@Bez87 I think there is a misunderstanding.

These games get more fanfare and love from gamers than “It Happens On PS5” games.

Maybe it’s the sheer love for the medium and the joy of playing fun games?!

@trev666 You know, a studio must pay its staff. First you must find somebody who believes in the capabilities of the staff, the value of the IPs and the attractiveness of a yet unknown upcoming product. And this somebody must then give the studio heads a big cheque which lasts for the atudio’s expenses until the game releases. Not that easy in this climate and an oversaturated market!

The big advantage of Undead Labs is State of Decay being an established and well-known brand, so with a soon release and decent quality, this plan could work.

@8th_Observer Yes, if Phil Spencer had never bought Ninja Theory, they would’ve been long dead by now.

Instead of cashback, Sony and the other publishers could offer more discounts, simple as that.

Who needs Lidl Plus if Aldi offers the lowest prices to everyone, without an app?

I think nobody said that it‘s not a good product for what it should be.

It is mindless fun for the masses, who enjoy the yearly CoD and FC. And this style of entertainment can be nice. But many experienced gamers - professional reviewers included - demand more for their money and time, because they are used to more demanding entertainment.

In my opinion, the rage has another reason: During the PS4 era, SCE/SIE Worldwide Studios made some groundbraking games: Spider-Man, The Last of Us Part 2, Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, Astro-Bot Rescue Mission, Horizon Zero Dawn.

And now, PS Studios‘ output is very limited. It‘s the frustration of experienced gamers that one of the few PS Studios games on PS5 which is NOT a direct, almost indistinguishable sequel is such a bread-and-butter game.

@get2sammyb And the data will change even more starting 2028.

Where are the news? His sentiment on AAA is the standard in the industry. There are still AAA game developers who take risks and succeed. But there’s a reason why we talk about a Ubisoft formula.

For supporting programming and for prototyping, AI tools are very useful. And I can imagine that LLMs are very good in analysing the different outcomes of quests and finding inconsistencies in the story and effects on the world.

And dynamic voice can be a gamecharger in RPGs. I am tired of a Night City with NPCs which behave like mindless dolls. Actual dynamic reactions on players’ actions would bring so much more credibility to these already stunning worlds.

When we have experienced the first game which uses generative AI to make a world much more dense and believable, I think we don’t want to go back.

@YeoSprings I agree with your doubts about “AC on big TV”. AC and Sackboy have a high appeal to kids, but many of them don’t have a TV in their rooms anymore. Portables are perfect for them. And PS Portal is a big extra spending for many families they’d rather avoid.

@ShadowRJ The worst game will be

NEO BERLIN 2087

I don’t see why this is regarded as uniformly bad.

The managers made poor decisions, and the developers wasted their creative talent on this slop.

In another studio which has already proofed its potential to make good games, which sell well and can finance the staff for a long time, this creative talent can be used in a much more meaningful way.

That’s capitalism, and if you hate it, watch documentaries about the state of the industry in Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism.

And now, slay me.

Astro’s Playroom! Japan Studio eternalised itself on every PS5.

And hundreds over hundreds of millions spent for live service games which will probably never get into the top 10.

Nice, but where is Bluepoint‘s?

@TheArt But not on this very website. Wolverine is a PS5 exclusive!

They worked several years on this game, had an intense Q+A. And they need the results of reviews and social media posts to find out what‘s not working well? Don’t be naive!

And your response is „Great, they’re listening“.

Instead, your response should be „They know this game and its shortcomings better than anybody else in the world. Why didn’t they fix them BEFORE release?“

@PuppetMaster I‘m actually surprised that Hermen hasn’t killed this DOA Horizon game yet. It’s clear that he has a soft spot for his former studio, but the waste of resources should be more than clear at this point.

Sony should instead bring Horizon Steel Frontiers to PS5. Nixxes should have capacities left for this port, which would be the opposite of what this studio was bought for by Sony, ironically. I have no doubt that this ordinary-as-heck MMO from an experienced MMO studio will become a success.

@AdamNovice I have never touched this game, yes, but I think it’s a great game for its target audience from what I‘ve seen from it.

Bungie is the focal point of criticism, because Big Jimbo, Hermen and the boys in Tokio bought Bungie as the big leverage for PlayStation’s shiny live service strategy, which failed miserably, destroying money, trust in the brand, lifetime of the developers and a lot of their passion.

That Bungie took the risk to abandon Destiny for this very hardcore shooter was a bold move, and it didn’t pay out. The bets were high, and Bungie lost, which is tragic, as so many aspects around this live service strategy were and are.

@GirlVersusGame Yes, my message was lost in translation. I love animals, and my dog is the best in the world. I wanted to express that shooting or malming human beings (and yes, German soldiers and even the Nazis among them were human beings, believe it or not) in a video game is so generally acceptable that it sometimes hurts me.

Humans have fun in ballistics, that’s our human nature. Maybe video games are a great valve for many, because they can express their rage. But that killing is the most standard action you can do in most games is for me a sign of cultural degeneration.

@GirlVersusGame Killing people is the favourite task in most video games, and some make even fun of shooting testicles of living people. The moral niveau of many games is quite low, and this one seems to be at least a highbrow approach of immoral deeds.

The fact that killing men is standard but killing animals in video games is a big no-no shows what we got used to in the last thirty-or-so years.

@Simon_Fitzgerald Why are the humour and the themes a con? Everyone who watches a trailer for more than 10 seconds knows the tone of the game and if it resonates with themselves or not.

Stellar Blade had a questionable outfit taste, and I knew it from the trailers. And it was not a con, rightfully so.

My learnings from reading many of the comments here and my own experiences:

1) Sony seemed to learn that you shouldn’t throw good money after bad. BUT it hasn’t cancelled Fairgame$ and this other crap yet. So this lesson is still not applied consistently.

2) Today‘s Hideo Kojima is overrated. Many gamers found out that the Death Stranding games are just not a lot of fun.

3) Sony stopped making prestigious games, the new focus are banal live service and action games. The most prestigious attempt is the current marketing for GTA 6. Xbox somehow stopped this as well and learned that it hurt the platform. Nintendo shows that it‘s still the master to combine prestige and fun.

But Sony doesn’t need prestige. PS Store is the biggest asset. Sony could close all PS Studios, and it would still work.

This financial success of PS Store and the financial failure of PS5 exclusives is the worst combination!

Bloodborne

I just defeated Gehrman (not that hard if you watch his telegraphing a bit, he‘s very expressive) and wanted to start the DLC, but NG+ started. I didn’t know that, and now I‘m mad.

From DS3 and Elden Ring, I‘m used to trigger NG+ separately, and I think DS2 also offered this. Bloodborne is like DS1 here, and it feels totally antiquated to me.

What BL would you recommend before starting the DLC? And how long does it take to get to this point (now I‘m BL 72)?

@OrbiterNightfall Yeah, whan a reviewer is uncertain about the score for a game which is not a catastrophe, the save bet seems to be a 8/10.

So it’s still in the range of „All Games in the Latest Incredibly Huge Weekly Sale with a 7/10 or higher“, and complaints are limited.

But 8/10 for both RE9 and MG Survive is borderline criminal, I must admit.

The true auteur soars miles above such mundane pettinesses like budget and deadlines.

@Czar_Khastik I will never again try to write anything funny here. It could only look bleak compared to this. I bow before you.

@OrbiterNightfall Liam doesn’t have a bad track record, and I find it unfair to even judge reviewers! He is a human being as we all are, and video games can only be scored subjectively.

We readers are used to read reviews of a game before we buy and play it, but reviewers don’t have a clue (or at least shouldn’t) what others think about a game. And that’s why reviews are so worthwhile!

The guy who gave a 9/10 on Metroid Prime 4 over at Nintendo Life though, … Just kidding!

77 is a poor score, because it reflects the sentiments of the reviewers, people who are experienced in gaming and have actually played this game and usually give their score WITHOUT knowing what others think about it.

And if you don’t trust the number, go to Metacritic and read the verdicts, which are quite sober. There are people who love repetition, and there are those who doesn’t, which seem to be the majority of the reviewers.

And 77 is a problem for Sony, because for today‘s PlayStation, first-party games are only needed for prestige, to strengthen the brand loyalty. This game seems to disappoint in this regard!

>> He does at least say he's "not done yet" <<

Knack 3 confirmed

@TrashcanMan Everyone makes some mistakes in their life. Now it’s the perfect time to correct that one and finally play one of the most influential games of all time.

And the best thing: You don’t have to open the menu to swap your boots in Water Temple!

I‘m genuinely surprised by the (intermediate) results of this poll on a PlayStation website. Didn’t expect „Zelda for me“ leading by a mile!

This Direct sold the game to me (I thought that OoT wouldn’t attract me after so many playthroughs since 1998). That Netflix show a couple of days ago didn’t.

I already see sleepless nights in Kyoto.

Bloodborne

I waited and waited for a PS5 remaster, but the closure of Bluepoint (and the lack of a gaming PC for emulation) killed my hopes to play this game in 60 fps in the foreseeable future.

So I swallowed the bitter pill of 30 fps, and I don’t regret it. What a fantastic game! I stopped playing Sekiro, because I found it unfairly hard sometimes, the slightest mistake can kill you. In comparison, Bloodborne is a walk in the park, and it better suits my play style for Soulsborne games.

The only negative point I see is that Yharnam (which I should have completed at this point) looks very samey, which makes orientation a bit hard sometimes. But I think that’s intentional, and all of this game looks brilliant.

I love it!

I see that Sony will outright stop cloud streaming entirely after PS6 has released. Even PS Portal will lose this functionality.

Cloud streaming requires to maintain an expensive infrastructure in many different places. And Sony would need to make a special server-compatible PS6 version, to replace the existing PS5 boards.

Today’s Sony focuses on products which create direct and high revenue and which allow for a lean process. Stopping the whole disc manufacturing and sales process is one piece of this strategy. Neglecting PSVR2 another. And killing cloud streaming will be another.

In the end, PlayStation will be stripped down to the most profitable, most barebones business.

Without exclusive games, what makes people love PlayStation as they did during the PS4 era?

The love is faded. An Astro Bot or Saros aren’t enough.

And without love, people won’t accept arrogant BS moves, as they still do with Nintendo.

PlayStation is so financially successful and emotionally hollow at the same time.

@get2sammyb „And I think the toxicity is tainting everything the manufacturer does.“

That reminds me of authoritarian language. Companies with monopolies on platforms and franchises are not democratic institutions, only hard pressure helps, with your purse and your voice. Constant protest without insults isn’t „toxic“. I don’t want to hail my beloved Leader Sony, I want it to change its behaviour.

@cainhurst94 @themightyant @XenonKnight

The article form Gamefile is very informative, and the number of „more than $10“ for the 66 GB disc and an extra dollar for the 100 GB disc is similar to the $14 Schreier mentioned, which is more than what I have heard before.

For the specific case Revelation, I get why SE isn’t keen on providing a second disc, which could be additional $3-4.

And my key question still remains: Why is SE offering such a half-baked product? Rebirth demonstrates that a good physical product is possible (but financially unattractive). The other clear solution is digital-only. „Small disc + download“ has 2/3 of the extra costs of a fully physical copy without the real benefit of having a full game available without access to Sony‘s servers.

@XenonKnight What is the name of the article? Thank you!

@cainhurst94 I am interested in this Gamefiles analysis, because these numbers are significantly higher than what I‘ve heard, but I can’t find it.

If you have a link or a tip how to find it for me, that would be great!

@cainhurst94 What extra cost will a second disc create? $1.50? Or less?

SE could save even more by not pressing discs and not making boxes!

The are only two consistent ways to do it (or the combination of them):
1) A physical release which works without an internet connection (or without access to specific servers, to be precise), or
2) Digital-only.

Game-Key Cards are poor, but at least they are the least inconsistent version of the generally flawed model of „game dongles“, if the physical media are prohibitively expensive.

And there are „solutions“ like what SE is doing here.

@Haruki_NLI I know, and nobody is blaming Nintendo for not offering 128 GB cartridges, knowing the already high costs of the 64 GB model. And for Remake, SE said that NS2 cartridges are just too slow for the masses of streamed data, which certainly applies also to Rebirth and Revelation.

As you mentioned, PS5 is another case.

This is so bizarre!

I get why Switch 1 games on cartridges often require downloads, because higher capacity cartridges are significantly more expensive.

I get why Game-Key Carts exist, because they are basically the cheaper version of the „smallest cartridge plus download“ concept, and Switch 2 cartridges are really expensive.

I get that publishers inexperienced in releases with multiple discs may want to avoid this, because it could be more complicated in validation by Sony and operation.

But NONE of these points apply to Square Enix. All they have to do is following the same model of Rebirth.

Let‘s see whether the Japanese version is on two discs, because that market is still very focused on physical releases. And if this is the case, imports to the West will become wild!

Looks that someone saw the intro scene of Bayonetta 2 and thought „This could be a game“.

I didn’t watch it. But based on the Round Up and the comments here, I made a wise decision.

@Glotny Yes, I know this trick with version 1.00. But the latest version 1.04 (?) fixes some problems and supports HDR.

Just give me a version 1.05 which is an unlocked 1.04. Or a full PS5 version with support for full 4k, 120 fps and VRR, which would be the mentioned „Remaster“.

The Last Guardian Remastered. Cheap to make, Nixxes has some work, and balm for the wounded souls of PlayStation fans.

@UnfishedPlate29 Don Mattrick took over yesterday. His first decision was to bring „Live TV to PS5“.

There is no chance that Sony will change its decision.

The funny result will be that I will stick to my PS5 as long as possible and will buy and play MANY PS4 and PS5 games for a long time. The catalogue of great (and physically available) games for these systems is huge.

And for new releases, I use other platforms.

Press (R1) to look serious