As the ol’ Spice Girls song goes: two become one. PlayStation has decided to replace Jim Ryan with two executives: Hermen Hulst, the former Guerrilla managing director and current PS Studios chief, will lead a newly named Studio Business Group unit, which will oversee all of the Japanese giant’s first-party studios, as well as its other projects, like PS Productions’ movies and TV shows. He’ll be flanked by Hideaki Nishino, who will lead the organisation’s Platform Business Group, responsible for hardware, accessories, PSN, and third-party relations.
Together, the pair will replace Ryan, who served as PlayStation's only CEO up until his departure at the end of March. The pair will begin their new roles from 1st June.
“I am thrilled to lead the studio business group and continue to build on our success with PS5, while preparing for the future,” Hulst beamed in a statement. “The video game industry is one of the largest entertainment industries in the world and has been built on the marriage of content and technology, and I look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of play and entertainment.”
Nishino added: “We will continue to connect players and creators through world-class products, services, and technology. We always strive to grow our community even bigger with innovation in every area at Sony Interactive Entertainment. I am honoured to be appointed such an important role alongside Hermen. By working more closely together, we will be positioned to build incredible experiences for an ever-expanding audience now and in the future.”
Both CEOs will report directly to Hiroki Totoki, who’s currently serving as PlayStation’s interim CEO and is chairman of the PlayStation division. “Sony Interactive Entertainment is a dynamic and growing business that delivers incredible entertainment experiences through the connection of content and technology,” he said. “These two leaders will have clear responsibilities and will manage strategic direction to ensure the focus remains on deepening engagement with existing PlayStation users and expanding experiences to new audiences.”
It's an interesting approach from Sony to appoint two different CEOs with clearly defined responsibilities, but it’s one which should in theory enable it to get the most from the business. PlayStation has grown dramatically over the last 15 years, and so this executive structure should allow it to effectively split its focus between software and hardware, ensuring both crucial aspects are given the best opportunity to flourish.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 69
Very interesting approach, but it makes sense! Obviously they'll need to collaborate a lot, but they're running quite different parts of the business, so it should be possible to split duties like this.
I'm personally pretty happy with Hulst, and I think PlayStation's hardware strategy has been good recently, especially with all the accessories like PS Portal and DualSense Edge.
I kinda like this. It means that if someone wants to make a decision, the other will at least have a LITTLE say!
I'm cautiously optimistic. If there’s one positive I can say right off the bat, it’s that I’m glad Hulst is in there as the CEO of the software side of PlayStation because he’s not a bean-counter nor a marketer. He has an extensive history in game development and understands the industry from that POV. Now that he’s away from Jim Ryan’s influence, I’m curious to see what he brings to PlayStation during his co-regime.
To my knowledge, this has never been done before in the industry, a platform holder...having two CEOs. I wonder if Sony looked at the overall business and felt that things needed tightening up a bit. With how many studios they have along with the platform business, I reckon they felt it was too much responsibility for one person to deal with.
It does now make Herman Hulst the definitive face of this era of PlayStation from the company side as I can't imagine Hideaki Nishino will be appearing in various SoPs, interviews and showcases outside of hardware announcements.
I'm also glad that someone like Herman Hulst who has a game development background has such a prominent position within the company.
I would have more faith in the Chuckle Brothers than Hermen Hulst.
Hmm, can't say im happy about this as I have not been liking what they've been doing(particularly with their studios) over the years lately. And ive put part of that outside of Jim Ryan at the feet of Hermen Hulst. So no, im not happy about this. But it is what it is.
@get2sammyb " I think PlayStation's hardware strategy has been good recently, especially with all the accessories like PS Portal and DualSense Edge."
Only if they fixed the massive issues with the Pulse Explore. I've bought 3 different pairs, and I have never had so many issues with static in buds or disconnects using the link adapter. They also don't even sound that great for the price which is sad when you realize that Playstation owns Audeze.
"Look, it doesn't take a genius to know that any organization thrives when it has two leaders.
Go ahead, name a country that doesn't have two presidents. A boat that sets sail without two captains.
Where would Catholicism be, without the popes."
Like rob base and dj ez rock song said it takes two.rock on hermen and hideaki.word up son
Desperation ?
Farewell, Hiroki Totoki Literature Club.
Maybe it’s to prevent them from being peanut butter spread too thin…
@get2sammyb What strategy ? This random things that doesnt bring Sony as much revenue as they hoped ?
next step , escape california and move main headquarters back to japan please. cali and their ideology has ruined playstation. just like californians ruined texas 😂 im laughing but its some truth though
I did wonder if he would take over, not a bad choice honestly.
Ohhhh....Tag Team.....
I am happy that they still promote from within rather than just hire an outsider.
@nomither6 I don't see them moving back to Japan anytime soon... Maybe Europe? I never understood why the Playstation HQ is in California to begin with. It a massive headache when your main leaders live in a completely different country than your main office.
@AverageGamer A lot of Sony movie and game studios are currently located in California. California is an entertainment hub so that’s probably why PlayStation hq is located there.
@QiaraIris Not sure where that quote is from, I'll assume a comedienne b/c it makes sense, but I agree 100%.
It should be noted that Hiroko Totoki will still be the boss of both, so even though the 2 are co-CEO's of SIE they still report to the chairman, and it seems Totoki is the chairman of not only SIE (basically Playstation as far as I can tell) but also of all of Sony. He's basically everything at Sony.
Hiroki Totoki, who is currently Director, President, COO and CFO, Representative Corporate Executive Officer of Sony Group Corporation
https://recruit-holdings.com/en/about/leadership/totoki/
“Go ahead, name a country that doesn't have two presidents. A boat that sets sail without two captains. Where would Catholicism be without the popes.”
Also no surprise people are scapegoating California politics in the comments even the California is super politically diverse. Also, California is the fifth largest economy in the world with a huge talent pool in tech so it’s not like it doesn’t make sense to base operations there.
Just keep those beautiful games coming and we're all good 👌
@QiaraIris oh you beat me to it!
@Jay767 Yeah. But a lot those other businesses have CEOs and studio heads that also live in the states or California. One of the main reasons that Jim Ryan retired was because of the difficulties caused from having to travel from Europe to North America. I'm sure for these two... It probably also going to get to the point that traveling becomes a hassle.
as head of ps studios for over 4 years, hulst has not delivered. i'll give him a break and assume that the fruits of his labour have yet to be fully delivered (not to mention ryan's online service strategy likely ruined his plans to a great extent), but it is concerning just how far behind sony is with the ps5 cycle. if things don't dramatically improve in the next 4 years and sony doesn't match the output of the ps4 cycle, then hulst will need to be replaced at the beginning of the ps6 cycle. the clock is ticking. we need to see results.
and for the love of god, hulst needs to put his bias away and tone down the horizon projects. people are generally underwhelmed and fatigued already. cancelling the mmo and tv production would be a good start.
@AverageGamer its probably in cali because there best dev studios are there - naughtydog, insomniac, santa monica studios, suckerpunch is in washington but still west coast. also their movie studios...everything basically.
I think Hermen was the obvious choice because of his positions but a dual CEO is even better because he can concentrate on the studios and use of the ips and nothing else.
He wasn't directly responsible of many things that need to change like the cost of games or the service push so this is actually a good opportunity to see his vision going forward.
New CEOs, first open post about PS "secret" studio, Horizon leaving PS+ extra, Marathon 1 hd free on steam (made by fans but announced by Bungie). It really feels like the showcase is around the corner.
@AverageGamer Yeah it seems unlikely they'll move back to Japan
Sony's big studios are in California and console buying in Japan is on decline. Problem once they got to California they got all the politics from there too .
Yeah I know we are getting more Horizon I hope for something different personally which Sony did past generations
More companies are just IP farms now.
@AsterZero As a reminder, there's been three Horizon games in seven years. Boggles my mind how people are acting like Horizon has been releasing as frequently as Call of Duty.
@nomither6 I get that some of their studios being in California is a big reason. But like I mentioned before in another comment, one of the main reasons that Jim Ryan retired was because of the difficulties caused from having to travel from Europe to North America. These two will probably also get sick of it…
@AverageGamer you mean one of the reasons Jimbo retired wasn’t cause he pushed devs in to gaas which had 80% of those games canceled. Rich people don’t count miles, they have company cards to pay for that. Believe in generations.
@get2sammyb call of duty is a annual release that makes the industry stay open for all platforms, Horizon is climb only on the yellow blocks and a story that i almost tried drugs to understand. Horizon is played out and needs a break, good game mostly, but needs a break. Look only to HD2, one of PS most profitable titles in the history of PS. People don’t buy climb on yellow bricks they buy and play shooters with updating content. Numbers don’t lie.
I’m cautiously optimistic that this is a sensible approach. PlayStation has grown considerably in recent years and dividing the workload into two has some benefits. A few hopes I have
Considering yesterday's news they are doing a fantastic job already
@HonestHick That may be your opinion, and that's totally valid, but I'll repeat the facts: there have been three Horizon games in seven years and they've all been very successful.
Fair enough if it's not for you, but there will be more games in the series. And I personally am looking forward to them.
RBMango wrote:
To be clear he is absolutely a marketer. It was his first role at Ubisoft, he worked at Phillips in marketing and was a management consultant too.
But I agree he has a long history in gaming, including being a co-founder at Guerilla, it’s a sensible choice, but make no mistake he’s definitely a marketer.
@get2sammyb I want to say i am looking forward to them, but it needs to get a facelift. It can’t be more of the same. Now i will admit they both launched in a window with bigger games and i am sure that didn’t help them. But man if the rumor of Horzon Zero dawn remaster for PS5 pro at the Sony showcase is real. Sorry can’t say that moves the needle for the series much. I’d like to be wrong cause I enjoy to see success for games i don’t play. But thats a stretch.
@QiaraIris Oscar??? 😂
It's slightly similar to what Xbox did after the ABK acquisition. Sarah Bond focussing on hardware and Matt Booty focussing on studios. That's been working out great so far! 🙂
And before anyone says it, I realise they both report to Phil Spencer.
A couple of curiosities to note out of this:
1) Totoki besides retaining his overall Sony Group role, (& was acting in a "interim" capacity with Playstation),seems to be keeping a closer watch on the books,with the dual CEO's.
2) Insofar as Hulst having an expanded role, time will tell. 🤔 As the public "face" of Playstation Studios,it's been hard to get a read on him. When he did give rare interviews,it was pushing the Ryan era initiatives of live service games,(several which been shuttered),& remasters of several PS4 hits to PS5 alongside PC & Mobile studio acquisitions.
He would touch on PS Studios legacy titles, but apart from the limited PSN streaming regions, most older titles remain unavailable on modern platforms,eg: Ratchet & Clank classics, GOW 1 & 2, Sly Raccoon,LBP 1 & 2,infamous 1 & 2, Resistance just to name a few.
Whether much changes under his watch time will tell. 🤔
3) As for Hideaki Nanshino, presumably that still leaves Playstation alumni like Mark Cerny (& his dev company),still carrying on as he does now we hope into PS5 Pro or PS6 in the future,& presumably Shuhei Yoshida in his current Indies role given he was reporting to Jim Ryan before hand.🤞🙏
Guessing we won't be seeing any "big" acquisitions by Playstation anytime soon, the only hope is the arms race will slow a bit in light of the maas layoffs across the AAA landscape.
@HonestHick There have only been 2 main, full releases in 7 years, how could that IP possibly be played out and in need of a break? That's an absurd take. Also, the IP reached 32+ million overall sales by this time last year. "Numbers don't lie"? People don't buy it?
I think this is a case of confusing your personal views for facts.
(source for the number: https://blog.playstation.com/2023/05/09/20-years-of-guerrilla-the-story-of-a-playstation-studio/?sf266576029=1)
Smart move having two leaders in software and hardware. PS5 needs to truly stretch its legs as it’s an awesome piece of kit. I’m also loving my PlayStation Portal and has allowed me to enjoy Cyberpunk, Haydes and Spiderman 2 from home and away 👍🏻
Yeah that's not gonna work two people having the same opinion of everything? I do like hulst though not sure if he will be good in this role but time will tell I guess
@Brawl4002 or they will argue about it
@get2sammyb Seriously I have no idea when everyone just randomly collectively decided nope we all hate Horizon now everyone seemed to adore Horizon then when Forbidden West was announced all of a sudden uh what trash, Ew Aloy bad, puke Horizon needs to go away everywhere and I'm not sure where it all came from 😅. Personally I love the series and can't wait for 3 (and they'd better let that romance with Seyka stick)
@get2sammyb
Makes me proud to be Dutch. DJ,s and Playstation..
@Ainu20 needs a break after this rumored remake of the first game and rumored multiplayer game. That would be 4 titles since PS4. I am done with that. Now if those don’t come out then ok. Looks like we will find out soon at the showcase.
@rjejr Right, I also see Totoki as the new real PS boss, Hulst is not for much more responsible than before. This actually means that PS will loose a lot of its independence, the main decisions will be made in Tokio, not California.
This is unexpected and interesting. Can't say I'm thrilled to see Jim's mini-me heading Studios, he's like Matt Booty's maybe slightly less evil twin. I really felt he needed to be out. And I was somewhat hoping for a visionary leader. But I can't say I'm totally disappointed with what appears to be Japan taking control of everything except the big American studios that remain. Totoki remaining Chairman and in direct control is a surprise, and Nishino is a pleasant surprise. Maybe PS will become a bit more "classic PS" as a platform, and that direction will help reign in Hulst's...er....ambition....
It's not quite the wow I was hoping for, and Hulst staying on for Studios makes me cringe for Sony's first party output, but the platform might be in better hands than it was, at least.
@HonestHick Here we go… with this nonsense 😒
Whether or not, it was Jim fault for that. The person he would have been speaking to approve that push for GaaS is Herman, the man who actually approve what titles get developed by their studio, since he was CEO of PlayStation studios.
Rich men don’t count miles. But some do get old, and would rather spend more time with their families.
@AverageGamer i’m good with him retiring but all leaks lead to him and Connie being let go. Which is ok, sounds like PS wants to go in another direction. I am here for it as long as it’s good.
Oh, I guess it's better to have 2 heads instead of one. Who is Nishino, btw. It says hermen was previously PS studios chief. But where was Nishino Previously?
I’d take anyone over Jim Ryan
@get2sammyb I don’t understand where this is coming from, it feels like we had 1 Horizon game for every 12 Cod and Mario themed games 😁 I am hopeful to play Horizon 3 before 2028 :/ FW has been one of my PS5 era highlights with Rebirth and Returnal
@get2sammyb We know this. But it feels like it was yesterday when Horizon 1 released I can understand why they want to do more of it.
Well usually after each generation PS always done something new and I liked that a lot.
This generation in general is a IP farm.
@HonestHick
"Horizon is played out and needs a break"
How it's played out and needs a break when there's only 2 main games, 2 DLC expansion, and 1 spin-off VR game for the last 7 years.
Maybe it's you who needs a break from the franchise. I mean, you don't look like you enjoyed Horizon so why you want the franchise to take a break when millions of people enjoyed it.
@PuppetMaster i didn’t hate it, but it didn’t wow me outside of the graphics. Why would i want that, it’s simple i like that studio a lot and would like to see them do something different. It’s been 7 years. They produce great graphics and could use a little variety to their portfolio. The same with insomniac, all they do now is Marvel. I miss their other games. that’s another great team that we don’t have to guess what they are working on… Marvel and Horizon.
@HonestHick
I don't know what type of games or new IP that you want Guerrilla to make for the sake of "variety for their portofolio". A fighting game? racing? survival horror? RTS? sports? or visual novel?
But if you want a completely different type of games compare to Horizon, that means Guerilla must abandoned all the tools and assets they've already build for the last 7-8 years to specifically make Horizon and then start from zero again. Last time Guerilla decided to put Killzone to rest and then focus on making an open world-action RPG, it took them like 4-5 years to learn about open world + RPG and finished Zero Dawn.
Not to mention starting a new IP with different genre also comes with a big risk. Imagine if Horizon isn't a success, Sony probably already closed down Guerilla years ago. But Guerilla are quite lucky that Horizon is a big success and did much better than Killzone considering they're a studio with experiences mostly for FPS (Shellshock Nam 67 and Killzone). So it doesn't makes sense if they suddenly abandon a successful franchise that sold 32 million copies, just to start a new IP that could end up as a failure. It's a big gamble that i doubt Sony and Guerilla wants to take right now, unless you want to funded their new IP lol.
I personally don't mind a new IP. But i prefer Guerilla stick with what they did best right now with Horizon considering they already made a very drastic changed when they decided to make Horizon. With Forbidden West an improvement over Zero Dawn, what they should do is continue and improved next Horizon games until there's no more stuff to improve. When that happen, they could try to make a new IP again.
@PuppetMaster maybe a Co-op shooter, a RPG, heck even another action adventure game using the same tools but with just a new setting and world. Sony has said they have new Ip’s coming and may i remind you Sony every generation creates new Ip’s, thats why they were never labeled the Halo, Gears and Forza, or Mario, Zelda machine. They took risks with new Ip’s. Thats what the fan’s loved and made their games so exciting. So from now to the end of PS6, should we just have Spider-man, Horizon and GOW? That could get old in a hurry. Not to mention HD2 just out sold all of those titles and became one of Sony’s all time best sellers. Shooters sell if done right. Sure Killzone wasn’t the Halo Killer in the PS3 days. But they learned what worked and didn’t work on that game by now. There was a rumor of Socom coming back for PS and i can’t remember if GUR was mentioned to be part of it. That could be really fun. The PS5 Pro game rumored to be at the showcase is Horizon Zero Dawn Remaser (zzzzzz) Yawn…. I suppose. If it makes money go for it. But i am entitled to my opinions of what i would like to see studios make. Don’t mean they are listeening. Tho i get some of your points and they are valid in most cases, but they are playing it safe until one day players don’t want to play Horizon anymore and it’s sales drop off then after losing sales they will adopt my idea of something new and take all those risks you alluded too. Does that make more sense? I don’t know.
@HonestHick
"So from now to the end of PS6, should we just have Spider-man, Horizon and GOW?"
Are you joking? Too quick to talk about PS6 or even rant "it's just the same ol GOW Horizon Spiderman from here until the end of PS6! GRRRRRR!!!" when PS5 are not even 4 years old lmao.
And last time i check:
Heck. We don't even know what kind of new games that Housemarque, Bluepoint, Team Asobi, Firesprite, Bend Studio, and Media Molecule working on. So relax and calm down your "it's just 3 games over and over" phobia.
"Not to mention HD2 just out sold all of those titles and became one of Sony’s all time best sellers. Shooters sell if done right."
Helldivers 2 is an exception and you keeps mentioning it as if you want every Sony studios to quickly abandon their current projects and start pumping co-op shooters similar to Helldivers 2. It's not like the shooter market lacks co-op shooters either.
@PuppetMaster i don’t want them to just make shooters cause of HD2, but i think Sony should stop listening to the “fan’s” of sites like this who whined and cried about online games, i only buy a PS for it’s single player games and went HD2 the first shooter from Sony in a long while is kicking butt and taking names. Something i hope Sony remembers and has a few in its lineup. That isn’t saying don’t make single player. I said variety, which PS4 lacked and was the reason the PS4 was my least favorite PS console.
I know what the other studios are working on and i am excited to see some of that. I am talking about Guerilla and insomniac no longer making new Ip’s or going back to say infamous, Resistance and others. You clearly want to argue or you don’t respect others opinions of what they would like to play. Typical!
@themightyant concerning exclusivity: exclusives also mean that a title only needs to be optimised for a single platform, thus it better exploits the available features and might perform better. Though, nowadays hardware is so powerful that titles are presumably not so much limited by the lack of optimisations but more by the enormous amount of time it takes to create content ...
@gaston This is true. But point me to the wealth of titles that are solely optimised for a single platform like the PS5... that is a diminishing breed and for good reason, AAA games cost more to make than ever.
It's a simple fact that games like God of War: Ragnarok almost certainly would not have had the same budget if they weren't made cross-gen. Games of this scope require a larger audience in order to support that development budget. If it was a PS5 exclusive it would be forced to have had a smaller scope, or Sony would have to expect to take a loss.
This is becoming more and more the case as AAA games get ever more expensive to make, and only the later half of the gen will see more PS5 exclusives going forward, before we get to cross-gen with PS6 again.
Instead in order to have the best chance at success and get a ROI most games are made with the widest market in mind, while balancing that with a minimum spec for the design goal they envisage. Which means designing to the lowest common denominator e.g. depending on the project: last-gen (PS4), low-end PC / Steam Deck, Switch, or in some cases even mobile.
@themightyant absolutely true. And many games nowadays feel like mobile games .
But why develop something like a ps5 if non of its technology is really used ?
@gaston The technology IS used, just not 100% or built bespoke for. But what we consider "generations" has changed, it's far more PC like now, a hardware upgrade, and games are built to be more scalable.
E.g. look at something like God of War Ragnarok that runs much lower res and 30fps on PS4 and 4k/60fps on PS5 with a lot of other settings turned up. Or Fortnite or Genshin Impact that looks great on both mobile and on PS5.
Graphics in particular are very scalable. What is less scalable, or harder to scale is CPU based tasks. But even then you can, for example, have a more complex rain and damage simulation model in a racing game on high-end hardware and remove this or simplify it on lower grade hardware. It is still possible unless you game absolutely relies on all that CPU based simulation. It's how we saw "miracle" ports of things like Witcher 3 on Switch.
@themightyant resolution is scalable and you can chose a lower lod, reduce details for shadows, reflections, yes. But physics are likely scaled down until the game runs on all platforms sufficiently well to avoid possible disadvantages. Levels will be designed to fit into the memory of the lowest tier device. In the worst case games are designed to run okay with multiple input schemes e.g. mouse+keyboard, controller, touchscreen, controller + streaming latency, and are also playable on tiny screens like a phone.
Since there are so many devices to support, the optimisation stops once it runs sufficiently well. The power of modern console are less exploited than in the past when there were fewer devices to optimise for. So, in that sense multiplatform use platforms less efficiently and in a limited way, because the lowest tier device will limit the overall game design. Therefore exclusives are nice because they could use a platform to its fullest potential.
@gaston I completely agree that making for one console can potentially “use a platform to its fullest potential”.
At the same time the hardware is still being stressed for most cross platform games else why are we seeing so many 30fps 4K modes or 60fps with cut down settings? The “hardware IS still being used” which is what I was initially pushing back against, just not to its fullest potential.
You had asked what was the point of developing something like a PS5… well it gives a LOT of benefits over a PS4. Especially in areas like load times, resolution, frame rates and pushing many of the sliders up increasing the fidelity and immersion possible. It’s far more like a PC upgrade in that regard, and worthwhile.
I also agree I would like to see more PS5 (or at least “next-gen only”) exclusives and see what is possible with the tech. I’m currently playing Hellblade 2 for example (stunning visuals, average game). But here’s the major rub. Making games that push the hardware is becoming prohibitively expensive and yet if you make a game for only one platform you reduce the amount of money that game can make. The two are slightly incompatible. Therefore the scope and budget of most games that are PS5 exclusive have to be smaller in order to have a chance to make their money back.
There is a reason why Spider-man 2 was the first full-scale completely AAA PS5 first party exclusive as they had to wait for a large number of PS5s to be sold AND a franchise that had a chance to sell 10+ million. Earlier exclusive games were lower in budget (Returnal) or remakes (Demons Souls) or likely loss-leaders (Rachet) barely expected to make a profit. It’s a tough position to be in.
TLDR: The finances of making games for just one platform just don’t make sense anymore, until later in the generation when there are enough users.
Plus to REALLY make use of the hardware developers have to wait for, or develop, new tools, new engines and new mindsets to really push them. This all takes time.
"At the same time the hardware is still being stressed for most cross platform games else why are we seeing so many 30fps 4K modes or 60fps with cut down settings?"
Settings are lowered until it runs sufficiently well. Few studios take the time to really optimise the game for a platform. First party typically does, so typically they look so much better on the the same hardware. But the more the focus is on multiplatform the less also first part will optimise for the their platform and ultimately much more power is needed to get the same result.
" You had asked what was the point of developing something like a PS5… well it gives a LOT of benefits over a PS4. Especially in areas like load times, resolution, frame rates and pushing many of the sliders up increasing the fidelity and immersion possible. It’s far more like a PC upgrade in that regard, and worthwhile."
I wanted to say what is the point of trying to implement cool ideas like this I/O chip which directly decompresses into vmem, why implement something like tempest, why think about new controller features, if in the end most of these features are not used. Why not take the pieces from the shelf (i.e. mostly what xbox does) and save development cost ?
"if you make a game for only one platform you reduce the amount of money that game can make. "
on the other hand if you focus just on one platform You can eventually make something more special which is not possible to that degree on other platforms, something much more desirable compared to something more in line with what everybody else does. For example apple supports fewer devices and delivers in the end a more seamless experience.
"Earlier exclusive games were lower in budget (Returnal) or remakes (Demons Souls) or likely loss-leaders (Rachet) barely expected to make a profit. It’s a tough position to be in."
Not sure how true this really is. The games will also sell throughout the life of the platform. You typically start with lower budget titles because they are also faster to develop, which is key for a new platform.
But now we kind of reached a point where the differences from platform to platform become incremental (not necessarily by numbers but by perception). The majority of time is spent on creating assets, acting, composing and the hardware is not so relevant anymore. In that sense going multiplatform makes sense because the differences due to a different platforms are for most people imperceptible. But this will also slow down progress, because it takes much more time to push a new feature to all platforms.
"Plus to REALLY make use of the hardware developers have to wait for, or develop, new tools, new engines and new mindsets to really push them. This all takes time."
True. But do You want progress or not ?
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