Remember, every large corporation in the world, Microsoft, Sony, Amazon, Toyota, Nissan, whatever...exists to maximize "shareholder value." Cutting projects that result in layoffs = savings. Humans are the biggest "cost" for a corporation and make no mistake, they all see employees as simply a cost to be minimized. The major difference in these layoffs seems to be that because Microsoft is headquartered in the US there's often no warning because the US doesn't have any federal laws that mandate employees be given any warning at all. If the corporation is located in a so-called "right to work" state, there are even fewer employee protections than in other states.
Benzies (and Gerhard) both need to shut up. The publisher, IO Interactive, flatly denied Gerhard's allegations and they'll probably deny these too if they're asked.
Ultimately, the major reason this game hasn't a chance at a "redemption arc" comes down to $$. Cyberpunk was profitable the day it released because the wild hype and lengthy development time led to an incredible amount of preorders. Not to mention the fact CDPR had built up goodwill among gamers.
This game, the studio's new, very few people preordered it, and even fewer are purchasing it now because the game's trash. On Steam, Mindseye hit a 24-hour peak of 46 players. As of 10 am this morning, only 26 people were playing. I doubt the console numbers are much, if any, better.
So the CEOs are going to have to convince investors to foot the cost of fixing this broken mess. All while Gebhard is apparently working on another game titled Ascendant, which was originally scheduled to be released this year. I'll be stunned if that game's ever released.
This is why delays and sometimes cancellations are ultimately less costly than releasing a rushed or poorly done game. A bad/broken attempt at a AAA game usually will take a new studio down with it.
@get2sammyb According to Jeff Grubb back in 2024, he'd been "hearing for years" that Perfect Dark was in "rough shape" overall. That's why Microsoft had to get Crystal Dynamics involved in 2021. They weren't originally supposed to work on this game.
IMO Perfect Dark was doomed from the start because, according to Grubb, development began with Microsoft unable/unwiling to set a clear direction for it. Management allegedly initially couldn't decide if the Perfect Dark reboot should be a FPS or not!
Management paralysis/dysfunction is the beginning of a perfect storm that'll usually lead to cancellation/vaporware.
Cyberpunk has to be the greatest reclimation project in video game history. Heck, it might be the greatest reclimation project in software history. What the devs at CD Projekt Red were able to do, once management backed off and gave them the time they needed to do it, is nothing short of phenominal.
When the game launched, I was really down on them. The fixes, expansions, dlc, etc. that have gotten pushed out by the devs since that disasterous launch day remind me of the good things we all hoped online connectivity could bring to video games when Internet capable consoles first launched. In the old days, this game would have just stayed broken and hardly anybody would have gotten to see how the devs wanted this game to look and how they wanted it to play.
As an XBox owner, IMO nobody should be buying a console expecting a ton of permanantly console exclusive games anymore. Both Microsoft and Sony game division executives have upper management and investors to answer to. For XBox games that's obviously going to happen sooner than for PS games, but eventually most, if not all, PS games are going to appear on PC. It makes too much $ sense for them not to. The only exception to this financial "rule" is Nintendo. They've always been different, and absent a major financial disaster nobody can reasonably predict happening, always will be.
So the questions become "Can I afford a gaming PC and how long do I want to wait for a PS/XBox game to appear on a device I don't have? And, how much do I really want to play a game on the original system it was designed for?" I gotta admit, even though I have a gaming laptop, if Sony released a Ghost of Tsushima bundle instead of this Black Ops 6 bundle I'd press a website "Buy" button in less than a second. It's irrational, but I'd do it.
I definitely agree that the price of the PS5 consoles are unlikely to get better until after the PS6 releases. But a multiplatform game like BO6 and the games that aren't already on PC just don't move the needle for me, even though the irrational FOMO part of my brain is definitely screaming "Buy it!!" anyway.
Given that it appears likely Sony's got some kind of a deal with Rockstar in place for GTA 6, if there's a bundle that'll fly off the shelves, and my FOMO will be screaming "Buy it!!" too even though I already own an XBox. IMO, a Ghost of Yotei bundle would quickly sell out too, and that I would definitely preorder in a second.
I thought about purchasing a PS5 for Ghost of Yoti and to play Rise of the Ronin, but it's just not worth it now because eventually Ronin's reported issues will (hopefully) be fixed and Yoti will be on PC in a year or two.
If nothing else, Microsoft's "issues" already caused me to decide to switch back to PS next generation. Now I'm not sure I'll buy another console at all. MS's strategy is 100% about putting XBox everywhere, so there won't be any console specific games at all. PS games eventually appear on PC, they just take longer to get there.
One thing I'm slightly concerned about is the fact the new price point for even digital versions of console games is likely to be $70-80 now. At what point do Steam, Epic and other digital PC storefronts and/or PC game publishers raise prices, if for no other reason than just because they can? I wouldn't bet on this not happening.
Secondly, how does this all impact GTA 6? As we all know, that game will sell to current console owners even if it's released at $100 (or more, in some countries.) But will it sell many new consoles? I don't know about that anymore. If it doesn't meet the new console sales expectations set by Wall Street analysts, how soon does Rockstar release it on PC? Rockstar's management has to be at least a little frustrated by this mess. The game's much too far down the road to release a PC version at launch, and they don't want to release a rushed port that just has to be massively fixed later because that leads to bad press and fewer initial sales.
Forgot about another thing, sports games. Does this cause EA, and even smaller studios like San Diego Studios the developer of MLB the Show, to start releasing their games on PC at launch next year?
@Dampsponge I agree with you. I know this is definitely not the first collectors edition to do this. I forget which game it was, but the first time I heard about a collector's edition being released without a physical game on disc I was like, "How? Then it's really not a collector's edition of the game. It's just a bunch of stuff related to the game put in a big box." 😂
Was there always going to be a DLC "roadmap?" I thought I'd read elsewhere (maybe GR?) that, prior to Shadow's launch Ubi only planned to release one DLC mission. If they've pivoted from that and decided to release more content because the response to the game is so positive I think that's great.
Yeah, I'm an old guy with "adult responsibilities" now and don't have the time to play nearly as much as I did 25 years ago. But I still absolutely love "big" games where I can spend 50- 60 or more hours on single player content (if the content's good of course.) I never understood the "it's too big/too long" criticism Valhalla got. Now that AC and a few other franchises are being spun off into their own company, if management wants to let the developers create new content for months until they absolutely "have" to move on to support development of the next game in the franchise, I'd be very happy with that.
@Bingoboyop This is hopefully shaping up to be the anti-2024. Even if GTA gets pushed to 2026, if everything else in your list releases on time or close to it, this year will IMO be a lot more packed (and fun) than last year. I kind of felt like last year was pretty sparse other than the "usual suspects" like COD.
This game looks beautiful. Unlike when Ghost of Tsushima was released, I should be able to afford a PS5 before this game releases this fall so I won't have to wait for it to be released on PC. I've also wanted to play Rise of the Ronin, and have read the PC port has had "issues" so it's (hopefully) best played on a PS5 too.
I was a PS console owner until the 360, so whats old is new again, I guess?
Comments 61
Re: Romero Games Appears to Have Closed as Xbox Layoffs Cast Dark Shadow Over Industry
@B0udoir There's often a tax writeoff.
Remember, every large corporation in the world, Microsoft, Sony, Amazon, Toyota, Nissan, whatever...exists to maximize "shareholder value." Cutting projects that result in layoffs = savings. Humans are the biggest "cost" for a corporation and make no mistake, they all see employees as simply a cost to be minimized. The major difference in these layoffs seems to be that because Microsoft is headquartered in the US there's often no warning because the US doesn't have any federal laws that mandate employees be given any warning at all. If the corporation is located in a so-called "right to work" state, there are even fewer employee protections than in other states.
Re: Rumour: PS5 Disaster MindsEye Wants 'Redemption Arc' Despite Hundreds of Jobs Being 'At Risk'
Benzies (and Gerhard) both need to shut up. The publisher, IO Interactive, flatly denied Gerhard's allegations and they'll probably deny these too if they're asked.
Ultimately, the major reason this game hasn't a chance at a "redemption arc" comes down to $$. Cyberpunk was profitable the day it released because the wild hype and lengthy development time led to an incredible amount of preorders. Not to mention the fact CDPR had built up goodwill among gamers.
This game, the studio's new, very few people preordered it, and even fewer are purchasing it now because the game's trash. On Steam, Mindseye hit a 24-hour peak of 46 players. As of 10 am this morning, only 26 people were playing. I doubt the console numbers are much, if any, better.
So the CEOs are going to have to convince investors to foot the cost of fixing this broken mess. All while Gebhard is apparently working on another game titled Ascendant, which was originally scheduled to be released this year. I'll be stunned if that game's ever released.
This is why delays and sometimes cancellations are ultimately less costly than releasing a rushed or poorly done game. A bad/broken attempt at a AAA game usually will take a new studio down with it.
Re: Xbox's Phil Spencer 'Not Retiring' After Dark Day of Cancellations and Job Cuts
@get2sammyb According to Jeff Grubb back in 2024, he'd been "hearing for years" that Perfect Dark was in "rough shape" overall. That's why Microsoft had to get Crystal Dynamics involved in 2021. They weren't originally supposed to work on this game.
IMO Perfect Dark was doomed from the start because, according to Grubb, development began with Microsoft unable/unwiling to set a clear direction for it. Management allegedly initially couldn't decide if the Perfect Dark reboot should be a FPS or not!
Management paralysis/dysfunction is the beginning of a perfect storm that'll usually lead to cancellation/vaporware.
Re: Rumour: New Cyberpunk 2077 DLC Is Incoming, Developer Leak Suggests
Cyberpunk has to be the greatest reclimation project in video game history. Heck, it might be the greatest reclimation project in software history. What the devs at CD Projekt Red were able to do, once management backed off and gave them the time they needed to do it, is nothing short of phenominal.
When the game launched, I was really down on them. The fixes, expansions, dlc, etc. that have gotten pushed out by the devs since that disasterous launch day remind me of the good things we all hoped online connectivity could bring to video games when Internet capable consoles first launched. In the old days, this game would have just stayed broken and hardly anybody would have gotten to see how the devs wanted this game to look and how they wanted it to play.
Re: Reaction: There's Never Been a Better Time to Buy a PS5
As an XBox owner, IMO nobody should be buying a console expecting a ton of permanantly console exclusive games anymore. Both Microsoft and Sony game division executives have upper management and investors to answer to. For XBox games that's obviously going to happen sooner than for PS games, but eventually most, if not all, PS games are going to appear on PC. It makes too much $ sense for them not to. The only exception to this financial "rule" is Nintendo. They've always been different, and absent a major financial disaster nobody can reasonably predict happening, always will be.
So the questions become "Can I afford a gaming PC and how long do I want to wait for a PS/XBox game to appear on a device I don't have? And, how much do I really want to play a game on the original system it was designed for?" I gotta admit, even though I have a gaming laptop, if Sony released a Ghost of Tsushima bundle instead of this Black Ops 6 bundle I'd press a website "Buy" button in less than a second. It's irrational, but I'd do it.
I definitely agree that the price of the PS5 consoles are unlikely to get better until after the PS6 releases. But a multiplatform game like BO6 and the games that aren't already on PC just don't move the needle for me, even though the irrational FOMO part of my brain is definitely screaming "Buy it!!" anyway.
Given that it appears likely Sony's got some kind of a deal with Rockstar in place for GTA 6, if there's a bundle that'll fly off the shelves, and my FOMO will be screaming "Buy it!!" too even though I already own an XBox. IMO, a Ghost of Yotei bundle would quickly sell out too, and that I would definitely preorder in a second.
Re: Opinion: If You're on the Fence, Consider Buying a PS5 Now Before the Prices Inevitably Rise
I thought about purchasing a PS5 for Ghost of Yoti and to play Rise of the Ronin, but it's just not worth it now because eventually Ronin's reported issues will (hopefully) be fixed and Yoti will be on PC in a year or two.
If nothing else, Microsoft's "issues" already caused me to decide to switch back to PS next generation. Now I'm not sure I'll buy another console at all. MS's strategy is 100% about putting XBox everywhere, so there won't be any console specific games at all. PS games eventually appear on PC, they just take longer to get there.
One thing I'm slightly concerned about is the fact the new price point for even digital versions of console games is likely to be $70-80 now. At what point do Steam, Epic and other digital PC storefronts and/or PC game publishers raise prices, if for no other reason than just because they can? I wouldn't bet on this not happening.
Secondly, how does this all impact GTA 6? As we all know, that game will sell to current console owners even if it's released at $100 (or more, in some countries.) But will it sell many new consoles? I don't know about that anymore. If it doesn't meet the new console sales expectations set by Wall Street analysts, how soon does Rockstar release it on PC? Rockstar's management has to be at least a little frustrated by this mess. The game's much too far down the road to release a PC version at launch, and they don't want to release a rushed port that just has to be massively fixed later because that leads to bad press and fewer initial sales.
Forgot about another thing, sports games. Does this cause EA, and even smaller studios like San Diego Studios the developer of MLB the Show, to start releasing their games on PC at launch next year?
Re: Ghost of Yotei Gets PS5 Release Date, Trailer, Pre-Order Details
@CieloAzure Absolutely. The CE's $249.99. Putting a disc in the box is what they choose to "skimp" on? 😂
Re: Ghost of Yotei Gets PS5 Release Date, Trailer, Pre-Order Details
@Dampsponge I agree with you. I know this is definitely not the first collectors edition to do this. I forget which game it was, but the first time I heard about a collector's edition being released without a physical game on disc I was like, "How? Then it's really not a collector's edition of the game. It's just a bunch of stuff related to the game put in a big box." 😂
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Update and DLC Roadmap Will Be Revealed Next Week
Was there always going to be a DLC "roadmap?" I thought I'd read elsewhere (maybe GR?) that, prior to Shadow's launch Ubi only planned to release one DLC mission. If they've pivoted from that and decided to release more content because the response to the game is so positive I think that's great.
Yeah, I'm an old guy with "adult responsibilities" now and don't have the time to play nearly as much as I did 25 years ago. But I still absolutely love "big" games where I can spend 50- 60 or more hours on single player content (if the content's good of course.) I never understood the "it's too big/too long" criticism Valhalla got. Now that AC and a few other franchises are being spun off into their own company, if management wants to let the developers create new content for months until they absolutely "have" to move on to support development of the next game in the franchise, I'd be very happy with that.
Re: Ghost of Yotei Gets PS5 Release Date, Trailer, Pre-Order Details
@Bingoboyop This is hopefully shaping up to be the anti-2024. Even if GTA gets pushed to 2026, if everything else in your list releases on time or close to it, this year will IMO be a lot more packed (and fun) than last year. I kind of felt like last year was pretty sparse other than the "usual suspects" like COD.
Re: Ghost of Yotei Gets PS5 Release Date, Trailer, Pre-Order Details
This game looks beautiful. Unlike when Ghost of Tsushima was released, I should be able to afford a PS5 before this game releases this fall so I won't have to wait for it to be released on PC. I've also wanted to play Rise of the Ronin, and have read the PC port has had "issues" so it's (hopefully) best played on a PS5 too.
I was a PS console owner until the 360, so whats old is new again, I guess?