want to play good games. 🤷🏼♂️
So while Xbox gobbles up studios and publishers, Sony's strategy is to complain that's not the good way of doing things. That will rattle Microsoft for sure.
@Floki i'll be amazed if 343 don't get folded into another studio after Halo Infinite. I bet it was chaos behind the scenes when they told Phil they wern't making launch and after the damage the initial reveal did (which xbox have recovered spectacularly from). There seems to be all sorts of issues everytime they develop a new game. And Microsoft have acquired much better devs who could deliver Halo now imo
I don't care about fanboyism.
I dread services and subscriptions.
I don't wear a corporation's brand like a Jersey.
I love the three console platforms.
"Imagine what we will see in year two or three.”
These words are what I'm most excited about.
@velio84 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 it never gets old
Any tactic designed to destroy opposition in long term is bad for gaming. Unfortunately fan boys clutch at straws to defend their fave and then also clutch at straws to attack the rival. Whereas if fans were to actually be united in a vision of healthy competitive gaming, might keep the gaming industry healthy.
@Shepherd_Tallon Given how PS4 gen ended, you are so right. Imagine what devs will be doing in a few years time once they have fully migrated to the new systems and have worked out how to make them sing. Its going to be amazing.
@Tharsman This isn't true. There are articles on how Japan was mismanaged and hundreds of concepts were floating around the office with no one actually making a game. This was years before the closure so they had plenty of opportunities. In that time spent, they produced Puppeteer, a few smaller games on PSN and Gravity Rush Remastered and a sequel. They were not the most innovative at anything really, just had a bunch of nice ideas that never materialized. Team Asobi is a new starting point for the studio that will hopefully grow, it's not a complete closure of the studio.
On one hand, he is correct, on the other wrong.
Money will buy you top established studios/publishers. It's then down to you as the owner how you allow that company to run.
You also then have the responsibility for that company financially, so it's not even as simple as having the funds to make the purchase of the studio/publisher, but the cost of running them long term.
Not being a fanboy here, but Sony can't afford to go out and buy top established publishers even if they wanted.
That's why you see all these recent deals with start-up studios based around experienced devs that have left other studios.
I'm just glad these partnerships seem to be diversifying the exclusive genre pool, as there's no denying the current template, while high quality, is 3rd person blockbuster action games.
Would love to see more multiplayer focused stuff, FPS, RPG etc.
@Voltan This too, Sony doesn't own Fromsoftwar or HM, but they do own Returnal, Demon's Souls and Bloodborne. They also own Socom, Resistance, Ape Escape and a bunch of IP that they hopefully get devs on. I also don't think he's jabbing at MS here, because MS bought pretty quality studios. I don't play any of Bethesda games but they seem to make stuff that makes money back and ES/Fallout are hugely popular IP especially on PC. Sony will continue doing their own thing and likely working closely with studios they are familiar with. MS wide-range approach has potential to produce some duds as not everyone will vibe with the culture. But yeah, I'm glad they finally going in somewhat different directions with the focus on gamepass. Perhaps for the first time in years I can justify getting a PS and Xbox.
It's not difficult to sit back and let devolopers come up with the goods Jim. And when you already have the infrastructure in place, it's not as expensive either.
Spin your bs somewhere else.
@Residentsteven It's surprising to an extent, sure, but also the pandemic really messed with the game's production as I believe they were either in the middle of or hadn't even started motion capturing yet as they just recently showed off their new motion capture studio 2 or 3 months ago and the star posted a couple of behind the scenes videos on Twitter around that time too.
It being dull and boring is your opinion. Not criticizing it, but that doesn't mean Hellblade 2 won't be a really big deal for them. As a whole, Hellblade was considered to be a very good game, and I still consider Ninja Theory to be one of Microsoft's best acquisitions.
@Rob_230 I would love to see a id software or machine games developed Halo on id tech 7. They would just have to look for 3rd party company to deliver on multiplayer.
@Residentsteven probably lack of money ,they shouldn't have that issue now ,so we will see what they come up with,hopefully open world with a good story and massive bosses.
There’s a long list of quality studios being bought out in the past and being ruined by their new owners. For example Westwood at EA, Rare at MS etc…
Just because MS have bought some studios it doesn’t mean they’ll be as good as they were moving forward. Sony are successful at managing and nurturing theirs which they’ve done slowly over many years in most cases.
@Floki playground have been making forza games for a decade they know what works ,it would be hard to mess that up
@KilloWertz most people didn't criticise hellblade because of its themes ,take away those and your left with an uneventful experience in my opinion
@Dodoo “ Sony are successful at managing and nurturing theirs which they’ve done slowly over many years in most cases.”
I do think that people often overlook the fact that Bigbig, Sony Liverpool, Zipper Interactive, Manchester, Incognito, Evolution, and Guerilla Cambridge are 7 studios that Sony has shuttered since 2009.
MS has definitely consolidated more studios, though.
@vapidwolf Not exactly true. Look at Turn 10 with Motorsport, or even Polyphony Digital with Gran Turismo. Both games had verifying quality over the years. Playground have managed to take a IP that not even their own and out shine the original creators, and have consistently improve upon it ever release. Last year we should have gotten Motorsports, and we still haven't heard anything from Turn 10 this year. Playground have managed to stick to their release schedule even with the pandemic.
@JLPick only games I wouldn't mind as a PS player is State of Decay and possibly Forza or flight simulator other than that I don't think there's anything I've wanted but saying that I just played State of Decay on my PC 🤷🏼♂️
Totally agree the futures bright for PS5. Also agree with the comment made about nurturing new talent and just chucking money at it. That's usually microsofts way.
@Residentsteven Honestly, it depends on where they were in production. Some games were likely farther along than Hellblade 2 was. I would have expected the game to come out at some point next year if it wasn't for the pandemic. At this point, I guess it is what it is.
@vapidwolf Or people genuinely loved the game for the game itself. It was an impressive game from a technical perspective for a small studio, with very good graphics and exceptional audio that I wish I had experienced with headphones like they recommended.
Not saying that you had to agree with the masses and love the game obviously.
Who knew the headline was a #hottake? lol
@Th3solution
I agree with the games you bring up.
However, I find it interesting that J. Ryan is taking credit for a number of titles that were under development way before he was sitting in the pilot's seat.
I'm very concerned for the future of Playstation because the current CEO 1) not a gamer and 2) a bean counter.
I really do believe that the days of Sony going out on a limb and taking real chances will dry up pretty quick once the games that were already in development are out in the wild.
Japan Studio is the first of many teams that will be tossed to the wayside because they can't generate enough cash quickly enough.
Bring back Shu to a position of power along with the rest of the previous executive team.
Yes, fire Jim Ryan.
I will agree with Jim Ryan on Returnal. But Sony devs had been following the same template for their games. Third person, story driven game.
@Floki not even there own? Who else has developed a horizon game? they found a formula that works and have added better graphics and track layout over the last 10 years,change the location add more weather effects thats the horizon way.
He is absolutely correct and this further confirms that this next-gen is all about exclusivity
@Ajhutchinson 😂😂
@DrJames it always has been,its xbox didn't have any so it wasn't about that then,but now it is again, apparently.
@ATaco Bethesda games performed terrible last-gen games like Doom Fallout have to do really well to support all the others that did not happen a few studios would have likely closed if MS did not buy them.
Ninja Theory said if MS did not buy them they would be Bankrupt & gone. which is worrying in its self MS is buying studios that were not making money because the games were not selling loads on all platforms!
this might not be as great as gaming sites make out for MS.
When you consider that Sony's PS4 "failures" were Killzone: Shadowfall, The Order: 1886 and Days Gone...all decent games (KZ multiplayer was great), I would have to agree with Ryan.
If anyone watched any of the dev interviews with Bethesda and Microsoft as well as their other studios, you will have heard how much they are working together to spark creativity. And I have not read a single story that Microsoft stifles their devs. They do more than just “throw money” at studios. All the fanboy BS is growing tiresome here.
I’ll keep playing games on both my Series X and PS5. They BOTH have games I enjoy. I don’t go by anything else but playing games and having fun.
In other words. Ill get a ps5 in 3 years.
I think he's a little bit twisting the truth. Sony acquired a lot of studios that were already successful and creative before they were bought. Why else would Sony have bought them in the first place? Not much different than MS is doing now imo.
I agree with the statement somewhat, I think it also relies heavily on devs being willing to take risks though.
I love Insomniac Games as much as everyone else and have been a fan of theirs since Spyro, but I can also admit that R&C has sort of lost its “edge” in recent years and they continued to play things safe with Rift Apart still using an orchestral score, still featuring Dr Nefarious & having the plot largely play out like a Pixar film. Compare it to the early days of R&C with it’s electronic soundtrack, subtle adult humour and sarcastic but still good willed Ratchet it’s like night & day.
This is just one small example but I hope devs. continue to make new IP’s and dont fall into doing just what will sell well or show off the Dualsense. It’s certainly an unpopular opinion that I just shared and it’s not going to ruin the gaming industry or produce bad products by any means but I feel that’s we get the most creative output
Having Insomniac in the fold from day one this time has really helped. That studio as largely responsible for PS3's first year, and particularly it's launch, not being as disastrous as things could've been and it's hit the ground running as the standard bearer for the current gen.
Ghost of Tsushima is a stunning example of modern digital arts. And tons of fun to play is the cherry on top.
And that is just 1 of the many games they make that are just stunning. From audio, to narrative, to art direction, to design. The freaking simple boat in TLOU2 title screen was amazing.
Basically if you end up at a Sony studio you have the potential to make your career. So they attracting top talent from the start that they can build from
I’m a huge Halo and Gears fan, but when Microsoft completely took those series in-house both suffered in quality. Gears 4 and Halo 4 DID NOT feel the same as previous entries.
All that being said I have full confidence Bethesda will continue to produce amazing games, which I will gladly play on PC.
@The_New_Butler some people just like behind the scenes stuff. I like it because I get to see all the hard work put into it and makes me love it even more.
@velio84
Pretty sure PS5 is already breaking records.
PS is going absolutely no where, but I think the discourse is because Xbox seems to be more forward thinking with their business model and they have the money to back it up.
PS meanwhile is just carrying on with what they do best, the traditional way.
Hi there fellow gamers.
As a fan of videogames in general since I was 10, almost 37, and as a fan of Playstation since I got my first PSone, I have been utterly amazed and entertained by this medium.
So many different worlds and universes to get lost and immersed in, so many different stories and characters to fall in love with, so many different and unique platforms from different companies that try to break the mold, some successful, some not so successful, but they still try to create something different and enticing in terms of creativity.
For gamers, those are the things that trives us to see and want more of, to experience the sequel to that amazing franchise or that brand new game from that particular developer.
That is what I love about videogames so much.
I don´t like all kinds of games, I don´t need to.
But there are so many that I do and so many amazing ones, there´s has to be something for everyone. Usually there is.
That´s the beauty of it.
It does not matter wich type of game you like or the particular franchise you play the most.
All that really matters is that you enjoy playing those games, werever they transport you to a different reallity as an escape or cooping mechanism, or because you just need a break from life and just immerse ina world all by yourself, or just want to hang out and mess around with your friends online.
Lots of different reasons for palying a specific game at a specific time in your life.
Me? I just more awesome games that I can immerse myself in the story and characters and enjoy the heck out of it.
Or an awesome and flashy fighting game.
Or a unique, fun and engaging platformer.
Or an engrossing, open world rpg to explore.
Or even a vibrant, precise racing simulator game.
We are already seing some great games as of now in these new next gen systems.
So just imagine what we´ll be able to see in the future.
I´m excited about it. Are you? 😉
Anyway, sorry for the long post. Just felt the need to say it.
Cheers, stay safe everyone and happy gaming to us all
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