Max_the_German

@Ainu20 Interesting aspect. I know that statement was not limited to PlayStation gamers. Bringing somebody into the Xbox ecosystem by bringing Xbox games to PS is not only unlikely but impossible.

@get2sammyb

What do you exactly mean with
>> it seems unlikely Microsoft is going to grow its install base by bringing its software to a competitor’s platform <<

In my simple logic, if only one person who is owning only a PlayStation is buying Halo, the install base is already grown. But maybe I‘m just misunderstanding something here. Please make it clear, thank you.

@lacerz

Is your comment an answer on an already deleted post, or is this preventive?

There are only few games I wish a remake/thorough remaster for. Metroid Prime was one of them, Halo is another. Such a beauty!

I‘m expecting Todd Howard on stage in two years, asking „Do you guys not have phones?“

@Oram77 I know that you were unhappy with that Pro comment, and I assumed that you are focused on the topic of this conversation, which is about calling hard-working people lazy.

@Oram77

I also don’t like the result, but I‘m not sure that it’s the fault of the devs. It’s the producer who defines the release date and the quality level of the product. If the producer says „The Outer Worlds 2 is Xbox‘s prime release for fall 2025, so forget about your requested extra three months for the final polish. You can patch afterwards if you have some budget left.“, calling the devs lazy would be highly unfair.

@Oram77 But „lazy“? Let’s imagine the following scenario: PS5 support was added late in development. And then the producer said „you must also include PS5 Pro support“, the technical director „But we must focus on making the base PS5 version run smoothly, we don’t have the capacity to do both in parallel for your release date.“ - „UE5 offers an easy-to-use plugin for PSSR, just use that.“ - „But…“

@PuppetMaster

Xbox wants the opposite of monopolising. They want to leave all the games with lower profitability to their competitors and focus on those with high margins.

@UltimateOtaku91

Given the heavy workload that video game developers typically have to cope with, I find it inappropriate and outrageous to describe them as lazy.

Why is the image for this article so negative? Schreier claims that the profitability of Xbox is HIGHER than that of SIE.

And that despite Game Pass which is, according to PushSquare and some experts here, not profitable. Or is it BECAUSE of Game Pass?

Don’t forget, in the end it’s show business: entertainment from companies with the main purpose of making money for their owners.

@Dogbreath @Oram77 They are all guilty of remastering PS4 games for PS5. The one remaster everyone and their dog is begging for is still out of sight.

Hoyoverse is probably not doing a favour to themselves with ending support for PS4, and this video is an indicator that they are afraid of loosing long-time gamers who are more than happy with their PS4s.

I assume that many kids get a used PS4 from their older siblings, uncles etc. as addition to their Switches. Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft demonstrate that getting kids early in their gaming ecosystem is key for long-time success.

@Oram77 Yes, and that’s why Astro Bot defines the PS5. When people will discuss it in 15 years, they will say that for many games, it was just a PS4 Pro Pro (which would be unfair imo), but what Astro Bot delivered is what PS5 set apart.

That game would be perfect for Switch 2, the Japanese market would probably love it. But who would do the porting, and is the publisher willing to pay for that effort?

The PS Studios were forced by their publisher SIE to burn their fingers with multiplayer games. Who forced Quantic Dream?

In such a demanding competition these days, mediocre products (especially multiplayer) just have no chances. Why not sticking to what you are really good at?

I‘d love to see a message like „Astro Bot has so much potential for PSVR2“.

What a weird comparison. The settings on PCs like SteamDeck and Ally X can be changed, and FSR frame generation only on Ally X is just unfair: numbers look better, but gameplay feels worse.

Between Spidey 2 in October 2023 and GoY now, there was with Astro Bot (Sep 2024) only one major single-player release from PlayStation Studios (remasters, remakes, yearly MLB, Lego Horizon aside). You don’t have to be a cynic to see why it took so long for SIE to reach high initial sales numbers again.

Nice to see that half of the answers were „Games“.

@Titntin I don’t laugh about the platform for consumers, and I don’t laugh about every joke. I question the role of PS5 Pro for the industry, a rather niche product (I guess less than 15% share of all sold PS5 units) with high costs for development and more complicated to develop for. Xbox Series has the disadvantage that devs have to optimise for two systems, which didn’t increase the number of Xbox Series games, while PS5 only had one system. And PS5 Pro is a good product (still not easy to use all its benefits) for a relatively small timespan. If the PS6 would release in 2029, I would see the point. But with a release in 24 months?!

@Rich33 Yes, this is also my impression of what I read from developers about PSSR. The big question for me is: Was it worth for Sony to put that much effort into this product? I get it, they want to learn how to use AI technology, but the alternative would have been waiting for FSR 4, skipping a Pro model, and investing the extra resources in making the PS6 really shine. Mark Cerny probably knows what to do, but Sony also spent money in developing PSVR2 without a great strategy behind it.

Long story short: I rather want to see Sony investing the effort into the PS6, instead of dissipating their energy into many short-living products.

@Rich33 @REALAIS The main problem is the complex software optimisation to use PSSR. For an extra expensive system with a small user base, many developers just use the raw additional horsepower, and that’s it. If I were a producer, I would be very sceptical when the developers would come to me trying to convince me to spend extra time and money for a PSSR implementation. Who knows when PSSR will be replaced with FSR 4?

With this timeline and its bad support, the PS5 Pro looks more and more like a joke to me.

In a few years, this jank would have been made by AI, and not years of dozens of talented developers would be wasted.

Maybe they updated the underlying Unreal Engine from version 5.0 to version 5.4 or later. Since 5.4, CPU-based performance is much better, which has great effect on the achievable framerates.

Now a real 60 fps mode (not the current 30 fps with frame generation) is realistic.

(Which btw was also possible with the current code, as Digital Foundry demonstrated with their PS5 equivalent PC.)

When looking on the game releases of the generation, this still feels two years too early for me.

@Oram77 Will the new PS handheld materialise? We will see. Sony‘s support for PS Vita was halfhearted and that for PSVR2 almost not existent, despite having invested a lot of engineering for the hardware.

It all depends whether it will play native PS5 „energy saving mode“ games or not. And even that wouldn’t be a major proposition for many to spend 600+ quids.

>> it’s getting more and more difficult to demonstrate meaningful upgrades in the console hardware space. <<

I agree, and that’s why PS4 games performed so well technically and economically even years after PS5‘s release. Meanwhile in mobile technology, there are still huge leaps.

And more importantly:
Don’t forget that many kids and teenagers these days often have no TV anymore. Smartphones is all what they need for watching YouTube and streaming services. Switch 2 and PC are great for them (a desk is still needed for their homework), while for a PlayStation they would need to to buy a TV and integrate it into their room.

@Steeleye50 Okay, this is understandable, but didn’t the fatal events indeed accidentally?

Still haven’t played the Blood and Wine DLC. Is it significant enough to buy the complete game again for 10 (currency unit of your choice)?

@Steeleye50 Who is the real villian in What Remains of Edith Finch? Her mother?! It’s too long ago to remember the finer details.

>> Plays it safe, short on fresh ideas <<

This applies to MANY games (even games from PS Studios), and PushSquare should mention it more often.

I find most games sooo uninteresting these days, maybe I‘m just a grumpy old man now. But lowering the prices doesn’t make them more interesting to me.

Cocoon is nice, and I recommend it to play, but the puzzles are very easy and lack any kind of complexity. There is always only one puzzle to solve and one way to go. Puzzle comfort food.

@Oram77 What?

Weak Xbox means arrogant Sony. There’s hardly anything worse for our hobby.

@Stephen Would be helpful to indicate your playtime (applies to all PushSquare reviews), knowing that the playtime for a review may differ from casual play.

@trev666 Sounds a lot like „no fun“. And while people enjoy different things by a different degree, no fun is a good indicator in my opinion.

This calculation is a bit too simplistic to me. Assuming the numbers are correct (former employees are not the most reliable source), those 16%, how much of it is part of GP? And what is that in hard dollars? How many people got GP in the months before, knowing that all of ABK‘s Xbox and PC games are coming to GP?

If the news were „Netflix lost 300m USD by bringing Squid Game season 3 to its subsciption service instead of selling it on DVD“, people would argue that this show is one of the main reasons why they‘re subscribed, and rightfully so.

Well, I give it an F.

The motivation of the characters in these games is secondary to me. More often than not, the motivations and values don’t match the actual gameplay, the famous ludonarrative dissonance.

"Story in a game is like story in a porn movie: it's expected to be there, but it's not that important."
— John Carmack —

PS4 will become the console with the longest support for new games, because of its huge install base, its technical similarities to the latest systems and a computational performance which is close to that of Switch 2. Two of 2025‘s best games, Silksong and Hades 2, run flawlessly on it. EA Sports will likely support it for a few more years.

It’s much to early for the requiem yet!

@KundaliniRising333 There was the discussion a few days ago here in the comments. I see no single-player PS5 game from PS Studios except Returnal which is not a remake, remaster or straight sequel with little to none progress to its predecessor. In fact, at the time of release, Housemarque was not part of SIE and PS Studios!

Wolverine and Intergalactic are the only other known new games which will offer a new experience.

Ghost of Yotei is Ghost of Tsushima in yellow.

@Daft_Klebenflw Okay, so it means that guy is making comedy (who would have guessed?!) on the back of poor guys, who look forward to come home after a long working day. Bravo!

@AK4tywill True, and they have the right to report everything they want and to define their journalistic standards. If I would run such a magazine, I would avoid reports of such bad behaviour.

It’s one thing to write about weird or offensive statements from devs and Harry Potter creators in this world; readers can complain about it, but they can also skip reading it entirely. In case of that guy, the poor employees couldn’t avoid him on their way home. That is of a different quality.

With this article, that guy gets even more attention and clicks. PushSquare has fallen into the trap.

@dschons Prices are only indirectly linked to costs and profits. Prices for this kind of products are determined by the willingness to pay. Maybe GP is very profitable now and will become even more profitable!