Comments 1,026

Re: Tech Experts Call GTA 6 'the Most Impressive Example of Real-Time Rendering We've Ever Seen'

IllusiveMan

@Steve_BTW Pushed how exactly? I remember they marketed it as the game was solely possible on PS5 and its groundbreaking SSD but playing it felt like another R&C game and only a year later it turned out to run fine on PCs with HDDs…

To me Returnal was more technically impressive and felt more “next-gen” from that same year, but still I’d argue we haven’t seen a game that truly pushes the PS5 to its limit until now.

Re: So, Erm, Where's Forza Horizon 6 on PS5?

IllusiveMan

@8th_Observer Not upset but continuously disappointed in the entitled tone of several articles recently, this site didn’t use to rely so much in flaming users and console warring but I see they’re taking cues from social media where everything is more toxic but it does generate more engagement so I guess it’s working?

Re: So, Erm, Where's Forza Horizon 6 on PS5?

IllusiveMan

@8th_Observer Then what’s the point of this article? Only to try and flame PS users against Xbox trying to spark some controversy because a release date –for a game that is publicly announced and confirmed– hasn’t been announced yet, and some have already taken the bait.

And I personally find laughable the sheer hypocrisy and entitlement of a PS site almost demanding with pitchforks and torches the release date for an Xbox port when mere months ago they were dismissing all PC players as ‘port-beggars’…

Re: PS6's Purported $1,000 Price Point Could Lead to a 40% Slump in Sales

IllusiveMan

@ShadowRJ Exactly. Enthusiasts as ourselves have already little incentive to get a PS6 as a main platform, hardware might be cheaper than Helix or building a PC but in the long run without physical games and the platform being monopolized by the PS Store I can guarantee that after buying a few games it’ll end up being more expensive than any other option.

I feel Sony is having some sort of mirage right now, where they say “there’s no impact to the business” for all their recent decisions because GTA 6 will inflate their numbers substantially a couple of quarters, BUT after its launch as console sales fall to their lowest ever while trying to market a $1000+ PS6 we’ll see if they dare to repeat “there’s no impact to the business”…

Re: PS6's Purported $1,000 Price Point Could Lead to a 40% Slump in Sales

IllusiveMan

It will be a mortal blow for the console market overall, we’re severely underestimating how easily the casual audience will simply move on from console gaming altogether and find another cheaper hobbies, and us enthusiasts who still want a console, we are going to be squeezed to the last dime as companies will try to maintain the same revenue with 40% less audience or more.

Re: Ghost of Yotei's PS5 Complete Edition Will Get a Physical Disc, But There Are Already Concerns

IllusiveMan

@Balaam_ You must think in terms of what shareholders want, would they want to sell you a drive to play all the games you have or rather force you into buying all your games again?

At this point I wouldn’t be shocked if some Sony exec ends up saying “fortunately we have a product for people who want to play their physical games, it’s called PlayStation 5”…

Re: Opinion: Ghost of Yotei Was a Weirdly Disappointing Sequel After Loving Tsushima

IllusiveMan

I agree and it’s a trend for every sequel that we’ve got this generation, Yotei, Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2, Forbidden West have felt a bit formulaic and not as impactful as the games that came before, still great games but gameplay is too similar and there barely was an evolution between entries while the story in my opinion has been a clear letdown for all these sequels.

Re: Marvel Tokon Launches to Mixed Reviews on PC, PS5 Players Encouraged to Disable Crossplay

IllusiveMan

@HonestHick And also remains the only account where you can’t change your region, so if you are in an unsupported country and make an US account you won’t ever be able to change it, PS Support will literally tell you “just make another account”.

Their digital infrastructure is simply archaic and as far as we know there’s zero improvements planned as they simply not care, they really said “take it or leave” and as for me I’m clear that PS won’t be my main platform come next generation.

Re: Disc-Based PS5s Now Warn Buyers About the Impending Death of Physical Games

IllusiveMan

@naruball Exactly, Sony (and most major gaming companies nowadays) are severely underestimating how easily the casual audience will simply move on from console gaming altogether, it already is happening this generation as the console audience keeps shrinking from the heights of the 2010’s, many young people are simply not interested in consoles even at their 2020 price and why many companies including Sony are shifting towards squeezing money out of their customers rather than gaining new users but that’s simply unsustainable on the long term.

I’m seeing GTA 6’s launch as a last hurrah for the console market before things really start to get ugly.

Re: Disc-Based PS5s Now Warn Buyers About the Impending Death of Physical Games

IllusiveMan

The ultimate confirmation this is set in stone, there’s no countermeasures planned or any improvements whatsoever for the all-digital ecosystem, it’s really an ultimatum of “this is what we offer, take it or leave it” and I honestly expect them to remain in that cocky attitude up until the PS6 struggles to sell after launch which will inevitably happen.

They’re banking on the casual audience to keep buying the brand forever but they’ll leave as soon as they see the price tag and the enthusiasts who were willing to pay any price are the ones who Sony is forfeiting with their decisions, if you want any indication on how “loyal” the casual audience is just look at how many jumped from the PS2 to PS3 (barely half of its user base), the PSP to PS Vita losing 3/4 of its user base or an even more dramatic case with the Wii and Wii U losing 90% of its audience, and yes I’m aware those are different circumstances and times but no brand is invulnerable of flying too close to the sun…

Re: Could Xbox Get Its Revenge on PS6 by Supporting Physical Games?

IllusiveMan

It’d be poetic but let’s not kid ourselves, Microsoft began the all-digital push ever since 2013, Game Pass is also a big push for it, 90% of their recent physical releases are nothing more than game key-discs, and to be honest they’ve actually invested in having a better digital ecosystem, there’s no incentive for them to keep supporting physical discs other than a few days of positive clout on social media.

Re: 'We Are Not Seeing Any Impact on Our Business': Sony Says Physical Disc Backlash Is Having Zero Effect

IllusiveMan

@TDHorizon I think you’re confusing installment plans to subsidizing, the way many phones are sold with carriers is that they include the cell services within the price of the phone for X months and ends up being cheaper than buying the phone outright and separately paying for cell service (effectively subsidizing the price of the phone), consoles simply don’t work like that, there’s no one selling PS5s with unlimited games included for a monthly price, MS attempted something like that with Xbox and Game Pass back in 2021 but it didn’t take off.

The latest trend as shown by Apple this week is hardware leasing which to me is completely dystopian but I can already see the pitch on the console side, personally I’d rather sell my old hardware to buy new one or simply buy older or refurbished devices before paying a monthly fee for hardware I will never own.

Re: 'We Are Not Seeing Any Impact on Our Business': Sony Says Physical Disc Backlash Is Having Zero Effect

IllusiveMan

@TDHorizon I get it but that’s an apple to oranges comparison, phones nowadays are almost essential and many subsidized with carriers whereas consoles are not, in fact the console market has been shrinking and younger generations are not as interested on AAA gaming, the few ones who do are quickly getting priced out of gaming altogether which makes existing console makers more reliant on the existing audience to keep spending more and more.

Re: PS5's Monthly Active Users Increased Again, PS Plus Making More Money Than Ever

IllusiveMan

@tangyzesty It’s sad to read any comment cheering on the corporation for making more money while trying to ridicule the customers who disagree with their decisions, it’s obvious that any effect of their recent decisions will not be immediate, these numbers don’t even include any data after the July 1st announcement but you didn’t care to read that, only to cheer for Sony.

And I’m not saying there will be a large-scale boycott or a big sudden dip in their revenue stream, but do you seriously expect them to do this good when they try to sell us on a PS6?
The effect will be gradual, just look at Xbox now, a shell of its former shelf selling less than half than a decade ago yet still exists, PlayStation is not invulnerable to failure or gradually dwindle over time in the same way.

Re: Sony Knows How You Feel About No More Discs, But It's Not Going to Reverse Course

IllusiveMan

Wow. I mean I already expected them to not reverse course but I did expect some kind of counter announcement but nah, they sh*t on us and expect us to thank them.

For anyone thinking they would distribute digital games as they did back with the PS4 they just confirmed they won’t, their only retail presence moving forward will be code-in-a-box for select games while monopolizing the PS Store, I just hope they face a mountain of legal challenges in every single market, if they’re unwilling to budge hopefully some regulator will go nuclear and force Sony to open the platform as they did with Apple, even if it upends their entire business, I even hope it does at this point, whatever hurts them the most.

Re: 8 Ways Sony Must Improve the PS Store for Our All-Digital Future

IllusiveMan

One big thing missing is security, it’s by far the most vulnerable account of any modern platform as it can be easily hacked through social engineering and the platform provides zero security measures to prevent it as it can be done even if you have passkeys/2FA enabled in your account.

Also region flexibility, not only allow any account to switch regions with its due limits but it’s imperative they get rid of distributing Asian, European and American editions for all games separately and distribute one global version as every platform does.

Re: Angry PlayStation Fans Propose PS5 Blackout in Protest of Sony's Disc Decision

IllusiveMan

I heavily disagree with many of Sony’s recent decisions but this is just silly, my PS5 stays off for more time randomly throughout the year when I want to play on my other consoles or do something else instead.

This whole debacle has been ugly to watch, on one hand these grifter accounts are having tons of engagement doing ragebait posts one after another and now they feel in the position of organizing a large-scale boycott which I’m sorry it’s laughable, they hypocritically repost that image of “f*** Sony” on discs while also sharing how excited they are for GTA 6 or to replay Black Ops on PS5, but on the other hand Sony’s deafening silence and lack of any countermeasure has been making everything worse and will only continue to escalate.

Re: 'They May As Well Eliminate the Hardware Too': Japanese Dev Says Sony 'Doesn't Understand' the Feelings of Fans

IllusiveMan

@AdamNovice A business that has been most profitable this generation than any other according to Sony themselves, even counting the billions of losses for pursuing failed live-services.

I really don’t get why every single time there’s an article talking about physical media and its value for many people all the corporate defenders come here and spit the same nonsense trying to dismiss it and becoming a trivial debate of “us vs them”, y’all act like Sony’s shareholders while getting absolutely nothing the same as the rest of us, no options, no ownership and higher prices, if you don’t want to complain or don’t see any value in physical media it’s fine, but to click every article to actively defend oh-precious Sony and its business is simply pathetic.

Re: Sales Data Paints a Very Grim Picture for Physical PS5 Games in the USA

IllusiveMan

Read the full data before rallying on the comments justifying Sony’s decisions as if you were shareholders yourselves, sure only 7 games have managed to sell more than 100,000 copies but 35% for Ghost of Yōtei is still pretty significant, specially since it being a first-party game it relies solely on selling copies on PS consoles, by ceasing a physical release they’re essentially forfeiting 1/3 of sales for any first-party game which only spells future problems for first-party studios.

I still find it jarring they went for the nuclear option of ceasing physical discs altogether instead of keeping it as a more expensive and niche option for those willing to pay for it, they easily could have found a middle-ground to make everyone happy (or not as mad) they simply chose not to.

Re: PS5's Regional Pricing Switch Has Players Concerned Yet Again, Here's What's Happening

IllusiveMan

@Krlozgod They did initially for all games, only just recently they’ve begun to match prices with other platforms for third-party games as seemingly they’ve allowed publishers to set their own prices which gives me some hope that they’ll do so here as well, however first-party games remained considerably higher as Sony is both the publisher and distributor.

To give some example for the “just don’t buy it” crowd, I’ve got preordered Wolverine for around $900 MXN ($52 USD) on disc with some retailer’s coupon and it’ll now probably cost upwards of $1,500 MXN ($86 USD) to buy it on digital and after 2028 it’ll be the ONLY option that’s if by then they don’t raise base prices to $80 USD, if this permeates to every game from every publisher it’ll simply become impossible to keep consuming on PlayStation as much as I like their games, really can’t make it more clear how much a problem it is to keep removing customers’ options.

Re: PS5's Regional Pricing Switch Has Players Concerned Yet Again, Here's What's Happening

IllusiveMan

I’m from Mexico and this move will basically determine if I keep consuming PlayStation at all, I’m uneasy because this could either mean fair prices on the PS Store after years, decades of being significantly more expensive than Xbox, Steam and the eShop for most games, or charge even more based on whatever conversion rate they come up with as they did on Brazil, where some games ended up costing 300% more than any other platforms.

In theory it’s the right move as we’ve had prices in USD since the PS3 days(!) but this is Sony we’re talking about, if they treat all consumers like garbage us LATAM users are a complete afterthought, we don’t even have proper PS+ Premium and here physical media remains extremely relevant, also, isn’t a bit a ridiculous than in the middle of an all-digital push they will take down the store for 2 full days and pause any sales until late September? PS Store is so archaic for real…

Re: Look Away Now, Sony: Demand for Mortal Shell 2 in Physical Form Sees PS5 Boxed Copies Sell Out

IllusiveMan

@8th_Observer I’m sure for some that’s true and I was wrong in generalizing it and calling out someone who didn’t act like that, yet I’ve seen users who actively click and engage in every single article regarding physical games only to dismiss the issue, if they’re so tired of this online discussion why keep engaging with it? Are those particular people really ‘tired of the discussion’ or for some bizarre reason they can’t stand to read some criticism against their favorite brand?

Re: Look Away Now, Sony: Demand for Mortal Shell 2 in Physical Form Sees PS5 Boxed Copies Sell Out

IllusiveMan

@8th_Observer Did you miss the part where he said this whole discussion of physical copies is old and tiring? And again, I made my comment out of frustration because in every single article that talks about physical games there’s comments like that trying to disregard this whole issue as if there’s no discussion to be made, like if you really find all this an exhausting topic just ignore it and keep buying games however you like instead of clicking on every article trying to insist this is a non-issue because it doesn’t affect you (again I’m talking in general to all who have been behaving like this since this was announced, not towards you or anyone in particular).

Re: Look Away Now, Sony: Demand for Mortal Shell 2 in Physical Form Sees PS5 Boxed Copies Sell Out

IllusiveMan

@NimrodNation20 I guess you’ll be tired to read stories like this for years to come because the discourse will simply not go away even after the 2028 deadline if not addressed in any way, specially if you frequent sites like Push Square which is filled with decades-long PS fans who happen to have their collection in physical discs.

And sorry for the harsh term (in my defense I only said you acted like it), I just get very frustrated when someone tries to dismiss this whole issue, I understand there’s many who are not affected or simply don’t care about this, and it’s ok as it’s your opinion and your money, but at least let us voice our frustrations and cherish the little things we still have left for physical releases like this before immediately trying to downplay it or disregard it.