if it wasn't for the boost in hardware sales, as a direct result of covid, the ps5 would have sold 20m fewer units and would be $100+ cheaper than it is now. simple as that really. big companies can play this game because fortune has been in their favour, but it won't last. expect ps6 to sell 30% less units than the ps5 did after 5 years on the market if they keep escalating prices in an arbitary manner like this.
when you have companies such as bitmap books putting out exquisite products, such as the 652 page "guide to japanese role playing games" for $67CAD/$48USD, it is difficult not to cringe at the asking price of this playstation book. sony is exclusively targeting the wealthy collector here and dismissing its real fans. what else is new?
first we got that resident evil clone and now this (the latter is far more excessive though). i don't know if its going to be smooth sailing for these publishers involved. capcom and s-e are likely taking notes as we speak and may shut down these projects. sony is doing all it can to sue tencent for the horizon clone as well (with the assumption it never sees the light of day).
i get it. people are frustrated that parasite eve has been left in a dark corner to rot away. s-e shows no respect to such a great IP. outside of xenogears and vagrant story, parasite eve is at the top of the list for a modern remake. but there is a fine line as to what defines a spiritual successor or inspired work as opposed to a blatant copy. these latest games from china show a complete disregard for international law or respect for the original rights holders. they are playing with fire here.
keep in mind china was in a 15 year hibernation where the government banned console sales in the country. as of 2015 that ban was relieved. do publishers in china really want to get on sony's bad side just as they begin to establish themselves in the AAA gaming space? seems like very bad timing. if anything, i could potentially see these latest clones being sold exclusively in parts of asia but banned from sale in north america, europe and japan among other regions.
does it really matter what EA spirals into after this acqisition? they have long been a lost cause and won't be missed if they disappear tomorrow. casual fans will just bounce to the next fifa and madden franchise in that event. they are not loyal to EA, they are loyal to the sport. potential censorship with the saudi interference? with the types of games EA makes, i don't think there would be much room for censorship haha. all of its notable IP of yesterday has already been forgotten or ruined so not much value there either.
@nomither6 yup, to be honest, any console prior to the ps5 is a good candidate for "best" sony console. each brought something unique to the table for its time. a lot of it will depend on the genres you prefer the most and your age i suppose. for example, the ps1 and ps2 still hold up as the best eras for jrpgs (along with the snes) in my opinion which might give more weight than say the ps3 which was lacking in that specific genre. in either case, be it the ps1, ps2 or ps3, there was something for everyone and the value was off the charts for their time. we could in theory spend the rest of our lives gaming on those machines and still not have enough time to see it all haha. there is no wrong choice but yes, ps3 is special for being the first sony hd console and people were constantly being blown away by the progress on the graphics side of things in particular. it was also a formative period in game design and creativity (perhaps not as influential as the ps1 and ps2) that would pave the way to many modern standards.
i think many people miss the element of "surprise" that used to be present in the gaming industry. with less risk taking, originality and an emphasis on "safe bets", it almost feels like people are going through the motions rather than being engaged in meaningful ways these days. generally speaking regarding the AAA side of things anyway. i won't even get into the financial side of things because we all know things are not good on that front.
of all the developers that have shuttered over the years, it is quite a feat that genki is still around. i mean, they were a b-tier studio and until recently, hadn't put out a game in 15 years. i'm curious as to how they have kep the lights on all this time. their background is more interesting than their games. that said, more arcade racing games are always welcome and i have heard good things about this new entry in the series.
@ilyn i agree, the ps2 is the golden era of gaming. an absolute treasure trove of new IPs and games from every genre imaginable were developed during that era. it's completely unmatched by any console since in terms of output. the ps1 is also in the running with its own share of fantastic IPs originating on the console. even the ps3, with it's slow start and growing pains that came with hd gaming, managed to impress by the mid-end of it's cycle and offered a ton of value to gamers. you could still find "weird", "quirky" and unconventional gaming experiences throughout the ps3 era which helped it to stand out. the ps4 was great, but in some ways felt like a more "polished" ps3 — sony peaked with its 1st party output making it memorable nontheless. the hd era of gaming reached its potential on the ps4.
if sony's most "successful" console can also be sony's worst console at the same time, that is very concerning.
i don't think sony's "success" is representative of the AAA industry at large, nor how people feel about the gaming landscape these days. this has been a very boring and dismal 5 years for sony's 1st party output but i suppose they are doing well with their ps+ subsciption numbers and revenue generation via microtransactions.
looks pretty good... but i'm confused about who he is actually killing in this trailer. it appears that all his victims are cyborgs of some kind... which comes across as a bit forced. i suppose that alows insomniac to get away with more gore and dismemberments... otherwise they would be facing some trouble from the ESRB.
didn't watch it. judging by the bullet points, this looked like another uneventful turd of a show. of course, this is the AAA industry at large and not just a sony problem...
town building mechanics? well, that's contributing 30 hours of superfluous content right there alone. hopefully it won't be a mandatory requirement to finish the game.
@TheDudeElDuderino i dunno. gt was in a bad place when gt5 and gt6 got released. they felt archaic in their design and even reused car models from the ps2 (remember the premium and non premium cars?). it was a bit of a mess during that era but they got it together with gt sport thankfully.
@somnambulance they didn't remake the sprites. they have been haphazardly upscaled and have a smeared look to them on modern TVs. Looks to be the same situation with the character portraits. certainly not a 10/10 because of this.
the fidelity of the cars are at such a high level that PD will be able to import them into gt 8 without any issue. same for the courses i imagine. they will be able to add to the content that is there instead of building from scratch like they did with gt sport. this should save them an enormous amount of time.
for a while, forza was giving gt a run for its money. can we assume that competition is dead now? sony has the best racing sim again and there is no real debate about it (outside of the hardcore racing sims on pc for crazy people that is).
keep increasing the prices just to make fools of yourselves. this is good satire. those who wanted an xbox or ps5 already got one. those who don't chose not to for obvious reasons. this console generation is shot so people are already looking ahead to the ps6 anyways. they are hurting their own sales and ruining their reputations so it's hard to care at this point as many level headed people have actively chosen to avoid supporting these consoles for a while now.
sony has two simple options:
1. keep increasing the prices in order to maintain their high profit margins at the expense of diminishing hardware sales and reduced revenue down the line (due to a smaller install base as a result of losing potential customers).
2. reduce or at least keep pricing stable (pre-tariff levels) and encourage more hardware sales and reap more revenue down the line (due to a larger install base). this requires sony to take a tiny hit to its profit margins on the hardware.
sony is choosing the first option. the greedy option, which is short sighted and will impact their future revenue whether they like it or not. or worse, they will lost potential customers for life as people shift to pc and don't look back. these companies are shooting themselves in the foot.
@Oram77 yes, the ps6 will likely have an optional disc drive, but that does not mean every game will be blessed with a physical release. many publishers will likely skip out on physical releases so that they can control their sales entirely and cut out the secondhand market... in addition to saving a few bucks on the manufacturing and shipping costs. if i had to take an educated guess, i think that most physical releases will be reserved to limited print runs and/or exuberant collector's editions. as such, the optional disc drive will serve its purpose for backwards compatibility and avoiding a PR disaster more so than anything else. absolutely, the ps6 will be the last generation of physical media the way things are unfolding.
@nessisonett 100% i wish more people could see things with this perspective so that sony would feel more pressure to course correct. i think more people are starting to come around now, but not nearly enough. if pushsquare were to make a poll of our favoruite ps console generations, i have no doubt that the ps5 would come in dead last, if not second last. that said, many adopters of the ps5 are likely too young to have experienced the ps1, ps2 or even ps3, so they don't even know what they missed out on
@wiiware yup. i thought i would hold out for a few years before getting a ps5... but as time went on, things looked more and more bleak before i decided this gen wasn't worth investing in at all. let's see how it goes with the ps6 but so long as this group of executives remains onboard, i don't see much course correction taking place for a long while.
it's a shame there are so many sony apologists on here. it's one thing to be a fan of something. it's another to be a blind loyalist who cannot see through the bull**** and anti-consumer business practices.
@DonkeyFantasy agreed. as great and iconic as the original soundtracks were, many of the tracks have been recycled and re-used to death at this point. charming? sure, the first or second time experiencing the music. but hearing the same melody in 10 different games is truly bizarre and not something you see from other franchises. this isn't just a fanfare being re-used like you might see in final fantasy (end battle theme for example). for example, dq11 had such a small number of tracks as is, but when 50% or more of it was taken from older games, i don't know what to say... many people (including the creators i imagine) will argue that the music is part of the franchise's idenity and should be re-used until the end of time so i don't have high hopes that this issue will ever get sorted.
@Rich33
yup. some people don't seem to understand that constructive criticism can be beneficial for the industry. instead, people see it as an attack of the thing they love and label thoose with concerns about the end product as simple "haters". it's really weird. people are just fed up with the low standards and want better practices in the industry. if people voted with their wallets more, we might see some meaningful change on that front.
as for sony, they have been ahead of the curve since the ps3 era thanks to naughty dog and santa monica studios. we rarely see 3rd party devs match their output in terms of technical excellence. i get that money and resources is part of the reason for this outcome, but i think it is more than that. there is a sense of pride as well. outside of nintendo, there are only a few exceptions from 3rd parties but yes, capcom comes to mind. they did poor work on mh wilds and dogma 2, but dmc v, for example, runs perfectly, even on a ps4. i'm playing at right now and i am impressed. when the frame rate is integral to the experience, developers will make the effort to deliver (twitch action, fps, racing or fighting games). but any other genre often gets the crappy end of the stick which tells me that they simply don't care because we all know it is certainly possible to get it right.
i find it funny that the only platform receiving "optimized" games (from 3rd party developers) in the traditional sense these days is the switch. why? because optimization is absolutely necessary to run various games AT ALL on the switch, including resident evil requiem. people like to call this "magic" but really, this is how games used to be made on the ps1and ps2. developers would be a lot more precious with their games and strive for excellent optimization to get every drop of power out of the hardware and push limits as far as they could go. there was also a sense of pride and prestige with all the original game engines and proprietary middleware tech being used.
fast forward to 2025 and we mostly see poor practices become cultural standards in the AAA industry at large, where almost every 3rd party game is bruteforcing its way to the finish line... often times the bare minimum effort is being done just to ensure the game is "playable" at launch, despite all the performance issues and shortcuts it took to get there. it's pathetic when you consider how important a smooth sense of movement and control is in gaming. instead, people have lowered the bar so low in how they continue to support poorly optimized games and excuse publishers' bad behaviour... to the point where publishers don't even seem to care anymore if it means they can save on reosurces during the development process.
imagine if 3rd party developers took the same amount of care developing games for the ps5 as they do for the more impressive switch ports? games would be 5 years in the future instead of merely 5 years in the past with a coat of paint. i.e. more games would be giving sony 1st party output a run for its money and there wouldn't be such a disparity in quality between sony and everyone else.
there's a 1% chance the tv show turns out good, so who cares who they cast as lara? amazon has a spotty track record with its media content and videogame adaptations in particular have a dire chance of success... amazon's gaming division is also a dumpster fire so future tomb raider games are not in a good hands. it's over for lara and her adventures which is a shame, but it was a good run.
@Frmknst all the hype will now be concentrated to gta6... the game that has been deemed the savior of this entire console generation from being nothing more than a bust otherwise. no pressure!
@BluWarfareHD
"Again, would you run a business at a constant loss, because of factors outside your control."
again, what are you talking about? it wouldn't be a constant loss as soon as the customer spends $150 in sony's ecosystem... be it ps+, mtx or software itself. once that small subsidiy is paid back to sony, all other purchases by the customer is profit. i already said that the average customer spends $700 within four years on the platform. what aspect of that do you not understand?
bringing in NEW customers and growing the install base is more VALUABLE than breaking even on hardware! why? because the high asking price and gatekeeping of the ps5 hardware will limit how many potential customers you have and prevent growth and software revenue. would you prefer that those very same customers NEVER enter sony's ecosystem? now, that would be uncountable potential losses that no business wants... unless you have tunnel vision and lack forsight that is.
i'm glad this will be your last post. it's all too common to find people such as yourself who are locked inside a box, unable to see another perspective. have a good life!
@Foxhound we are still getting a steady stream of ps4 releases 12 years after it released. i think the ps5 will have en even longer tail than the ps4 due to many people not upgrading to ps6 and the absurdly high cost of living where entertainment takes a back seat in the coming years. if you own a ps5, you should be good until 2033, with a few exceptions. sadly, people get tired of old tech and throw wisdom out the window just for a few extra pixels and frames
@N1ghtW1ng i think that's exactly what it is (at least visually speaking). but it is worse in the performance department and might have other pitfalls that we are unaware of... such as locking features out with mtx? i don't know, just speculating.
strange that there is no mention of the origin of this game? this looks to be a remastered and slightly modified version of hot shots golf: world invitational (everybody's golf 6) from the ps3/vita. i can't imagine it could be much worse than that game other than the typical performance issues that we see with almost every game these days. we have so many great hot shots golf games to play from years past, so no need to invest in this one.
but storage prices have fallen over the past 5 years by as much as 50% so why is storage suddenly being used as yet another excuse for increasing prices? people really need to scrutinize all the crap that we are being fed on a daily basis instead of taking excuses at face value. worst case scenario is that sony takes in 23% profit instead of 25% over the tariffs. get over it. the customer experience and perceived value is just as important to your brand as the revenue. sony has tunnel vision and cannot see past the dollars and cents of today but will be crying when its loyal users disappear or don't bite when the ps6 releases.
@BluWarfareHD i have made posts about this many times at this point so to summarize my response:
traditionally, sony would take a loss on the hardware during the first few years and subsidize the price to customers in order to grow the install base. after a couple of years, components would fall and sony would turn a profit, even with the subsidized price.
5 years after ps5 launched, all we have seen are price hikes and that is counterproductive to growing the install base. we are now seeing major declines in hardware sales and many publishers continue to support and release their games on ps4
sony could slash the price of the ps5 by $150 and easily recoup those losses from software sales as a result of a larger install base. the average ps5 owner spends $700 over four years of owning the console, so sony would more than make up the $150 loss per console sold by the mere purchase of a couple games, subscribing to ps+ for a couple years etc. and would actually be more successful in the long run with this tact.
in a world where cost of living continues to go up, people have and will continue to cut their spending on entertainment to some degree. if sony has any desire to grow users of the ps5 ecosystem, they cannot continue to increase the price of the hardware and need to look beyond immediate gains. a major price drop is in order. as it has not happened yet, they could time it with the launch with gta6 to make a statement but sadly, that doesn't seem likely due to how these greedy companies have chosen to operate in recent years.
@Ainu20 you have chosen to ignore the context that i gave you regarding price drops of consoles over the years so i will list them in more detail:
ps1 launched at $300 and received a 50% price cut by year three of its lifespan. ps2 also launched at $300 and was marked down to $150 after three years. the ps3 launched at $500/600 and fell to $300 after three years. the ps4 launched at $400 and fell to $300 after three years. that is the natural cycle of tech in all eras of history and the ps5 should be no exception unless you want to make excuses which comes across as scapgoating. sure, the ps5 price reduction wouldn't necessarily need to match the 50% of those other consoles, but surely 25% was and is obtainable.
there are many ways sony could drop the price of its hardware by year FIVE of the ps5 but it is choosing not to because sales were better than predicted to this point (due to the anomaly that was covid, where people were trapped and desperate for entertainment). if covid had not happened, sony would have dropped the price of the ps5 long ago due to slumping sales and lack of enticing software. all covid did was delay the inevitable — we are now starting to see declines in hardware sales and it is looking more clear that the ps5 will absolutely not match ps4's sales trajectory over the same amount of time.
rather than spending all your time deflecting or buying into flimsy comparisons and narratives about external market forces, it would be more productive to look deeper than the surface level and come to your own conclusions. as it stands, it looks like you are here to defend greedy corporations and cannot see beyond that.
@Ainu20 strange how you only consider the launch prices of ps consoles over the years and not the middle or end of life prices, when the hardware prices were slashed significantly... by more than 50% after a few years on sale. did you forget that the ps5 is 5 years old this november and has only seen price hikes and not a single price drop? your arguments make no sense since we are no longer in the year 2020 when the ps5 launched.
@Ainu20 yes, you sound like a slave to sony and its greedy business model if you are unable to understand where i am coming from here.
my post was quite clear but it went over your head. the ps5 hardware is 5 years old and should have been reduced by at least 20% by now due to cheaper components and efficiencies in the manufacturing process. i said that sony should have subsidized the hardware (i.e. take a loss in exchange for growing the install base faster) since they will make the revenue back on software. also, why on earth are you making comparisons to the switch 2? that is brand new hardware and also has components that the ps5 doesn't need, such as the screen, making it more expensive at this point in time. performance comparisons between the switch 2 and the ps5 are not equal due to the age of the tech. nintendo sure as hell is not evaluating the price of the switch 2 by comparing its performance output to the ps5!
@LogicStrikesAgain the hardware is going on 5 years and all we have seen are price increases. this is the only playstation console in history to follow suit with this model so there is absolutely nothing to praise here. i would classify that as a disaster.
the components have gotten cheaper and sony could do a lot more to subsidize the hardware for the customer. pretty soon, they will need to give out the hardware for free (sort of like the traditional mobile plans) if they wish to retain a sizable install base. i would price the ps5 at $380USD and ps5 digital at 350USD in 2025. when you consider the fact that the average playstation gamer spends upwards of $700USD over the first 4 years of owning the console, it isn't as crazy as it sounds for sony to subsidize the hardware more since they will get that loss back and more.
he's not wrong about the situation with the ps5... of course. the ps5 pricing model is an absolute disaster!
but he is wrong about the game underperforming ONLY because of the price factors. there are 80m ps5's out there afterall! i have heard nothing but disappointment about wilds since it released so from a critical standpoint, i don't think people are as interested in the game for various reasons (poor performance, underwhelming content updates). let's face it, this franchise peaked with mh world and it has become very predictable and somewhat stale now. incremental updates between releases is more than enough for the hardcore fans, but the average gamer isn't going to bite forever so sales will naturally decline as people move on. for the next entry, capcom may want to consider a smaller budget and scaling down the maps somewhat to keep the franchise viable as sales continue to decline.
so long as one of the games they are working on will be sidescrolling 2d like rayman origins/legends, i'm looking forward to it. this is pretty much the only IP from ubisoft i have any interest in these days.
proves that you can't get by with pretty graphics if you haven't got a clue about good game design. it looks like this game was conceived as nothing more than style over substance and they couldn't even get it to play well. overly ambitious due to pressure from sony (as publisher) to make it something that it wasn't. let's not forget that sony was severely lacking in ps5 exclusives at the time (and still are to be frank) and was desperate to get its hands on anything it could find in the hopes it would be a surprise hit.
where are all the pro live service people at who swore that this was the correct direction sony should take 4 years ago? because sony could do no wrong and always knows what's best for their business and users?
crickets
yea, seems about right. that blind loyalty didn't last very long. now, just apply this logic to sony on the whole instead of giving them a free pass and we can have a more realistic perspective on what they have become and how disappointing the ps5 actually is (easily ranking as the worst playstation console of all time).
underrated franchise! i know this series gets a lot of flack for its emphasis on the "edgy" lesbian relationship marketing, but it was a solid tank control action/adventure game with an amazing atmopshere and art direction. heck, i'd say this was one of the biggest budget games of its genre at the time. not sure how well it sold, but it certainly has a cult following.
@Coffeeglitch agreed. there have been too many skakeups within sony managament over the past 5 years and they have lost their way. when their loyal fans are losing interest, you know there is a problem.
right now, it is the mainstream users that are most enthusiastic about ps5, likely because they are younger and new to the brand. as they get older, they too will lose interest and the generation before them will stick to their mobile gaming and won't even think twice about buying a console. sony really should try to win back its core audience from the ps4 as most are either indifferent or moving away towards pc now.
the ps4 was sony as its peak as far as its 1st party output and generating excitement amongst the playstation community at large. they were also pro consumer and inviting. now the brand comes across as cold, boring, predictable and infused with greedy business practices above all else.
anyone with any sense would already know this haha. the handheld would be dead in the water if it didn't have video output. really didn't need an article for this nugget of obvious information that everyone already knows
@PuppetMaster are you insinuating that the average playstation gamer will NOT spend a minimum of $150 over the lifetime of the ps5 console generation? that's an absurd take if you truly believe that. here is a source supporting that the average ps5 user spends over $700 within the first 4 years (data is from a sony presentation).
from ps+ essential alone, sony would make back its loss on the hardware (if an average customer subscribes for 2 years or more). also, for those who spend most of their time with F2P games, they would likely invest in various mtx and season passes, yet again, generating revenue for sony. and finally, the users who only play a couple games in an entire year, be it madden or COD etc., again, the purchase of 2 games in a single year over 3 years would generate more than $150 for sony (if sony keeps 30% of each sale, 100% if it is a 1st party sony published game).
all purchases from those customers thereafter would be gains for sony and erase the loss on the hardware generating healthy margins. in case you didn't know, this is how the business model used to work with consoles the first few years on the market. sony would keep the price as low as possible and take a loss on the initial sales for the first few years. then, as components got cheaper, sony would revise the SKUs and break even or turn a small profit before dropping the msrp even further to encourage more people to purchase the console. now, all we see are price increases which is counterproductive in growing the install base and generating revenue long term.
i don't think you have thought this through enough because your points aren't making much sense. also, to assume that large companies don't constantly make mistakes and often lack foresight is also a strange opinion to have. we see sony making blunders constantly, particularly with its live service games and cancellations.
Comments 2,665
Re: New PS5 Slim Is Cheaper in Every Way Except the Retail Price, New Teardown Video Reveals
if it wasn't for the boost in hardware sales, as a direct result of covid, the ps5 would have sold 20m fewer units and would be $100+ cheaper than it is now. simple as that really. big companies can play this game because fortune has been in their favour, but it won't last. expect ps6 to sell 30% less units than the ps5 did after 5 years on the market if they keep escalating prices in an arbitary manner like this.
Re: Official PlayStation Art Book to Mark 30 Years of Gaming History
when you have companies such as bitmap books putting out exquisite products, such as the 652 page "guide to japanese role playing games" for $67CAD/$48USD, it is difficult not to cringe at the asking price of this playstation book. sony is exclusively targeting the wealthy collector here and dismissing its real fans. what else is new?
Re: Square Enix Ain't Going to Revisit Parasite Eve on PS5, But This Chinese Dev Sure as Hell Is
first we got that resident evil clone and now this (the latter is far more excessive though). i don't know if its going to be smooth sailing for these publishers involved. capcom and s-e are likely taking notes as we speak and may shut down these projects. sony is doing all it can to sue tencent for the horizon clone as well (with the assumption it never sees the light of day).
i get it. people are frustrated that parasite eve has been left in a dark corner to rot away. s-e shows no respect to such a great IP. outside of xenogears and vagrant story, parasite eve is at the top of the list for a modern remake. but there is a fine line as to what defines a spiritual successor or inspired work as opposed to a blatant copy. these latest games from china show a complete disregard for international law or respect for the original rights holders. they are playing with fire here.
keep in mind china was in a 15 year hibernation where the government banned console sales in the country. as of 2015 that ban was relieved. do publishers in china really want to get on sony's bad side just as they begin to establish themselves in the AAA gaming space? seems like very bad timing. if anything, i could potentially see these latest clones being sold exclusively in parts of asia but banned from sale in north america, europe and japan among other regions.
Re: Publisher EA Poised to Go Private as 'Advanced Talks' of $50 Billion Buyout Emerge
does it really matter what EA spirals into after this acqisition? they have long been a lost cause and won't be missed if they disappear tomorrow. casual fans will just bounce to the next fifa and madden franchise in that event. they are not loyal to EA, they are loyal to the sport. potential censorship with the saudi interference? with the types of games EA makes, i don't think there would be much room for censorship haha. all of its notable IP of yesterday has already been forgotten or ruined so not much value there either.
Re: This Exciting PS5 Single Player Game Is Not Resident Evil, But It Sure Looks Like It
ooof. that's going to lose somone a LOT of money! i'm curious to know what the capcom producers feel about this
Re: Gungrave G.O.R.E. Is Getting a Full PS5 Remake Just 3 Years After Its Original Release
eh, i'd call it more of a director's cut to be honest.
Re: PS5 Is the Most Successful Console in PlayStation History, States Sony
@nomither6 yup, to be honest, any console prior to the ps5 is a good candidate for "best" sony console. each brought something unique to the table for its time. a lot of it will depend on the genres you prefer the most and your age i suppose. for example, the ps1 and ps2 still hold up as the best eras for jrpgs (along with the snes) in my opinion which might give more weight than say the ps3 which was lacking in that specific genre. in either case, be it the ps1, ps2 or ps3, there was something for everyone and the value was off the charts for their time. we could in theory spend the rest of our lives gaming on those machines and still not have enough time to see it all haha. there is no wrong choice but yes, ps3 is special for being the first sony hd console and people were constantly being blown away by the progress on the graphics side of things in particular. it was also a formative period in game design and creativity (perhaps not as influential as the ps1 and ps2) that would pave the way to many modern standards.
i think many people miss the element of "surprise" that used to be present in the gaming industry. with less risk taking, originality and an emphasis on "safe bets", it almost feels like people are going through the motions rather than being engaged in meaningful ways these days. generally speaking regarding the AAA side of things anyway. i won't even get into the financial side of things because we all know things are not good on that front.
Re: Tokyo Xtreme Racer Makes Its Long-Awaited Return to PlayStation
of all the developers that have shuttered over the years, it is quite a feat that genki is still around. i mean, they were a b-tier studio and until recently, hadn't put out a game in 15 years. i'm curious as to how they have kep the lights on all this time. their background is more interesting than their games. that said, more arcade racing games are always welcome and i have heard good things about this new entry in the series.
Re: First Wolverine PS5 Gameplay Is Incredibly Gory, Set for Fall 2026
@kcarnes9051 i see. good to know.
Re: PS5 Is the Most Successful Console in PlayStation History, States Sony
@ilyn i agree, the ps2 is the golden era of gaming. an absolute treasure trove of new IPs and games from every genre imaginable were developed during that era. it's completely unmatched by any console since in terms of output. the ps1 is also in the running with its own share of fantastic IPs originating on the console. even the ps3, with it's slow start and growing pains that came with hd gaming, managed to impress by the mid-end of it's cycle and offered a ton of value to gamers. you could still find "weird", "quirky" and unconventional gaming experiences throughout the ps3 era which helped it to stand out. the ps4 was great, but in some ways felt like a more "polished" ps3 — sony peaked with its 1st party output making it memorable nontheless. the hd era of gaming reached its potential on the ps4.
as for the ps5...
Re: PS5 Is the Most Successful Console in PlayStation History, States Sony
if sony's most "successful" console can also be sony's worst console at the same time, that is very concerning.
i don't think sony's "success" is representative of the AAA industry at large, nor how people feel about the gaming landscape these days. this has been a very boring and dismal 5 years for sony's 1st party output but i suppose they are doing well with their ps+ subsciption numbers and revenue generation via microtransactions.
yay.
Re: Sony Celebrates 20 Years of God of War with New PS5 Controller
@-Sigma- starting with the design of the ps5, it's all been wrong in so many ways this gen
Re: First Wolverine PS5 Gameplay Is Incredibly Gory, Set for Fall 2026
looks pretty good... but i'm confused about who he is actually killing in this trailer. it appears that all his victims are cyborgs of some kind... which comes across as a bit forced. i suppose that alows insomniac to get away with more gore and dismemberments... otherwise they would be facing some trouble from the ESRB.
Re: Round Up: What Was Announced in Sony's State of Play Livestream for September 2025?
didn't watch it. judging by the bullet points, this looked like another uneventful turd of a show. of course, this is the AAA industry at large and not just a sony problem...
Re: Classic Cyberpunk RPG Deus Ex Is Being Remastered on PS5 in February 2026
the original was great, but this looks like a minimal effort, hack job of a port (barely a remaster) from aspyr. easy skip.
Re: Octopath Traveler 0 Has You Covered for 100 Hours of JRPG Action
town building mechanics? well, that's contributing 30 hours of superfluous content right there alone. hopefully it won't be a mandatory requirement to finish the game.
Re: Gran Turismo 7's Latest Update Adds Yet More Cars and Events on PS5, PS4
@TheDudeElDuderino i dunno. gt was in a bad place when gt5 and gt6 got released. they felt archaic in their design and even reused car models from the ps2 (remember the premium and non premium cars?). it was a bit of a mess during that era but they got it together with gt sport thankfully.
Re: Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles (PS5) - Still the Benchmark for Turn-Based Tactics
@somnambulance they didn't remake the sprites. they have been haphazardly upscaled and have a smeared look to them on modern TVs. Looks to be the same situation with the character portraits. certainly not a 10/10 because of this.
Re: 'There Is Much More to Be Done': Polyphony Digital Steps Up Gran Turismo Recruitment
the fidelity of the cars are at such a high level that PD will be able to import them into gt 8 without any issue. same for the courses i imagine. they will be able to add to the content that is there instead of building from scratch like they did with gt sport. this should save them an enormous amount of time.
Re: Gran Turismo 7's Latest Update Adds Yet More Cars and Events on PS5, PS4
for a while, forza was giving gt a run for its money. can we assume that competition is dead now? sony has the best racing sim again and there is no real debate about it (outside of the hardcore racing sims on pc for crazy people that is).
Re: PS5 Pro Users Starting to Feel a Little Shortchanged After Poor or Absent Support
the pro was for suckers
Re: Even More Xbox Price Increases Make PS5 Look Like a Good Deal
keep increasing the prices just to make fools of yourselves. this is good satire. those who wanted an xbox or ps5 already got one. those who don't chose not to for obvious reasons. this console generation is shot so people are already looking ahead to the ps6 anyways. they are hurting their own sales and ruining their reputations so it's hard to care at this point as many level headed people have actively chosen to avoid supporting these consoles for a while now.
sony has two simple options:
1. keep increasing the prices in order to maintain their high profit margins at the expense of diminishing hardware sales and reduced revenue down the line (due to a smaller install base as a result of losing potential customers).
2. reduce or at least keep pricing stable (pre-tariff levels) and encourage more hardware sales and reap more revenue down the line (due to a larger install base). this requires sony to take a tiny hit to its profit margins on the hardware.
sony is choosing the first option. the greedy option, which is short sighted and will impact their future revenue whether they like it or not. or worse, they will lost potential customers for life as people shift to pc and don't look back. these companies are shooting themselves in the foot.
Re: Everyone's Talking About How Little Physical PS5 Games Contribute to Sony's Bottom Line
@Oram77 yes, the ps6 will likely have an optional disc drive, but that does not mean every game will be blessed with a physical release. many publishers will likely skip out on physical releases so that they can control their sales entirely and cut out the secondhand market... in addition to saving a few bucks on the manufacturing and shipping costs. if i had to take an educated guess, i think that most physical releases will be reserved to limited print runs and/or exuberant collector's editions. as such, the optional disc drive will serve its purpose for backwards compatibility and avoiding a PR disaster more so than anything else. absolutely, the ps6 will be the last generation of physical media the way things are unfolding.
Re: Nerfed PS5 Console Silently Releases with Less Storage Space
@nessisonett 100% i wish more people could see things with this perspective so that sony would feel more pressure to course correct. i think more people are starting to come around now, but not nearly enough. if pushsquare were to make a poll of our favoruite ps console generations, i have no doubt that the ps5 would come in dead last, if not second last. that said, many adopters of the ps5 are likely too young to have experienced the ps1, ps2 or even ps3, so they don't even know what they missed out on
Re: Nerfed PS5 Console Silently Releases with Less Storage Space
@wiiware yup. i thought i would hold out for a few years before getting a ps5... but as time went on, things looked more and more bleak before i decided this gen wasn't worth investing in at all. let's see how it goes with the ps6 but so long as this group of executives remains onboard, i don't see much course correction taking place for a long while.
Re: Nerfed PS5 Console Silently Releases with Less Storage Space
it's a shame there are so many sony apologists on here. it's one thing to be a fan of something. it's another to be a blind loyalist who cannot see through the bull**** and anti-consumer business practices.
Re: Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined's PS5 Characters Are Based on Real-Life Models
@DonkeyFantasy agreed. as great and iconic as the original soundtracks were, many of the tracks have been recycled and re-used to death at this point. charming? sure, the first or second time experiencing the music. but hearing the same melody in 10 different games is truly bizarre and not something you see from other franchises. this isn't just a fanfare being re-used like you might see in final fantasy (end battle theme for example). for example, dq11 had such a small number of tracks as is, but when 50% or more of it was taken from older games, i don't know what to say... many people (including the creators i imagine) will argue that the music is part of the franchise's idenity and should be re-used until the end of time so i don't have high hopes that this issue will ever get sorted.
Re: Enjoy the New Resident Evil Requiem Trailer with Improved PS5 Graphics
@Rich33
yup. some people don't seem to understand that constructive criticism can be beneficial for the industry. instead, people see it as an attack of the thing they love and label thoose with concerns about the end product as simple "haters". it's really weird. people are just fed up with the low standards and want better practices in the industry. if people voted with their wallets more, we might see some meaningful change on that front.
as for sony, they have been ahead of the curve since the ps3 era thanks to naughty dog and santa monica studios. we rarely see 3rd party devs match their output in terms of technical excellence. i get that money and resources is part of the reason for this outcome, but i think it is more than that. there is a sense of pride as well. outside of nintendo, there are only a few exceptions from 3rd parties but yes, capcom comes to mind. they did poor work on mh wilds and dogma 2, but dmc v, for example, runs perfectly, even on a ps4. i'm playing at right now and i am impressed. when the frame rate is integral to the experience, developers will make the effort to deliver (twitch action, fps, racing or fighting games). but any other genre often gets the crappy end of the stick which tells me that they simply don't care because we all know it is certainly possible to get it right.
Re: Enjoy the New Resident Evil Requiem Trailer with Improved PS5 Graphics
i find it funny that the only platform receiving "optimized" games (from 3rd party developers) in the traditional sense these days is the switch. why? because optimization is absolutely necessary to run various games AT ALL on the switch, including resident evil requiem. people like to call this "magic" but really, this is how games used to be made on the ps1and ps2. developers would be a lot more precious with their games and strive for excellent optimization to get every drop of power out of the hardware and push limits as far as they could go. there was also a sense of pride and prestige with all the original game engines and proprietary middleware tech being used.
fast forward to 2025 and we mostly see poor practices become cultural standards in the AAA industry at large, where almost every 3rd party game is bruteforcing its way to the finish line... often times the bare minimum effort is being done just to ensure the game is "playable" at launch, despite all the performance issues and shortcuts it took to get there. it's pathetic when you consider how important a smooth sense of movement and control is in gaming. instead, people have lowered the bar so low in how they continue to support poorly optimized games and excuse publishers' bad behaviour... to the point where publishers don't even seem to care anymore if it means they can save on reosurces during the development process.
imagine if 3rd party developers took the same amount of care developing games for the ps5 as they do for the more impressive switch ports? games would be 5 years in the future instead of merely 5 years in the past with a coat of paint. i.e. more games would be giving sony 1st party output a run for its money and there wouldn't be such a disparity in quality between sony and everyone else.
Re: Game of Thrones Star Announced as Lara Croft for Amazon's Tomb Raider TV Show
there's a 1% chance the tv show turns out good, so who cares who they cast as lara? amazon has a spotty track record with its media content and videogame adaptations in particular have a dire chance of success... amazon's gaming division is also a dumpster fire so future tomb raider games are not in a good hands. it's over for lara and her adventures which is a shame, but it was a good run.
Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong Release Crashes Storefronts Like Steam, Finally Live on PS5, PS4 Over Two Hours Late
@Frmknst all the hype will now be concentrated to gta6... the game that has been deemed the savior of this entire console generation from being nothing more than a bust otherwise. no pressure!
Re: PS5's High Price Becoming a Serious Headache for Publishers
@BluWarfareHD
"Again, would you run a business at a constant loss, because of factors outside your control."
again, what are you talking about? it wouldn't be a constant loss as soon as the customer spends $150 in sony's ecosystem... be it ps+, mtx or software itself. once that small subsidiy is paid back to sony, all other purchases by the customer is profit. i already said that the average customer spends $700 within four years on the platform. what aspect of that do you not understand?
bringing in NEW customers and growing the install base is more VALUABLE than breaking even on hardware! why? because the high asking price and gatekeeping of the ps5 hardware will limit how many potential customers you have and prevent growth and software revenue. would you prefer that those very same customers NEVER enter sony's ecosystem? now, that would be uncountable potential losses that no business wants... unless you have tunnel vision and lack forsight that is.
i'm glad this will be your last post. it's all too common to find people such as yourself who are locked inside a box, unable to see another perspective. have a good life!
Re: Rumour: To Avoid Even More PS5 Price Increases, Digital Edition to Get Reduced SSD Space
@Foxhound we are still getting a steady stream of ps4 releases 12 years after it released. i think the ps5 will have en even longer tail than the ps4 due to many people not upgrading to ps6 and the absurdly high cost of living where entertainment takes a back seat in the coming years. if you own a ps5, you should be good until 2033, with a few exceptions. sadly, people get tired of old tech and throw wisdom out the window just for a few extra pixels and frames
Re: Everybody's Golf: Hot Shots (PS5) - First Non-Clap Hanz Entry Is a Subpar Effort
@N1ghtW1ng i think that's exactly what it is (at least visually speaking). but it is worse in the performance department and might have other pitfalls that we are unaware of... such as locking features out with mtx? i don't know, just speculating.
Re: Everybody's Golf: Hot Shots (PS5) - First Non-Clap Hanz Entry Is a Subpar Effort
strange that there is no mention of the origin of this game? this looks to be a remastered and slightly modified version of hot shots golf: world invitational (everybody's golf 6) from the ps3/vita. i can't imagine it could be much worse than that game other than the typical performance issues that we see with almost every game these days. we have so many great hot shots golf games to play from years past, so no need to invest in this one.
Re: Rumour: To Avoid Even More PS5 Price Increases, Digital Edition to Get Reduced SSD Space
but storage prices have fallen over the past 5 years by as much as 50% so why is storage suddenly being used as yet another excuse for increasing prices? people really need to scrutinize all the crap that we are being fed on a daily basis instead of taking excuses at face value. worst case scenario is that sony takes in 23% profit instead of 25% over the tariffs. get over it. the customer experience and perceived value is just as important to your brand as the revenue. sony has tunnel vision and cannot see past the dollars and cents of today but will be crying when its loyal users disappear or don't bite when the ps6 releases.
Re: PS5's High Price Becoming a Serious Headache for Publishers
@BluWarfareHD i have made posts about this many times at this point so to summarize my response:
Re: PS5's High Price Becoming a Serious Headache for Publishers
@Ainu20 you have chosen to ignore the context that i gave you regarding price drops of consoles over the years so i will list them in more detail:
ps1 launched at $300 and received a 50% price cut by year three of its lifespan. ps2 also launched at $300 and was marked down to $150 after three years. the ps3 launched at $500/600 and fell to $300 after three years. the ps4 launched at $400 and fell to $300 after three years. that is the natural cycle of tech in all eras of history and the ps5 should be no exception unless you want to make excuses which comes across as scapgoating. sure, the ps5 price reduction wouldn't necessarily need to match the 50% of those other consoles, but surely 25% was and is obtainable.
there are many ways sony could drop the price of its hardware by year FIVE of the ps5 but it is choosing not to because sales were better than predicted to this point (due to the anomaly that was covid, where people were trapped and desperate for entertainment). if covid had not happened, sony would have dropped the price of the ps5 long ago due to slumping sales and lack of enticing software. all covid did was delay the inevitable — we are now starting to see declines in hardware sales and it is looking more clear that the ps5 will absolutely not match ps4's sales trajectory over the same amount of time.
rather than spending all your time deflecting or buying into flimsy comparisons and narratives about external market forces, it would be more productive to look deeper than the surface level and come to your own conclusions. as it stands, it looks like you are here to defend greedy corporations and cannot see beyond that.
Re: PS5's High Price Becoming a Serious Headache for Publishers
@Ainu20 strange how you only consider the launch prices of ps consoles over the years and not the middle or end of life prices, when the hardware prices were slashed significantly... by more than 50% after a few years on sale. did you forget that the ps5 is 5 years old this november and has only seen price hikes and not a single price drop? your arguments make no sense since we are no longer in the year 2020 when the ps5 launched.
Re: PS5's High Price Becoming a Serious Headache for Publishers
@Ainu20 yes, you sound like a slave to sony and its greedy business model if you are unable to understand where i am coming from here.
my post was quite clear but it went over your head. the ps5 hardware is 5 years old and should have been reduced by at least 20% by now due to cheaper components and efficiencies in the manufacturing process. i said that sony should have subsidized the hardware (i.e. take a loss in exchange for growing the install base faster) since they will make the revenue back on software. also, why on earth are you making comparisons to the switch 2? that is brand new hardware and also has components that the ps5 doesn't need, such as the screen, making it more expensive at this point in time. performance comparisons between the switch 2 and the ps5 are not equal due to the age of the tech. nintendo sure as hell is not evaluating the price of the switch 2 by comparing its performance output to the ps5!
Re: PS5's High Price Becoming a Serious Headache for Publishers
@LogicStrikesAgain the hardware is going on 5 years and all we have seen are price increases. this is the only playstation console in history to follow suit with this model so there is absolutely nothing to praise here. i would classify that as a disaster.
the components have gotten cheaper and sony could do a lot more to subsidize the hardware for the customer. pretty soon, they will need to give out the hardware for free (sort of like the traditional mobile plans) if they wish to retain a sizable install base. i would price the ps5 at $380USD and ps5 digital at 350USD in 2025. when you consider the fact that the average playstation gamer spends upwards of $700USD over the first 4 years of owning the console, it isn't as crazy as it sounds for sony to subsidize the hardware more since they will get that loss back and more.
Re: PS5's High Price Becoming a Serious Headache for Publishers
he's not wrong about the situation with the ps5... of course. the ps5 pricing model is an absolute disaster!
but he is wrong about the game underperforming ONLY because of the price factors. there are 80m ps5's out there afterall! i have heard nothing but disappointment about wilds since it released so from a critical standpoint, i don't think people are as interested in the game for various reasons (poor performance, underwhelming content updates). let's face it, this franchise peaked with mh world and it has become very predictable and somewhat stale now. incremental updates between releases is more than enough for the hardcore fans, but the average gamer isn't going to bite forever so sales will naturally decline as people move on. for the next entry, capcom may want to consider a smaller budget and scaling down the maps somewhat to keep the franchise viable as sales continue to decline.
Re: Rumour: Two Rayman Games Are in the Works as Franchise Celebrates 30th Anniversary
so long as one of the games they are working on will be sidescrolling 2d like rayman origins/legends, i'm looking forward to it. this is pretty much the only IP from ubisoft i have any interest in these days.
Re: Lost Soul Aside (PS5) - Long Awaited Action Is Both Awesome and Painfully Awkward
proves that you can't get by with pretty graphics if you haven't got a clue about good game design. it looks like this game was conceived as nothing more than style over substance and they couldn't even get it to play well. overly ambitious due to pressure from sony (as publisher) to make it something that it wasn't. let's not forget that sony was severely lacking in ps5 exclusives at the time (and still are to be frank) and was desperate to get its hands on anything it could find in the hopes it would be a surprise hit.
Re: Sony's Troubled Live Service Game Fairgames Just Can't Catch a Break
where are all the pro live service people at who swore that this was the correct direction sony should take 4 years ago? because sony could do no wrong and always knows what's best for their business and users?
crickets
yea, seems about right. that blind loyalty didn't last very long. now, just apply this logic to sony on the whole instead of giving them a free pass and we can have a more realistic perspective on what they have become and how disappointing the ps5 actually is (easily ranking as the worst playstation console of all time).
Re: Cult Classic PS1 Adventure Fear Effect Is Suddenly Available on PS5, PS4
underrated franchise! i know this series gets a lot of flack for its emphasis on the "edgy" lesbian relationship marketing, but it was a solid tank control action/adventure game with an amazing atmopshere and art direction. heck, i'd say this was one of the biggest budget games of its genre at the time. not sure how well it sold, but it certainly has a cult following.
Re: $200 MGS Delta Collector's Edition Ridiculed Over Temu-Esque Snake Figurine
it's konami guys. what did you expect? they gave the figurine the same attention as the delta port
Re: Jul 2025 USA Sales: PS5 Hardware Tumbles 47% Year-Over-Year in Tough Month
@Coffeeglitch agreed. there have been too many skakeups within sony managament over the past 5 years and they have lost their way. when their loyal fans are losing interest, you know there is a problem.
right now, it is the mainstream users that are most enthusiastic about ps5, likely because they are younger and new to the brand. as they get older, they too will lose interest and the generation before them will stick to their mobile gaming and won't even think twice about buying a console. sony really should try to win back its core audience from the ps4 as most are either indifferent or moving away towards pc now.
the ps4 was sony as its peak as far as its 1st party output and generating excitement amongst the playstation community at large. they were also pro consumer and inviting. now the brand comes across as cold, boring, predictable and infused with greedy business practices above all else.
Re: Rumour: PS6 Handheld Device Can Be Docked Like Nintendo Switch 2
anyone with any sense would already know this haha. the handheld would be dead in the water if it didn't have video output. really didn't need an article for this nugget of obvious information that everyone already knows
Re: Jul 2025 USA Sales: PS5 Hardware Tumbles 47% Year-Over-Year in Tough Month
@PuppetMaster are you insinuating that the average playstation gamer will NOT spend a minimum of $150 over the lifetime of the ps5 console generation? that's an absurd take if you truly believe that. here is a source supporting that the average ps5 user spends over $700 within the first 4 years (data is from a sony presentation).
https://www.gamesradar.com/platforms/playstation/the-average-ps5-owner-spends-an-extra-dollar731-on-content-services-and-peripherals/
from ps+ essential alone, sony would make back its loss on the hardware (if an average customer subscribes for 2 years or more). also, for those who spend most of their time with F2P games, they would likely invest in various mtx and season passes, yet again, generating revenue for sony. and finally, the users who only play a couple games in an entire year, be it madden or COD etc., again, the purchase of 2 games in a single year over 3 years would generate more than $150 for sony (if sony keeps 30% of each sale, 100% if it is a 1st party sony published game).
all purchases from those customers thereafter would be gains for sony and erase the loss on the hardware generating healthy margins. in case you didn't know, this is how the business model used to work with consoles the first few years on the market. sony would keep the price as low as possible and take a loss on the initial sales for the first few years. then, as components got cheaper, sony would revise the SKUs and break even or turn a small profit before dropping the msrp even further to encourage more people to purchase the console. now, all we see are price increases which is counterproductive in growing the install base and generating revenue long term.
i don't think you have thought this through enough because your points aren't making much sense. also, to assume that large companies don't constantly make mistakes and often lack foresight is also a strange opinion to have. we see sony making blunders constantly, particularly with its live service games and cancellations.