Also, can we acknowledge that these arent “just” sequels, some of these games are some of the best(selling) games of this gen, scoring very high on Metacritic:
God of War Ragnarok: 94
Spider man 2: 90
Horizon Forbidden West: 89
Gran Turismo 7: 87
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart: 88
Helldivers 2: 82
Death Stranding 2: 90
Ghost of Yotei: 86
If you think some of those sequels played it safe, thats fine, but these are still all very good games, GOTY contenders even.
To call this a “problem” seems like a dumb take, when they’re as good as they are.
Also, Sony did publish 8 (semi)new IP’s like:
Returnal
Astro Bot
Destruction All Stars
Rise of the Ronin
Stellar Blade
Concord
Lost Soul Aside
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Let’s compare that against the amount of new IP’s published by other publishers this gen:
Square Enix: 10
EA: 7
Xbox: 7
Ubisoft: 6
Take Two: 5 (only smaller indies)
Capcom: 1?
Activision Blizzard: 0? (Couldnt find any, too busy churning out yearly CoD’s to focus on new IP, i guess)
Nintendo: 0? (Not much data, but i couldnt find anything)
And we see that most big publishers haven’t published many new IP’s this gen as well. Heck, Sony published more new IP’s this gen rhan any other publisher except SE.
And again i say: Sony gets unjust heat for things every publisher does
Again i think Sony gets heat for something every publishers does.
To remind everyone how many (mainline) iterations some franchises from other publishers have:
Call of Duty: 24
Mario: 24
Zelda: 21
Halo: 8
GTA: 6
Borderlands: 4
Gears of War: 5
Forza Motorsport: 8
Forza Horizon: 6
Civilization: 7
Mafia: 4
Final Fantasy: 16
Dragon Quest: 11
Resident Evil: 9
Street Fighter: 6
Tekken 8
Mortal Kombat: 12
Assassins Creed: 14
Battlefield: 6
Far Cry: 6
Pokemon: 9
Sonic: ~15
And that’s just counting mainline titles, not spin offs etc, because some would be 100+ if we counted those.
Not to mention some publishers releasing their yearly sports or racing game, which are usually almost exactly the same game as the previous year like Madden and FIFA having 32+ entries!
And just to juxtapose those numbers against the games mentioned in this article:
As a console its been pretty great! I especially love the loading times this generation. Everything, from games and general use is much faster then last gen. In terms of games i think its been pretty good as well, although i do notice it’s getting harder to be surprised by novel experiences.
I know many conflate the question of what do they think of PS5, with how they found Playstation Studios the last 5 years, so i’ll give my two cents on that as well i guess.
Even though i think their first party games have generally been pretty great, i do miss a few more gen defining titles. Their bad approach to live service has had a real negative impact on their output, and even if they’ve corrected course since then, unfortunately game development take so much time that that’s not going to be apparent immediately.
Having said that, i’m not gonna judge a whole generation while it’s still going. We have a few more years left, and the games they have announced i am actually very excited for, and i do realize that there are many more games that are yet to be announced. So i’m excitecly looking forward.
End of the day, PS5 and it’s full library of games have been pretty great for me
you are at the reaction to the reaction part of the controversy cycle. You can just take someone's word for it when they answer your question.
I dont really get what you mean tbh. I do take someones word for it. If people hate it, then they hate it. I’m not silencing them, or saying they’re wrong. This is not about me not believing people. I dont care if people say it because they mean it, or because they just want to troll.
People can dislike what they want, but all this constant negativity and doomposting is getting a bit tiring that’s all.
But by all means, people continue doing what they want, i will continue finding it a bit over the top 😉
@RoomWithaMoose Thats allright. Funnily enough if we were to go into the topic of how Sony approached live service, i really do agree with everything you said. I personally hve no interest in many live service titles out there, but i have no qualms with Sony trying to venture in to that space, especially if they can bring with them some of that Sony quality game making.
But alas, there approach was typical of a naive and inexperienced publisher in the space, and frankly was a pretty poor way of going about things. I do feel they have pivoted and made some correction, it just unfortunately take a bit of time to see them fully get back on their feet again.
But yeah, just to reiterate, this wasnt really about their dumb handling of it, but rather the people that just dont want them to do any type of live service period.
I respect their opinion, thats not what im arguing against. I’m just confused why they single Sony out, when the worst offenders of live services are some of these other predatory publishers, but somehow Sony usually gets the brunt of it.
Oh well, i’m all ranted out for today. I do appreciate the nuanced discussion 👍🏼
@RoomWithaMoose I get all that, that’s why i said that their approach was bad. They did handle it very poorly. But thats unfortunately how things sometimes go in business, things dont always pan out, then you react and pivot.
But i was reacting to someone who said “Let it be the final nail in the coffin for the live service debacle”. That definitely reads like they dont want Sony to do any live service, and many feel the same way. Which is fine btw, i just dont understand the singling out of Sony, when literally every other publisher gets a pass.
My comment wasnt really geared toward you, you actually have a nuanced take, which i totally agree with. I was really just reacting to the crowd that just doesnt want Sony to do any live service at all
Dont really know what to say, i’m sorry you dont like it. There’s many games i dont like. I just dont make a scene about it, like some people do literally everytime a Marathon article comes out.
To be clear, i dont care that you and others want this to fail. Personally, i’ma bit indifferent, but still curious. But some are excited about this game, so i just dont understand why people are so dramatic about constantly wanting this to flop. It’s literally every comment section, its a bit over the top and after a while all this doomposting just gets a bit tiring that’s all
@nessisonett I dont understand why people dogpile on Sony doing live service. Sure they messed up their approach, but many seem to be averse about them doing any live service at all. Do people not realize that literally every other publisher has multiple live service titles?
Why single out the one publisher that hardly has any live service titles at all, and probably is one of the last publishers to even give it a real go?
Seems to me like people are piling up on the wrong publisher here, somehow Sony is the only one getting heat for this, when other publishers have been doing this for way longer, and are far more agressive and predatory with their live service approach
Honestly, i find it pretty cringy to always see the same “I want this to flop so badly” comments every time there’s an article about Marathon. I dont understand it. If you don’t like it, why would you want it to flop? Maybe other people are excited about the game. So now other can’t play it, because you dont like it? Can’t people just ignore a game they don’t like? I do it all the time.
I’m not saying people can’t express themselves, but damn, it’s literally every comment section. Its so negative, pointless and childish.
That’s what i’m wondering though. This article seems to imply that, but it looks like thats not what Shift Up is saying. It looks like Shift Up just means that they had the best single player launch, not that they sold the most copies on PC.
But i may be totally wrong here, and maybe i’m the one who is misinterpreting things
@SeaDaVie Exactly, but the article kinda makes it seem as if Stellar Blade sold the best out of all Sony’s single player PC ports.
The article title says “Stellar Blade is Sony’s most succesfull single-player PC game to date, says Shift Up.”
But i dont think Shift Up is saying that at all. What i understand is that Shift Up is saying thay they had the best launch of all of Sony’s single player PC games. Not that they sold the most copies on PC. So it’s a bit of a stretch to call it the most succesfull single player PC game from Sony. Best launch perhaps, sure.
But maybe i’m just reading it wrong.
Anyway, it does make sense to me that they had a better launch, since Stellar Blade was a much newer game when it got ported to PC, compared to Sony’s other single player games. Some were already 5 years old, and the likelihood that many on PC had played them before was much higher.
And yeah, it also had a lot of attention around it for those other reasons 👀
Push Square is saying Stellar Blade is Sony’s most succesful PC game to date.
But Shift Up is saying they had the most succesful launch.
Those are different things though.
So did it have the most succesful launch or did it sell the most to date? Shift Up says that sales were more than Sony’s own IP. But i think they’re only referring to the launch period, not lifetime sales.
Wasnt it estimated by Alinea that Horizon Zero Dawn sold around 4.5m copies on PC?
So did Stellar Blade sell more than that on PC? Or are they simply saying they sold the fastest during launch.
And they also show a slide of peak concurrent players when they’re talking about sales, which doesnt make sense. Communication wise, this is all a bit messy
@Frmknst not so crazy if you consider they’ve release about 20 titles on pc already since 2020. If evenly spread out that would be around 1.5 million sales per game, but we know thats not the case since Helldivers 2 alone probably already sold like 13m copies on pc.
If we’re going by your 30m sales, my guess, besides Helldivers, the big ones like God of War and Horizon sold around 1.5-2m, and the rest sold anywhere from 500k-1m.
End of the day its respectable, but since their big games usually already sell 10m+ on console, this is just a little bonus
I’d still advise them to seriously consider releasing their own pc launcher. Even if it’s initially met with resistance, the install base will grow. The revenue here is pretty negligble anyway, so it wont hurt that much. End of the day, people who really want to play Playstation games on pc will eventually download the launcher anyway. This gives them way more control, more revenue, and avoids their exclusives going to other consoles and making their own ecosystem less appealing
@PuppetMaster You’re welcome my friend. I will say that prices might fluctuate and some times Steam prices might be cheaper overall, i dont know. But at least, if you take a snapshot, like today, it can apparently totally be the case that Playstation turns out way cheaper for a lot of games. And i agree, after hearing for years how much cheaper Steam is than the PS Store, i really did not expect this outcome
@scottXedgar I get what you’re saying. There are many other places to buy from. But i wasnt comparing those. I was comparing current Steam store prices vs PS Store prices.
But if you’re hellbent on comparing prices from all sources, i actually had a little look on GG.deals, and here are a few comparisons to PS5 games from sources other than the PS Store (all prices in Euros):
DOOM: The Dark Ages: 38,09 on GG for PC, 35 second hand physical on Marktplaats.nl for PS5
Battlefield 6: 53,83 on GG for PC, 40 for second hand physical on Marktplaats.nl for PS5
Stellar Blade: 40,99 on GG for PC, 39,99 new physical at Mediamarkt.nl for PS5
Call of Duty Black Ops 7: 52,53 on GG for PC, 50 for second hand physical on Marktplaats.nl for PS5
I know this is just a random list of games, bu they are all notable and recent games. All PS5 games cheaper than the PC versions on GG.deals.
I added the websites, if you want to factcheck. For everyone’s info, Marktplaats is a popular second hand marketplace in my country btw, and those prices aren’t fixed, you can still haggle and make a lower bid.
Yes, i’d say GG has nice deals for pc. But looking around a bit, there are Playstation deals to be found as well.
But to be perfectly clear, i wasnt comparing all sources, i was only comparing Steam vs PS Store. They’re official storefronts, those key resellers aren’t. I just wanted to compare official pricing from Steam and PS Store, because Steam is the largest, most talked about, most popular and most used PC store in the world, and many claims have been made that Steam is much cheaper than PS Store. So i just wanted to see for myself that’s all
If the Steam store was the only legitimate way to buy Steam games, some of these arguments might hold weight. But it isn't so they don't.
Well they hold weight in a Steam vs PS Store comparison 😉
I guess if we’re gonna compare every way to buy games on PC, like from CDkeys, we should also compare all the ways possible on Playstation, like buying second hand physical games.
Just as an example, i listed DOOM the Dark Ages above as going for 54,99 in the PS Store and 79,99 on Steam. But i can get a second hand physical copy for just 35 euros on an online second hand market place in my country (i just looked it up).
My point is, that Steam might not be the only place to get games for PC, but the PS Store is also not the only place to buy games for Playstation.
Anyway, my comparison was purely a Steam store vs PS Store comparison. I have been told many times that Steam is much cheaper, so i wanted to find out for myself.
But you are right, and i want to make it clear. It was not a comparison to the CDkeys store.
Edit: @Rich33
And the Sony store is not close to being the only place to buy PS5 games (which can also be bought physically), but the comparison of Sony vs Steam prices is still a very worthwhile comparison.
I didn’t even notice you already made this point 👍🏼
@Rich33 You’re very welcome. I was genuinely suprised by the prices, as this was the first time i’ve ever checked game prices on Steam. Now i fully understand that this is just a snapshot in time, but still, with everything i heard about Steam being much cheaper, i didnt expect Playstation to come out cheaper overall.
And to be fair, some older games seem to be priced a bit lower, but even most of those are priced the same as PS. I just thought it’d be much cheaper, and i definitely didnt expect to see 80 euro games on there. I was led to believe that 80 euro games are only a thing on console.
But i do get that there are other ways to get games cheaper on pc. CDKeys is something i often read people saying. Now, im such a noob that i dont even know what that is. If its a legit site or some gray online market or whatever.
But anyhow to be fair, this was purely a comparison of PS Store vs Steam, and not a comparison to CDKeys or other marketplaces
Yeah the Steam store isn't usually the cheapest place to get games.
That’s news to me honestly, i always hear people saying how much cheaper Steam is than Playstation, but looking at the list i made i’m quite frankly shocked at how much cheaper Playstation is compared to Steam
@TheArt I’d love it if PS got free online again, but they’ve got to make money back somehow, right? They can’t subsidize consoles and not make it back with games and services
@Bamila Fair enough. I don’t know how all of that works to be honest. But i was led to believe that games on Steam would be much cheaper than the PS Store. And it might be for some older games, but definitely not for games released this year apparently
So i just compared game prices on Steam and the PS Store (both currently having sales), and i’m kinda shocked to be honest. For info, i compared new titles that released this year, and all prices are in Euros:
ARC raiders: both 39,99
Call of Duty Black Ops 7: both 79,99
Clair Obscur Expedition 33: 39,99 on PS, 47,99 on Steam
Split Fiction: both 39,99
The Outer Worlds 2: 55,99 on PS, 69,99 on Steam
Hollow knight: Silksong: 19,99 on PS, 19,50 on Steam
Kingdome Come Deliverance 2: 41,99 on PS, 59,99 on Steam
Inazuma Eleven: both 69,99
Anno Pax Romana: both 59,99
Satisfactory: 39,99 on PS, 38,99 on Steam
Ninja gaiden 4: both 55,99
Blue prince: both 29,99
Dispatch: 34,99 on PS, 28,99 on Steam
NBA2k6: 35,99 on PS, 31,49 on Steam
Silent Hill F: 55,99 on PS, 79,99 on Steam
FC26: 39,99 on PS, 34,99 on Steam
Battlefield 6: 67,99 on PS, 59,49 on Steam
Assassins creed shadows: 47,99 on PS, 69,99 on Steam
Monster Hunter Wilds: 79,99 on PS, 69,99 on Steam
DOOM: The Dark Ages: 54,99 on PS, 79,99 on Steam
Sword of the Sea: 24,99 on PS, 28,99 on Steam
I was led to believe because Playstation subsidized their consoles, and PC is more expensive, that games were much cheaper to buy on Steam. Only to find out that sure some are a bit cheaper on Steam, but most games are priced the same, and overall Playstations prices are way lower like Kingdome Come Deliverance 2, Silent Hill F, Clair Obscure Expedition 33, Assassins Creed Shadows, DOOM: The Dark Ages and the Outer Worlds 2.
Sure a few games on Steam are anywhere from 1-10 euros cheaper, but some Playstation games are up to 25 euros! cheaper.
Maybe older games are cheaper on PC, but apparently games that came out this year are mostly the same or even much cheaper on Playstation. I’ve never checked Steam prices before, because i always assumed it was gonna be way cheaper, so this is a total shock to me. This kind of negates the argument of Steam games being much cheaper than the PS store, unless you’re searching for older games i guess.
Edit: So apparently, if my calculations are correct, if you were to purchase all these games, you’d pay 80 euros less in total if you bought them all on PS Store in stead of on Steam. And sure it’s a random list, but they are some of the most notable and top games of this year. Constantly hearing how cheap Steam is compared to PS, only to find out that buying 21 of the latest most notable games is 80 euros cheaper on Playstation, i’m baffled
I agree, 2026 is already a stacked year for Sony first party with Saros, Wolverine, MLB26, Marathon and Marvel Tokon. There’s also the possibility Guerilla’s Horizon Online and the rumoured God of War 2.5d releasing on top of those.
Not to mention third party Playstation console exclusives like Nioh 3, Phantom Blade Zero, Chronoscript, Zero Parades and Loulan: The Cursed Sand.
And thats just what we know of so far, definitely a great year for Playstation users. Although i would’ve liked to see Intergalactic release nxt year as well, but if it’s not ready then it’s not ready. Naughty Dog delivers some of the best games, who am i to rush them
So one leaker is saying it definitey will be shown at the game awards, and one saying it wont. So one of them must be full of it, or has terrible insider sources. Can we start weeding out these leakers everytime they get things wrong?
The problem with the economic system is that people that have immense wealth can create much more wealth, even without doing anything, by buying more and more assets. This mechanism will always create a powerful elite class that owns much of the world. Wealth was distributed more fairly after world war 2 due to more progressive wealth(inheritance) and income taxs, but now we’ve slowly seen the return of weath concentrating at the top, this is an inevitable outcome of a capitalist system if left unchecked
@GeeEssEff Thanks for the levelheaded response, and fair points overall! I apreciate the explanation, and I do admit i’m not a pc player so i didn’t really know about the hassle of pc launchers.
My two cents though, is that if Sony ever launched one i’d bet it would be better than Ubisofts one, or other smaller launchers. Sony has better experience with creating and maintaining large ecosystems than those smaller publishers. Also, they would probably know that their launcher needs to work fawless to even entice pc players. So i think it would be different, but this is all speculation of course
There is no evidence of a larger trend for the risk of PlayStation players switching to PC, as you are describing
Sorry to butt in, but the point you might be missing here is that they should anticipate new competitors strategies. That’s why Porco said: “sony potentially losing its users to the pc market is bad for its business in the long term”
Their PC strategy was fine, but now that Xbox is planning to put Steam on their next console and Valve announced their pc/console, i’m sure you could see how putting all their exclusive games on competitors systems might become detrimental for their own ecosystem right?
@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah, just saw that as well. I guess it really is just basically a made for mobile game, with a monetization strategy more tailored for mobile. That’s probably the reason why they didnt want this to launch on console as a f2p game
I think Sony should seriously consider launching their own PC launcher, even if it’ll initialy meet resistance from pc players. Eventually people will install it, especially if Sony eventually takes their IP off Steam and new Sony releases launch exclusively on their own launcher. It’s not like PC sales are their main profit model, its more like a bonus anyway.
People who truly want to play their games will install the launcher. Also dont quite understand why it’s so annoying for pc players to install a new launcher, isnt this like installing an app or something?
Anyway, business wise, its probably best to be selective about which games they port to PC or how much time in between console and pc release. Especially in light of these next gen consoles being able to play their exclusives via Steam and therefore creating less differentiation from their console
I’m one of few that liked the beta. It wasn’t amazing or anything, but i thought it was ok. Wasn’t bothered with the character design either. Still dont really know what was wrong with the characters. However, i have never played Overwatch or similar game, so i didnt have anything to compare it to. All i knew was it was pretty cool
@RobN Yes, this sounds perfectly plausible to me. Sony might have guessed that they’d be roasted for releasing a “mobile quality” game as the next Horizon entry on console.
Only thing, as Sammy said earlier, they probably should have announced it simultaneously to avoid confusion
I think it looks fun. But i dont play games on mobile. Good for the hundreds of millions of people that do though.
I think most people on here aren’t the target audience. But i have no qualms with Sony trying to get a share of the mobile market, like every other publisher is doing
Maybe Sony wants there to be a clear differentiation between their new mobile games and their console games. And maybe Guerilla just wants to properly showcase their own Online console version, since its still their IP. I dunno, it’s all a bit weird.
I am curious though, i actually think online has a lot of potential for the Horizon IP, so i’m excited to hear more
@Juanalf Funny, because other people always complain that Playstation Studios aren’t as prolific as earlier generations. I often hear “Uncharted 2 and 3 were released in the same console generation, why can’t Sony do it now?”
Now we’re getting a 2nd Horizon game coming to console this gen, and now people are upset about that lol. Sony really can’t win with it’s userbase.
That said, i would like to see them revive Killzone though, and yeah i wouldnt mind a new IP as well
I was always a bit confused on why there needed to be two online Horizon games. But maybe they just don’t want the mobile version to be associated with their main console platform or something.
Or NCsoft’s development pipeline for console games just isn’t as robust, since their main expertise is mobile/pc, so maybe Guerilla wanted to develop it themselves. It’s still their IP, so i can imagine they’d wanna showcase it in the best way.
Hmm, whatever it is, i’m curious to see more. I actually think online is a good fit for this IP
@truerbluer At the very least its hypocrite. If you were yelling that you dont want live service on ps5, you cant be complaining now. To those who weren’t, fair enough 👍🏼
I see this less as Sony not supporting its platform, but more as a push to mobile. It’s also an external developer.
I get what you’re saying though, and it is kinda weird they skipped the ps5. My guess is that NCsoft might not have a good console development pipeline since their main expertise is mobile/pc. And thats why we’re getting an online version by Guerilla as well. But i actually do hope they port this as well, because i like the concept
@Fiendish-Beaver Is that the issue people had with Sony though? Are you saying they wouldnt mind if it were only PC?
I got the impression people just hated live service games over here based on their comments. Even though most seem to like Gran Turismo 7 and Helldivers 2.
Edit: Thinking about it, you do have a good point though. At least Neowiz doesnt seem to bring their games to console yet, so the people over here might not have the same complaints. Fair enough
Comments 1,876
Re: Final Fantasy X Was the 'Ultimate Perfection' of the Series, Says Dragon Quest Creator
Still my favourite Final Fantasy game. Everytime i hear that soundtrack, chills….
Re: Talking Point: Does PS5 Have a Sequel Problem?
Also, can we acknowledge that these arent “just” sequels, some of these games are some of the best(selling) games of this gen, scoring very high on Metacritic:
If you think some of those sequels played it safe, thats fine, but these are still all very good games, GOTY contenders even.
To call this a “problem” seems like a dumb take, when they’re as good as they are.
Also, Sony did publish 8 (semi)new IP’s like:
Let’s compare that against the amount of new IP’s published by other publishers this gen:
And we see that most big publishers haven’t published many new IP’s this gen as well. Heck, Sony published more new IP’s this gen rhan any other publisher except SE.
And again i say: Sony gets unjust heat for things every publisher does
Re: Talking Point: Does PS5 Have a Sequel Problem?
Again i think Sony gets heat for something every publishers does.
To remind everyone how many (mainline) iterations some franchises from other publishers have:
And that’s just counting mainline titles, not spin offs etc, because some would be 100+ if we counted those.
Not to mention some publishers releasing their yearly sports or racing game, which are usually almost exactly the same game as the previous year like Madden and FIFA having 32+ entries!
And just to juxtapose those numbers against the games mentioned in this article:
Yeah, Sony has a sequel problem…..
Re: Suddenly the PS5 Pro Doesn't Look That Expensive Anymore
Who cares? When AI reaches superintelligence before alignment is fixed we’re all F-ed anyway. Better start working on those bucket lists
Re: Poll: Five Years of PS5 - How Would You Rate Sony's Console?
As a console its been pretty great! I especially love the loading times this generation. Everything, from games and general use is much faster then last gen. In terms of games i think its been pretty good as well, although i do notice it’s getting harder to be surprised by novel experiences.
I know many conflate the question of what do they think of PS5, with how they found Playstation Studios the last 5 years, so i’ll give my two cents on that as well i guess.
Even though i think their first party games have generally been pretty great, i do miss a few more gen defining titles. Their bad approach to live service has had a real negative impact on their output, and even if they’ve corrected course since then, unfortunately game development take so much time that that’s not going to be apparent immediately.
Having said that, i’m not gonna judge a whole generation while it’s still going. We have a few more years left, and the games they have announced i am actually very excited for, and i do realize that there are many more games that are yet to be announced. So i’m excitecly looking forward.
End of the day, PS5 and it’s full library of games have been pretty great for me
Re: The Much Maligned PS5 Shooter Marathon Returns for Another Playtest in December
@CupidStunt Exactly, good point! From that point of view it is indeed particularly nasty
Re: The Much Maligned PS5 Shooter Marathon Returns for Another Playtest in December
@LikelySatan
I dont really get what you mean tbh. I do take someones word for it. If people hate it, then they hate it. I’m not silencing them, or saying they’re wrong. This is not about me not believing people. I dont care if people say it because they mean it, or because they just want to troll.
People can dislike what they want, but all this constant negativity and doomposting is getting a bit tiring that’s all.
But by all means, people continue doing what they want, i will continue finding it a bit over the top 😉
Re: The Much Maligned PS5 Shooter Marathon Returns for Another Playtest in December
@RoomWithaMoose Thats allright. Funnily enough if we were to go into the topic of how Sony approached live service, i really do agree with everything you said. I personally hve no interest in many live service titles out there, but i have no qualms with Sony trying to venture in to that space, especially if they can bring with them some of that Sony quality game making.
But alas, there approach was typical of a naive and inexperienced publisher in the space, and frankly was a pretty poor way of going about things. I do feel they have pivoted and made some correction, it just unfortunately take a bit of time to see them fully get back on their feet again.
But yeah, just to reiterate, this wasnt really about their dumb handling of it, but rather the people that just dont want them to do any type of live service period.
I respect their opinion, thats not what im arguing against. I’m just confused why they single Sony out, when the worst offenders of live services are some of these other predatory publishers, but somehow Sony usually gets the brunt of it.
Oh well, i’m all ranted out for today. I do appreciate the nuanced discussion 👍🏼
Re: The Much Maligned PS5 Shooter Marathon Returns for Another Playtest in December
@RoomWithaMoose I get all that, that’s why i said that their approach was bad. They did handle it very poorly. But thats unfortunately how things sometimes go in business, things dont always pan out, then you react and pivot.
But i was reacting to someone who said “Let it be the final nail in the coffin for the live service debacle”. That definitely reads like they dont want Sony to do any live service, and many feel the same way. Which is fine btw, i just dont understand the singling out of Sony, when literally every other publisher gets a pass.
My comment wasnt really geared toward you, you actually have a nuanced take, which i totally agree with. I was really just reacting to the crowd that just doesnt want Sony to do any live service at all
And i agree with everything you’ve said btw
Re: The Much Maligned PS5 Shooter Marathon Returns for Another Playtest in December
@dskatter
Good! And you’re entitled to it 👍🏼
Dont really know what to say, i’m sorry you dont like it. There’s many games i dont like. I just dont make a scene about it, like some people do literally everytime a Marathon article comes out.
To be clear, i dont care that you and others want this to fail. Personally, i’ma bit indifferent, but still curious. But some are excited about this game, so i just dont understand why people are so dramatic about constantly wanting this to flop. It’s literally every comment section, its a bit over the top and after a while all this doomposting just gets a bit tiring that’s all
Re: The Much Maligned PS5 Shooter Marathon Returns for Another Playtest in December
@nessisonett I dont understand why people dogpile on Sony doing live service. Sure they messed up their approach, but many seem to be averse about them doing any live service at all. Do people not realize that literally every other publisher has multiple live service titles?
Why single out the one publisher that hardly has any live service titles at all, and probably is one of the last publishers to even give it a real go?
Seems to me like people are piling up on the wrong publisher here, somehow Sony is the only one getting heat for this, when other publishers have been doing this for way longer, and are far more agressive and predatory with their live service approach
Re: The Much Maligned PS5 Shooter Marathon Returns for Another Playtest in December
Honestly, i find it pretty cringy to always see the same “I want this to flop so badly” comments every time there’s an article about Marathon. I dont understand it. If you don’t like it, why would you want it to flop? Maybe other people are excited about the game. So now other can’t play it, because you dont like it? Can’t people just ignore a game they don’t like? I do it all the time.
I’m not saying people can’t express themselves, but damn, it’s literally every comment section. Its so negative, pointless and childish.
But hey, that’s just my opinion
Re: Another PS Plus Extra Game for December 2025 Announced
This looks sick! Will definitely give it a try 👍🏼
Re: Stellar Blade Is Sony's Most Successful Single-Player PC Game to Date, Says Shift Up
@darylb24
That’s what i’m wondering though. This article seems to imply that, but it looks like thats not what Shift Up is saying. It looks like Shift Up just means that they had the best single player launch, not that they sold the most copies on PC.
But i may be totally wrong here, and maybe i’m the one who is misinterpreting things
Re: Stellar Blade Is Sony's Most Successful Single-Player PC Game to Date, Says Shift Up
@SeaDaVie Exactly, but the article kinda makes it seem as if Stellar Blade sold the best out of all Sony’s single player PC ports.
The article title says “Stellar Blade is Sony’s most succesfull single-player PC game to date, says Shift Up.”
But i dont think Shift Up is saying that at all. What i understand is that Shift Up is saying thay they had the best launch of all of Sony’s single player PC games. Not that they sold the most copies on PC. So it’s a bit of a stretch to call it the most succesfull single player PC game from Sony. Best launch perhaps, sure.
But maybe i’m just reading it wrong.
Anyway, it does make sense to me that they had a better launch, since Stellar Blade was a much newer game when it got ported to PC, compared to Sony’s other single player games. Some were already 5 years old, and the likelihood that many on PC had played them before was much higher.
And yeah, it also had a lot of attention around it for those other reasons 👀
Re: Stellar Blade Is Sony's Most Successful Single-Player PC Game to Date, Says Shift Up
@Quintumply This is a bit confusing.
Push Square is saying Stellar Blade is Sony’s most succesful PC game to date.
But Shift Up is saying they had the most succesful launch.
Those are different things though.
So did it have the most succesful launch or did it sell the most to date? Shift Up says that sales were more than Sony’s own IP. But i think they’re only referring to the launch period, not lifetime sales.
Wasnt it estimated by Alinea that Horizon Zero Dawn sold around 4.5m copies on PC?
So did Stellar Blade sell more than that on PC? Or are they simply saying they sold the fastest during launch.
And they also show a slide of peak concurrent players when they’re talking about sales, which doesnt make sense. Communication wise, this is all a bit messy
Re: Xbox Devs 'Thrilled' to Be Bringing Their Games to PS5
Slow news day, i reckon, but i’m happy they’re happy
Re: Sony Estimated to Have Made $1.5 Billion from Steam, But the Novelty Is Wearing Off
@Frmknst not so crazy if you consider they’ve release about 20 titles on pc already since 2020. If evenly spread out that would be around 1.5 million sales per game, but we know thats not the case since Helldivers 2 alone probably already sold like 13m copies on pc.
If we’re going by your 30m sales, my guess, besides Helldivers, the big ones like God of War and Horizon sold around 1.5-2m, and the rest sold anywhere from 500k-1m.
End of the day its respectable, but since their big games usually already sell 10m+ on console, this is just a little bonus
Re: Sony Estimated to Have Made $1.5 Billion from Steam, But the Novelty Is Wearing Off
I’d still advise them to seriously consider releasing their own pc launcher. Even if it’s initially met with resistance, the install base will grow. The revenue here is pretty negligble anyway, so it wont hurt that much. End of the day, people who really want to play Playstation games on pc will eventually download the launcher anyway. This gives them way more control, more revenue, and avoids their exclusives going to other consoles and making their own ecosystem less appealing
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
@PuppetMaster You’re welcome my friend. I will say that prices might fluctuate and some times Steam prices might be cheaper overall, i dont know. But at least, if you take a snapshot, like today, it can apparently totally be the case that Playstation turns out way cheaper for a lot of games. And i agree, after hearing for years how much cheaper Steam is than the PS Store, i really did not expect this outcome
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
@scottXedgar I get what you’re saying. There are many other places to buy from. But i wasnt comparing those. I was comparing current Steam store prices vs PS Store prices.
But if you’re hellbent on comparing prices from all sources, i actually had a little look on GG.deals, and here are a few comparisons to PS5 games from sources other than the PS Store (all prices in Euros):
DOOM: The Dark Ages: 38,09 on GG for PC, 35 second hand physical on Marktplaats.nl for PS5
Battlefield 6: 53,83 on GG for PC, 40 for second hand physical on Marktplaats.nl for PS5
Stellar Blade: 40,99 on GG for PC, 39,99 new physical at Mediamarkt.nl for PS5
Call of Duty Black Ops 7: 52,53 on GG for PC, 50 for second hand physical on Marktplaats.nl for PS5
I know this is just a random list of games, bu they are all notable and recent games. All PS5 games cheaper than the PC versions on GG.deals.
I added the websites, if you want to factcheck. For everyone’s info, Marktplaats is a popular second hand marketplace in my country btw, and those prices aren’t fixed, you can still haggle and make a lower bid.
Yes, i’d say GG has nice deals for pc. But looking around a bit, there are Playstation deals to be found as well.
But to be perfectly clear, i wasnt comparing all sources, i was only comparing Steam vs PS Store. They’re official storefronts, those key resellers aren’t. I just wanted to compare official pricing from Steam and PS Store, because Steam is the largest, most talked about, most popular and most used PC store in the world, and many claims have been made that Steam is much cheaper than PS Store. So i just wanted to see for myself that’s all
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
@scottXedgar
Well they hold weight in a Steam vs PS Store comparison 😉
I guess if we’re gonna compare every way to buy games on PC, like from CDkeys, we should also compare all the ways possible on Playstation, like buying second hand physical games.
Just as an example, i listed DOOM the Dark Ages above as going for 54,99 in the PS Store and 79,99 on Steam. But i can get a second hand physical copy for just 35 euros on an online second hand market place in my country (i just looked it up).
My point is, that Steam might not be the only place to get games for PC, but the PS Store is also not the only place to buy games for Playstation.
Anyway, my comparison was purely a Steam store vs PS Store comparison. I have been told many times that Steam is much cheaper, so i wanted to find out for myself.
But you are right, and i want to make it clear. It was not a comparison to the CDkeys store.
Edit: @Rich33
I didn’t even notice you already made this point 👍🏼
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
@Rich33 You’re very welcome. I was genuinely suprised by the prices, as this was the first time i’ve ever checked game prices on Steam. Now i fully understand that this is just a snapshot in time, but still, with everything i heard about Steam being much cheaper, i didnt expect Playstation to come out cheaper overall.
And to be fair, some older games seem to be priced a bit lower, but even most of those are priced the same as PS. I just thought it’d be much cheaper, and i definitely didnt expect to see 80 euro games on there. I was led to believe that 80 euro games are only a thing on console.
But i do get that there are other ways to get games cheaper on pc. CDKeys is something i often read people saying. Now, im such a noob that i dont even know what that is. If its a legit site or some gray online market or whatever.
But anyhow to be fair, this was purely a comparison of PS Store vs Steam, and not a comparison to CDKeys or other marketplaces
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
@ElectricWizard
That’s news to me honestly, i always hear people saying how much cheaper Steam is than Playstation, but looking at the list i made i’m quite frankly shocked at how much cheaper Playstation is compared to Steam
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
@TheArt I’d love it if PS got free online again, but they’ve got to make money back somehow, right? They can’t subsidize consoles and not make it back with games and services
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
@Bamila Fair enough. I don’t know how all of that works to be honest. But i was led to believe that games on Steam would be much cheaper than the PS Store. And it might be for some older games, but definitely not for games released this year apparently
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
So i just compared game prices on Steam and the PS Store (both currently having sales), and i’m kinda shocked to be honest. For info, i compared new titles that released this year, and all prices are in Euros:
ARC raiders: both 39,99
Call of Duty Black Ops 7: both 79,99
Clair Obscur Expedition 33: 39,99 on PS, 47,99 on Steam
Split Fiction: both 39,99
The Outer Worlds 2: 55,99 on PS, 69,99 on Steam
Hollow knight: Silksong: 19,99 on PS, 19,50 on Steam
Kingdome Come Deliverance 2: 41,99 on PS, 59,99 on Steam
Inazuma Eleven: both 69,99
Anno Pax Romana: both 59,99
Satisfactory: 39,99 on PS, 38,99 on Steam
Ninja gaiden 4: both 55,99
Blue prince: both 29,99
Dispatch: 34,99 on PS, 28,99 on Steam
NBA2k6: 35,99 on PS, 31,49 on Steam
Silent Hill F: 55,99 on PS, 79,99 on Steam
FC26: 39,99 on PS, 34,99 on Steam
Battlefield 6: 67,99 on PS, 59,49 on Steam
Assassins creed shadows: 47,99 on PS, 69,99 on Steam
Monster Hunter Wilds: 79,99 on PS, 69,99 on Steam
DOOM: The Dark Ages: 54,99 on PS, 79,99 on Steam
Sword of the Sea: 24,99 on PS, 28,99 on Steam
I was led to believe because Playstation subsidized their consoles, and PC is more expensive, that games were much cheaper to buy on Steam. Only to find out that sure some are a bit cheaper on Steam, but most games are priced the same, and overall Playstations prices are way lower like Kingdome Come Deliverance 2, Silent Hill F, Clair Obscure Expedition 33, Assassins Creed Shadows, DOOM: The Dark Ages and the Outer Worlds 2.
Sure a few games on Steam are anywhere from 1-10 euros cheaper, but some Playstation games are up to 25 euros! cheaper.
Maybe older games are cheaper on PC, but apparently games that came out this year are mostly the same or even much cheaper on Playstation. I’ve never checked Steam prices before, because i always assumed it was gonna be way cheaper, so this is a total shock to me. This kind of negates the argument of Steam games being much cheaper than the PS store, unless you’re searching for older games i guess.
Edit: So apparently, if my calculations are correct, if you were to purchase all these games, you’d pay 80 euros less in total if you bought them all on PS Store in stead of on Steam. And sure it’s a random list, but they are some of the most notable and top games of this year. Constantly hearing how cheap Steam is compared to PS, only to find out that buying 21 of the latest most notable games is 80 euros cheaper on Playstation, i’m baffled
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
Just a reminder, for all the people i’ve discussed PS5 (Pro) prices with. This is what subsidizing means
Re: Don't Expect Intergalactic PS5 to Launch Until at Least 2027
I agree, 2026 is already a stacked year for Sony first party with Saros, Wolverine, MLB26, Marathon and Marvel Tokon. There’s also the possibility Guerilla’s Horizon Online and the rumoured God of War 2.5d releasing on top of those.
Not to mention third party Playstation console exclusives like Nioh 3, Phantom Blade Zero, Chronoscript, Zero Parades and Loulan: The Cursed Sand.
And thats just what we know of so far, definitely a great year for Playstation users. Although i would’ve liked to see Intergalactic release nxt year as well, but if it’s not ready then it’s not ready. Naughty Dog delivers some of the best games, who am i to rush them
Re: Don't Expect Intergalactic PS5 to Launch Until at Least 2027
So one leaker is saying it definitey will be shown at the game awards, and one saying it wont. So one of them must be full of it, or has terrible insider sources. Can we start weeding out these leakers everytime they get things wrong?
Re: Ubisoft Is All In on Generative AI, Says It's as Big a Leap in Tech as the 'Shift to 3D'
The problem with the economic system is that people that have immense wealth can create much more wealth, even without doing anything, by buying more and more assets. This mechanism will always create a powerful elite class that owns much of the world. Wealth was distributed more fairly after world war 2 due to more progressive wealth(inheritance) and income taxs, but now we’ve slowly seen the return of weath concentrating at the top, this is an inevitable outcome of a capitalist system if left unchecked
Re: Valve's Steam Machine May Not Be As Affordable As a PS5
I thought one of the advantages pc players mention is that pc is upgradable. Are pc players now willing to go back to a fixed hardware system?
Re: PS5 Sony Games Bag 19 Nominations at The Game Awards 2025
I dont know how many, but certainly they got Best Action/Adventure in the bag with Ghost of Yotei. Probably also Best Adaptation with Last of Us S2.
And i think GTA6 doesnt deserve to win Most Anticipated every year, so i give that to Wolverine this year hehe
Re: 'Very Vague' Rumour Claims Sony May Scale Back PC Ports of PS5 Games
@GeeEssEff Thanks for the levelheaded response, and fair points overall! I apreciate the explanation, and I do admit i’m not a pc player so i didn’t really know about the hassle of pc launchers.
My two cents though, is that if Sony ever launched one i’d bet it would be better than Ubisofts one, or other smaller launchers. Sony has better experience with creating and maintaining large ecosystems than those smaller publishers. Also, they would probably know that their launcher needs to work fawless to even entice pc players. So i think it would be different, but this is all speculation of course
Re: 'Very Vague' Rumour Claims Sony May Scale Back PC Ports of PS5 Games
Sorry to butt in, but the point you might be missing here is that they should anticipate new competitors strategies. That’s why Porco said: “sony potentially losing its users to the pc market is bad for its business in the long term”
Their PC strategy was fine, but now that Xbox is planning to put Steam on their next console and Valve announced their pc/console, i’m sure you could see how putting all their exclusive games on competitors systems might become detrimental for their own ecosystem right?
Re: Mobile MMO Horizon Steel Frontiers Seems to Have Captured Lots of Attention Already
@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah, just saw that as well. I guess it really is just basically a made for mobile game, with a monetization strategy more tailored for mobile. That’s probably the reason why they didnt want this to launch on console as a f2p game
Re: Mobile MMO Horizon Steel Frontiers Seems to Have Captured Lots of Attention Already
I must be spacing out, but i managed to overlook the whole gameplay trailer!
That looks incredible! Playstation’s initial mobile push with Horizon, Destiny and Ratchet is strong!
I hope Guerilla’s PS5 Online console version is ready to announce soon!
Re: 'Very Vague' Rumour Claims Sony May Scale Back PC Ports of PS5 Games
I think Sony should seriously consider launching their own PC launcher, even if it’ll initialy meet resistance from pc players. Eventually people will install it, especially if Sony eventually takes their IP off Steam and new Sony releases launch exclusively on their own launcher. It’s not like PC sales are their main profit model, its more like a bonus anyway.
People who truly want to play their games will install the launcher. Also dont quite understand why it’s so annoying for pc players to install a new launcher, isnt this like installing an app or something?
Anyway, business wise, its probably best to be selective about which games they port to PC or how much time in between console and pc release. Especially in light of these next gen consoles being able to play their exclusives via Steam and therefore creating less differentiation from their console
Re: Sony Trying to Silence Concord Revival Project After Fans Brought PS5, PC Disaster Back
I’m one of few that liked the beta. It wasn’t amazing or anything, but i thought it was ok. Wasn’t bothered with the character design either. Still dont really know what was wrong with the characters. However, i have never played Overwatch or similar game, so i didnt have anything to compare it to. All i knew was it was pretty cool
Re: 'We'd Love to Do It': Sounds Like NCSOFT Wants Horizon Steel Frontiers on PS5 as Much as You
@RobN Yes, this sounds perfectly plausible to me. Sony might have guessed that they’d be roasted for releasing a “mobile quality” game as the next Horizon entry on console.
Only thing, as Sammy said earlier, they probably should have announced it simultaneously to avoid confusion
Re: Ratchet & Clank Mobile May Be Okay Actually, First Gameplay Revealed
I think it looks fun. But i dont play games on mobile. Good for the hundreds of millions of people that do though.
I think most people on here aren’t the target audience. But i have no qualms with Sony trying to get a share of the mobile market, like every other publisher is doing
Re: 'We'd Love to Do It': Sounds Like NCSOFT Wants Horizon Steel Frontiers on PS5 as Much as You
Maybe Sony wants there to be a clear differentiation between their new mobile games and their console games. And maybe Guerilla just wants to properly showcase their own Online console version, since its still their IP. I dunno, it’s all a bit weird.
I am curious though, i actually think online has a lot of potential for the Horizon IP, so i’m excited to hear more
Re: Horizon MMO Uses AI 'Extensively' in Development, Says NCSOFT
I bet most studios are using AI in their production pipeline by now
Re: Another Horizon Online PS5 Game Is Coming Before Horizon 3, It's Claimed
@nessisonett Meanwhile CoD releases it’s 22nd iteration tomorrow 😆
Re: Another Horizon Online PS5 Game Is Coming Before Horizon 3, It's Claimed
@Juanalf Funny, because other people always complain that Playstation Studios aren’t as prolific as earlier generations. I often hear “Uncharted 2 and 3 were released in the same console generation, why can’t Sony do it now?”
Now we’re getting a 2nd Horizon game coming to console this gen, and now people are upset about that lol. Sony really can’t win with it’s userbase.
That said, i would like to see them revive Killzone though, and yeah i wouldnt mind a new IP as well
Re: Another Horizon Online PS5 Game Is Coming Before Horizon 3, It's Claimed
@Oram77 Lol, i’ve noticed i tend to agree with a lot of your takes, so that checks out 👍🏼
Re: Another Horizon Online PS5 Game Is Coming Before Horizon 3, It's Claimed
I was always a bit confused on why there needed to be two online Horizon games. But maybe they just don’t want the mobile version to be associated with their main console platform or something.
Or NCsoft’s development pipeline for console games just isn’t as robust, since their main expertise is mobile/pc, so maybe Guerilla wanted to develop it themselves. It’s still their IP, so i can imagine they’d wanna showcase it in the best way.
Hmm, whatever it is, i’m curious to see more. I actually think online is a good fit for this IP
Re: The Next Horizon Game Is an MMO for Mobile and PC, Prompting Fury from PS5 Fans
@truerbluer At the very least its hypocrite. If you were yelling that you dont want live service on ps5, you cant be complaining now. To those who weren’t, fair enough 👍🏼
I see this less as Sony not supporting its platform, but more as a push to mobile. It’s also an external developer.
I get what you’re saying though, and it is kinda weird they skipped the ps5. My guess is that NCsoft might not have a good console development pipeline since their main expertise is mobile/pc. And thats why we’re getting an online version by Guerilla as well. But i actually do hope they port this as well, because i like the concept
Re: Lies of P Publisher Neowiz Going Big with 5 Upcoming Games
@Fiendish-Beaver Haha, thats true! Some people will always have something to complain about i guess. Fair points all around 👍🏼
Re: Lies of P Publisher Neowiz Going Big with 5 Upcoming Games
@Fiendish-Beaver Is that the issue people had with Sony though? Are you saying they wouldnt mind if it were only PC?
I got the impression people just hated live service games over here based on their comments. Even though most seem to like Gran Turismo 7 and Helldivers 2.
Edit: Thinking about it, you do have a good point though. At least Neowiz doesnt seem to bring their games to console yet, so the people over here might not have the same complaints. Fair enough