@stu123 even if sony was so lucky to capture lightning in a bottle (better chance at winning the lottery) and carved out its own fortnite-like game, they wouldn't have a clue on how to create a road map and support it long term. the amount of resources and expense required to support such a game long term is staggering, and sony would inevitably drop the ball anyways... if not in the first year of release, by year 2 and surely by year 3. all these big companies chase after the big trands, but haven't got a clue on what it takes to support the monster that they create.
at this stage, i do not regret for a moment in not purchasing a ps5. the software library generally hasn't appealled to me and the few notable releases were cross gen on ps4 anyways so i'm good. glad i saved my cash and will likely put it towards a switch 2. having never owned a switch, there will be a plethora of great games available for me on day one. ps5 has been a joke and i will take a wait and see approach on the ps6.
make no mistake, the next 4 years of sony 1st party will be miserable. outside of the ghost of tsushima sequel and intergelactic (reveal didn't impress me), i wouldn't expect much other than santa monica's next game and perhaps 2-3 additional single player games, plus all the live service bullcrap they intend to put out there. this is not MY playstation or why i became a fan back in the 90s. they lost me completely.
but on the bright side, sony's massive failure this gen will make them do better out of obligation next time around. they have no other choice but to go back to what they do best and that will beneift playstation gamers everywhere. for now, playstation is going to just hang on by a thread until this cycle comes to an end. hopefully the next console is due in 3 years instead of 4, if not sooner.
people shouldn't be surprised by this news at all. when jim told us there were 20 live service games in development, he was basically telling us that he bet the farm on this endevour. learning of last of us online being cancelled should signal that everything or anything being cancelled is fair game. and so it was.
i'm glad herman is making these tough decisions because the alternative is far worse: releasing these terrible games with even more resources invested, having them flop and the community losing even more trust in playstation than they already have. might as well cut your losses here and now in knowing that all these service games were hot trash ideas to begin with.
now, get bluepoint on another remake already. i'll take legend of dragoon. as for bend, if they want to make a day's gone sequel, for the love of god, allow them to. you got any better ideas, sony?
@nomither6 data has been released that only 20% of gamers who start a game ever complete them. i assure you that gamespass will only make games more disposable and the completion rates will fall even further. gamespass ultimate is already very expensive at $276CAD here in canada. you could purchase a ton of great games for that amount (especially if you plan to buy older or used games) and play them on your own watch over a number of years without the artificial time constraints found on all the subscriptions services.
i don't get it. instead of paying a premium and begging sony to re-release these classic games, why not pick up a ps2/ps3/psp/vita etc and you know, play the games you want to play? there are many upscalers available these days that will allow you to play your ps2 games on a modern display as well. if you really want to play these games, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from doing so.
as time goes on and life becomes even more financially difficult for many people, gamespass subscribers will decline. as we have already seen on multiple ocassions, subscription plans just keep increasing in price. its become far too expensive to be a set it and forget it sort of deal. gaming was always meant to be a fun pastime, not the outrageous expense and sacrifice of time that it has become more recently. the value of the subscription is only as good as the time you put into it and it appears that "time" is also in very low supply these days with so many other entertainment outlets fighting for it.
no physical release huh? i'm currently playing lunar 1 at this very moment since it was in my backlog for years and the remaster announcement pushed me to finally play it. after 20 hours of gameplay: fun game and very charming, but it can be a grind fest at times (even with the re-tooled "unworking designs" balance mod). the sprites look great running on ps3 via 4k tv... i don't see how a remaster will improve the experience unless they made some QoL changes which i highly doubt (the menu UI needs an overhaul, especially when it comes to equipping and sharing items with the party). this remaster makes the games more acessible? yes, but it's not like my ps1/ps2/ps3 were ever innaccessible to begin with haha. if you are a retro gamer, remasters really don't have a lot to offer other than speeding up the combat which is a god send feature.
i'm glad kojima has been given the opportunity to create the game of his dreams. unfortunately for me, death stranding wasn't exactly my kind of game or what i want to see from him. hopefully kojima will return to the stealth genre one last time (has already been rumoured for his next game)... but if it doesn't work out that way, that is fine as well. he has given more than enough to the gaming industry.
you mean 120fps for the 1% of pc owners who have the hardware required to meet the specs? gotcha.
i find it truly strange how people refer to "pc gaming", as if that entire space is made up of gamers on cutting edge hardware, including the latest $2000 video cards and 4k displays. guess what, it's not what you think it is over there. 50%+ of steam users are still gaming at 1080p resolution with the comparable specs of a ps4.
the only thing this data tells me is that the majority of gamers are either:
A) lazy — would rather pay more for something (that is less valuable) because of convenience.
B) come from a pc-centric background where physical media was stripped away decades ago and that culture has seeped into the console space.
C) simply don't understand the repercussions their buying habits will have in the long term — a digital-only marketplace will only make gaming more expensive and more curated than ever.
as we know, there are certain publishers that simply do not drop their prices beyond a certain threshhold even for titles that are 5+ years old. nintendo, activison and fromsoftware titles come to mind among others (i.e. cheaptest price for elden ring digitally is $48CAD but i picked up a new physical copy at walmart for $30CAD). why be at the mercy of digital storefront pricing when you can hunt down a new or used physical copy elsewhere at 30-50% cheaper? then i can sell the game on the second hand market and use that cash to buy a different game if i so choose... or i can hold onto the game and see the value increase over time (in some cases) making it an unexpected investment with a profitable return. whatever the case, it is my choice what i decide to do with the games that i OWN physically. it's just insane that more people don't understand this simple concept or just don't care. to make matters worse, there are people championing a digital-only future, as if it bothers them that physical media even exists and some people prefer it.
this isn't just about games, though. most people don't seem to have a problem throwing away their rights and freedoms when it comes to everything in their lives.
it excplicitly states it's "not actual gameplay" guys so take a breather haha. no fighting game can flow like that and likely never will unless its an orchestrated fight and both players have practiced together for weeks to time the counters haha.
it will be a problem for sony once they realize a massive number of people are pirating their games on day one. as cost of living goes up and you remove the option to play games on physical media (via used game sales, more competitive pricing and lending out to friends etc), yes, sony will take a major hit financially. that is the reason why rockstar doesn't port its games to pc for YEARS after the console release. piracy. plain and simple.
sony is acting smug right now, even though they have nothing to be proud of. they won this console generation by doing nothing noteworthy other than beat up on its "competition" which was already bleeding at the nose and down for the count before this generation even began. this "victory" was not earned in any capacity. congratulations, you are the winner when you haven't had any real competition for the past 15 years as a result of xbox shooting itself in the foot time and time again. sony porting its games to PC on day one will be the biggest mistake it ever makes.
little by little, people are being conditioned to "accept" a digital future and throw away their physical games library. soon, the majority of gamers will be at the mercy of the publishers and they will realize that they made a grave mistake in adopting a format that they literally have no control over.
games will be getting de-listed on digital storefronts more often with no real way of obtaining them (other than through piracy). even worse, publishers will have less incentive in offering sales on digital-only software when there is no longer competition from the traditional retailers or second hand marketplaces. so, you are running into a situation where piracy will likely increase significantly in the coming years as many people lived and died by the used game market of physcal media and/or purchasing their games physically which often times is cheaper than the lowest price point offered by most digital storefronts.
on one hand, the publishers will be salivating and frothing at the mouth by the new found power they have at their disposal in price setting; on the other hand, they will face sales declines due to an increase in piracy and gamers simply not being in a financial position to pay up the inflated prices. at the end of the day, we are talking about petty entertainment here... and with the cost of living always, always, always going up, people are going to resort to life necessities over gaming when things get bad enough. this has the potential to completely disrupt the gaming industry in ways we have never seen, especially when you consider how vulenerable and unsustainable the AAA space has been for the past 10 years now. this means less AAA games, less risks, more mindless sequels, more nickel and diming, more publishers and developers being shut down...
when the ps6 launches, i'll likely not be in a rush to purchase one considering how poorly everything has gone this console generation. but, it is likely that sony will release a digital-only SKU of the ps6 with an "optional" disc drive to please the masses like they did with the ps5 pro. this will be yet another PR stunt, but i would definitely learn from the current situation and purchase the disc drive ASAP as it is likely to sell out and never come back again after that. just like physical gaming media. in case i ever pick up a ps6, i'll at least have the disc drive for backwards compatibility of ps4/ps5 games. as for ps6 games, it's likely that we will only be getting a fraction of the ps6 library released on disc.
genuinely shocked that gta6 didn't run away with it.
as for death stranding 2, if kojima chose not to radically change up the gameplay, i think it is destined to be a financial failure. it appears that there were many, many people who didn't jive with the first game (for good reason) and who otherwise were big kojima fans as a result of his work with the mgs franchise. those same people will absolutely NOT be taking a chance on death stranding 2 after feeling bummed by the first game. seeing as death stranding 1 only sold 5m copies, i expect the sequel to reach 3m at best (if the core mechanics of the game are the same). for a AAA game of this magnitude (not to mention all the hollywood actors he has lined up again), i don't see a world where that can possibly result in a net profit for sony or kojima productions. BUT, hopefully kojima has a trick up his sleeve and will subvert expectations with this one. as it stand, i personally have very low interest in it currently.
outside of a handful of games, 2025 doesn't look too eventful. but perhaps gta6 alone will be enough to keep the AAA industry afloat for another year.
instead of being irrational and review bombing for reasons that have nothing to do with the actual game content itself, simply seek "other" means of playing the game. you already purchased it, so downloading a "clone" copy (on a different build that might work) is technically not considered piracy. but of course, these individuals are likely not even interested in the game and were just looking for another excuse to be toxic online...
@PuppetMaster not likely as you would be playing with fire in allowing employees to express themselves without a filter (everything is perceived as political these days), which in turn could have a negative repurcussions to the business side of sony as a company. yes, i did say this PR stunt backfired for them.
@PuppetMaster if you work for sony or ND, there is a very high chance that it requires approval from the PR department, fan art or not. it wouldn't surprise me if this was an intentional move to calm the storm at ND and generate some "good will".
this actually comes across as a PR move by ND to show the world that they can in fact create a "normal" looking anime inspired female character and that they have no issue with it, despite how they have gone about it in their latest works. but that appears to have backfired on them. until ND releases a game of their own which adheres to the more traditional interpretation of video game protagonist, they are going to have a rough time with that 10% of the gaming community i mean, this might get to a breaking point where sony has to intervene and have a heart to hear with druckman. at the end of the day, this is about money and if druckman's vision is going to put a damper on the profitablilty of the product, people at sony are inevitably going to pull the chord. if not now, down the line. its just a matter of how long they are going to allow this to continue. it's no secret that the last of us part 2 underpeformed for a myriad of reasons...
@PuppetMaster no doubt, he had high standards. he moved up the ranks of squaresoft incredibly quickly by the looks of things. it's just that nomura wouldn't have the final call for anything related to ff7 (1997) as he had his own superiors to adhere to at that time.
strange, since nomura was primarily the character artist at that time. kitase directed ff7 (1997). if anything, it would be kitase and sakaguchi who were perfectionists and worked the team hard to achieve the finished results... far more so than nomura at any rate.
@Koren616 their mini consoles have done well for them. in the case of the dreamcast and saturn, they are probably waiting for an adequate board to be available that is financially feasible and able to run the games optimally. i doubt they will want to sell a mini console that exceeds $150USD so its just a matter of sourcing the necessary compnents and/or waiting until they are cheap enough. i'd expect the saturn (and possibly the dreamcast) mini's to be limited to japan, though, due to their failure in the west upon their original release.
i find it very odd that sega, after selling the bulk of its legacy titles via compilations and digital releases, suddenly felt it was necessary to pull the plug and delist them... in the hopes that people will PANIC and subscribe to their new service. would it be too "honest" of sega to offer an option to its loyal fans instead of forcing this initiative down their throat? of course it would. i hope you guys were able to snatch up that sega genesis classics disc (ps4) before sega pulled the digital listing (that release is surely to go up in value now so that's good!) or picked up a genesis mini when they were available... or one of the many other classic compilations (too many to list here) over the past several decades, dating back to the ps2? the point is, there is no reason to subscribe to a service if you already own the majority of sega's legacy catalogue. probably better off emulating them anyways for optimal performance. and surely, this is not the way to go about it if you don't want to piss off or alienate your fans.
one year later and the ps4 is STILL the gift that keeps on giving! the only thing the ps5 has on it is the possibility of gta vi releasing in 2025! but imagine a cruel twist of fate where gta vi released on the ps5 AND ps4 haha... that would be something to see
this analyst just woke up after a long slumber i assume. xbox has gotten trounced by its competition for 3 of its 4 console cycles and yet here they are, doing their thing. nintendo got trounced 2 of its last 4 console cycles (not including its dedicated handhelds) and surprise, surprise, they are still around and perfoming amazingly well with the switch. would it surprise me if microsoft didn't make a console next gen and focused entirely on software? of course not. that seems like the right decision. but after more than 20 years of 3 direct competitors fluctuating all over the place in the console space, it is absurd to say that there was only room for two players. if that was the case, nintendo would have exited the console space after the gamecube or wii u, right? or microsoft would have dropped out after the x1 generation. sony has been the only console maker with consistent hardware sales 4 console cycles in a row... but even if you are a distant third in sales, you can still carve out a niche and be successful enough to keep things going. if we ever get to a point where nintendo is in a distant 3rd place and only selling 20m units of its latest console, i have no doubt that would be more than enough for nintendo to continue its venture.
sorry to break it to y'all, but akira actually relied on sponsors to FUND the production, hence why the branding was featured in the film. it was purposeful. comparing a film that REQUIRED sponsors for its existence to a $500m ND game makes no sense whatsoever. it sounds like sony has decided to experiment with a new revenue stream for the sake of making more money, at the expense of the "art". it is immersion breaking and i know i'm not alone with those sentiments. attempts to defend something as jarring as a porsche spaceship as well thought out and meaningful is frankly, embarassing. ND and sony should be ashamed.
this is a very surprising announcement because capcom couldn't even be bothered to port the remaining onimusha games to modern platforms. after they released the remaster to the first game, there wasn't even a whisper. people speculated that meant it sold poorly and the franchise was officially dead. what strange behaviour then to secretly be working on a new entry without porting the other 3 games? huh... let's see how closely capcom goes back to onimusha's survival horror roots vs the more action based sequels... this will be interesting.
@ApostateMage i'm ashamed to admit that i never played okami all the way through... been on the backlog forever, but this announcement will certainly give me the push to finally correct this shameful behaviour
absolutely insane! kamiya departing the sinking ship that is platinum games makes a lot more sense now. have to give it to capcom for venturing back into the realm of "experimental" and "artistic" games again they have been playing to safe with sequels for a while now, but THIS sequel is something to gasp at.
a bit underwhelming to be honest. been waiting 10 years for a new IP from ND and this didn't make the best first impression. it's likely going to turn out fine based on their track record, of course, but have to be honest... it was all a bit...trite... also, as @nessisonett mentioned, the product placement was a reach...is sony relying on some new revenue streams to pay the bills? that was uncalled for. as for the lead character, i got lev vibes all over again... this is certainly a ND game huh?
sounds like the devs are less interested in the ps5 pro than the consumers themselves haha. what a shameless display of faux hype and misleasding marketing from sony. this on top of the previous 4 years of dropping the ball is nothing less than a disaster of epic proportions. the clock is ticking and sony will need a miracle to redeem itself before the ps6 is announced. still waiting for a reason to own a ps5 some 4 years later...then again, might as well save the investment and put it towards the ps6 at this point — if it fares any better that is :S
we are at the point now where it would be beneficial if the big 3 joined forces to establish a standard console and thereby host their library on a single platform. imagine a console where you could play nintendo, playstation and xbox games? it would be a win/win for everyone involved and they could split the hardware sales 33.33% each. if anything, this would likely improve software sales for each competitior as people who otherwise wouldn't give a platform holder a chance will be more willing to experience their content. as for the ecosystem of each platform holder, there could be 3 seperate store apps built into the OS and allow nintendo, sony and microsoft to each operate independently of one another for the sake of privacy and security. this would essentially be a steam-like platform but for the console space.
and yes, nintendo and sony could still go ahead and release their own specific hardware over and above this (i.e. handheld hardware). if nintendo was concerned about losing its creative juice and innovation, there would be absolutely nothing stopping it from continuing to develop its hybrid consoles which would appeal to a seperate demographic in addition to the "partnership" console. why this has yet to happen is beyond me. but yes, a single console to rule them all is exactly what this dire gaming industry needs right now.
it's not that sony was unprepared... the shortage is by DESIGN. sony prevented a heated backlash had it not released a disc drive at all, yet it purposely limited supply so that people would either lose interest in getting one, thereby being "forced" into a digital future, or at the very least, discouraged millions of people from paying for the upgrade at all seeing as how overpriced the drive is, even when it is not being scalped. sony will NOT manufacture enough drives to meet the demand in order to coerse people to play games the way SONY wants them to. it's time to stop finding excuses and see this for what it is. when the ps6 launches, the main SKU will NOT include a disc drive. perhaps sony will pull the same stunt by offering an optional drive that is severely in short supply if only to avoid a PR disaster by not doing so. by the time the ps6 pro comes around, no drive will be offered. the ps7 will simply not have a drive period. by then, it is likely that backwards compatibility will be thrown out the window anyways and they will be selling people the same remasteres from 3 console gens ago at full price exclusively on PSN :S. my advice: embrace retro gaming and indie games... the grass is so much greener on this side
even more impressive is the fact that the switch never had a single MSRP drop in 7 years! meanwhile, the ps2 saw at least 6 price drops and eventually sold at just $99. if nintendo permanently drops the price of the switch by 20% next year, i expect it will beat the ps2 record within a couple years time. nintendo will likely keep manufacturing switch hardware until the record is beaten. that doesn't change the fact that the ps2 is the greatest console ever made, of course
@FreasurePlanten if sony were to design a modern handheld, the idea is that it would run all ps4 games and most ps5 games (with some fidelity/resolution compromises just like steam deck does) out of the box. sony would not design original games exclusively for the handheld. as such, the question on whether sony would invest enough resources to support the handheld is irrelevent when there are already thousands of ps4 and ps5 games that would run on it from day one. the old model of designing different games exclusivly for home console and/or a handheld are long over... even for nintendo. in the case of sony, if they are smart, all of our current digital libraries would run on it and there would be no reason to release carts of any kind. it would be a digital software only device like steam deck. if it happens, this is the only approach i can see sony pursuing.
looks like people are getting what they deserve for supporting sony's scummy business practices and contributing to the downfall of console gaming as we know it
if this happens, you can kiss any future dark souls games goodbye. i doubt sony would encourage fromsoftware to go back to that well when bandai namco still controls the IP and would be extracting a large percentage of the revenue. outside of earning some easy money by remaking/remastering dark souls until the end of time (should bandai namco and fromsoftware be interested in doing so), sony would likely put fromsoftware on new IP projects so that it can control the franchises and reap the rewards all for itself. if this means more creativity and fresh ideas, it will be a good thing for the studio.
@ChimpMasta i disagree with your take. it is unheard of to do a price drop on a new SKU so soon after launch. something is amiss here. don't buy into the hype.
@MrMagic it has not sold "well"...supposedly, sales have come close to the ps4 pro's launch if not exceeding them slightly (at best). in no way does that mean it's selling "well"... selling "well" relatively to what and by what standards? the ps4 pro only sold 14m units... which is just 12% of ps4's total lifetime sales so i wouldn't jump the gun and call the pro lines successful. all they have done is cause confusion and enable developers to become sloppy with the base hardware. i expect the ps5 pro to sell under 10m units due to its higher price point.
yup, it must be selling like hot cakes for them to be dropping the price after just 5 days on sale. that's how economics works heh... this reeks a failed marketing campaign, overstock and lack of demand.
nope, not good enough. needs a permanent price drop and applied to ALL SKUs other than the pro. realistically, its going to be a few more years before people bite on the ps5 if they have been on the fence this long. and all that is dependent on some killer games coming out... i.e. the apparent problem isn't just the price.
@Americansamurai1 no. they want to phase out the physical SKU and stop distributing physical media beginning with the ps6. naturally, they are going to push the idea of digital distribution down our throats until that happens. also, there is a reason why the (optional) optical drives are in short supply and impossible to find... because sony wants them to be. people should brace themselves for the ps5 being the last stop of the physical era. eh, i can see the ps6 including an optional optical drive for the sake of backwards compatibility perhaps, but outside of super limited physical runs, i think the vast majority of ps6 games will be digital only.
@NEStalgia yea, its a real shame how things have turned out for the ps5. there is a certain level of complacency that is going on in the gaming industry these days that really irks me. then you have sony banking off of this complacency in order to sell a new console SKU. this is just bad across the board. this is not what i want or expect from a gaming console, but i suppopse that ship sailed when the ps4 pro was introduced in 2016.
@KundaliniRising333 absolutely. my thoughts exactly. if the possibility of a pro model was not in the cards and the console business model had not changed in 2016 to accomodate this scapegoat way of doing things, i truly believe that developers would be trying a lot harder to release a great experience, knowing that it would be the only release on home consoles for at least 8 years. the pro models are enabling developers to become complacent to mediocre results on the base machines as they know they can just brute force their way to something better on the pro hardware. sadly, i don't think we will ever see what the base ps5 was truly capable of so long as a pro model exists.
the current state of capcom is so very sad. they are turning into s-e as far as doing the bare minimum to optimize their games. sony collusion for an easy marketing campaign on how superior the pro version is by comparison is just scummy. mh wilds is pursuing the same strategy by the looks of things.
Comments 2,665
Re: Reaction: Sony's Live Service Push Has Been a Disaster of Utterly Insane Proportions
@stu123 even if sony was so lucky to capture lightning in a bottle (better chance at winning the lottery) and carved out its own fortnite-like game, they wouldn't have a clue on how to create a road map and support it long term. the amount of resources and expense required to support such a game long term is staggering, and sony would inevitably drop the ball anyways... if not in the first year of release, by year 2 and surely by year 3. all these big companies chase after the big trands, but haven't got a clue on what it takes to support the monster that they create.
Re: Reaction: Sony's Live Service Push Has Been a Disaster of Utterly Insane Proportions
at this stage, i do not regret for a moment in not purchasing a ps5. the software library generally hasn't appealled to me and the few notable releases were cross gen on ps4 anyways so i'm good. glad i saved my cash and will likely put it towards a switch 2. having never owned a switch, there will be a plethora of great games available for me on day one. ps5 has been a joke and i will take a wait and see approach on the ps6.
make no mistake, the next 4 years of sony 1st party will be miserable. outside of the ghost of tsushima sequel and intergelactic (reveal didn't impress me), i wouldn't expect much other than santa monica's next game and perhaps 2-3 additional single player games, plus all the live service bullcrap they intend to put out there. this is not MY playstation or why i became a fan back in the 90s. they lost me completely.
but on the bright side, sony's massive failure this gen will make them do better out of obligation next time around. they have no other choice but to go back to what they do best and that will beneift playstation gamers everywhere. for now, playstation is going to just hang on by a thread until this cycle comes to an end. hopefully the next console is due in 3 years instead of 4, if not sooner.
Re: Sony Cancels Bluepoint, Bend Studio PS5 Games, One Being a Live-Service God of War Title
people shouldn't be surprised by this news at all. when jim told us there were 20 live service games in development, he was basically telling us that he bet the farm on this endevour. learning of last of us online being cancelled should signal that everything or anything being cancelled is fair game. and so it was.
i'm glad herman is making these tough decisions because the alternative is far worse: releasing these terrible games with even more resources invested, having them flop and the community losing even more trust in playstation than they already have. might as well cut your losses here and now in knowing that all these service games were hot trash ideas to begin with.
now, get bluepoint on another remake already. i'll take legend of dragoon. as for bend, if they want to make a day's gone sequel, for the love of god, allow them to. you got any better ideas, sony?
Re: Why Hasn't Sony Done Anything with Bloodborne? Shuhei Yoshida Has a Theory
weak response to such an old and exhausting topic. not much else to say about it.
Re: Video Game Industry 'Doesn't Want a Game Pass', Says Market Analyst
@nomither6 data has been released that only 20% of gamers who start a game ever complete them. i assure you that gamespass will only make games more disposable and the completion rates will fall even further. gamespass ultimate is already very expensive at $276CAD here in canada. you could purchase a ton of great games for that amount (especially if you plan to buy older or used games) and play them on your own watch over a number of years without the artificial time constraints found on all the subscriptions services.
Re: PlayStation Fans Want The Simpsons: Hit & Run, GTA, God of War Back on PS Plus Classics
i don't get it. instead of paying a premium and begging sony to re-release these classic games, why not pick up a ps2/ps3/psp/vita etc and you know, play the games you want to play? there are many upscalers available these days that will allow you to play your ps2 games on a modern display as well. if you really want to play these games, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from doing so.
Re: Video Game Industry 'Doesn't Want a Game Pass', Says Market Analyst
as time goes on and life becomes even more financially difficult for many people, gamespass subscribers will decline. as we have already seen on multiple ocassions, subscription plans just keep increasing in price. its become far too expensive to be a set it and forget it sort of deal. gaming was always meant to be a fun pastime, not the outrageous expense and sacrifice of time that it has become more recently. the value of the subscription is only as good as the time you put into it and it appears that "time" is also in very low supply these days with so many other entertainment outlets fighting for it.
Re: Lunar Remastered Collection Brings Two Classic RPGs to PS4 in April
@BlueLobster yes! but they are changing the dub with this one
Re: Lunar Remastered Collection Brings Two Classic RPGs to PS4 in April
no physical release huh? i'm currently playing lunar 1 at this very moment since it was in my backlog for years and the remaster announcement pushed me to finally play it. after 20 hours of gameplay: fun game and very charming, but it can be a grind fest at times (even with the re-tooled "unworking designs" balance mod). the sprites look great running on ps3 via 4k tv... i don't see how a remaster will improve the experience unless they made some QoL changes which i highly doubt (the menu UI needs an overhaul, especially when it comes to equipping and sharing items with the party). this remaster makes the games more acessible? yes, but it's not like my ps1/ps2/ps3 were ever innaccessible to begin with haha. if you are a retro gamer, remasters really don't have a lot to offer other than speeding up the combat which is a god send feature.
Re: Death Stranding 2 PS5 Enters Crunch Period, Hideo Kojima Questions How Much Longer He Can Do It For
i'm glad kojima has been given the opportunity to create the game of his dreams. unfortunately for me, death stranding wasn't exactly my kind of game or what i want to see from him. hopefully kojima will return to the stealth genre one last time (has already been rumoured for his next game)... but if it doesn't work out that way, that is fine as well. he has given more than enough to the gaming industry.
Re: PS5 Pro Bettered as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Reveals PC Specs, Features
you mean 120fps for the 1% of pc owners who have the hardware required to meet the specs? gotcha.
i find it truly strange how people refer to "pc gaming", as if that entire space is made up of gamers on cutting edge hardware, including the latest $2000 video cards and 4k displays. guess what, it's not what you think it is over there. 50%+ of steam users are still gaming at 1080p resolution with the comparable specs of a ps4.
Re: The State of the UK's Physical Games Market Might Explain PS5 Pro's Lack of Disc Drive
the only thing this data tells me is that the majority of gamers are either:
A) lazy — would rather pay more for something (that is less valuable) because of convenience.
B) come from a pc-centric background where physical media was stripped away decades ago and that culture has seeped into the console space.
C) simply don't understand the repercussions their buying habits will have in the long term — a digital-only marketplace will only make gaming more expensive and more curated than ever.
as we know, there are certain publishers that simply do not drop their prices beyond a certain threshhold even for titles that are 5+ years old. nintendo, activison and fromsoftware titles come to mind among others (i.e. cheaptest price for elden ring digitally is $48CAD but i picked up a new physical copy at walmart for $30CAD). why be at the mercy of digital storefront pricing when you can hunt down a new or used physical copy elsewhere at 30-50% cheaper? then i can sell the game on the second hand market and use that cash to buy a different game if i so choose... or i can hold onto the game and see the value increase over time (in some cases) making it an unexpected investment with a profitable return. whatever the case, it is my choice what i decide to do with the games that i OWN physically. it's just insane that more people don't understand this simple concept or just don't care. to make matters worse, there are people championing a digital-only future, as if it bothers them that physical media even exists and some people prefer it.
this isn't just about games, though. most people don't seem to have a problem throwing away their rights and freedoms when it comes to everything in their lives.
Re: Your First Look at Virtua Fighter PS5 Will Drop Jaws
it excplicitly states it's "not actual gameplay" guys so take a breather haha. no fighting game can flow like that and likely never will unless its an orchestrated fight and both players have practiced together for weeks to time the counters haha.
Re: Talking Point: Is PlayStation Right in Saying PC Isn't a 'Major Risk' to Console Business?
it will be a problem for sony once they realize a massive number of people are pirating their games on day one. as cost of living goes up and you remove the option to play games on physical media (via used game sales, more competitive pricing and lending out to friends etc), yes, sony will take a major hit financially. that is the reason why rockstar doesn't port its games to pc for YEARS after the console release. piracy. plain and simple.
sony is acting smug right now, even though they have nothing to be proud of. they won this console generation by doing nothing noteworthy other than beat up on its "competition" which was already bleeding at the nose and down for the count before this generation even began. this "victory" was not earned in any capacity. congratulations, you are the winner when you haven't had any real competition for the past 15 years as a result of xbox shooting itself in the foot time and time again. sony porting its games to PC on day one will be the biggest mistake it ever makes.
Re: Unfortunately, PS5's Disc Drive Add-On Shortage Doesn't Seem to Be Getting Better
little by little, people are being conditioned to "accept" a digital future and throw away their physical games library. soon, the majority of gamers will be at the mercy of the publishers and they will realize that they made a grave mistake in adopting a format that they literally have no control over.
games will be getting de-listed on digital storefronts more often with no real way of obtaining them (other than through piracy). even worse, publishers will have less incentive in offering sales on digital-only software when there is no longer competition from the traditional retailers or second hand marketplaces. so, you are running into a situation where piracy will likely increase significantly in the coming years as many people lived and died by the used game market of physcal media and/or purchasing their games physically which often times is cheaper than the lowest price point offered by most digital storefronts.
on one hand, the publishers will be salivating and frothing at the mouth by the new found power they have at their disposal in price setting; on the other hand, they will face sales declines due to an increase in piracy and gamers simply not being in a financial position to pay up the inflated prices. at the end of the day, we are talking about petty entertainment here... and with the cost of living always, always, always going up, people are going to resort to life necessities over gaming when things get bad enough. this has the potential to completely disrupt the gaming industry in ways we have never seen, especially when you consider how vulenerable and unsustainable the AAA space has been for the past 10 years now. this means less AAA games, less risks, more mindless sequels, more nickel and diming, more publishers and developers being shut down...
when the ps6 launches, i'll likely not be in a rush to purchase one considering how poorly everything has gone this console generation. but, it is likely that sony will release a digital-only SKU of the ps6 with an "optional" disc drive to please the masses like they did with the ps5 pro. this will be yet another PR stunt, but i would definitely learn from the current situation and purchase the disc drive ASAP as it is likely to sell out and never come back again after that. just like physical gaming media. in case i ever pick up a ps6, i'll at least have the disc drive for backwards compatibility of ps4/ps5 games. as for ps6 games, it's likely that we will only be getting a fraction of the ps6 library released on disc.
Re: Game of the Year: Push Square Readers' 20 Most Anticipated PS5 Games of 2025
@ear_wig it probably shouldn't be seeing as a 2025 release would be wishful thinking.
Re: Game of the Year: Push Square Readers' 20 Most Anticipated PS5 Games of 2025
genuinely shocked that gta6 didn't run away with it.
as for death stranding 2, if kojima chose not to radically change up the gameplay, i think it is destined to be a financial failure. it appears that there were many, many people who didn't jive with the first game (for good reason) and who otherwise were big kojima fans as a result of his work with the mgs franchise. those same people will absolutely NOT be taking a chance on death stranding 2 after feeling bummed by the first game. seeing as death stranding 1 only sold 5m copies, i expect the sequel to reach 3m at best (if the core mechanics of the game are the same). for a AAA game of this magnitude (not to mention all the hollywood actors he has lined up again), i don't see a world where that can possibly result in a net profit for sony or kojima productions. BUT, hopefully kojima has a trick up his sleeve and will subvert expectations with this one. as it stand, i personally have very low interest in it currently.
outside of a handful of games, 2025 doesn't look too eventful. but perhaps gta6 alone will be enough to keep the AAA industry afloat for another year.
Re: Random: Assassin's Creed Origins Catching Strays as Ubisoft Review Bombing Gets Underway
instead of being irrational and review bombing for reasons that have nothing to do with the actual game content itself, simply seek "other" means of playing the game. you already purchased it, so downloading a "clone" copy (on a different build that might work) is technically not considered piracy. but of course, these individuals are likely not even interested in the game and were just looking for another excuse to be toxic online...
Re: Unfazed by Concord, Sony Doubles Down on Exploring Service Games
no, sony is very fazed by concord, actually. their shareholders are which means sony is out of obligation. don't believe the PR...
Re: Stellar Blade Dev Says It Hopes Everyone Is 'Living in Love' After Naughty Dog Artist's Interpretation of Eve Is Unfairly Criticised
@PuppetMaster not likely as you would be playing with fire in allowing employees to express themselves without a filter (everything is perceived as political these days), which in turn could have a negative repurcussions to the business side of sony as a company. yes, i did say this PR stunt backfired for them.
Re: Stellar Blade Dev Says It Hopes Everyone Is 'Living in Love' After Naughty Dog Artist's Interpretation of Eve Is Unfairly Criticised
@PuppetMaster if you work for sony or ND, there is a very high chance that it requires approval from the PR department, fan art or not. it wouldn't surprise me if this was an intentional move to calm the storm at ND and generate some "good will".
Re: Stellar Blade Dev Says It Hopes Everyone Is 'Living in Love' After Naughty Dog Artist's Interpretation of Eve Is Unfairly Criticised
this actually comes across as a PR move by ND to show the world that they can in fact create a "normal" looking anime inspired female character and that they have no issue with it, despite how they have gone about it in their latest works. but that appears to have backfired on them. until ND releases a game of their own which adheres to the more traditional interpretation of video game protagonist, they are going to have a rough time with that 10% of the gaming community i mean, this might get to a breaking point where sony has to intervene and have a heart to hear with druckman. at the end of the day, this is about money and if druckman's vision is going to put a damper on the profitablilty of the product, people at sony are inevitably going to pull the chord. if not now, down the line. its just a matter of how long they are going to allow this to continue. it's no secret that the last of us part 2 underpeformed for a myriad of reasons...
Re: Nomura Known as 'Demon King of Retakes' During Final Fantasy 7 Dev
@PuppetMaster no doubt, he had high standards. he moved up the ranks of squaresoft incredibly quickly by the looks of things. it's just that nomura wouldn't have the final call for anything related to ff7 (1997) as he had his own superiors to adhere to at that time.
Re: Nomura Known as 'Demon King of Retakes' During Final Fantasy 7 Dev
strange, since nomura was primarily the character artist at that time. kitase directed ff7 (1997). if anything, it would be kitase and sakaguchi who were perfectionists and worked the team hard to achieve the finished results... far more so than nomura at any rate.
Re: SEGA Is Pondering a PS Plus-Esque Subscription of Its Own
@Koren616 their mini consoles have done well for them. in the case of the dreamcast and saturn, they are probably waiting for an adequate board to be available that is financially feasible and able to run the games optimally. i doubt they will want to sell a mini console that exceeds $150USD so its just a matter of sourcing the necessary compnents and/or waiting until they are cheap enough. i'd expect the saturn (and possibly the dreamcast) mini's to be limited to japan, though, due to their failure in the west upon their original release.
Re: SEGA Is Pondering a PS Plus-Esque Subscription of Its Own
i find it very odd that sega, after selling the bulk of its legacy titles via compilations and digital releases, suddenly felt it was necessary to pull the plug and delist them... in the hopes that people will PANIC and subscribe to their new service. would it be too "honest" of sega to offer an option to its loyal fans instead of forcing this initiative down their throat? of course it would. i hope you guys were able to snatch up that sega genesis classics disc (ps4) before sega pulled the digital listing (that release is surely to go up in value now so that's good!) or picked up a genesis mini when they were available... or one of the many other classic compilations (too many to list here) over the past several decades, dating back to the ps2? the point is, there is no reason to subscribe to a service if you already own the majority of sega's legacy catalogue. probably better off emulating them anyways for optimal performance. and surely, this is not the way to go about it if you don't want to piss off or alienate your fans.
Re: New PS4 Games Release Dates in 2025
one year later and the ps4 is STILL the gift that keeps on giving! the only thing the ps5 has on it is the possibility of gta vi releasing in 2025! but imagine a cruel twist of fate where gta vi released on the ps5 AND ps4 haha... that would be something to see
Re: Industry Analyst Argues Either Sony or Microsoft Will Need to Exit the Console Market
this analyst just woke up after a long slumber i assume. xbox has gotten trounced by its competition for 3 of its 4 console cycles and yet here they are, doing their thing. nintendo got trounced 2 of its last 4 console cycles (not including its dedicated handhelds) and surprise, surprise, they are still around and perfoming amazingly well with the switch. would it surprise me if microsoft didn't make a console next gen and focused entirely on software? of course not. that seems like the right decision. but after more than 20 years of 3 direct competitors fluctuating all over the place in the console space, it is absurd to say that there was only room for two players. if that was the case, nintendo would have exited the console space after the gamecube or wii u, right? or microsoft would have dropped out after the x1 generation. sony has been the only console maker with consistent hardware sales 4 console cycles in a row... but even if you are a distant third in sales, you can still carve out a niche and be successful enough to keep things going. if we ever get to a point where nintendo is in a distant 3rd place and only selling 20m units of its latest console, i have no doubt that would be more than enough for nintendo to continue its venture.
Re: Intergalactic PS5 Is Naughty Dog's Wildest, Most Creative Story Yet
sorry to break it to y'all, but akira actually relied on sponsors to FUND the production, hence why the branding was featured in the film. it was purposeful. comparing a film that REQUIRED sponsors for its existence to a $500m ND game makes no sense whatsoever. it sounds like sony has decided to experiment with a new revenue stream for the sake of making more money, at the expense of the "art". it is immersion breaking and i know i'm not alone with those sentiments. attempts to defend something as jarring as a porsche spaceship as well thought out and meaningful is frankly, embarassing. ND and sony should be ashamed.
Re: Onimusha: Way of the Sword Brings Capcom's Iconic Action Series Back on PS5
this is a very surprising announcement because capcom couldn't even be bothered to port the remaining onimusha games to modern platforms. after they released the remaster to the first game, there wasn't even a whisper. people speculated that meant it sold poorly and the franchise was officially dead. what strange behaviour then to secretly be working on a new entry without porting the other 3 games? huh... let's see how closely capcom goes back to onimusha's survival horror roots vs the more action based sequels... this will be interesting.
Re: Okami Sequel Announced by Capcom
@ApostateMage i'm ashamed to admit that i never played okami all the way through... been on the backlog forever, but this announcement will certainly give me the push to finally correct this shameful behaviour
Re: Okami Sequel Announced by Capcom
absolutely insane! kamiya departing the sinking ship that is platinum games makes a lot more sense now. have to give it to capcom for venturing back into the realm of "experimental" and "artistic" games again they have been playing to safe with sequels for a while now, but THIS sequel is something to gasp at.
Re: Naughty Dog's New PS5 Game Is Finally Announced, Sci-Fi Action Title Intergalactic
a bit underwhelming to be honest. been waiting 10 years for a new IP from ND and this didn't make the best first impression. it's likely going to turn out fine based on their track record, of course, but have to be honest... it was all a bit...trite... also, as @nessisonett mentioned, the product placement was a reach...is sony relying on some new revenue streams to pay the bills? that was uncalled for. as for the lead character, i got lev vibes all over again... this is certainly a ND game huh?
Re: Avatar Dev Will Let You Turn Off PSSR as It Fixes Poor PS5 Pro Patch
sounds like the devs are less interested in the ps5 pro than the consumers themselves haha. what a shameless display of faux hype and misleasding marketing from sony. this on top of the previous 4 years of dropping the ball is nothing less than a disaster of epic proportions. the clock is ticking and sony will need a miracle to redeem itself before the ps6 is announced. still waiting for a reason to own a ps5 some 4 years later...then again, might as well save the investment and put it towards the ps6 at this point — if it fares any better that is :S
Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Thinks the Days of Consoles Are Numbered
we are at the point now where it would be beneficial if the big 3 joined forces to establish a standard console and thereby host their library on a single platform. imagine a console where you could play nintendo, playstation and xbox games? it would be a win/win for everyone involved and they could split the hardware sales 33.33% each. if anything, this would likely improve software sales for each competitior as people who otherwise wouldn't give a platform holder a chance will be more willing to experience their content. as for the ecosystem of each platform holder, there could be 3 seperate store apps built into the OS and allow nintendo, sony and microsoft to each operate independently of one another for the sake of privacy and security. this would essentially be a steam-like platform but for the console space.
and yes, nintendo and sony could still go ahead and release their own specific hardware over and above this (i.e. handheld hardware). if nintendo was concerned about losing its creative juice and innovation, there would be absolutely nothing stopping it from continuing to develop its hybrid consoles which would appeal to a seperate demographic in addition to the "partnership" console. why this has yet to happen is beyond me. but yes, a single console to rule them all is exactly what this dire gaming industry needs right now.
Re: PS5 Disc Drive Stock Still a Source of Intense Irritation for Many
it's not that sony was unprepared... the shortage is by DESIGN. sony prevented a heated backlash had it not released a disc drive at all, yet it purposely limited supply so that people would either lose interest in getting one, thereby being "forced" into a digital future, or at the very least, discouraged millions of people from paying for the upgrade at all seeing as how overpriced the drive is, even when it is not being scalped. sony will NOT manufacture enough drives to meet the demand in order to coerse people to play games the way SONY wants them to. it's time to stop finding excuses and see this for what it is. when the ps6 launches, the main SKU will NOT include a disc drive. perhaps sony will pull the same stunt by offering an optional drive that is severely in short supply if only to avoid a PR disaster by not doing so. by the time the ps6 pro comes around, no drive will be offered. the ps7 will simply not have a drive period. by then, it is likely that backwards compatibility will be thrown out the window anyways and they will be selling people the same remasteres from 3 console gens ago at full price exclusively on PSN :S. my advice: embrace retro gaming and indie games... the grass is so much greener on this side
Re: As the Switch Closes in, Sony Confirms PS2 Sold 160 Million Units
even more impressive is the fact that the switch never had a single MSRP drop in 7 years! meanwhile, the ps2 saw at least 6 price drops and eventually sold at just $99. if nintendo permanently drops the price of the switch by 20% next year, i expect it will beat the ps2 record within a couple years time. nintendo will likely keep manufacturing switch hardware until the record is beaten. that doesn't change the fact that the ps2 is the greatest console ever made, of course
Re: Talking Point: Would You Want a Steam Deck-Like Portable PlayStation?
@FreasurePlanten if sony were to design a modern handheld, the idea is that it would run all ps4 games and most ps5 games (with some fidelity/resolution compromises just like steam deck does) out of the box. sony would not design original games exclusively for the handheld. as such, the question on whether sony would invest enough resources to support the handheld is irrelevent when there are already thousands of ps4 and ps5 games that would run on it from day one. the old model of designing different games exclusivly for home console and/or a handheld are long over... even for nintendo. in the case of sony, if they are smart, all of our current digital libraries would run on it and there would be no reason to release carts of any kind. it would be a digital software only device like steam deck. if it happens, this is the only approach i can see sony pursuing.
Re: Disgruntled PS5 Pro Owners Campaign to Disable Support After Slew of Shoddy Patches
looks like people are getting what they deserve for supporting sony's scummy business practices and contributing to the downfall of console gaming as we know it
Re: Feature: Why Would Sony Want to Buy Kadokawa?
if this happens, you can kiss any future dark souls games goodbye. i doubt sony would encourage fromsoftware to go back to that well when bandai namco still controls the IP and would be extracting a large percentage of the revenue. outside of earning some easy money by remaking/remastering dark souls until the end of time (should bandai namco and fromsoftware be interested in doing so), sony would likely put fromsoftware on new IP projects so that it can control the franchises and reap the rewards all for itself. if this means more creativity and fresh ideas, it will be a good thing for the studio.
Re: UK Retailers Are All Discounting the PS5 Pro Already
@MrMagic right. the portal is doing so great that sony doesn't want to announce sales figures
Re: UK Retailers Are All Discounting the PS5 Pro Already
@ChimpMasta i disagree with your take. it is unheard of to do a price drop on a new SKU so soon after launch. something is amiss here. don't buy into the hype.
Re: UK Retailers Are All Discounting the PS5 Pro Already
@MrMagic it has not sold "well"...supposedly, sales have come close to the ps4 pro's launch if not exceeding them slightly (at best). in no way does that mean it's selling "well"... selling "well" relatively to what and by what standards? the ps4 pro only sold 14m units... which is just 12% of ps4's total lifetime sales so i wouldn't jump the gun and call the pro lines successful. all they have done is cause confusion and enable developers to become sloppy with the base hardware. i expect the ps5 pro to sell under 10m units due to its higher price point.
Re: UK Retailers Are All Discounting the PS5 Pro Already
yup, it must be selling like hot cakes for them to be dropping the price after just 5 days on sale. that's how economics works heh... this reeks a failed marketing campaign, overstock and lack of demand.
Re: LEGO Horizon Adventures (PS5) - Dull Design Lets Down This Gorgeous Spin-Off
got exactly what it deserved. textbook cashgrab medicority
Re: PS5 Slim Price Drop Confirmed, $380 Until 24th December
nope, not good enough. needs a permanent price drop and applied to ALL SKUs other than the pro. realistically, its going to be a few more years before people bite on the ps5 if they have been on the fence this long. and all that is dependent on some killer games coming out... i.e. the apparent problem isn't just the price.
Re: PS5 Slim Price Drop Confirmed, $380 Until 24th December
@Americansamurai1 no. they want to phase out the physical SKU and stop distributing physical media beginning with the ps6. naturally, they are going to push the idea of digital distribution down our throats until that happens. also, there is a reason why the (optional) optical drives are in short supply and impossible to find... because sony wants them to be. people should brace themselves for the ps5 being the last stop of the physical era. eh, i can see the ps6 including an optional optical drive for the sake of backwards compatibility perhaps, but outside of super limited physical runs, i think the vast majority of ps6 games will be digital only.
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 Set to Run Significantly Better on PS5 Pro, Early Footage Reveals
@NEStalgia yea, its a real shame how things have turned out for the ps5. there is a certain level of complacency that is going on in the gaming industry these days that really irks me. then you have sony banking off of this complacency in order to sell a new console SKU. this is just bad across the board. this is not what i want or expect from a gaming console, but i suppopse that ship sailed when the ps4 pro was introduced in 2016.
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 Set to Run Significantly Better on PS5 Pro, Early Footage Reveals
@KundaliniRising333 absolutely. my thoughts exactly. if the possibility of a pro model was not in the cards and the console business model had not changed in 2016 to accomodate this scapegoat way of doing things, i truly believe that developers would be trying a lot harder to release a great experience, knowing that it would be the only release on home consoles for at least 8 years. the pro models are enabling developers to become complacent to mediocre results on the base machines as they know they can just brute force their way to something better on the pro hardware. sadly, i don't think we will ever see what the base ps5 was truly capable of so long as a pro model exists.
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 Set to Run Significantly Better on PS5 Pro, Early Footage Reveals
the current state of capcom is so very sad. they are turning into s-e as far as doing the bare minimum to optimize their games. sony collusion for an easy marketing campaign on how superior the pro version is by comparison is just scummy. mh wilds is pursuing the same strategy by the looks of things.