Porco

if people manage to find an exploit for the japanese SKU (i.e. remove region locking), sony will have a problem on its hands... although i imagine sony will block international shipments from japanese retailers, such as amazon japan etc to make it more difficult to import brand new.

for a franchise where the sequel sold 50% fewer copies than the first entry, going all in with 3+ additional games is uncalled for. there is waning interest in this IP from everyone but sony. how's that going to work out for them?

prior console generations also never experienced a pandemic, where people were isolated and spending absurd amounts of money on home entertainment to pass the time by. i wonder how many ps5's were purchased during that duration which otherwise would never have been purchased? the amount of software? we will never know, but if sony thinks the ps6 will sell at the same pace as the ps5 for doing the bare minimum and riding on the coatails of 3rd party software, including the service game slop that is keeping sony profitable via microtranslations, they are in for a rude wake-up call.

@Rich33 complete hyperbole. anyone who agrees with this sentiment likely never grew up in the 90s and 2000s and experienced the ps1/ps2 era of gaming. it is a night and day difference. the ps5 brought absolutely nothing new to the table and this is easily the worst generation in sony's history as far as the software library is concerned. i can guarantee that if push square decided to take a poll of how we as the community would rank sony's consoles, the ps5 would rank last by a wide margin. if not last, second last. the best thing about this console cycle is the plethora of great indi games... all of which can be found on pc anyways. by comparison, the AAA and AA industry has fallen flat on its face and is void of innovation and fresh ideas. that side of the industry has been complacent over the past 10-15 years, but at least we were getting new IPs from the likes of sony on the ps4... new IPs on the ps5 have been lacking to a great extent.

@PuppetMaster i don't think these companies are in the business of diminishing returns. they want to grow the franchise with each new entry. note, that i did not say that yotei was at risk of not being profitable. i am questioning how "successful" the game is being perceived by the suits. in 5 years time, if yotei only managed 50% of tsushima's copies sold, i don't know what world you would have to be living in where the suits and shareholders cheer and consider that a success.

you are entitled to your opinion (and honestly, it would be great if what you described was "good enough" and how the games industry was run since that would lead to more risk taking), but i don't think that is how this cuthroat business operates. numbers have to keep going up, even when the goals become unrealistic.

for context:

"The first comparison we should make is to its predecessor, Ghost of Tsushima. It sold 2.4 million copies in its first three days after going on sale exclusively on PlayStation 4 on July 17, 2020, then hit 5 million after 118 days (just shy of four months). It’s now up to 13 million copies sold, including sales of the PC and PS5 Director’s Cut." - ign

yotei has a long way to go before it is considered a financial success. any sequel that fails to meet or surpass the first entry should be considered a financial failure since it does not accompish the entire point of a sequel (and that is to grow the franchise and become even more profitable for the publisher). only time will tell.

would be funny if sony, nintendo and microsoft teamed up to fund this pseudo "study".

@nomither6 heck ya! (especially a jailbroken one after you have run out of space on your shelf haha). this is why we became playstation fans in the first place. i believe going forward, a lot of people are going to become retro gamers and seek out the gems of the past, rather than try to keep up with the modern AAA space.

@somnambulance being a retro gamer at heart, the visuals of the ps2 era don't bother me at all. once you get thrown into a good game and become engaged, you really do forget about the fidelity and graphics. i find the older games charming in their own way but we all have difference tolerance levels i suppose.

i agree with you on two things: your ranking of the ps5 in the pantheon of playstation consoles (i mean, that's an easy one) and the ps4 being sony's "best" but only with regards to its 1st party output, not as an overall console. but yes, i do believe sony as a publisher peaked with the ps4 in how it managed to put out so many new IPs and sequels/reboots to established franchises in such a short amount of time (i.e. hoirzon, ghost of tsushima, bloodborne, the order 1886, day's gone, spiderman, death stranding, last of us 2, uncharted 4, infamous 3, the last guardian, god of war reboot and more!). that said, the ps4 is ultimately a more polished version of the ps3 (with significantly better 1st party support) but without the same diversity of games and experimentation that was seen on the ps3. it's a coinflip for me between the ps3 and ps4.

last thing i'll point to is that the genre of games you were into during a particular console generation could have a major influence on how you rank the console. for example, if you were/are into jrpgs, it is going to be hard to overlook the ps1 simply because that was the golden age for the genre, in addition to all the other incredible games that got released on the platform (same can be said for the ps2). being a fan of jrpgs, the ps1 and ps2 easily edge out the ps3 and ps4 just from that genre alone.

anyways, let's hope sony can create another console generation worth remembering with the ps6

@somnambulance with 4000+ retail games released on the platform (before the era of digital storefronts with junk mobile-ish games), even "quantity over quality" means you still have one the best software lineups in history (i'd argue the switch has way more shovelware than the ps2 by the way) ... i.e. for the sake of argument, even counting just 10-20% of the entire ps2 library amounts to 400-800 noteworthy games... many of which are all time greats, while others are interesting, quirky and experimental in all the right ways... the likes we will never see again. you could play on the ps2 exclusively for the rest of your life and still not see all it has to offer. no, certainly not overratted. deserves all the praise and will forever be on most credible top 3 console list of all time. it sounds like you didn't even scratch the surface of the ps2, otherwise you wouldn't have such an outlier take on it. the ps3 was great in its own right, but it is firmly behind the ps1 and ps2. up for debate whether the ps3 surpassed the ps4 even, but i would consider the argument. as for the ps5? it didn't need to exist. that is how minimal its influence has been on the gaming landscape by comparison.

the term spy could easily be swapped for stealth if we are talking genres. mgs v worked great as an open world... and while the recent hitman games are considered sanbox, they could easily be adapted into open world, which again, worked well. i mean, agent could have worked in theory considering the other success stories we have seen in the genre. funny enough, i would say that LA noire didn't work as an open world game... there was so much mindless driving in that city with not much to do there. the investigation aspect of it was great though.

never would have guessed that maelle sketch was done by the legendary nomura himself. he can do so much better than that

it will release the same year as the ps6. 2027 seems likely for this one.

looks like a poor man's take on the nba street games from nearly 25 years ago! probably has a fraction of that budget as well. another nba cash grab. apparantly this is an online-only game as well with no sp career mode.

the problem with the dragon quest series is that all the entires are just so similar to eachother... same character design traits, same music, same enemies, same stylistic tropes, same scenarios... same staff working on the series for 30 years... same thing over and over again. if you want to experience this series, play dq 8 (arguably the best game in the series) and 11 and you are good.

amazon game studios has not put out a game worth a damn. there is a good chance that all of amazon's game studios are very poorly managed and will never get that tomb raider game off the ground anyways. would it surprise anyone if they close up shop?

people are only taking notice of this now? the ps1/ps2 classics on ps4/ps5 was a no-effort PR stunt since day 1. it hasn't gotten any better some 10 years later. even on ps3, ps2 classics was lacking, but it was certainly better than the modern platforms. on the other hand, ps1 classics on ps3 was a very impressive offering. there is no desire to bring that catalogue over these days for whatever reason.

what's even stranger about this concert series is that sony failed to feature music from its older IPs which arguably would have created a lot more interest. games such as parappa the rapper, um jammer lammy, ape escape, legend of dragoon, wild arms, dark cloud etc. don't forget that sony published grandia, star ocean 2 and even final fantasy 7 and final fantasy tactics on release (north america) and could likely grab the music rights for their concert series if they showed interest. other IPs they could feature music from includes the syphon filter series, wipeout series (have a live DJ on site), gran turismo series (i especially like some of the menu tracks), tomba, spyro and crash banicoot games... the list goes on.

the big cinematic scores have their place, but they are not as memorable as traditional video game music. this is such a missed opportunity for sony and its fans.

huh? doesn't that go without saying considering the next xbox will essentially be a pc? this is not news. it is common sense.

the halo franchise is dead and buried. after they put out these remakes, that will be the end of the line huh?

@awp69 @RoomWithaMoose

sounds like you both have an agenda and a microsoft bias to get so offended by the xbox slander taking place all over the internet. well, you are in the wrong place then because this is a playstation centric website. i have no problem with the nintendo or xbox websites and their bias against sony, so neither should you when the tables are turned because that is just how fan sites operate. freedom of speech and team pride and all that...

heck, there are countless scenarios where i don't agree with the praise and glazing of many sony topics on this very website. as a long time playstation fan, i feel that sony has dropped the ball and failed with the ps5, as has the AAA industry at large. ps5 is sony's worst console in history by a fairly wide margin, which was an unpopular opnion to have in these parts. funny enough, people are coming around on the disappointment of the ps5 and values are now changing in favour of my "unpopular" sentiments.

feel free to state your opinions on here, but don't expect the articles to appeal to your threshold of what should or shouldn't be said about xbox. the last thing we need is arbitrary curation of opinions. all the television news outlets wear their bias on their sleeves, as do newspaper companies and influencers on youtube and ourselves as individuals. what you are asking for is impossible. fair point on speculation and rumours — people are often quick to jump the gun on information leaked by sketchy sources... but in the case of jason schreier, he is usually credible and unless microsoft clarrifies or corrects, this news is going to stick.

@awp69 facts are facts. no matter how you analyze them there is nothing good to report about xbox these days. are news outlets not supposed to report on the news? this is nothing new with xbox. i predicted 10 years ago that xbox division was not profitable and they would exit the hardware space after another console cycle or two. seems like we are nearly there now. microsoft's attempt to monopolize and purchase every publisher in sight was bad for the gaming industry at large and this article is merely pointing that out.

when it all falls apart at xbox, sony will hopefully show some interest in either purchasing some of their studios or IP. they better do a very thorough evaluation first, though, if they don't want another bungie on their hands!

EA has been dead for a very long time. there is no heartbeat or spirit at that company. now with the recent acqisition, it is only downhill from here on out. hopefully they will go bankrupt in a few years and we won't need to hear their name come up in the news anymore.

it's a trash device, limited by the technology running it, and people will completely forget about it once sony's new deck gets released. they will see just how poor the performance was compared to a native handheld.

ps5 will begin to stall after gta 6 releases and after the last holdouts finally purchase a ps5 specifically for that one game (heck, gta 6 alone could contribute to upwards of 10m ps5's sold). under normal circumstances, i believe the ps5 would have a difficult time surpassing the ps4... but since people will be even more reluctant to purchase a ps6 due to its low desireability and presumably higher asking price, this will allow the ps5 to have an even longer lifespan than the ps4 and could enable it to exceed 120m units. all this despite the ps5 being sony's "worst" console to date. the irony of it all.

oh, let's not start this conversation again. i will just say that they would literally have to give me a ps5 for FREE for me to actually use one

ps4 is a beast and has never let me down!

how many games fully took advantage of the dualsense features so far? how many of those games are not from sony? eh, only a handful of games with that feature set does not move the needle. it has become a gimmick more than anything... unless you get mainstream adoption from developers which you never will.

the timing of this news story is curious since it sounds like a direct response to yoshida claiming that ps6 needs to bring something new to the table and graphics are simply not enough anymore.

sounds like yoshida is also tired of the AAA industry's approach to gaming. that says a lot. this industry is so complacent and has stagnated for close to 10 years now. the saving grace of the ps4 era was all the new IP that sony was putting out. but the ps5? there has been nothing of note as far as new, engaging IP or innovation in game design or mechanics outside of a few rare examples.

sony is going to have a hard time with the ps6, in terms of its vision, marketing campaign and engaging its audience. if they don't stop the graphics arms race and find a new angle, hardware sales will decline hard and fast.

@Discol76 if you think that was me trashing the game, you completely misread what i wrote. i even stated below that i enjoy flawed and "medicore" games from suda 51... of course you can still have an enjoyable experience. the main problem here is that you are trying to tell people what is and isn't "medicore" and that is impossible since we all have our own metric and methods of evaluation. instead of getting offended and posting a hasty response, try to actually understand the intent of the post first.

@awp69 metacritic is usually inflated by about 1-1.5 points on average. deducting 1 from the overall score usually works for me to get a more realistic expecation of a game. i define medicore as a 6-7 so ninja gaiden is in that ballpark. i'll probably still play it, just like i still play suda 51 games knowing that they will be lacking in some ways. there is still a lot of enjoyment to be had in such gaming experiences. so no, it's not trash. trash is something that has no merit and shouldn't be played under any circumstances.

when this game was announced last year, my first impressions of it was that it looked like a budget ninja gaiden game and it wasn't getting the treatment it deserved. turns out that was the case and to make matters worse, all the talent at platinum games has since been drained out of the studio. all these factors likely contributed to this title being on the more medicore side side of things. serviceable, but mediocre. better than ninja gaiden 3 at least!

@AdamantiumPriest
i assume you meant to bring the zapping system back? it was removed in the resident evil 2 remake.

resident evil 2 remake was really annoying in how the choices made in one scenario did not impact the second scenario. i.e. doors unlocked, enemies killed, etc in scenario A had no bearing on scenario B, even if scenario B's timeline was after scenario A's etc. it's such a big oversight that it ruins the experience and sense of immersion in the world.

@darkswabber i have my doubts about the spinoffs receiving the same remake treatment. as a business exercise, i don't think they would be viable projects for capcom.

@PuppetMaster that's a very sad future indeed, completely void of creativity and innovation. i will say that the resident evil spinoffs do not command the same interest, nor sales, so it's unlikely they will get remade with the same treatment. perhaps some of them will receive barebones remasters, though.

can't help but feel that capcom is going to crash once it exhausts all its resident evil remake projects. the same will apply to s-e and every other publisher that has been coasting on the remake train the past 5-10 years. might be a good time to be more forward thinking and invest in new IP that has a shot at being successful. i acknowledge pragmata but it probably isn't going to light the world on fire... and no, capcom will not begin remaking the onimusha games next because they only garner a fraction of the sales and fanbase of the resident evil franchise (9m vs 170m lifetime sales) , hence why they only did shoddy remasters of the first two entries thus far. dino crisis? possibly, but again, they were never big sellers relative to resident evil and might not financially justify the remake treatment for capcom. also, the fact that there are only 2 games worth a damn doesn't help matters much (nobody speaks of dino crisis 3). breath of fire? not mainstream enough and has been long forgotten by capcom. one can hope that the franchise can get at least one modern AAA production to see where it stands.

so essentially, after capcom remakes resident evil 0, X, 5, 6 and possibly 1 remake, what's next? sure, we're likely talking 10 years into the future here, but alas... resident evil 6 remake will essentially be a completely different game if they take all its criticism to heart

oh god! using that neatease money well i see. i assume this game was a stipulation and part of their contractual agreement in getting acquired. it looks like the most generic AI slop imaginable. clearly quantic dream really did not want to make this trash. looking forward to star wars: eclipes, though, if it ever gets released

if they are still recruiting talent for the project, it sounds like this will be an early ps6 era (crossgen) game that is 3+ years away. likely a remake of sorts. i hope they will eventually remake syphon filter some day and pave the way for a brand new entry in the series.

i don't think even the most hardcore ps fans would have noticed this news. some games just are not intended for the western console space and that is fine. absolutely no reason to get worked up over this awful excuse of a game.

@GloriosaDaisy well context is everything with this topic. if sony began losing customers and its market share shrunk (and in turn total revenue decreased), they would need to find a way to bring people back. true console exclusivity would be a viable strategy in that case. you better believe pc ports would be the first thing to go if say, sony sold 25-50% less ps6 units as compared to the ps5.

the ps5 primarily consisted of cross gen games, which were safe sequels and could also be found on pc. very few new or notable IP came out of sony over the past 5 years. the ps6 needs to replicate what the ps4 did and that includes a myriad of new IP to get excited about. the only words that come to mind when describing the ps5 is: BORING and DISAPPOINTING.

even then, it is going to be a tough sell knowing that all those games will make their way to pc anyways. so how does sony make the ps6 more enticing to users? i honestly don't know other than cutting back on the pc ports or at the very least, delaying the pc ports by 3 years or so but that seems unlikely. sony should also consider subsidizing the hardware and taking a $150 loss on each console sold initially (like it did with the ps3) so that they can get the pricing back down to realistic levels. a console purchase shouldn't be a huge financial burden that put people out for months. get the ps6 down to $400USD and everybody wins. it only needs to be 3X more powerful than the ps5 to be successfull and not 10X.

clearly, most console gamers don't care about the graphics arms race any longer. the ps5 pro is a failure. the switch and switch 2 will sell well regardless of their performance because there is a great, exclusive software library there. get with it sony.

@Coversnail rest assured, the "royal" edition will happen. the space between psersona 5 and persona 5: royal was about 3 years so there is still plenty of time for atlus to screw over its fans

most certainly a DLC. hopefully they will allow people to upgrade from the base game this time and not force a full-priced golden edition on people yet again.

@AdamNovice absolutely. there is a time and place for the bombastic hollywood-inspired soundtracks, but i agree that those tracks usually end up being background music moreso than something you might listen to independent of the game. personally, i am interested in the more purposeful "melodic" music found in say the classic final fantasy games etc. i once went to a final fantasy concert called "dear friends — music from final fantasy" and it was fantastic!

@FX102A i agree with you there. much of sony's music catalogue is not memorable and doesn't warrant its own concert series. capcom, s-e and even konami could pull it off, but sony? videogames live, which i believe is on hiatus now, included tracks from many of the game franchises you mentioned.

way too expensive. two tickets in the nosebleed section costs $250 at my local venue. when i saw videogames live pre-covid, it was only $50 a seat by comparison. that was a great show and included classic tracks that are FAR more memorable than anything sony has released. sony's soundtracks are fine but there are very few standout tracks that will stand the test of time. they are mainly made up of generic movie-like numbers that lack identity.

why cut out their ps4 userbase if they don't have to? with so many lightweight indi games getting released, there is no reason why the ps4 can't be an indi machine for another 10 years. essentially, sony will lose revenue by winding down so it doesn't even make business sense for them to cut off support prematurely. if sony believes this move will force people to migrate over to the ps5 they are sadly mistaken as most users will jump to pc instead. i am dreading the day they pull the ps store from the ps4, but let's hope that is 10 years away.

put your faith in konami and you will be met with nothing but disappointment. every time.

it's a miracle bioware made it this far to be honest. they will likely be shuttered in the near future with some employees being shuffled off to support studios or work on sports games. EA will instead focus on publishing games of other genres from 3rd parties rather than developing them internally. EA was already on this path for a while but should be doing far more to diversify its portfolio. what a dismal company.

@Rob_230 a bitmap books/sony collaboration would be awesome!

thanks for the book suggestion. it looks neat!