Carnage

I expect Helldivers will continue to thrive for a while. Arrowhead has been killing it lately with Helldivers content drops. In addition to the recent Entrenched Division warbond a new illuminate subfaction that uses attack drones and heavy mechs (half of which sport comically oversized humanoid arms) just hit yesterday.

To focus on the main point of the article I’m unsurprised the PS5 continues to thrive. It’s the only current gen console on the market (the Switch 2 is fine and good but makes power and storage concessions for the sake of portability) has a great library and a relatively reasonable price (as I’ve noted many times the price being higher than it was at launch is without precedent and surely hurts sales).

I’m curious to see if PSSR 2.0 (which is a nice upgrade that is getting a lot of positive coverage) meaningfully alters the sales split between the Pro and the base system.

I’m sure the Switch 2 will continue to sell well and will sometimes take the sales lead. Pokémon fans seem to be really happy with the latest game.

Weird headline since the studio has been gone for a while now. I’m pretty sure Pavlov is the dominant game in the ‘PvP PSVR2 shooter’ subgenre.

I do most of my gaming on my Pro/PSVR2 in my den early in the morning before work but later in the day once everyone else is up and about I tend to game on the Portal in my living room.

Streaming works equally through my PS5 and over the internet. I tend to stream from my console but it’s nice to have the internet as an option when one of my kids and/or their friends is playing my console. Also it’s nice I can stream games I own but haven’t downloaded.

The demo convinced me to preorder. I didn’t care for the kid but the combat/enemy design was really fun.

I enjoyed my first playthrough of F (that was some thoroughly twisted stuff) so maybe now is the time for a second.

Thus far I’ve played RE Requiem, Iron Guard (VR tower defense game), Demonschool and Helldivers 2. Going to try to squeeze in some GT7 today.

It looks like a crazy sandbox to mess around in. I’m not sure it will succeed beyond that but fun sandbox would be enough for me.

I loved the concept and the visuals but didn’t enjoy the demo so I didn’t buy the game. However I’m glad Slitterhead found enough fans to keep the studio going. I’ll give their next project a look.

As a Pro owner who loves open world games this is a must buy for me based on old PC previews and the new footage. I can see why base PS5 owners want to see footage running on their hardware though. Hopefully like RE Requiem this will run well on everything.

Nice. I don’t own one IRL but I love driving American muscle cars in GT and the Camaro Z28 looks fun.

Like most avid divers I have earned more than enough ingame currency to unlock the upcoming warbond so I’ll do so even though none of the weapons are game changers.

Helldivers’ many fire enthusiasts will no doubt welcome the addition of two new ways to cook enemies. As a guy who prefers poison (relatively light danage but the disorientation effect is great) I am most looking forward to the poison mortar.

The defense themed warbond leads me to believe that H2 will soon be getting some new defensive mission types (kinda like what happened with the stealth warbond) in which trenches rather than walls and gates are what keeps the team and the assets they are protecting safe from enemies.

I hope the unemployed land on their feet but I skipped this remaster. I loved the original but there are enough choice driven games out there (including the Quarry) I just never felt a need to replay Until Dawn in higher definition.

What a tragedy. I remember reading EA expected BF6 to hit 100 million players.

https://www.eurogamer.net/ea-reportedly-expects-battlefield-6-to-have-100-million-players-three-times-more-than-the-series-best-seller

"Obviously, Battlefield has never achieved those numbers before," stated one source, while another said: "It's important to understand that over about that same period, 2042 has only gotten 22 million."

The sex minigames didn’t make a big impression on me one way or another but I think they should be kept in. For those who feel strongly about the matter there could be a toggle to turn them off (or on).

I’m 51 and have been a fan of RE since the original (and was a fan of the 3DO’s Alone in the Dark before that).

I just played the Pragmata demo. I loved the action and the boss fight though I could see the robot wearing out her welcome.

This is gross. I am fine with targeted promotions (ie notifying horror game fans of horror games on sale) but everybody in the same market should be offered the same deals.

Though its existence was the worse kept secret in the industry I don’t see the point in announcing the follow up to wildly unpopular systems a year out with no game footage or details.

I don’t think it hurts anything (the dead don’t feel and practically speaking the Xbox is dead this gen) but I also don’t think it helps.

I’m curious to see if Valve remains committed to jumping into the console space (they seem to have roughly the same strategy as MS, an unsubsidized but open system you plug into your tv). Valve been conspicuously silent about details since component prices started skyrocketing.

@Oram77 @Scottyy Sounds like I need to try the tower.

Saros is day 1 for me. I loved the bullet hell action of Returnal and beat it a couple times (it beat me many, many times 😋) though I confess I didn’t return for the post launch tower that was eventually offered as a free update.

Physical has been declining everywhere (nods towards movies, books and music) and games are distinct from other commercial art in that they tend to get post-launch modifications.

I’m only familiar with Stellar Blade but that was a a lot of fun so I’m going to give Shift Up’s next game a look no matter who the publisher is.

@TrollOfWar I also have no stock in Sony but as a player I appreciate polish and as I noted in a Forza Horizon 6 thread a few months ago (defending MS’s choice to not release it on the PS5 at launch and noting how polished and popular FH5 was at launch on the PS5) picking and choosing platforms to focus on rather than trying to be everywhere all at once makes for better tested, more polished games.

@TrollOfWar So you believe to succeed on PC Sony needs to abandon their current strategy of having most of their studios focus on their proprietary hardware (with PC ports being handled by a different studio after the game is done) and emulate MS’s strategy of everything being day 1 on PC?

MS has done wonderful things for consoles (gamewise and designwise) and still makes some quality games but I think the success of their recent strategy speaks for itself.

I’ve been playing Resident Evil Requiem (playing on default difficulty but I’ve died a lot), Gran Turismo 7, Iron Guard (a VR tower defense game whose sequel hits next week) and a bit of Helldivers 2.

I an fine with PC ports and have defended them in this forum (as an avid Helldiver I have fought alongside gamers of all stripes to the battle for liberty) but given that PlayStation games not named Helldivers 2 haven’t done that well on PC, PC gamers broadly reject buying games through platforms other than Steam and Valve has announced their intention to (again) try to release a console type system for the living room Sony’s decision is perfectly reasonable.

Between this and the ability to stream Portal games without a PS5 (useful for me because I’m not the only gamer in my house) I’m really liking these software upgrades Sony is doing.

I’ve had to do a lot of work and errands today but I did start Requiem on my Pro and it’s an astonishingly beautiful game despite it having a lot of ugly monsters in it. Looking forward to seeing how PSSR 2.0 boosts other games when the system update hits.

Niche and dead are different things. VR is dedicated hardware which blinds and deafens the user to the outside world so it’s sales are going to be fraction of that of more open dedicated hardware like consoles and portables whose sales are of course a fraction of generalist hardware like cellphones and PCs.

Along those lines VR games are niche. If you spend vast amounts of money on them or slap an expensive license (such as Marvel) on a VR only game, some will applaud you, but that won’t grow your audience, it just means you lose more money. Spending the big money some claim they are waiting to see spent clearly doesn’t mean anything since Meta burned tens of billions on VR without growing the market.

I would have liked to see Sony fund a VR studio or three though as a guy who happily plays good games regardless of their publisher I wasn’t too put out.

Setting aside the continued strong VR support of the ever growing GT7 and No Man’s Sky, PSVR2 has had a steady stream of quality games. Recentish examples that spring to mind are Roboquest VR (which has been dominating my VR playtime in recent weeks), Demeo x DnD: Battlemarked, VRacer Hoverbike, Ghost Town, Lumines Arise and Aces of Thunder. Of course if past games like Humanity, Synapse, Pistol Whip, RE4, Arken Age, Hubris, Rez Infinite, Moss Book 2, Arizona Sunshine 2, Before Your Eyes, Ironguard and Max Mustard didn’t turn people’s heads it’s logical the current and upcoming slate isn’t going to either so I don’t expect sales to radically improve anytime soon, though the recent (temporary?) price cut to $300 will certainly help sales a bit.

So no, PSVR2 in particular and VR in general aren’t dead, but they are niche so budgets and expectations have to be set accordingly (I think realistic big budget games are either going to be flat to VR ports or games than run on both). Speaking of setting, one can set your watch to yearly articles declaring the niche dead because it’s a niche inbetween articles bemoaning the industry’s obsession with growth and profit maximization 😋.

I’ve enjoyed all the Disgaeas but 6 and enjoyed quite a few of the adjacent spin-offs like Makai Kingdom, Soul Nomad and the World Eaters and the Phantom Braves but this spin-off doesn’t do anything for me.

So at a moment of crisis MS gave the boot to Phil Harrison and Sarah Bond and replaced them with someone with no prior interest in games or the business of gaming? Curious and curiouser.

@Leinad7 I agree that Sony studios that find commercial success tend to make sequels before moving on. Sequels are fine and good so long as the developer is fired up (and of course the audience responds to that fire). If a developer wants to move on its good to let them rather than force them to crank out games in franchise X until they retire or quit.

Unless MS Central snd it’s shareholders decide that its worth it to again spend lots of money to try to save the Xbox I doubt the new boss will be able to change things.

I think the most helpful thing they could do short term is a sharp HW price cut (which would be opposite the way component costs/prices are going) but given that MS has been more enthusiastic about raising hardware prices than its competitors that is a forlorn hope.

@Leinad7 Did you miss the opening line of my post when I stated Sony did its share of framchise milking but was less enthusiastic about it than its competitors?

Sony allows studios to walk away from even successful franchises and try other things, which sometimes works out and sometimes doesn’t. Returnal is a current gen example of an original game that worked out commercially.

@PuppetMaster As a small, traditionally one project studio I’m not sure Bluepoint could have developed a new game and remade an old one at the same time.

I agree dissolving Bluepoint was a mistake though as I’ve said elsewhere I’m less shocked and offended by Sony’s multiplayer push than most seem to be. MS was in the middle of a massive acquisition spree and had a history of making their games exclusive (though Minecraft was a notable exception) and Sony has historically sought to counterpunch its opponents (remember the wave of butt bouncers released by Sony in the PS1 and PS2 era?).

@PuppetMaster I am sure I am in the minority on this but for my money Sony being less enthusiastic than its competitors about milking IPs (though it does its share of milking) is a strength, not a weakness. Chaining developers to a franchise forever once they strike gold is the safest bet but giving those who want to the opportunity to continue to explore other ideas can pay off quite well (Insomniac and Naughty Dog tend to move onto new franchises every several years and thus far those leaps have been successful).

Of course failure is a risk with such a strategy. I personally played Media Molecule’s Dreams as much as I played the first two LBPs but Dreams was a commercial failure (though the servers are still up and the admittedly small community is active). Shrugs But sticking to a framchise until people become sick of it is a risk too.

The Bluepoint layoffs are stupid not because they were great at remasters but because they were a talented team which Sony should have worked something out with. They clearly wanted to branch out and one stumble shouldn’t have doomed the studio.

https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-acquires-bluepoint-next-game-playstation-exclusive

"Our team is a very highly experienced team, the average experience among most people is about 15 years, and all of them come from original development. It's not like we're a bunch of developers that got trained up on making remasters and remakes. We have that original game development mindset in our hearts, and that's what we're now ready, finally ready with the support of Sony to push forward and show what we can do, and show what PlayStation can do," he said.

I am thrilled that Wolverine is hitting this year. September isn’t a surprise given GTA6’s release date. Day 1 for me.

A game most sites barely covered and most gamers were unaware but all websites are now covering because it’s death suits a popular theme? I am shocked!

Seriously, I thought Amazon had written off their game investments a while ago. The refunds are a nice move.

@PuppetMaster Bluepoint is known as the master of remasters of single player games but before that they made an original game whose expansion was multiplayer focused and when they were bought by Sony they talked about they were now able to move beyond remasters.

Clearly gamers were happy with Bluepoint’s remasters but given their history and their old public statements it’s possible that they wanted to make a multiplayer game.

Of course that doesn’t make the dissolution of Bluepoint less of an outrage (I don’t know what happened in the year between project cancellation snd studio closure but Sony should have worked out something).

@StitchJones I’d argue MS’s immense size, wealth and profitability are an impediment to success in other sectors. Sure they have lots of money to burn and lots of people to throw at any problem but when it becomes clear they can’t achieve a Windows level of dominance and profitability they tend to move onto the next fashionable thing.

Which isn’t to say I expect MS to completely abandon gaming but I think the era of them burning tens of billions in the hope of Xbox being their stepping stone to dominance of the tv or a game streaming service to rival Netflix are over.

It’s pretty interesting that saleswise CoD has surged past Battlefield despite Battlefield having stronger initial sales.

Helldivers 2 having strong legs doesn’t surprise me. Great game. Doable solo but the chaotic fun is even better in multiplayer.

I’m also glad Ghost of Yotei continues to thrive. It’s a really fun, well paced open world game whose side missions were always interesting/lovingly crafted.

I’m sure Switch 2 will do fine. It hasn’t had a Pokémon game yet.

I don’t get Roblox but as I used to say a lot in the Wii era, highly differentiated products are a sign of a mature, healthy industry. Furthermore kids usually get into stuff their parents think is boring or silly.

I am not as high on remasters or as opposed to multiplayer games as most of the people on this forum seem to be but buying a studio known for high quality remakes of single player games and shuttering them because they couldn’t make an original multiplayer game is utterly insane.

I am a huge PS5 fan who thinks most developers haven’t pushed the hardware and never will because nowadays most live within the constraints of UE5 (which is a great engine but is a layer that keeps developers away from the metal that developers used to code to) and on a related note most are working on multiplatform games aimed at lower spec hardware (nods towards Valve’s recent comments about the average PC gamers as well as the success of mobile and the Switches).

It’s also worth noting that once upon a time arcade games and/or high PC games created hunger for future tech but arcades died decades ago and games built for high end PCs are no longer a thing.

Coupled with the spiraling price of computer components I think Sony would be wise to hold off on the PS6 for a while. Figuring out a way to make the PS5 more affordable (it’s crazy it’s a bit pricier than it was at launch) would do much more to grow the market than releasing even pricier more powerful hardware.

My multiplayer time is filled by Helldivers 2 but I’ve heard nothing but good about Arc Raiders since its beta and I’m glad for its success.

The game business is very tough. Overwatch’s very recent, very successful reboot probably didn’t do Highguard’s already modest player numbers any wonders. Hopefully the developers land on their feet.

I’m an avid Helldiver who is glad to see H2 succeed anywhere. Super Earth is a benevolent beacon of democracy in a hostile galaxy (though it fights for liberty all of its enemies happen to be sitting on critical resources) and needs all the soldiers it can get.

The new faction, a subfaction of the automotans named the cyborgs (they are the bot’s masters and creators) are exceedingly nasty but also kinda funny because they speak distorted English and the lowest level troopers use kung fu (and shotguns and smoke grenades). The nastiest of the lot is certainly the Vox Engine, which is essentially a tank the size of a large building. The Vox are not as tough or nasty as hivelords but they are unpleasant and they come in swarms.

For what it’s worth Alinea Analytics recently provided a sales estimate of H2. 5.6 million sales on PS5, 1.6 million on Xbox and 13.1 million on PC.

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/01/helldivers-2-xbox-vs-ps5-sales-data-shared-as-game-reportedly-hits-20-million-copies-sold

I played a lot of NMS early in its life (less than a year anfter launch) and enjoyed it. My gaming dance card is kinda full but I will try to make time to check out all of the revisions (tons of new content, PS Pro support abd even PSVR2 support).

I greatly enjoyed the first two Fear Effects due to their memorable characters (everybody but Rain), dark and bizarre plots and gameplay/game design that was a bit creaky (early REish, but the world was FMV and the characters were polygons) but didn’t get in the way (there were a lot of weird camera angles but the games were pretty good about not letting stuff kill you from off camera).

While I have fond memories of the games I don’t feel a need to play higher definition versions of them. Of course a revisions and remasters sometimes draw in people who merely heard of the original games.