Honestly, it was hard to get past your “That’s an XBOX” advertisement your comment started with. But now that i’ve read it, i still dont really get what your point is tbh.
You have to understand that Sony’s profit model isn’t their exclusives, it’s people buying in their ecosystem. They don’t need to make their exclusives multiplat. Exclusives are just the incentive for people to come to their ecosystem, not their main profit model
@IntrepidWombat I’d have to disagree. While i agree that optimization might not be as big of a differentiator as in the past, exclusives still generally run much better than multiplatform games. Many multiplatform games have lots of issues and bugs, and make less use of things like the SSD and the Dual sense than Sony’s own exclusives, if they even make use of them at all.
Focusing on one platform will almost always lead to a more polished product conpared to scaterring focus on 5 different platforms (PS, PC, Xbox, Nintendo, mobile)
Also, when studios produce titles with the intent to showcase hardware, it tends to be a better product then when the main goal is to simply sell to the widest possible aidience.
So when i hear Sarah Bond saying exclusives are “antiquated” because Fortnite and Call of Duty are multiplat, i cringe. I’d rather have a God of War, Bloodborne, Mario or Zelda over those games anyday.
Now i’m not saying that all that exclusives are automatically better, but technically, they usually are. Just look at all the near instant loading times and fast travel in God of War Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7, Death Stranding 2, Spiderman 2, Ratchet and Clank, Demon Souls, Horizon FW, Returnal, Astro Bot, Ghost of Yotei etc.
Most 3rd party publishers just cant optimize their games as deeply like that (understandably, since they are developing for so many different platforms)
We have proof of what Sony can do when they get complacent
Meanwhile Xbox consoles are the most expensive. And they announced $80 games. And a $30 monthly rent subscription. And planning a $1200 console.
Seriously, all these people saying that Sony might become complacent and raise prices if there is no competition seem to be totally ignoring what Microsoft is doing right now. Instead they want to preemptively judge Sony for something that hasnt even happened yet, it’s crazy
Dont listen to these people saying Sony should give away their exclusives. That would be the dumbest thing for Sony to do now. Exclusives make up just a tiny percentage of their library. And the argument that some of Sony’s exclusives dont sell 20 million copies or something is irrelevant, because that is not their profit model. Exclusives are there as added incentive to get people into their eco system, where they make the real money.
People, like the Striker guy, just want Sony to give away their exclusives like Microsoft did. Because somehow he thinks that that is working out so well for microsoft.
People saying exclusives are antiquated dont understand that exlcusives make some of the best use of the hardware. And when studios focus purely on one platform they can make gems like God of War, Last of Us, Bloodborne, Uncharted, Astro Bot, Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colossus, Halo, Gears of war, Forza Horizon, Mario, Zelda, etc
Some of the best games of all time were exclusives
But this console that houses all 3 companies is never going to exist. Who would make this console? What would be Nintendo’s incentive to give up its own platform for example? And if it were to exist, who do you propose would be the monopolistic owner of this company that housed all games? Nintendo? Sony?
Somehow i get the feeling that you think Microsoft would be a good fit 😉 tbf, they already know a lot about monopolies, having been found guilty of it in the past and all
To all those celebrating the fall of Xbox consoles.
It will hurt us in the end, when Sony can do even less for more money.
You mean like how currently Xbox consoles are the most expensive? And how they recently announced $80 games? And $30 monthly subscription tiers? And planning a $1200 console?
It’s always funny how some people warn us that Sony’s going to do all those things, when Xbox is doing it right now and no one seems to care. No, somehos Sony is the bad guy here, for something that might not even happen.
I’m all for hypotheticals, and while that might happen, i draw the line when people start preemptively judging Sony for something that hasnt happened yet. Right now its Xbox who’s giving less for more money, not the other way around.
People need to stop deflecting and judge companies on whats happenning now, not on what they imagine they might do some time in the future
Crazy times indeed! I know Microsoft already published multiple games on Playstation now, but by saying “Halo is on Playstation going forward”, it does feel like Microsoft has now truly embraced their future as a multiplatform publisher.
And i have to say, the way Halo studios is handling it, with the Playstation t shirt wearing and welcoming spirit and all, is way more courteous than how some fanbases act online
@OldGamer999 It’s all good hehe. I just wanted to show that, if talking purely 90+ meta scores, that this gen isn't lagging behind last gen as much as people might think. Just thought it was an interesting nuance on your comment of Sony not reaching the same scores as on ps4 thats all.
But i think i’ve derailed this comment section too much already, so lets get back to the Outer Worlds 2
We are not getting the Sony with 92,94 and 95 scores are we nowadays
Sony AAA in house games used to be above the rest and more plentiful.
Apart from the amazing Astrobot in the last three years, they are not as good as the PS4
To be fair, if we’re going purely by games scored 90 or higher on meta. Sony in house studios only had 6 games the whole of last generation, and that includes 3 remasters. Namely:
The Last of Us remastered 95
God of War 94
The Last of Us 2 95
Journey remastered 92
Flower remastered 91
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End 93
Sony currently already has 5 90+ games on Metacritic, namely:
Astro Bot 94
God of War Ragnarok 94
Spider man 2 90
Demon Souls 92
The Last of Us part 2 remastered 90
And the current generation still has a few years left, with some big Sony AAA games still incoming like Saros, Wolverine, Marvel Tokon and Intergalactic. Not to mentioned titles that havent been announced yet.
This generation might even end up having more 90+ ratings on meta from Sony in house than last gen
@SMJ That actually sounds totally reasonable. I also believe streaming will be the future. And technology progresses so fast that within a few years that will be very doable. Nvidia is already streaming high end games in 4k at 60fps with low latency. It just needs to mature a bit more so it can be done on a larger scale for the masses with minimal waiting times (i believe Geforce Now still has long queue times on peak hours?)
But if they get those things right in the coming years, i do think the future will not be hardware bound.
That’s also why i keep saying that Sony needs to acquire more IP’s and franchises (studios/publishers), because the company thats comes out on top in the future streaming wars is the one with the most enticing content and franchises
Music, books and films don't tie you down to one place to listen, read or watch.
The way the games industry works is antiquated.
This quote makes me think you meant something else initially.
But fair enough, if you mean that gaming companies should just be seperate apps available on a single device with their own storefront (a point you’ve made before), i actually think thats valid and i do agree.
However, i dont think were quite there yet. We still need hardware to run games on locally. So this is something i do see happening, but i think streaming needs to mature more before that can take off.
When that happens i can see hardware phasing out and these gaming companies just be apps on a tv, like how current movie streaming works.
Until that point, i dont see that happening.
And going back to exclusives, even if their storefronts are on the same device, companies would still make exclusives to entice people to subscribe to their platform, so that really wouldnt change
Damn, that would be huge. It’s basically Xbox’s flagship IP. While this probably surprises no one, as its almost inevitable at this point, it still crazy to imagine Halo on Playstation.
That said, while i respect it as a classic, I am personally not interested. I have played maybe an hour back when it launched. Not saying its a bad game at all, i bet it’s great, but its just not for me, so i will not be picking this up. But im happy for the people who are excited to see this happen
@SMJ I dont think you got the point, tbh. The person is saying that it doesn’t really work like that, companies offering these services fragment all types of media, so why should gaming be any different?
Sure, ideally everything would be in one place for things like movies, games etc. But that would create monopolies and kill competition. If every streaming service had access to the same shows, there would only be one left in the end.
For example, which company do you think should own this monopoly streaming service where all films and tv shows are available?
And with games, If Playstation and Xbox literally had identical liberaries, there would be nothing to differentiate the two anymore. Whether people like it or not, exclusives are still a solid way to attract people to a platform.
Its not like exclusives make up a huge part of the library anyway, around 95% of the games on PlayStation are multiplat. So it’s not like players are missing out a ton of games.
Also, going multiplat hasnt helped Xbox in selling consoles, so why should Sony follow their lead? Obviously Sony wants to keep people in their own ecosystem
Let me guess Sarah, Playstations strategy is antiquated, but Xbox’s strategy is the way forward?
I’ve said it many times on here: There’s nothing wrong with exclusivity, it’s a solid strategy used by many companies or services to entice you to buy their products, Netflix Originals anyone?
There are thousands of multiplat games on Playstation and just a few exclusives. We’re talking single digit percentages here.
This is just a lame cringe attempt at getting the masses to coerce Sony into going multiplat just like Xbox did, and also hinting that the future of Xbox is probably fully multiplat on Day 1.
Instead of dragging other companies down to your “winning” strategy, how about you guys just focus on your own business 😉
@ButterySmooth30FPS Hear hear! I’d even go as far as saying i even like this generation better than last gen. Not in terms of games maybe, but definitely in terms of things like loading times etc. Frankly i hated how slow everything was last gen. This gen is awesome!
This just doesnt sounds like its going to attract a huge market.
At $1200 its going to be way too expensive for the console crowd. And i dont think the PC crowd is going to care aboit it either. Why would a PC gamer want to go to a locked hardware system when they can build a more versatile system? And having access to Steam on it isnt going to convince them either, thats not a selling point, PC users already use Steam, so why would they need this? Thats like saying it comes with USB ports.
And the weird thing is, even if, somehow, Microsoft sold a lot of these consoles, most of the games sold on it would go through Steam, so Valve would be the one profiting, not Microsoft. Im seriously confused what their strategy is here. I dont jnderstand who this is for.
I just think they want something, a device, to at least be able to say they’re still in the market. They want to maintain presence. Like how Surface is there as a reference product, but not as a mass bestseller.
But if this really is going to launch for $1200, its going to be a very niche product, and i cant imagine Microsoft making exclusives around such a small userbase. So i assume Microsoft will be fully multiplat Day 1 by next gen. And if the PS6 launches around $600, with exclusives and Xbox titles, than why would anyone choose this?
Sure, the hardware might be impressive, but its just going to be too niche to be relevant for most people. Honestly, this kind of signals to me that they’ve moved on, I really dont think they care about selling consoles anymore
Someone mentioned Heihachi. I still have ptsd from him as a final boss lol.
I remember playing Tekken 1 as a kid, and i was trying to unlock all characters. It took me a few hours (i was very young) I was almost done, had like 1 left, and i had never come so far before, but i wanted to play outside.
Only thing was, i didnt have a memory card yet, so i left the Playstation on while i played outside.
But when i got back home, my dad had already turned the console off, and all my progress was gone 😭😅
I for one do think they should go with more power. Why not keep improving? It’s not like this is the point where we stop improving graphics?
In terms of coming up with something new, does he mean hardware? In that case, they are rumoured to release a handheld right? That’s already something, i dont think they need to come up with other gimmicky hardware stuff.
Next gen just needs to innovate with games. And if they invest in things like hardware ML, which they seem to be doing heavily for next gen consoles, i think that might potentially be game changing.
Next gen might be 4k (upscaled) path tracing with innovative NPC AI behaviour and new gameplay mechanics. And thats something i’d be more interested in, instead of new hardware gimmicks
How insightful, if she said this years ago. Basically this is what half of us have been saying for years.
Personally i’d want them to expand Team Asobi with another team so that they can make more games more frequently. They also have Media Molecule. And maybe they could create or acquire another smaller but established studio (perhaps a studio like Supergiant Games) so that they have 3 studios developing smaller AA games.
Edit: I forgot they also have TeamLFG now, which potentially has its focus on smaller AA games as well
Not only does Premium offer the classic catalouge of 400+ games and monthly classic titles added, it also offers 4K streaming on console/handheld and PC and a Sony Pictures movie library.
That’s actually quite the offering for just $2 more a month over Extra
This might be a bit of a ramble, but this is how i see this generation.
I find it funny how many judge this generation purely on first party output. I only have a Playstation, so when i evaluate this generations output, i count all games, whether thats first or third party. I respect peoples view, i just cant relate.
It’s weird to me hearing people hate this generation, solely because of Sony’s output. As if no one plays games from other publishers anymore. And some even go as far as ignoring exclusives like Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2, Sword of the Sea and even Returnal because “they aren’t true first party games”. And dont get me started about how people all of a sudden dont “count” sequels, even high rated ones like God of War Ragnarok (94), Gran Turismo 7 (87), Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart (88) and Horzion Forbidden West (89) So many good games exist this gen, but get brushed off by arbitrary technicalities.
It’s like, in some peoples minds, Sony’s output is the standard this gen is supposed to be judged on and the entire failure or succes of this generation rests solely on Sony’s internal studios. Which just doesnt reflect how people actually play games.
This generation has had some incredible games so far like Baldurs Gate, Elden Ring, Astro Bot, Metaphor Refantazio, Clair Obscur, Disco Elysium, Split Fiction, It Takes Two, and Dave the Diver (love that game!) and we’re still gonna get games like Wolverine, Intergalactic and GTA6 (and probably many more surprise titles). Every year has so many great games releasing, that i have a perpetual backlog.
I guess if you have multiple platforms, i kinda understand the point. And maybe i’m just in the minority who only went with Playstation this gen (i did have an Xbox all previous generations since the OG Xbox)
Whats even weirder to me, is that some people hate on this generation because they dont count cross gen games, or something like that. Personally, i think the generation started strong. But others say it didnt even start until games were PS5 only.
Like, if God of War Ragnarok had been PS5 exclusive, it would “count”, but because it was also on PS4, somehow it doesnt. I dont know, maybe im just weird about all of it, i just cant really relate or understand the reasoning behind some of the things i often read here (i respect everyones opinion though)
I have a feeling many will be talking differently in 2-3 years. Imagine playing next gen Spiderman in 720p and barely hitting 30fps on a PS5, that’ll be a blast 🤔
A new console always gets me excited. I usually end up buying one in the second year or so.
But for the people who judge this gen purely on first party output, no need to worry, it doesnt end when the PS6 releases. There will be a long cross gen period up to 3 years, so you’ll all be able to still play some of those first party next gen games on your PS5
@Exerion76 Thats unfortunately not how things work though. Products cant always be priced based on what people can afford. That wouldnt be sustainable.
If the cost of components rise due to inflation, and products get more expensive to make, then prices will need to follow, regardless if some peoples wages have kept up.
Businessess still need to cover costs and maintain a profit margin. It’s not a charity.
If inflation affects every other product, like phones, GPu’s and other tech, its only natural that console would be affected to, it’s not like their immune.
Funny thing is though, console prices havent even increased as much as many other products over the last decades. Consoles have always been priced close to cost. And as @Tintin said, the price of the PS5 has been totally in line with inflation, and maybe even slightly better, which i think isnt appreciated enough
@Titntin I agree. It’s like a taboo to mention inflation in the console space. Everyone constantly complains about how everything else has gotten so expensive. But somehow consoles and games aren’t supposed to be affected by inflation.
I guess i sometimes forget that a huge part of the gaming industry is very young, and that probably plays a part in the uninformed takes i so often come across
remember how they said that the PS5 Pro was going to do away with toggles for Performance and Fidelity? How's that working out?
I dont think they said they would remove the toggles for performance and fidelity. I believe what they said was that you didnt have to choose between those options compared to the base PS5 game.
Meaning, on the Pro, you could play the fidelity option of the base, but with 60fps instead of 30fps. Which is basically what most games are doing. Usually the performance options on the Pro are just the fidelity of the base, but with 60fps. So you dont have to choose between fidelity and performance in that regard.
However, of course not every third party studio optimizes as well as Sony first party does
@Medic_alert I respect your view, but i think youre kinda misremembering it. Like last gen was sloowwwwww AF. Everything from booting up a game, the initial load, multiple loading during the game, loading up saved games, and each loading screen would take ages. I believe there were even games that took 4 minutes to load or something. I remember it well, because it always annoyed the crap out of me. By the time i could finally play a game, i almost didnt want to play anymore lol.
If anything, i love how fast everything is this gen. Especially Sony’s first party games with it’s 1-2 second loading times. Thats pretty much near instant. And i love it
@Medic_alert Dude come on, most games’ loading times and fast travel are almost instant this gen, or at least just a few seconds. If they aren’t, then the developers just didnt bother.
I would never want to go back to the Ps4 days when loading in games could take up to 2 minutes or more! shivers
I don't get why you get offended when company have technology progress and creates products etc
Exactly this! Its always the same complaints. It’s not like people are forced to upgrade or anything. It’s just there so that people have options.
Graphics technology keeps improving, so games demand better hardware. But when the Ps6 arrives and people want to keep playing next gen games on their PS5 thats totally fine.
Just like Nvidia releasing a RTX5090 doesnt mean you can’t keep playing on your RTX2070. It just means that games will play with less graphical fidelity and lower framerates
I would also like to remind all the people who keep complaining that its too soon. That even if PS6 releases, your PS5 will be supported for years to come. Think of it like a new Iphone or new Nvidia GPU card releasing. New models coming out doesnt mean your model wont longer be supported, so you can all relax 👍🏼
I would’ve preferred late 2028. But if Xbox releases in 2027, it would be a big mistake for Sony to release much later.
And for people complaining about the quantity of games this gen, they must probably only play first party games, because there’s so much quality games releasing every year. If anything, too many good games are releasing and i can hardly keep up
@Psnfanboy79 To be fair, the 18k they mentioned was the monthly average. But you’re right, it had a 30k player count this past 24 hour on Steam alone. And the game still had a peak player count this month of 54k.
If we add to that the players on Playstation and Xbox there’s probably even still a peak player count of more than 100k on some days.
I don't know whats up with all the negativity from this site. As they themselves say in the article:
Now, for plenty of games, that'll be a healthy return
But i guess somehow for this 8 year old game, thats not good enough? I’m confused
While i do think they paid way too much for Bungie, i actually understand why Sony made the move at the time.
People forget that negotiations between these companies must have started long before they announced the acquisitionin January 2022.
Back in 2021 Bungie was actually pretty much on top of their game and were one of the best live service studios in the business.
Their expansions were critically well received and Destiny 2 had player count peaks of up to around 300K on Steam alone. So for Sony it made sense to invest in a succesful live service company at the time, especially since they were trying to to push into live service space.
They weren’t just buying Destiny, they were acquiring some of the best live service expertise and infrastructure at the time.
Sure, with hindsight, its easy to criticize it. Everyone can be a succesful industry analyst with hindsight.
Having said all that, yeah Bungie overall is not in a good place
@Oram77 I don't know about any of that. I’m really just talking about Destiny 2, not the situation at Bungie overall.
I agree that Destiny 2 is way past it’s prime, but i just feel like having around 50K concurrent players after 8 years can also be framed as a positive thing. It’s still a respectable amount of players and doesn’t sound like bad numbers to me at all, considering most games in this space fail within 1-2 years.
Long story extremely short but basically Destiny players feel they are being used to fund Marathon
And i apologize if im not into the whole Destiny scene, but the fact that a developer uses revenue from one of their games to finance future games seems pretty normal to me. Are they supposed to not cater to the ~50K players anymore while we wait for their upcoming games?
Again, im totally not in the Destiny scene, but i dont really get what the issue is regarding Destiny 2’s decreasing player counts. Dissapointing? Perhaps. But as an outsider it just seems like a normal decline for an 8 year old game. Especially considering that until recently they were supposed to end development for the game after The Final Shape
@Oram77 I dont know much about that game, but since you mention it, I’m assuming Warframe is an old game but with higher player counts than Destiny 2?
Why should it be compared to that game though?
Most live service titles don't even manage to survive past the 1-2 year mark. Let alone still have around 50K concurrent players 8 years after release. In the live service space, i’d call that a succes
@Oram77 Sorry, i didnt meant close the game. I meant they were supposed to stop with development of new expansions. I don’t have any sources. But i could’ve sworn a while ago i read that development was supposed to stop after The Final Shape or something.
They are definitely in a deep hole, but hitting around 50K players is still impressive for a live service game after 8 years. They’re already working on other games, so why not still cater to the ~50K players that are still playing Destiny 2?
Why is everyone so negative about it? It seems like a natural decline of a pretty succesfull live service game. Compared to hundreds of live service games that failed within months, this has been a great succes
The fact they (apparently) left the decision up to BUNGIE of all clusterf***s is just numbingly stupid.
No way the decision was up to Bungie. The decision was fully made by Naughty Dog after being pointed out by Bungie that they would have to put all their resources to maintain the live service and wouldn’t be able to focus on single player games anymore
I dont get all the negativity, isn’t this like an 8 year old game or something? Don’t most live service games tend to fall off a cliff after a few months? The fact that Destiny 2 is still hitting average player counts of 20K after 8 years doesn't sound bad at all.
And people do understand these are just Steam numbers right? If we count total numbers for all platform (PS+Xbox) it might still be hitting around 50K players at any moment.
And those numbers get peaks every time they release a new DLC. Of course it’s normal to see numbers go down after 8 years. There are not that many live service games that still hit solid numbers after so many years, except for the big names.
All in all, i think it’s all a bit doom and gloom. Weren’t they already planning on sunsetting the game? The fact that they are still hitting these numbers is actually kind of impressive, i think
@PuppetMaster Exactly! I really don’t get it either.
Of course we want new IP’s or experiences like Astro Bot and Returnal, especially from their AAA studios, but let’s be real, Sony isn’t doing anything different as most other publishers. Borderlands 4? Street Fighter 6? FIFA with like 30 entries? Tekken 8? Call of Duty 23? Gears 5? Assassins Creed 14? Mario 21? Zelda 21? Yes, apparently Zelda has had 20 sequels! The whole industry is focused on sequels and iterations. There are hardly any big publisher out there focused purely on new experiences, except maybe smaller ones focused on indie titles.
Sony really isnt doing anything out of the ordinary in the gaming industry, but it does seem they are held to a different standard. It has become a meme at this point that they only make sequels, even though most of their current franchises are only at their 2nd or 3rd entry.
Pushing only for new IPs can be risky. Look at Exaprimal, Skull and Bones, Foamstars, Redfall, Immortal of Aveum, Forspoken or yes Concord. Heck, even higher rated new IP’s like Hi-Fi Rush aren’t enough to save some studios from being closed.
With half the industry getting layed off and studio closures happening industry wide it’s not a safe bet to put all energy in to new IP. I’m not saying all new IP fail, definitely not, some can be immensely successful, but the risks are definitely higher.
But Sony at least tries to balances things out by supporting smaller AA projects like Sword of the Sea, Destruction All Stars, Lost Soul Aside and Sackboy: A Big Adventure etc, and help fund, publish or codevelop new experiences to bring AAA exclusives like Stellar Blade, Death Stranding and Marvel Tokon to fill the gap between the big franchise sequels.
And let’s not forget about all their Hero Projects. China Hero? MENA? India Hero? They fund, publish and help develop dozens of projects, often new experiences to bring variety and complement the big franchise sequels.
But sequels are basically the standard in the industry. Sony just seems to get more heat for doing what every other major publisher is doing, even though their output is usually better:
God of War Ragnarok 92
Spider man 2 90
Horizon Forbidden West 88
Ghost of Yotei 87
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart 88
Death Stranding 2 90
Not “just sequels”, but some of the best reviewed games of the generation
Comments 1,653
Re: 'Our Biggest Competition Isn't Another Console': Xbox Doubles Down on Multiformat After Halo PS5 Shock
@Striker21
Honestly, it was hard to get past your “That’s an XBOX” advertisement your comment started with. But now that i’ve read it, i still dont really get what your point is tbh.
You have to understand that Sony’s profit model isn’t their exclusives, it’s people buying in their ecosystem. They don’t need to make their exclusives multiplat. Exclusives are just the incentive for people to come to their ecosystem, not their main profit model
Re: 'Our Biggest Competition Isn't Another Console': Xbox Doubles Down on Multiformat After Halo PS5 Shock
@IntrepidWombat I’d have to disagree. While i agree that optimization might not be as big of a differentiator as in the past, exclusives still generally run much better than multiplatform games. Many multiplatform games have lots of issues and bugs, and make less use of things like the SSD and the Dual sense than Sony’s own exclusives, if they even make use of them at all.
Focusing on one platform will almost always lead to a more polished product conpared to scaterring focus on 5 different platforms (PS, PC, Xbox, Nintendo, mobile)
Also, when studios produce titles with the intent to showcase hardware, it tends to be a better product then when the main goal is to simply sell to the widest possible aidience.
So when i hear Sarah Bond saying exclusives are “antiquated” because Fortnite and Call of Duty are multiplat, i cringe. I’d rather have a God of War, Bloodborne, Mario or Zelda over those games anyday.
Now i’m not saying that all that exclusives are automatically better, but technically, they usually are. Just look at all the near instant loading times and fast travel in God of War Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7, Death Stranding 2, Spiderman 2, Ratchet and Clank, Demon Souls, Horizon FW, Returnal, Astro Bot, Ghost of Yotei etc.
Most 3rd party publishers just cant optimize their games as deeply like that (understandably, since they are developing for so many different platforms)
Re: 'Our Biggest Competition Isn't Another Console': Xbox Doubles Down on Multiformat After Halo PS5 Shock
Meanwhile Xbox consoles are the most expensive. And they announced $80 games. And a $30 monthly rent subscription. And planning a $1200 console.
Seriously, all these people saying that Sony might become complacent and raise prices if there is no competition seem to be totally ignoring what Microsoft is doing right now. Instead they want to preemptively judge Sony for something that hasnt even happened yet, it’s crazy
Re: 'Our Biggest Competition Isn't Another Console': Xbox Doubles Down on Multiformat After Halo PS5 Shock
Also, am i the only one not on TikTok?! Very disappointing to hear how popular these apps are
Re: 'Our Biggest Competition Isn't Another Console': Xbox Doubles Down on Multiformat After Halo PS5 Shock
Dont listen to these people saying Sony should give away their exclusives. That would be the dumbest thing for Sony to do now. Exclusives make up just a tiny percentage of their library. And the argument that some of Sony’s exclusives dont sell 20 million copies or something is irrelevant, because that is not their profit model. Exclusives are there as added incentive to get people into their eco system, where they make the real money.
People, like the Striker guy, just want Sony to give away their exclusives like Microsoft did. Because somehow he thinks that that is working out so well for microsoft.
People saying exclusives are antiquated dont understand that exlcusives make some of the best use of the hardware. And when studios focus purely on one platform they can make gems like God of War, Last of Us, Bloodborne, Uncharted, Astro Bot, Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colossus, Halo, Gears of war, Forza Horizon, Mario, Zelda, etc
Some of the best games of all time were exclusives
Re: Expect More Halo Games on PS5, Dev Says Series Is 'on PlayStation Going Forward'
@OldGamer999
That’s already possible on PC, with emulators.
But this console that houses all 3 companies is never going to exist. Who would make this console? What would be Nintendo’s incentive to give up its own platform for example? And if it were to exist, who do you propose would be the monopolistic owner of this company that housed all games? Nintendo? Sony?
Somehow i get the feeling that you think Microsoft would be a good fit 😉 tbf, they already know a lot about monopolies, having been found guilty of it in the past and all
Re: Expect More Halo Games on PS5, Dev Says Series Is 'on PlayStation Going Forward'
@OldGamer999
You mean like how currently Xbox consoles are the most expensive? And how they recently announced $80 games? And $30 monthly subscription tiers? And planning a $1200 console?
It’s always funny how some people warn us that Sony’s going to do all those things, when Xbox is doing it right now and no one seems to care. No, somehos Sony is the bad guy here, for something that might not even happen.
I’m all for hypotheticals, and while that might happen, i draw the line when people start preemptively judging Sony for something that hasnt happened yet. Right now its Xbox who’s giving less for more money, not the other way around.
People need to stop deflecting and judge companies on whats happenning now, not on what they imagine they might do some time in the future
Re: Expect More Halo Games on PS5, Dev Says Series Is 'on PlayStation Going Forward'
@OldGamer999
You mean one console that plays Playstation and Xbox titles? That already exists, it’s called a PS5 👍🏼
Re: Expect More Halo Games on PS5, Dev Says Series Is 'on PlayStation Going Forward'
Crazy times indeed! I know Microsoft already published multiple games on Playstation now, but by saying “Halo is on Playstation going forward”, it does feel like Microsoft has now truly embraced their future as a multiplatform publisher.
And i have to say, the way Halo studios is handling it, with the Playstation t shirt wearing and welcoming spirit and all, is way more courteous than how some fanbases act online
Re: The Outer Worlds 2 (PS5) - Mechanically Fantastic RPG Struggles to Be Memorable
@OldGamer999 It’s all good hehe. I just wanted to show that, if talking purely 90+ meta scores, that this gen isn't lagging behind last gen as much as people might think. Just thought it was an interesting nuance on your comment of Sony not reaching the same scores as on ps4 thats all.
But i think i’ve derailed this comment section too much already, so lets get back to the Outer Worlds 2
Re: The Outer Worlds 2 (PS5) - Mechanically Fantastic RPG Struggles to Be Memorable
@OldGamer999 I thought we were purely looking at meta scores, didnt know it had all these made up caveats lol
Re: The Outer Worlds 2 (PS5) - Mechanically Fantastic RPG Struggles to Be Memorable
@OldGamer999
To be fair, if we’re going purely by games scored 90 or higher on meta. Sony in house studios only had 6 games the whole of last generation, and that includes 3 remasters. Namely:
Sony currently already has 5 90+ games on Metacritic, namely:
And the current generation still has a few years left, with some big Sony AAA games still incoming like Saros, Wolverine, Marvel Tokon and Intergalactic. Not to mentioned titles that havent been announced yet.
This generation might even end up having more 90+ ratings on meta from Sony in house than last gen
Re: Xbox Boss Believes Sony's Strategy of Console Exclusives Is 'Antiquated'
@SMJ That actually sounds totally reasonable. I also believe streaming will be the future. And technology progresses so fast that within a few years that will be very doable. Nvidia is already streaming high end games in 4k at 60fps with low latency. It just needs to mature a bit more so it can be done on a larger scale for the masses with minimal waiting times (i believe Geforce Now still has long queue times on peak hours?)
But if they get those things right in the coming years, i do think the future will not be hardware bound.
That’s also why i keep saying that Sony needs to acquire more IP’s and franchises (studios/publishers), because the company thats comes out on top in the future streaming wars is the one with the most enticing content and franchises
Re: Xbox Boss Believes Sony's Strategy of Console Exclusives Is 'Antiquated'
@SMJ
This quote makes me think you meant something else initially.
But fair enough, if you mean that gaming companies should just be seperate apps available on a single device with their own storefront (a point you’ve made before), i actually think thats valid and i do agree.
However, i dont think were quite there yet. We still need hardware to run games on locally. So this is something i do see happening, but i think streaming needs to mature more before that can take off.
When that happens i can see hardware phasing out and these gaming companies just be apps on a tv, like how current movie streaming works.
Until that point, i dont see that happening.
And going back to exclusives, even if their storefronts are on the same device, companies would still make exclusives to entice people to subscribe to their platform, so that really wouldnt change
Re: Rumour: New Halo Game Will Be Announced for PS5 This Weekend
Damn, that would be huge. It’s basically Xbox’s flagship IP. While this probably surprises no one, as its almost inevitable at this point, it still crazy to imagine Halo on Playstation.
That said, while i respect it as a classic, I am personally not interested. I have played maybe an hour back when it launched. Not saying its a bad game at all, i bet it’s great, but its just not for me, so i will not be picking this up.
But im happy for the people who are excited to see this happen
Re: Xbox Boss Believes Sony's Strategy of Console Exclusives Is 'Antiquated'
@SMJ I dont think you got the point, tbh. The person is saying that it doesn’t really work like that, companies offering these services fragment all types of media, so why should gaming be any different?
Sure, ideally everything would be in one place for things like movies, games etc. But that would create monopolies and kill competition. If every streaming service had access to the same shows, there would only be one left in the end.
For example, which company do you think should own this monopoly streaming service where all films and tv shows are available?
And with games, If Playstation and Xbox literally had identical liberaries, there would be nothing to differentiate the two anymore. Whether people like it or not, exclusives are still a solid way to attract people to a platform.
Its not like exclusives make up a huge part of the library anyway, around 95% of the games on PlayStation are multiplat. So it’s not like players are missing out a ton of games.
Also, going multiplat hasnt helped Xbox in selling consoles, so why should Sony follow their lead? Obviously Sony wants to keep people in their own ecosystem
Re: Xbox Boss Believes Sony's Strategy of Console Exclusives Is 'Antiquated'
Let me guess Sarah, Playstations strategy is antiquated, but Xbox’s strategy is the way forward?
I’ve said it many times on here: There’s nothing wrong with exclusivity, it’s a solid strategy used by many companies or services to entice you to buy their products, Netflix Originals anyone?
There are thousands of multiplat games on Playstation and just a few exclusives. We’re talking single digit percentages here.
This is just a lame cringe attempt at getting the masses to coerce Sony into going multiplat just like Xbox did, and also hinting that the future of Xbox is probably fully multiplat on Day 1.
Instead of dragging other companies down to your “winning” strategy, how about you guys just focus on your own business 😉
Re: PS5 Surpasses Lifetime PS3 Sales in the US
@ButterySmooth30FPS Hear hear! I’d even go as far as saying i even like this generation better than last gen. Not in terms of games maybe, but definitely in terms of things like loading times etc. Frankly i hated how slow everything was last gen. This gen is awesome!
Re: PS Portal Still a Huge Success as Sony Reportedly Preps PS6 Handheld
@UltimateOtaku91 Ah, i did read it wrong, thanks for clarifying! That makes sense. I wonder what the attachment rate in the rest of the world is
Re: PS Portal Still a Huge Success as Sony Reportedly Preps PS6 Handheld
Wait, does that mean over 4 million PS Portals have been sold? Or am i reading this wrong? Cause that’s actually a lot!
Still planning on getting one
Re: PS6 Could Be Less Than Half the Price of Microsoft's 'Very Premium' Next-Gen Xbox
This just doesnt sounds like its going to attract a huge market.
At $1200 its going to be way too expensive for the console crowd. And i dont think the PC crowd is going to care aboit it either. Why would a PC gamer want to go to a locked hardware system when they can build a more versatile system? And having access to Steam on it isnt going to convince them either, thats not a selling point, PC users already use Steam, so why would they need this? Thats like saying it comes with USB ports.
And the weird thing is, even if, somehow, Microsoft sold a lot of these consoles, most of the games sold on it would go through Steam, so Valve would be the one profiting, not Microsoft. Im seriously confused what their strategy is here. I dont jnderstand who this is for.
I just think they want something, a device, to at least be able to say they’re still in the market. They want to maintain presence. Like how Surface is there as a reference product, but not as a mass bestseller.
But if this really is going to launch for $1200, its going to be a very niche product, and i cant imagine Microsoft making exclusives around such a small userbase. So i assume Microsoft will be fully multiplat Day 1 by next gen. And if the PS6 launches around $600, with exclusives and Xbox titles, than why would anyone choose this?
Sure, the hardware might be impressive, but its just going to be too niche to be relevant for most people. Honestly, this kind of signals to me that they’ve moved on, I really dont think they care about selling consoles anymore
Re: Mini Review: Tekken 3 (PS1) - PlayStation's Definitive Fighter Is Still King
Someone mentioned Heihachi. I still have ptsd from him as a final boss lol.
I remember playing Tekken 1 as a kid, and i was trying to unlock all characters. It took me a few hours (i was very young) I was almost done, had like 1 left, and i had never come so far before, but i wanted to play outside.
Only thing was, i didnt have a memory card yet, so i left the Playstation on while i played outside.
But when i got back home, my dad had already turned the console off, and all my progress was gone 😭😅
Re: 'Even I Can't Tell the Difference': Shuhei Yoshida Thinks PS6 Needs Something Other Than Just More Power
I for one do think they should go with more power. Why not keep improving? It’s not like this is the point where we stop improving graphics?
In terms of coming up with something new, does he mean hardware? In that case, they are rumoured to release a handheld right? That’s already something, i dont think they need to come up with other gimmicky hardware stuff.
Next gen just needs to innovate with games. And if they invest in things like hardware ML, which they seem to be doing heavily for next gen consoles, i think that might potentially be game changing.
Next gen might be 4k (upscaled) path tracing with innovative NPC AI behaviour and new gameplay mechanics. And thats something i’d be more interested in, instead of new hardware gimmicks
Re: Former God of War Dev Says Major Studios Should Make Smaller Games to Complement the Big Ones
How insightful, if she said this years ago. Basically this is what half of us have been saying for years.
Personally i’d want them to expand Team Asobi with another team so that they can make more games more frequently. They also have Media Molecule. And maybe they could create or acquire another smaller but established studio (perhaps a studio like Supergiant Games) so that they have 3 studios developing smaller AA games.
Edit: I forgot they also have TeamLFG now, which potentially has its focus on smaller AA games as well
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for October 2025?
For people saying PS+ Premium is crap.
Not only does Premium offer the classic catalouge of 400+ games and monthly classic titles added, it also offers 4K streaming on console/handheld and PC and a Sony Pictures movie library.
That’s actually quite the offering for just $2 more a month over Extra
Re: Sony's MLB The Show Finally Seems Set to Throw Down on PC
Thought it already was on PC as well, thats kinda crazy that it isnt yet. Anyway, smart (and long overdue) decision 👍🏼
Re: Talking Point: PS6 In 2027 - How Do You Feel About Sony's Next-Gen Console?
This might be a bit of a ramble, but this is how i see this generation.
I find it funny how many judge this generation purely on first party output. I only have a Playstation, so when i evaluate this generations output, i count all games, whether thats first or third party. I respect peoples view, i just cant relate.
It’s weird to me hearing people hate this generation, solely because of Sony’s output. As if no one plays games from other publishers anymore. And some even go as far as ignoring exclusives like Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2, Sword of the Sea and even Returnal because “they aren’t true first party games”. And dont get me started about how people all of a sudden dont “count” sequels, even high rated ones like God of War Ragnarok (94), Gran Turismo 7 (87), Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart (88) and Horzion Forbidden West (89) So many good games exist this gen, but get brushed off by arbitrary technicalities.
It’s like, in some peoples minds, Sony’s output is the standard this gen is supposed to be judged on and the entire failure or succes of this generation rests solely on Sony’s internal studios. Which just doesnt reflect how people actually play games.
This generation has had some incredible games so far like Baldurs Gate, Elden Ring, Astro Bot, Metaphor Refantazio, Clair Obscur, Disco Elysium, Split Fiction, It Takes Two, and Dave the Diver (love that game!) and we’re still gonna get games like Wolverine, Intergalactic and GTA6 (and probably many more surprise titles). Every year has so many great games releasing, that i have a perpetual backlog.
I guess if you have multiple platforms, i kinda understand the point. And maybe i’m just in the minority who only went with Playstation this gen (i did have an Xbox all previous generations since the OG Xbox)
Whats even weirder to me, is that some people hate on this generation because they dont count cross gen games, or something like that. Personally, i think the generation started strong. But others say it didnt even start until games were PS5 only.
Like, if God of War Ragnarok had been PS5 exclusive, it would “count”, but because it was also on PS4, somehow it doesnt. I dont know, maybe im just weird about all of it, i just cant really relate or understand the reasoning behind some of the things i often read here (i respect everyones opinion though)
Re: Talking Point: PS6 In 2027 - How Do You Feel About Sony's Next-Gen Console?
I have a feeling many will be talking differently in 2-3 years. Imagine playing next gen Spiderman in 720p and barely hitting 30fps on a PS5, that’ll be a blast 🤔
Re: Talking Point: PS6 In 2027 - How Do You Feel About Sony's Next-Gen Console?
A new console always gets me excited. I usually end up buying one in the second year or so.
But for the people who judge this gen purely on first party output, no need to worry, it doesnt end when the PS6 releases. There will be a long cross gen period up to 3 years, so you’ll all be able to still play some of those first party next gen games on your PS5
Re: As Fans Demand inFAMOUS Remasters, Sucker Punch Says It Can Only Work on One Game at a Time
@Propaperpusher Funnily enough, while Infamous: Second Son is named as it is, it’s actually the third mainline game in the series
Re: As Fans Demand inFAMOUS Remasters, Sucker Punch Says It Can Only Work on One Game at a Time
Infamous 4 by Sucker Punch next pls!
And maybe Sony can outsource a Sly Cooper sequel.
I personally dont need any remasters of these franchises
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@Exerion76 Thats unfortunately not how things work though. Products cant always be priced based on what people can afford. That wouldnt be sustainable.
If the cost of components rise due to inflation, and products get more expensive to make, then prices will need to follow, regardless if some peoples wages have kept up.
Businessess still need to cover costs and maintain a profit margin. It’s not a charity.
If inflation affects every other product, like phones, GPu’s and other tech, its only natural that console would be affected to, it’s not like their immune.
Funny thing is though, console prices havent even increased as much as many other products over the last decades. Consoles have always been priced close to cost. And as @Tintin said, the price of the PS5 has been totally in line with inflation, and maybe even slightly better, which i think isnt appreciated enough
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@Titntin I agree. It’s like a taboo to mention inflation in the console space. Everyone constantly complains about how everything else has gotten so expensive. But somehow consoles and games aren’t supposed to be affected by inflation.
I guess i sometimes forget that a huge part of the gaming industry is very young, and that probably plays a part in the uninformed takes i so often come across
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@Andee
I dont think they said they would remove the toggles for performance and fidelity. I believe what they said was that you didnt have to choose between those options compared to the base PS5 game.
Meaning, on the Pro, you could play the fidelity option of the base, but with 60fps instead of 30fps. Which is basically what most games are doing. Usually the performance options on the Pro are just the fidelity of the base, but with 60fps. So you dont have to choose between fidelity and performance in that regard.
However, of course not every third party studio optimizes as well as Sony first party does
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@Jay767 “It’s up in the air” 😆
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@Medic_alert Fair enough. I personally would have preferred a late 2028 release as well. But if Xbox releases in 2027, i dont think they have a choice
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@Medic_alert I respect your view, but i think youre kinda misremembering it. Like last gen was sloowwwwww AF. Everything from booting up a game, the initial load, multiple loading during the game, loading up saved games, and each loading screen would take ages. I believe there were even games that took 4 minutes to load or something. I remember it well, because it always annoyed the crap out of me. By the time i could finally play a game, i almost didnt want to play anymore lol.
If anything, i love how fast everything is this gen. Especially Sony’s first party games with it’s 1-2 second loading times. Thats pretty much near instant. And i love it
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@Medic_alert Dude come on, most games’ loading times and fast travel are almost instant this gen, or at least just a few seconds. If they aren’t, then the developers just didnt bother.
I would never want to go back to the Ps4 days when loading in games could take up to 2 minutes or more! shivers
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@REALAIS
Exactly this! Its always the same complaints. It’s not like people are forced to upgrade or anything. It’s just there so that people have options.
Graphics technology keeps improving, so games demand better hardware. But when the Ps6 arrives and people want to keep playing next gen games on their PS5 thats totally fine.
Just like Nvidia releasing a RTX5090 doesnt mean you can’t keep playing on your RTX2070. It just means that games will play with less graphical fidelity and lower framerates
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@carlos82 I agree with this!
I would also like to remind all the people who keep complaining that its too soon. That even if PS6 releases, your PS5 will be supported for years to come. Think of it like a new Iphone or new Nvidia GPU card releasing. New models coming out doesnt mean your model wont longer be supported, so you can all relax 👍🏼
Re: PS6 Release Date Touted for 2027, Cheaper But Less Powerful Than Next Xbox
I would’ve preferred late 2028. But if Xbox releases in 2027, it would be a big mistake for Sony to release much later.
And for people complaining about the quantity of games this gen, they must probably only play first party games, because there’s so much quality games releasing every year. If anything, too many good games are releasing and i can hardly keep up
Re: People Don't Buy Anywhere Near As Many Games As You Think
If only i got a nickel for everytime i said that the industry is bloated and there are too many games releasing.
Usually i buy around 3-5 games per year, and only rarely day 1.
I also ocasionally get a month (or 3) of PS+ Premium
Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff
@Psnfanboy79 To be fair, the 18k they mentioned was the monthly average. But you’re right, it had a 30k player count this past 24 hour on Steam alone. And the game still had a peak player count this month of 54k.
If we add to that the players on Playstation and Xbox there’s probably even still a peak player count of more than 100k on some days.
I don't know whats up with all the negativity from this site. As they themselves say in the article:
But i guess somehow for this 8 year old game, thats not good enough? I’m confused
Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff
While i do think they paid way too much for Bungie, i actually understand why Sony made the move at the time.
People forget that negotiations between these companies must have started long before they announced the acquisitionin January 2022.
Back in 2021 Bungie was actually pretty much on top of their game and were one of the best live service studios in the business.
Their expansions were critically well received and Destiny 2 had player count peaks of up to around 300K on Steam alone. So for Sony it made sense to invest in a succesful live service company at the time, especially since they were trying to to push into live service space.
They weren’t just buying Destiny, they were acquiring some of the best live service expertise and infrastructure at the time.
Sure, with hindsight, its easy to criticize it. Everyone can be a succesful industry analyst with hindsight.
Having said all that, yeah Bungie overall is not in a good place
Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff
@Oram77 I don't know about any of that. I’m really just talking about Destiny 2, not the situation at Bungie overall.
I agree that Destiny 2 is way past it’s prime, but i just feel like having around 50K concurrent players after 8 years can also be framed as a positive thing. It’s still a respectable amount of players and doesn’t sound like bad numbers to me at all, considering most games in this space fail within 1-2 years.
And i apologize if im not into the whole Destiny scene, but the fact that a developer uses revenue from one of their games to finance future games seems pretty normal to me. Are they supposed to not cater to the ~50K players anymore while we wait for their upcoming games?
Again, im totally not in the Destiny scene, but i dont really get what the issue is regarding Destiny 2’s decreasing player counts. Dissapointing? Perhaps. But as an outsider it just seems like a normal decline for an 8 year old game. Especially considering that until recently they were supposed to end development for the game after The Final Shape
Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff
@Oram77 I dont know much about that game, but since you mention it, I’m assuming Warframe is an old game but with higher player counts than Destiny 2?
Why should it be compared to that game though?
Most live service titles don't even manage to survive past the 1-2 year mark. Let alone still have around 50K concurrent players 8 years after release. In the live service space, i’d call that a succes
Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff
@Oram77 Sorry, i didnt meant close the game. I meant they were supposed to stop with development of new expansions. I don’t have any sources. But i could’ve sworn a while ago i read that development was supposed to stop after The Final Shape or something.
They are definitely in a deep hole, but hitting around 50K players is still impressive for a live service game after 8 years. They’re already working on other games, so why not still cater to the ~50K players that are still playing Destiny 2?
Why is everyone so negative about it? It seems like a natural decline of a pretty succesfull live service game. Compared to hundreds of live service games that failed within months, this has been a great succes
Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff
@MFTWrecks
No way the decision was up to Bungie. The decision was fully made by Naughty Dog after being pointed out by Bungie that they would have to put all their resources to maintain the live service and wouldn’t be able to focus on single player games anymore
Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff
I dont get all the negativity, isn’t this like an 8 year old game or something? Don’t most live service games tend to fall off a cliff after a few months? The fact that Destiny 2 is still hitting average player counts of 20K after 8 years doesn't sound bad at all.
And people do understand these are just Steam numbers right? If we count total numbers for all platform (PS+Xbox) it might still be hitting around 50K players at any moment.
And those numbers get peaks every time they release a new DLC. Of course it’s normal to see numbers go down after 8 years. There are not that many live service games that still hit solid numbers after so many years, except for the big names.
All in all, i think it’s all a bit doom and gloom. Weren’t they already planning on sunsetting the game? The fact that they are still hitting these numbers is actually kind of impressive, i think
Re: PS Studios Celebrates Launch of Ghost of Yotei on PS5 with Gorgeous Artwork
@PuppetMaster Exactly! I really don’t get it either.
Of course we want new IP’s or experiences like Astro Bot and Returnal, especially from their AAA studios, but let’s be real, Sony isn’t doing anything different as most other publishers. Borderlands 4? Street Fighter 6? FIFA with like 30 entries? Tekken 8? Call of Duty 23? Gears 5? Assassins Creed 14? Mario 21? Zelda 21? Yes, apparently Zelda has had 20 sequels! The whole industry is focused on sequels and iterations. There are hardly any big publisher out there focused purely on new experiences, except maybe smaller ones focused on indie titles.
Sony really isnt doing anything out of the ordinary in the gaming industry, but it does seem they are held to a different standard. It has become a meme at this point that they only make sequels, even though most of their current franchises are only at their 2nd or 3rd entry.
Pushing only for new IPs can be risky. Look at Exaprimal, Skull and Bones, Foamstars, Redfall, Immortal of Aveum, Forspoken or yes Concord. Heck, even higher rated new IP’s like Hi-Fi Rush aren’t enough to save some studios from being closed.
With half the industry getting layed off and studio closures happening industry wide it’s not a safe bet to put all energy in to new IP. I’m not saying all new IP fail, definitely not, some can be immensely successful, but the risks are definitely higher.
But Sony at least tries to balances things out by supporting smaller AA projects like Sword of the Sea, Destruction All Stars, Lost Soul Aside and Sackboy: A Big Adventure etc, and help fund, publish or codevelop new experiences to bring AAA exclusives like Stellar Blade, Death Stranding and Marvel Tokon to fill the gap between the big franchise sequels.
And let’s not forget about all their Hero Projects. China Hero? MENA? India Hero? They fund, publish and help develop dozens of projects, often new experiences to bring variety and complement the big franchise sequels.
But sequels are basically the standard in the industry. Sony just seems to get more heat for doing what every other major publisher is doing, even though their output is usually better:
God of War Ragnarok 92
Spider man 2 90
Horizon Forbidden West 88
Ghost of Yotei 87
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart 88
Death Stranding 2 90
Not “just sequels”, but some of the best reviewed games of the generation