Ainu20

@themightyant My immediate thought at seeing Embracer mentioned was that this wouldn't have been rescue at all, considering how much of a destructive force they've been in the gaming industry. No IP is better off under their stewardship (if you can call it that), not even compared to Microsoft.

@Porco Sony did subsidize the PS5 at launch, but no one would subsidize a console 5 years into a generation. I'm a bit puzzled why you feel they would need to do that to grow the install base at this point, given that it's on a similar trajectory as the PS4. Regardless, I already gave my comments on subsidizing and why prices aren't coming down in comment #22.

The reason I mention the Switch 2 is because it's relevant context. Switch 1 also needed a screen and launched $150 lower than the Switch 2. Series X is also 5 years old and is $100 more expensive than what it launched at. That should give you an idea where we are right now. It's all context, and it's all relevant. Once again, PlayStation does not exist in a vacuum.

You can choose to ignore all of this context, and instead just tell people who disagree with you that your arguments go over their heads, or accuse them of sounding like slaves, but none of that makes your arguments any stronger. It is of course easy and tempting to blame it all on good old greed, and given that it's business, that's always at least a small part of the story. But it isn't the full story, even if you aren't interested in that.

@Porco You would price the non-digital PS5 at $380 in 2025, so $70 cheaper than the Switch 2 which offers significantly less performance, and $220 cheaper than a non-digital Series X which offers equivalent performance.

Playstation does not exist in a vacuum.

@BAMozzy Define a "typical" console price point. The PS4 launched at $399, the Xbox One at $499. PS5 DID have a version at launch that matched the PS4's launch price, and its most expensive version didn't go beyond the Xbox One launch price. Compared to that generation - a generation everyone agrees Sony knocked out of the park - the PS5 launched at a perfectly reasonable launch price.

You have to go back a whopping 25 years to find a generation when Sony has launched their consoles cheaper than the digital PS5. It feels like your entire argument falls apart when held against that information.

@Americansamurai1 That was only ever true for the initial stages of a console's life cycle. Manufacturing costs would then start decreasing, mainly due to die shrinks, leading to price decreases and often smaller footprints as well. Due to a combination of factors, including the fact that Moore's law seems to be dead, manufacturing costs haven't gone down this generation, causing platform holders having to keep the price stable to start making a profit, and in the worst cases even having to increase costs.

I realize it's easier to just blame it all on greed, but companies aren't completely stupid either. Sony would no doubt love to get even more consoles out there, but they also don't want to sell at a loss 5 years into a cycle. It's a ***** situation us and late stage capitalism doesn't help, but it can't all be reduced to simple one-liners.

For the record, Nintendo has generally adopted a different model, usually selling their hardware at a profit from the start.

This makes very little sense to me. The PS5 is almost 5 years into its life cycle and on a similar trajectory as the PS4, so clearly the install base has not been hindered by the system's price. Maybe consumers have become more discerning about game prices, with an increasingly large offering of quality titles at lower prices and the expectancy of heavy discounts, while Monster Hunter Wilds is an unoptimized mess at the full €80 price point. Maybe they should start by looking closer to home.

@AdamNovice Technically possible, yes, but based on past evidence extremely unlikely. Not something to call people stupid over. In the previous 3 years, they've done a single SoP/showcase in September, so the assumption that this is it for the month is not a particularly wild one.

If they have another one lined up, then obviously that would be great.

@Bez87 That's just it, the disappointment stems from the implication that Sony has nothing to show right now.

Well that is disappointing. A whole State of Play dedicated to a third-party title that will release on all platforms, feels like a huge waste in my opinion. Does a game like this really need a 30 minute gameplay deep-dive?

@Nepp67 Not sure I agree. I still interpret the normal or default difficulty setting as the difficulty that the developers intended for the majority of players. Ideally, any review should start there. If the difficulty is noteworthy enough that the reviewer had to change it, I'd like to know why.

Morale among Haven devs has to have sunk beneath sea level at this point. They will surely be aware of how hostile the public sentiment is, and now both their studio founder and creative director have left, following what was described as a disastrous internal test. I can imagine more than a few of them have mentally checked out at this point.

@nomither6 It still exists, just not as much in the AAA space.

@LifeGirl Not sure about that. Not to go into the whole PC vs console discussion, they both have their place, but GPUs getting sold at their actual MSRP is a rarity these days, and that's an understatement. It doesn't exactly look like it's going to normalise any time soon, so unfortunately, building a PC has become an very expensive hobby, even if you're not going for the high-end.

This feels like a bizarre discussion. There's no reason to entertain the possibility of the PS6 arriving anytime soon. Of course it's coming at some point, but not for a while yet. So why even talk about it?

Some of those others mentioned in the article surely can't be attributed to Silksong's release. Aeterna Lucis is delayed to 2026, there's clearly more going on than just avoiding Silksong. Yes, it's extremely similar to Hollow Knight, but a delay of around 4 months or more?

@wiiware I've never agreed with the blanket rule of 2 hours. You can easily complete a game like A Short Hike in under 2 hours, and there are plenty like it. It doesn't sit well with me.

Of course, not getting a refund just for downloading a game is the other end of the extreme and isn't ok either.

@Jey887 That bit about how it's cool to hate on Hollow Knight nowadays is something I've noticed lately as well, and I just don't get it. Team Cherry are a tiny, 3 man indie studio. This type of success story is everything we should love about the gaming industry, regardless of whether people like the game or not. But we're actually seeing people actively wish Silksong fails.

It's that old saying: "People will forgive you for anything but success".

@get2sammyb It's fine that it isn't for you and understandable that you're tired of hearing about it, but you're not exactly setting a great example with your comments. On the release date article, you asked if we can finally stop talking about it now, and here you ask that we can all move on. Like, what? The game isn't even out yet, it hasn't even started.

For an editor on this site, those are some pretty mean spirited comments about a game that means a lot to a lot of people. It's the sort of stuff I'd expect from your average entitled and complaining forum dweller, not from someone who's supposed to be better than that.

The art style and exploration look pretty intriguing. The combat on the other hand... It's supposed to be a blend of turn-based and real-time but what is shown here just looks like a button masher to me.

Surprised Blue Prince wasn't included in this list. It's not the most substantial discount at 20% off, but it's up there with the highest rated indies of the year so I'd say it deserves a mention.

@Member_the_game Well it has been as very unusual generation. Kicked off in the middle of a devastating pandemic, followed by a years long war on the border of Europe and now a global trade war declared by the world's largest economy. You might call those price increases madness, but we're living in an even madder world at the moment.

@Jaz007 Regardless of how you feel about it, calling this specific instance shady is beyond absurd. It doesn't apply at all.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare Sony-only fans sounds... weird, lol.

I'm reluctant to criticize Keighley too much because he's one of the few who's still trying. These shows didn't just fall into his lap, he made them into what they are and worked hard for it. Others, like E3, completely dropped the ball. If it wasn't for him, the concept of the big gaming expo might've been close to extinction by now and we'd be left with very little outside of platform holder and publisher directs or showcases. Some might prefer that, but I think the industry would lose something without them.

You could argue three is too many, but the two other (Summer Games Fest and TGA) are both in the US, and I'm definitely in favour of having one in Europe as well. It's not perfect but I still prefer this over not having them.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare I'm not sure it's Keighley's choice of games exactly. He can't conjure up games out of thin air, his shows have to make do with industry trends. It still had a decent amount of smaller and weirder titles, I'd say.

As a full show and spectacle, it's terrible. My comment wasn't to justify that or anything, but I just don't know what people expect if they already hated the previous shows.

I watched this on delay and just skipped past everything that didn't interest me, and found it pretty decent that way. Plenty of interesting titles and some surprises. Every time I caught back up to the live stream, I just paused it, did some gaming and tuned back in to see what I had missed.

Honestly, a lot of people do it to themselves by watching it live and then going on to complain it's boring, too long, too many crap games, etc. Maybe learn from past experiences?

This looks really cool and a nice change of pace from the usual soulslikes. I have a soft spot for these guys as I fell in love with Ghostrunner, even if it was pretty exhausting to play. I'm not entirely convinced this gameplay will hold up for a full game of this type, but my interest is piqued.

@AndroidBango That is truly inexcusable. This might not be a nice thing to say because it affects people's livelihoods, but just for that alone I hope this game completely tanks. It's beyond scummy and shouldn't be rewarded.

There is clearly a subset of gamers who can't accept that AC Shadows has done well and they've been doing non-stop mental gymnastics ever since its launch to discredit every bit of news about its success. Get over yourselves. What people should be complaining about instead, is the fact that each incremental, full-priced edition of Lootbox FC keeps topping these lists.

Everything Pachter is saying here, I've read about a million times before on here and other gaming sites/forums, over the last several years. If this is supposed to an analysis, it's several years late and doesn't bring a single original idea to the table. If it's supposed to be a prediction, it's even worse. Welcome to about a full generation ago, I guess?

Looking at this and the Jeff Grubb article, this industry really is full of snake oil salesmen, isn't it?

Jeff Grubb and a strong track record are polar opposites, the guy is the living embodiment of a broken clock. Please stop giving him attention.

@TrollOfWar I agree with all of that, and would argue it's basically the same thing I said, beyond the semantics of what makes a PS "fan". But whether we like it or not, the more casual players are a massive part of Sony's paying customers, it's easy to see why Sony was trying to target them. It's just a shame the balance shifted way too far in that direction.

@TrollOfWar Of course they are trying to target the PlayStation fanbase, because those are their paying customers. The reality is that an enormous amount of money is spent by PlayStation players on live service games. Their live-service attempts are targeting those players, they just completely failed to appeal to them.

It's a myth that the audience isn't there on PlayStation, it absolutely is, but you won't really find them on sites like Push Square.

@Oram77 That's a separate discussion. It will require an online subscription but it's not like it will be available through a subscription. That's the same on all (non-PC) platforms if you want to play online, as much as we all hate it.

@TrollOfWar The big difference is that Sony does not see the subscription model as the preferred way to deliver games to customers, while Microsoft does. Both services reflect that. Nintendo doesn't really belong in this discussion as they only provide a retro subscription service, mostly for games that aren't easily playable on modern systems, if at all.

I've never understood why people are so interested in the whole profitability angle. That's something for the corporate suits, why do we care? What we should care about, is what it means for the quality of games, and I follow what @Oz_Who_Dat_Dare said: Game Pass doesn't promote excellence.

Sure, in a world where Game Pass is only one alternative game delivery system, that doesn't matter too much. However, in a potential future where subscription services are the de facto standard because the entire public has been conditioned not to buy games, it will absolutely matter a lot. Why would a studio go above and beyond to create excellence, when their entire income is dictated and controlled by the deals they get from these mega corporation that control the entire subscription industry? Publishers that draw more engagement will still get a bigger slice of the pie, but still only as much as the service provider allows. And it's not like they can really demand more, because they wouldn't have an alterative.

It's worded differently, but I believe that's sort of what Lawden is alluding to, and that's definitely not a future I want to live in. Fortunately, straight up sales aren't going anywhere for now, as evidenced by Expedition 33, an actual day-one Game Pass game, selling several million copies in a matter of weeks. As long as that continues, I'm perfectly ok with Game Pass and similar services existing for those who want to use it.

While I do like that this looks like a throwback to a bygone era of arcade racers, the execution doesn't look particularly appealing here. I might be tempted to check it out at a low enough price point.

That quote makes my head spin. A bit of a word salad is an understatement.

Yeah I'm going to be that guy and say that sounds like an answer someone told her to give, and she messed it up. First-person shooter? "Rogue-style"? No one who's into something as relatively niche as Returnal would say those things.

But still, points for dropping the name in an interview.

I got excited by the Burnout reference in the title for a second, and then I read the article. My biggest turn-off when it comes to arcade racing games summed up in the dreaded two-word term: "open-world". We used to get hand-crafted tracks that you would familiarize yourself with over time, with sequences of corners specifically designed to have an enjoyable flow to them, something no open-world could ever come close to. I've never understood the appeal of it in racing games. I'm probably in the minority, but I absolutely couldn't stand Burnout Paradise.

Darksiders was great but calling it a legitimate alternative to classic Zelda feels a bit much. It also felt like the series had an identity crisis in the next two games, with the second being more of a loot based hack 'n slash and the third being a souls-lite. So who knows what to expect from this one.

@Enigk Who are "they"? If you mean Sony, unless I'm forgetting something, they haven't released new cross-gen games since 2022 anymore. As for other developers, they will continue if it suits them, and why not?

Have to agree with the article, that price seems too high for a game like this. For that price I expect Blasphemous 2 or Ender Magnolia level quality, and even though I like Shantae, these games don't offer that. Maybe on its own that wouldn't be too bad, but selling three extra skins as a deluxe edition for a 40% price increase is farcical.

I was wondering what I was missing with Lune's Thermal Transfer skill, so it was a bug after all. I'm still early in the game but RIP Thermal Transfer abuse, you will be missed.

@Martsmall People who are using that as an argument to say it somehow "doesn't count" are silly and should be ignored, however there's no denying that those large, multi-studio publisher acquisitions are the reason why Microsoft is able to dominate those charts. None of the other platform holders have ever outright acquired a publisher, Microsoft has done it twice, with one of them being one of the largest third-party publishers in the history of our medium. Them going on to dominate charts is an expected outcome from this, there's nothing wrong with pointing that out.

For what it's worth, I feel the Zenimax acquisition was excellent business for MS, especially compared to the Bungie deal in terms of value.

@KonstantTrouble The game's quality is not really relevant in this discussion, only its commercial performance, which seems to be very successful. So yeah, it is an accomplishment.

@Neither_scene I don't think there's any real need for concern. Sony knows they need their big first-party releases to continue to attract people to their platform. The situation on PC is not really comparable, since Sony needs to give people reasons to buy into each new generation. They have an advantage due the enormous back catalogue that people can take from one generation to the next, but that alone is not enough. I'm sure Sony understands that.

Considering the magnitude and nature of their acquisitions, it's not eye-opening to see so much Microsoft on there at all. The fact that Forza Horizon 5 tops the list however, despite being several years old and priced like a new game, does indicate that there was a significant gap in the PS5 catalogue. This should probably give Sony some pause in the sense that they missed an opportunity to address that themselves.

Beyond that, the biggest surprise for me is the lack of EA titles in that top 10. Long may it continue.

It looks cool, if perhaps a little too close to its obvious inspiration, but they definitely lost me a bit at "randomly generated levels".

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare Which is why I hope Ghost of Yotei is closer to RDR 2 than Ghost of Tsushima in its open-world approach. I doubt it will be, but every step in that direction will be welcome. We don't need dozens of camps scattered around the map that need to be cleared of enemies, or small settlements at almost regular intervals with one or more quest givers at each of them. It makes things predictable, and that's the worst thing that can happen in an open world.

It might sound weird, but studios need to stop being afraid of giving the player some empty space, without throwing a bunch of activities at us. Let us wander and truly explore, and only reward that exploration with the occasional unique event or discovery. Not too much, so it doesn't become predictable, keep us guessing. Punctuate the wilderness with fewer but more meaningful settlements, so they act more as bases to strike out from, rather than a series of spots to check off on your map.

These are ideas that can be incorporated in a lot of open-world games, without necessarily needing Rockstar levels of resources. I hope Sucker Punch truly understood that.

@RoomWithaMoose It's not necessarily the repetition that I find problematic in a lot of open-world games, it's the way these games guide you to that repetition and make it feel check list-y that is the problem.

Take games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance or Red Dead Redemption 2 for example. There's still a lot of content in those games that might feel repetitive, however they're not structured in such a way that you feel the need to complete all of it. Often, it's hidden, its completion metrics are not getting shoved in your face, you might miss large chunks of it and still feel like you've accomplished all you wanted by the end of the game.

That is something your average Ubisoft-like, open-world game gets wrong, and Ghost of Tsushima had that issue as well, to a certain extent. It's this push to clear the entire map, to get check marks on all lists, etc. That is something I hope is completely absent in Ghost of Yotei, or at least hidden away so it's easier to ignore.

Anyone going for a platinum trophy is still going to need to go through some check lists though, but that's unavoidable. The main thing is that the open-world experience needs to feel fulfilling regardless of whether you're trying to get trophies or not.