Sony needs to bring cloud streaming to more regions around the world because, right now, this feature isn't accessible in many major countries. They could sell a lot more PS Portals and make it a viable alternative to the PS5 in low-income territories if they actually put in the effort to expand cloud gaming's reach.
@SodaPop6548 Tbh I don't see how Microsoft had anything to do with Avalanche being "ruined." Avalanche pitched Contraband to Microsoft, worked on it for several years, and made nothing of substance. Worst of all, the game wasn't even good in the first place, it was just gonna be a co-op live service heist game like Payday or something. Chances are it would've flopped.
Just Cause, meanwhile, is owned by Square Enix, if I remember correctly. So Avalanche would probably have to ask them to make a new Just Cause game.
@Northern_munkey Push Square is still better than a lot of other places/forums because it's an isolated community and it's moderated well, for the most part. Sometimes my comments get deleted by the mods, and while I disagree with that sometimes, I understand that they're just trying to prevent the comments on this site from devolving into toxic arguments.
@CWill97 RGG recasted Pierre Taki shortly after Judgment's release in Japan, and it only took them a short amount of time to do so. They could recast Kagawa without delaying Kiwami 3 if they really wanted to, but it's clear they don't.
@Rich33 I think Kagawa and the rest just settled the ordeal out of court. His victims never tried to press charges on him, even though one of them said that they got PTSD from the incident.
I could be wrong, but I believe the person that Kagawa didn't apologize to is also the same person shown in the photos where Kagawa is grabbing her hair. So I don't think Kagawa's refusal to apologize to her stems from a lack of evidence.
@Rich33 It seems that Kagawa only apologized to one of his victims, and he has refused to apologize to the other. According to one report, he even compared his crimes to that of his cousin, Ichikawa Ennosuke IV (who not only sexually harassed several women and bullied his coworkers, but also unalived his parents and tried to unalive himself as part of some assisted s**cide plan), and said that they weren't that bad. So he doesn't really regret his actions. He was apparently drunk during both incidents, which occurred on the same day I think.
@Oram77 I would argue that the main reason why Kagawa's misdeeds got more attention than the rest is because people were upset about RGG recasting Hamazaki and Rikiya, so they looked up the new VAs online and happened to stumble upon reports about his past actions.
It's possible that the backlash towards Kagawa wouldn't have been as strong, had RGG not modeled Hamazaki's face after Kagawa's and just reused his old character design. Same with Rikiya and Nakahara.
While Kagawa is an a-hole and I hate how RGG's dumb decision to cast him has ruined all discussions surrounding Kiwami 3, I can't help but feel that the only reason why people care about this so much is because this boycott was popularized on social media, and not solely because of morals.
Kiwami 3 is certainly not the only Yakuza game in which RGG has cast questionable people for their roles. The original voice actor for Hamazaki also did some shady stuff, and the Japanese voice actor for Bryce Papenbrook in Infinite Wealth did some disgusting things that were arguably even worse than what Kagawa did. And yet, no one in the Yakuza fandom cared or bothered to bring up the reprehensible things they did online.
It seems to me that the backlash towards Kagawa, while justified, is almost performative. Like, if people weren't posting #REMOVEKAGAWA everywhere, half of the individuals who are boycotting the game wouldn't be boycotting it in the first place and simply wouldn't care enough to avoid buying the game. You could argue that people didn't know about the pasts of those actors, but even if they did, would they still be boycotting the game if the backlash towards them wasn't publicized online?
It's sort of like a peer pressure thing. If a lot of other people decide that something is deserving of a boycott, then you should boycott too.
@SeaDaVie The difference is Pierre Taki was actually arrested for doing cocaine, while Kagawa was never arrested. That's why RGG fired the former, but not the latter. They won't really care about what their actors did in the past unless they actually got in trouble legally for it.
@darkswabber I could be wrong, but I don't think they fired anyone for smoking weed. Hiroki Narimiya, the original voice actor for Tanimura, was falsely accused of doing cocaine, and he retired as a result. RGG recast him later on, maybe because they couldn't get the rights to use his likeness again. Keep in mind, the original Tanimura's face was modeled after Hiroki's.
I wonder if these games would be remade if Xbox never went multiplatform? Would we be getting Halo 7 by now, or would Microsoft still try to sell remakes of Halo 1-3 to the existing Xbox user base?
@Shinnok789 The Last of Us are more like action-adventure games with horror elements than straight-up horror games. The narrative focuses too much on drama for it to be classified as horror IMO. Which isn't a bad thing, by the way.
@Dalamar Seriously, DDLC is one of the few horror games that actually freaked me out lol. I get scared and tense when playing the average horror game, of course, but they're usually not legitimately disturbing. DDLC was, however.
It's been almost a decade since I played the game, but I still remember the scenes involving two of the main characters' you-know-whats because they felt unnervingly realistic.
I'd say TikTok is competing for people's time, but it isn't necessarily a direct competitor to PlayStation or any other gaming company. The problem with TikTok specifically is that it sucks up kids' time more than many other forms of media, which is why it's so dangerous.
Great write-up, though, Sammy. I really like how you did a bunch of research for this piece.
@Ainu20 I didn't intend to misrepresent your words, so sorry if that seemed like the case.
"Three major releases, one of which as decorated as Astro Bot, is not a negligible fraction."
Here, you were basically saying that these three games ARE a negligible fraction of games not available on PC, so I though it would make sense to say that you're "acting like these games are a third of Sony's output." I used the words "as if" here to stress that this was just a comparison. I didn't mean to say you literally believe these games are a third of Sony's output.
Sony definitely values their platform, but not to the extent that they will sacrifice their multiplatform ambitions to do so, as you've said. If multiplatform releases did start hurting their bottom line, they'd probably start being more cautious with their ports rather than "abandoning the non-exclusive strategy in a heartbeat." Sony cannot afford to NOT be multiplatform. Putting games on PC isn't a choice, it's something they have to do to reach more users. And, so far, it's working.
@Ainu20 Sorry for the lengthy comments, but here's the second part of my response:
I think you're greatly overestimating how much Sony prioritizes their platform, and greatly underestimating how much Sony values PC and other platforms. Sony has already realized that they can't attract more players to the PlayStation ecosystem beyond the 120-140 million threshold that they've already reached, hence why they're bringing games to PC (and even Xbox/Nintendo) in the first place. Like every corporation, PlayStation has to grow indefinitely, and considering their games are more expensive to make and less profitable than Nintendo's, they can't do that by keeping their games permanently exclusive to PlayStation.
The entire crux of your argument is baseless, in my opinion, because, as I said before, Demon's Souls, Astro Bot, and GT7 skipping PC almost certainly has nothing to do with Sony valuing their platform or something. Otherwise, God of War and every other major PlayStation franchise wouldn't be available on Steam right now. Those three games are likely incidental exclusives, like Keeper and South of Midnight.
Also important to note that PC releases haven't harmed the success of the PlayStation 5 in the slightest. In fact, the PS5 is the most profitable console that Sony has ever released. So there's little reason to assume that putting everything on PC, as they are already doing, is going to hurt PlayStation in the slightest.
Thinking that Sony is gonna abandon PC releases in a heartbeat anytime soon, is a pipe dream IMO.
@Ainu20 "Sony's output has not exactly been prolific this generation" Perhaps, but it's way more than just a few games. You act as if these three games are a third of Sony's entire output this gen, when that isn't really true.
If we look at all the new stuff that Sony has released for the PS5 between 2020 and 2024, you can see that they've published 18 different games (excluding MLB The Show and VR titles). This includes remakes like Until Dawn and The Last of Us Part 1, since I'd consider them "new" titles.
Out of those 18 games, Demon's Souls, Destruction AllStars, GT7, and Astro Bot are the only titles that have yet to release on PC. Though, tbh, I think including Astro Bot here is kind of misleading, since the game isn't even old in the first place. It very well could still come to PC in a year or two, so its absence on PC doesn't really mean anything yet.
@Ainu20 Technically, you could argue it's case-by-case, but I'd say there's a difference between putting all of your heavy hitters on PC vs putting some games here and there on PC.
The difference in question here, in my opinion, is intent. I think it's pretty obvious that Sony wants to bring all of its games to PC eventually, so long as the port is financially or strategically feasible. That's not the same thing as Sony not wanting to commit to full PC support and deliberately wanting to keep games exclusive to PlayStation, as your first few comments seemed to suggest.
And also, I could ask you the same thing. Why do you want to insist that Sony doesn't plan to bring all of its games to PC, and why are you intent on disagreeing with me and HonestHick? It's a strange hill to die on IMO, especially considering what HonestHick said in their first comment wasn't all that wrong. The fact of the matter is, Sony does only focus on timed exclusives, and a few exceptions don't really change that.
@ButterySmooth30FPS A couple of 4-5 year old games didn't come to PC, even though God of War and The Last of Us did, so that must mean Sony doesn't actually plan to bring all their games to PC!
@Ainu20 Well, considering that Sony has brought virtually every major PlayStation franchise under the sun to PC, from God of War and The Last of Us to Ghost of Tsushima and Uncharted, I would disagree. I think Sony's plan is to bring ALL of their games to PC, but sometimes there may be exceptions that prevent that from happening.
Maybe GT7 has licensing issues that prevent it from being ported to other platforms. Maybe Bluepoint and Nixxes didn't have the bandwidth to bring Demon's Souls to PC near the time of its release, but now that the game is old, Sony doesn't think it's worth porting anymore (the game didn't sell that well on PS5, anyways). Maybe Astro Bot can't be ported over due to its reliance on the DualSense (even though you can connect a DualSense to your PC).
I bring this up because, realistically speaking, there is no real incentive for Sony to bring their heavy-hitters like God of War and The Last of Us to PC, but keep GT7, Demon's Souls, and Astro Bot exclusive forever.
A similar thing applies to MS and their Xbox games. There's no real incentive for Microsoft to keep Keeper and South of Midnight exclusive to Xbox but put Halo on PS5. These games, along with PlayStation titles like Demon's Souls and GT7, are almost certainly incidental exclusives, not games that Sony and Microsoft deliberately decided to keep exclusive.
@Ainu20 The facts indicate that Sony has brought nearly every single game it has released in the last 5 years to PC. That, to me, indicates that Sony's plan is to bring every single one of its games to PC. Exceptions may occur on rare occasions, but that doesn't mean it's not Sony's plan.
Using your logic, I could argue that Microsoft doesn't actually plan to go completely multiplatform and bring ALL of its games to PlayStation/Nintendo consoles, because it has never outright committed to doing so. And there are some recent Xbox games that have yet to be announced for PlayStation.
I think you and I can both agree, though, that that is a stupid argument to make, because it's obvious that Microsoft plans to bring all of their games to as many platforms as possible. Just because something like Redfall doesn't get ported to PS5, doesn't mean that's not the plan.
@Ainu20 I don't know how you can argue that Sony isn't bringing ALL their games to PC going forward, when literally almost all of their games have gone to PC.
Again, you're acting as if, just because there are a few exceptions from 4-5 years ago, that Sony isn't putting their entire slate on PC. The general expectation most gamers have is all Sony games will come to PC a year or more after their initial release on PS5. There's no reason to believe that this expectation should be changed.
If games like Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, Wolverine, or Intergalactic also never come to PC, then sure, you could make that argument. But until then, it doesn't really make sense to do so.
HonestHick isn't completely right about Sony having no exclusives whatsoever, but yes, Sony has abolished true permanent console exclusives. They don't make exclusives in the way that Nintendo does, that ship has sailed.
Sony's model of exclusivity is not the same as Microsoft's (it never was), but my point is, if you're gonna claim that Sony doesn't actually intend to put all their games on PC just because of a few exceptions, you could make the same exact argument about Microsoft putting all their games on PlayStation consoles, since not every recent Xbox game is on PlayStation.
@Lowdefal From Microsoft's point of view, you get higher profit margins from selling games on other platforms in the short term than you do by selling your own hardware at a loss. Long-term, though, may be a different story.
Then again, despite everything PlayStation has done, they are nowhere close to having a 30% profit margin. Seems that can only be accomplished by being a third-party publisher.
@Ainu20 By that logic, you could argue that Xbox still has exclusives as well, considering that there is no sign of games like Battletoads, Gears Tactics, Keeper, South of Midnight, or Tell Me Why coming to PlayStation. Or how Forza Horizon 6 is launching on Xbox and PC first, despite being announced for PlayStation. Of course, though, we know that Microsoft plans to bring as many of their games to other platforms as possible, so this doesn't mean they actually care about exclusives or something.
The same thing applies to Sony and it's strategy for PC ports. Sony has brought almost every game it's released in the last 5 years to PC, and it will continue to do so. There isn't anything that suggests that they've suddenly changed their minds and don't plan to bring their games to PC anymore. Astro Bot aside, all of the games you listed are relatively old titles.
Just because there's a few exceptions to the rule doesn't mean the rule doesn't exist.
@nessisonett Problem is, it's sometimes hard to discern the difference between an AI-generated comment and a non-AI-generated one. Some people like saying that every lengthy comment they disagree with was made by AI. There's also people who sometimes write comments in a formal tone, and everyone falsely claims that they are AI-generated
@Dalamar I don't recall anyone saying that about NFTs lol. The difference between NFTs and AI is that we can already see just how major of an impact the latter is having on people's everyday lives. The average person never made or bought NFTs. AI, however? That's a different story.
Everywhere on the internet, regular people are making AI generated slop and posting it on social media channels. Kids are using AI to do their assignments, instead of actually learning anything. People are falling in love with AI chatbots, and talking to AI on a regular basis. Hell, the mere existence of chatbots and sites like ChatGPT has caused a considerable decline in viewership across almost all major news sites in the last few months, thanks in part to Google's dumb pro-AI algorithm changes.
I hate AI as much as the next guy, but it's kind of absurd to think that it's suddenly gonna die off and fade into irrelevance like NFTs did. If anything, it's only gonna get worse. We've seen how much generative AI has improved in the last 5-10 years. Soon, for all we know, deepfakes might dominate the internet, and it might become impossible to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake.
@Acquiescence That sadly won't happen. AI is basically the next big leap in technology, like the Internet was in the 90s. It's only going to get worse from here.
@ThatOneLevel Exactly, a lot of voice actors do this, but most don't. Some VAs don't even play video games. In Konatsu's case, it seems this is the first time she has ever played on a PS5.
@AdamNovice Sure, but this was before the reports really came through, sometime back in early December 2023. Afterwards, Jez said he started hearing rumblings about Sea of Thieves making the jump to PS5 in mid December, and after investigating, he wasn't able to pin down any leads, but he did eventually report that more Xbox exclusives were coming to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.
Like, you can hate the guy for defending Microsoft or whatever, but let's not act as if most of his reporting on Windows Central has been wrong or something. Chances are the stuff outlined here about the next-gen Xbox is most likely true.
I doubt Halo games will ever come to PS4, so that might be something they overlooked. Sure, the next Halo multiplayer game may be a cross-gen title, but that seems unlikely, considering that Halo: CE isn't on PS4
@AdamNovice That tweet you're referring to about Jez denying Xbox games going to PS5 was literally just his opinion. All of the stuff he writes a report about on Windows Central (like the existence of Project Latitude, Xbox exclusives no longer existing, the ROG Xbox Ally, etc.) has almost always been true, cuz those are claims that he's actually verified with his sources. I'd like you to find even two Windows Central reports of his that were actually wrong.
Also, are you forgetting that Jez has regularly reported about which Xbox games are going to PS5, and when? Like, he was the first person to claim that Indiana Jones was the mystery Xbox game that was going to be announced for PS5 during Gamescom last year.
Even if this is true, it's likely that Microsoft will keep the paywall intact for the Xbox Series consoles. That way, this will be an incentive for Xbox Series owners to upgrade to the next Xbox.
Also, there are still gonna be a lot of people who will stick with their current Series X/S and will not buy the next Xbox. Microsoft will still be able to make money off of them, instead of getting rid of Xbox Game Pass Essential entirely.
@tameshiyaku Not sure how that's to blame when I'd wager that PlayStation probably has the most casual consumer base of the big three. That dudebro gamer image that Xbox fostered during the 360 gen is long gone, and isn't at all representative of the current Xbox audience. Hasn't been for over a decade.
I think there's a good chance that PlayStation attracts the most casual gamers at the moment; people who play Fortnite, CoD, Madden, and nothing else.
Since Xbox isn't that mainstream anymore, many Xbox gamers are probably more tuned in with the gaming community than casuals.
The real reason people left Xbox isn't because of the dudebro image they fostered (which people ironically miss nowadays), but rather because of the fact that Microsoft completely bungled the Xbox One launch.
@Lowdefal A slight correction, Rise of the Ronin was not released on PC a week before its PS5 release, it was a PlayStation exclusive for almost exactly one year. I'm guessing you looked at the Wikipedia page and thought that March 11 2025 (the date of the PC release) was a week before March 22 2024 (the date of the PS5 release).
@DennisReynolds Tbh I'm not sure Spider-Man would have had paid cosmetics, even if it was a fully multiplatform title. Games like Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy weren't created with the intent of selling consoles, and yet they had zero microtransactions.
Likewise, people give a lot of flack to EA, but they often forget that the Star Wars Jedi games have zero microtransactions, as well. Most of the skins you can unlock in-game for free, just like Spider-Man.
The costumes thing, I think, really depends on the intent of the publisher and the developer. It has less to do with exclusivity imo.
There's not a lot of information on it, though. Just rumors at the moment. But credible ones, since these rumors are coming from the same guy that leaked the Combat Evolved remake.
Comments 651
Re: Some PS5 Owners Might Be Paying More Than Others on PS Store
@PuppetMaster No, they said that their accounts were both in the same region, and that neither of them were subbed to PS Plus
Re: These Are All 2,800+ PS5 Games You Can Stream Directly to PS Portal Now
Sony needs to bring cloud streaming to more regions around the world because, right now, this feature isn't accessible in many major countries. They could sell a lot more PS Portals and make it a viable alternative to the PS5 in low-income territories if they actually put in the effort to expand cloud gaming's reach.
Re: After Xbox's Contraband Cancellation, Don't Expect Another Just Cause Game
@SodaPop6548 Tbh I don't see how Microsoft had anything to do with Avalanche being "ruined." Avalanche pitched Contraband to Microsoft, worked on it for several years, and made nothing of substance. Worst of all, the game wasn't even good in the first place, it was just gonna be a co-op live service heist game like Payday or something. Chances are it would've flopped.
Just Cause, meanwhile, is owned by Square Enix, if I remember correctly. So Avalanche would probably have to ask them to make a new Just Cause game.
Re: Mini Review: 1000xRESIST (PS5) - Story-First Experience Is a Marvel
@Pandalulz Now if only Hundred Line could come to PS5 and Xbox, along with 1000xResist
Re: 'It Happens on PS5': New PlayStation Adverts Mark Five Years of PS5
@cainhurst94 Since PS5 is an Xbox, "it happens on PS5" also means "it happens on Xbox." Therefore, this is a secret Xbox marketing campaign! /s
Re: Yakuza 3 Remake Backlash Blows Up Again as Actor Guilty of Sexual Harassment Stars in New Trailer
@Northern_munkey Push Square is still better than a lot of other places/forums because it's an isolated community and it's moderated well, for the most part. Sometimes my comments get deleted by the mods, and while I disagree with that sometimes, I understand that they're just trying to prevent the comments on this site from devolving into toxic arguments.
Re: Yakuza 3 Remake Backlash Blows Up Again as Actor Guilty of Sexual Harassment Stars in New Trailer
@CWill97 RGG recasted Pierre Taki shortly after Judgment's release in Japan, and it only took them a short amount of time to do so. They could recast Kagawa without delaying Kiwami 3 if they really wanted to, but it's clear they don't.
Re: Yakuza 3 Remake Backlash Blows Up Again as Actor Guilty of Sexual Harassment Stars in New Trailer
@Rich33 I think Kagawa and the rest just settled the ordeal out of court. His victims never tried to press charges on him, even though one of them said that they got PTSD from the incident.
I could be wrong, but I believe the person that Kagawa didn't apologize to is also the same person shown in the photos where Kagawa is grabbing her hair. So I don't think Kagawa's refusal to apologize to her stems from a lack of evidence.
Re: Yakuza 3 Remake Backlash Blows Up Again as Actor Guilty of Sexual Harassment Stars in New Trailer
@Rich33 It seems that Kagawa only apologized to one of his victims, and he has refused to apologize to the other. According to one report, he even compared his crimes to that of his cousin, Ichikawa Ennosuke IV (who not only sexually harassed several women and bullied his coworkers, but also unalived his parents and tried to unalive himself as part of some assisted s**cide plan), and said that they weren't that bad. So he doesn't really regret his actions. He was apparently drunk during both incidents, which occurred on the same day I think.
Re: Yakuza 3 Remake Backlash Blows Up Again as Actor Guilty of Sexual Harassment Stars in New Trailer
@Oram77 I would argue that the main reason why Kagawa's misdeeds got more attention than the rest is because people were upset about RGG recasting Hamazaki and Rikiya, so they looked up the new VAs online and happened to stumble upon reports about his past actions.
It's possible that the backlash towards Kagawa wouldn't have been as strong, had RGG not modeled Hamazaki's face after Kagawa's and just reused his old character design. Same with Rikiya and Nakahara.
Re: Yakuza 3 Remake Backlash Blows Up Again as Actor Guilty of Sexual Harassment Stars in New Trailer
While Kagawa is an a-hole and I hate how RGG's dumb decision to cast him has ruined all discussions surrounding Kiwami 3, I can't help but feel that the only reason why people care about this so much is because this boycott was popularized on social media, and not solely because of morals.
Kiwami 3 is certainly not the only Yakuza game in which RGG has cast questionable people for their roles. The original voice actor for Hamazaki also did some shady stuff, and the Japanese voice actor for Bryce Papenbrook in Infinite Wealth did some disgusting things that were arguably even worse than what Kagawa did. And yet, no one in the Yakuza fandom cared or bothered to bring up the reprehensible things they did online.
It seems to me that the backlash towards Kagawa, while justified, is almost performative. Like, if people weren't posting #REMOVEKAGAWA everywhere, half of the individuals who are boycotting the game wouldn't be boycotting it in the first place and simply wouldn't care enough to avoid buying the game. You could argue that people didn't know about the pasts of those actors, but even if they did, would they still be boycotting the game if the backlash towards them wasn't publicized online?
It's sort of like a peer pressure thing. If a lot of other people decide that something is deserving of a boycott, then you should boycott too.
Re: Yakuza 3 Remake Backlash Blows Up Again as Actor Guilty of Sexual Harassment Stars in New Trailer
@SeaDaVie The difference is Pierre Taki was actually arrested for doing cocaine, while Kagawa was never arrested. That's why RGG fired the former, but not the latter. They won't really care about what their actors did in the past unless they actually got in trouble legally for it.
@darkswabber I could be wrong, but I don't think they fired anyone for smoking weed. Hiroki Narimiya, the original voice actor for Tanimura, was falsely accused of doing cocaine, and he retired as a result. RGG recast him later on, maybe because they couldn't get the rights to use his likeness again. Keep in mind, the original Tanimura's face was modeled after Hiroki's.
Re: Sony Stands with Japan's Creators in AI Copyright Crackdown
@UltimateOtaku91 Appreciate the info lol. I had heard of a A Certain Scientific Railgun before, but I never got around to watching it
Re: Retro Mario Kart Rival Races to PS5, PS4 in Street Racer Collection
A shame they seemingly used AI to recreate the cover art for the remastered collection, doesn't look nearly as good as the original
Re: Sony Stands with Japan's Creators in AI Copyright Crackdown
@CielloArc Thanks for the clarification
Re: Sony Stands with Japan's Creators in AI Copyright Crackdown
@naruball That might be it, thanks
Re: Rumour: Halo 2, Halo 3 Remakes Also Purportedly Planned for PS5
I wonder if these games would be remade if Xbox never went multiplatform? Would we be getting Halo 7 by now, or would Microsoft still try to sell remakes of Halo 1-3 to the existing Xbox user base?
Re: Sony Stands with Japan's Creators in AI Copyright Crackdown
What anime is the girl in this image from? I've seen this used twice on this site
Re: Poll: Do You Play Horror Games Around Halloween?
@Shinnok789 The Last of Us are more like action-adventure games with horror elements than straight-up horror games. The narrative focuses too much on drama for it to be classified as horror IMO. Which isn't a bad thing, by the way.
Re: Poll: Do You Play Horror Games Around Halloween?
@Dalamar Seriously, DDLC is one of the few horror games that actually freaked me out lol. I get scared and tense when playing the average horror game, of course, but they're usually not legitimately disturbing. DDLC was, however.
It's been almost a decade since I played the game, but I still remember the scenes involving two of the main characters' you-know-whats because they felt unnervingly realistic.
Still really like the game, though.
Re: Persona 6 Gets an Official Mention in New Atlus Survey
@Mythologue True, but it is the sixth numbered game
Re: For Some Reason, 90s FMV Basketball Game Slam City with Scottie Pippen Is Coming to PS5, PS4
@Lowdefal What, you think Plumbers Don't Wear Ties isn't a masterpiece?
Re: Talking Point: Is PS5 Really in Competition with TikTok?
I'd say TikTok is competing for people's time, but it isn't necessarily a direct competitor to PlayStation or any other gaming company. The problem with TikTok specifically is that it sucks up kids' time more than many other forms of media, which is why it's so dangerous.
Great write-up, though, Sammy. I really like how you did a bunch of research for this piece.
Re: Persona 6 Gets an Official Mention in New Atlus Survey
Persona 6 is Atlus' The Elder Scrolls 6. You could also say it's their GTA 6.
On that note, why are there so many franchises out there that take ages to get a sixth mainline installment?
Re: Sony Bend's PS5 Game Cancellation Could Be Seen Coming, Says Ex Dev
It's not that surprising, since they went nearly 6 years without showing anything of it
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 I didn't intend to misrepresent your words, so sorry if that seemed like the case.
"Three major releases, one of which as decorated as Astro Bot, is not a negligible fraction."
Here, you were basically saying that these three games ARE a negligible fraction of games not available on PC, so I though it would make sense to say that you're "acting like these games are a third of Sony's output." I used the words "as if" here to stress that this was just a comparison. I didn't mean to say you literally believe these games are a third of Sony's output.
Sony definitely values their platform, but not to the extent that they will sacrifice their multiplatform ambitions to do so, as you've said. If multiplatform releases did start hurting their bottom line, they'd probably start being more cautious with their ports rather than "abandoning the non-exclusive strategy in a heartbeat." Sony cannot afford to NOT be multiplatform. Putting games on PC isn't a choice, it's something they have to do to reach more users. And, so far, it's working.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 Sorry for the lengthy comments, but here's the second part of my response:
I think you're greatly overestimating how much Sony prioritizes their platform, and greatly underestimating how much Sony values PC and other platforms. Sony has already realized that they can't attract more players to the PlayStation ecosystem beyond the 120-140 million threshold that they've already reached, hence why they're bringing games to PC (and even Xbox/Nintendo) in the first place. Like every corporation, PlayStation has to grow indefinitely, and considering their games are more expensive to make and less profitable than Nintendo's, they can't do that by keeping their games permanently exclusive to PlayStation.
The entire crux of your argument is baseless, in my opinion, because, as I said before, Demon's Souls, Astro Bot, and GT7 skipping PC almost certainly has nothing to do with Sony valuing their platform or something. Otherwise, God of War and every other major PlayStation franchise wouldn't be available on Steam right now. Those three games are likely incidental exclusives, like Keeper and South of Midnight.
Also important to note that PC releases haven't harmed the success of the PlayStation 5 in the slightest. In fact, the PS5 is the most profitable console that Sony has ever released. So there's little reason to assume that putting everything on PC, as they are already doing, is going to hurt PlayStation in the slightest.
Thinking that Sony is gonna abandon PC releases in a heartbeat anytime soon, is a pipe dream IMO.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 "Sony's output has not exactly been prolific this generation" Perhaps, but it's way more than just a few games. You act as if these three games are a third of Sony's entire output this gen, when that isn't really true.
If we look at all the new stuff that Sony has released for the PS5 between 2020 and 2024, you can see that they've published 18 different games (excluding MLB The Show and VR titles). This includes remakes like Until Dawn and The Last of Us Part 1, since I'd consider them "new" titles.
Out of those 18 games, Demon's Souls, Destruction AllStars, GT7, and Astro Bot are the only titles that have yet to release on PC. Though, tbh, I think including Astro Bot here is kind of misleading, since the game isn't even old in the first place. It very well could still come to PC in a year or two, so its absence on PC doesn't really mean anything yet.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 Technically, you could argue it's case-by-case, but I'd say there's a difference between putting all of your heavy hitters on PC vs putting some games here and there on PC.
The difference in question here, in my opinion, is intent. I think it's pretty obvious that Sony wants to bring all of its games to PC eventually, so long as the port is financially or strategically feasible. That's not the same thing as Sony not wanting to commit to full PC support and deliberately wanting to keep games exclusive to PlayStation, as your first few comments seemed to suggest.
And also, I could ask you the same thing. Why do you want to insist that Sony doesn't plan to bring all of its games to PC, and why are you intent on disagreeing with me and HonestHick? It's a strange hill to die on IMO, especially considering what HonestHick said in their first comment wasn't all that wrong. The fact of the matter is, Sony does only focus on timed exclusives, and a few exceptions don't really change that.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@ButterySmooth30FPS A couple of 4-5 year old games didn't come to PC, even though God of War and The Last of Us did, so that must mean Sony doesn't actually plan to bring all their games to PC!
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 Well, considering that Sony has brought virtually every major PlayStation franchise under the sun to PC, from God of War and The Last of Us to Ghost of Tsushima and Uncharted, I would disagree. I think Sony's plan is to bring ALL of their games to PC, but sometimes there may be exceptions that prevent that from happening.
Maybe GT7 has licensing issues that prevent it from being ported to other platforms. Maybe Bluepoint and Nixxes didn't have the bandwidth to bring Demon's Souls to PC near the time of its release, but now that the game is old, Sony doesn't think it's worth porting anymore (the game didn't sell that well on PS5, anyways). Maybe Astro Bot can't be ported over due to its reliance on the DualSense (even though you can connect a DualSense to your PC).
I bring this up because, realistically speaking, there is no real incentive for Sony to bring their heavy-hitters like God of War and The Last of Us to PC, but keep GT7, Demon's Souls, and Astro Bot exclusive forever.
A similar thing applies to MS and their Xbox games. There's no real incentive for Microsoft to keep Keeper and South of Midnight exclusive to Xbox but put Halo on PS5. These games, along with PlayStation titles like Demon's Souls and GT7, are almost certainly incidental exclusives, not games that Sony and Microsoft deliberately decided to keep exclusive.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 The facts indicate that Sony has brought nearly every single game it has released in the last 5 years to PC. That, to me, indicates that Sony's plan is to bring every single one of its games to PC. Exceptions may occur on rare occasions, but that doesn't mean it's not Sony's plan.
Using your logic, I could argue that Microsoft doesn't actually plan to go completely multiplatform and bring ALL of its games to PlayStation/Nintendo consoles, because it has never outright committed to doing so. And there are some recent Xbox games that have yet to be announced for PlayStation.
I think you and I can both agree, though, that that is a stupid argument to make, because it's obvious that Microsoft plans to bring all of their games to as many platforms as possible. Just because something like Redfall doesn't get ported to PS5, doesn't mean that's not the plan.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 I don't know how you can argue that Sony isn't bringing ALL their games to PC going forward, when literally almost all of their games have gone to PC.
Again, you're acting as if, just because there are a few exceptions from 4-5 years ago, that Sony isn't putting their entire slate on PC. The general expectation most gamers have is all Sony games will come to PC a year or more after their initial release on PS5. There's no reason to believe that this expectation should be changed.
If games like Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, Wolverine, or Intergalactic also never come to PC, then sure, you could make that argument. But until then, it doesn't really make sense to do so.
HonestHick isn't completely right about Sony having no exclusives whatsoever, but yes, Sony has abolished true permanent console exclusives. They don't make exclusives in the way that Nintendo does, that ship has sailed.
Sony's model of exclusivity is not the same as Microsoft's (it never was), but my point is, if you're gonna claim that Sony doesn't actually intend to put all their games on PC just because of a few exceptions, you could make the same exact argument about Microsoft putting all their games on PlayStation consoles, since not every recent Xbox game is on PlayStation.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Lowdefal From Microsoft's point of view, you get higher profit margins from selling games on other platforms in the short term than you do by selling your own hardware at a loss. Long-term, though, may be a different story.
Then again, despite everything PlayStation has done, they are nowhere close to having a 30% profit margin. Seems that can only be accomplished by being a third-party publisher.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 By that logic, you could argue that Xbox still has exclusives as well, considering that there is no sign of games like Battletoads, Gears Tactics, Keeper, South of Midnight, or Tell Me Why coming to PlayStation. Or how Forza Horizon 6 is launching on Xbox and PC first, despite being announced for PlayStation. Of course, though, we know that Microsoft plans to bring as many of their games to other platforms as possible, so this doesn't mean they actually care about exclusives or something.
The same thing applies to Sony and it's strategy for PC ports. Sony has brought almost every game it's released in the last 5 years to PC, and it will continue to do so. There isn't anything that suggests that they've suddenly changed their minds and don't plan to bring their games to PC anymore. Astro Bot aside, all of the games you listed are relatively old titles.
Just because there's a few exceptions to the rule doesn't mean the rule doesn't exist.
Re: Millions Tune in for Halo PS5's Reveal on PlayStation's Social Media Accounts
@UltimateOtaku91 Do people associate Sonic with Nintendo more than Sega? I don't think so.
And besides, the game will come to Nintendo consoles eventually anyways, so it's not gonna become a PlayStation exclusive all of a sudden
Re: 'Significant' Layoffs Are Set to Hit Amazon Game Studios
@nessisonett Problem is, it's sometimes hard to discern the difference between an AI-generated comment and a non-AI-generated one. Some people like saying that every lengthy comment they disagree with was made by AI. There's also people who sometimes write comments in a formal tone, and everyone falsely claims that they are AI-generated
Re: PUBG and Hi-Fi Rush Owner Krafton Is Spending $70 Million to Become an 'AI-First Company'
@Dalamar I don't recall anyone saying that about NFTs lol. The difference between NFTs and AI is that we can already see just how major of an impact the latter is having on people's everyday lives. The average person never made or bought NFTs. AI, however? That's a different story.
Everywhere on the internet, regular people are making AI generated slop and posting it on social media channels. Kids are using AI to do their assignments, instead of actually learning anything. People are falling in love with AI chatbots, and talking to AI on a regular basis. Hell, the mere existence of chatbots and sites like ChatGPT has caused a considerable decline in viewership across almost all major news sites in the last few months, thanks in part to Google's dumb pro-AI algorithm changes.
I hate AI as much as the next guy, but it's kind of absurd to think that it's suddenly gonna die off and fade into irrelevance like NFTs did. If anything, it's only gonna get worse. We've seen how much generative AI has improved in the last 5-10 years. Soon, for all we know, deepfakes might dominate the internet, and it might become impossible to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake.
Re: PUBG and Hi-Fi Rush Owner Krafton Is Spending $70 Million to Become an 'AI-First Company'
@Acquiescence That sadly won't happen. AI is basically the next big leap in technology, like the Internet was in the 90s. It's only going to get worse from here.
Re: Silent Hill F Actress Goes Viral Streaming Acclaimed PS5 Horror Game
@ThatOneLevel Exactly, a lot of voice actors do this, but most don't. Some VAs don't even play video games. In Konatsu's case, it seems this is the first time she has ever played on a PS5.
Re: PS6 Could Be the Only Next-Gen Console Charging for Online Multiplayer
@AdamNovice Sure, but this was before the reports really came through, sometime back in early December 2023. Afterwards, Jez said he started hearing rumblings about Sea of Thieves making the jump to PS5 in mid December, and after investigating, he wasn't able to pin down any leads, but he did eventually report that more Xbox exclusives were coming to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.
He wrote an entire report on the topic in February 2024:
https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/report-xbox-is-planning-to-publish-starfield-on-playstation-5
Like, you can hate the guy for defending Microsoft or whatever, but let's not act as if most of his reporting on Windows Central has been wrong or something. Chances are the stuff outlined here about the next-gen Xbox is most likely true.
Re: You Could Test Future Halo Games on PS5, PS4 in Insider Program Update
I doubt Halo games will ever come to PS4, so that might be something they overlooked. Sure, the next Halo multiplayer game may be a cross-gen title, but that seems unlikely, considering that Halo: CE isn't on PS4
Re: PS6 Could Be the Only Next-Gen Console Charging for Online Multiplayer
@AdamNovice That tweet you're referring to about Jez denying Xbox games going to PS5 was literally just his opinion. All of the stuff he writes a report about on Windows Central (like the existence of Project Latitude, Xbox exclusives no longer existing, the ROG Xbox Ally, etc.) has almost always been true, cuz those are claims that he's actually verified with his sources. I'd like you to find even two Windows Central reports of his that were actually wrong.
Also, are you forgetting that Jez has regularly reported about which Xbox games are going to PS5, and when? Like, he was the first person to claim that Indiana Jones was the mystery Xbox game that was going to be announced for PS5 during Gamescom last year.
Re: PS6 Could Be the Only Next-Gen Console Charging for Online Multiplayer
Even if this is true, it's likely that Microsoft will keep the paywall intact for the Xbox Series consoles. That way, this will be an incentive for Xbox Series owners to upgrade to the next Xbox.
Also, there are still gonna be a lot of people who will stick with their current Series X/S and will not buy the next Xbox. Microsoft will still be able to make money off of them, instead of getting rid of Xbox Game Pass Essential entirely.
Re: MySims: Cozy Bundle Settling Down on PS5 Next Month After Year of Switch Exclusivity
@Ichiban Your profile pic fits very well with your comment lol
Re: Halo PS5 Is Great, But Why Doesn't It Have Competitive Multiplayer?
@Starkei It's because Bungie doesn't want to do singleplayer content anymore, and they probably don't have the talent to do so anymore tbh
Re: 'Our Biggest Competition Isn't Another Console': Xbox Doubles Down on Multiformat After Halo PS5 Shock
@tameshiyaku Not sure how that's to blame when I'd wager that PlayStation probably has the most casual consumer base of the big three. That dudebro gamer image that Xbox fostered during the 360 gen is long gone, and isn't at all representative of the current Xbox audience. Hasn't been for over a decade.
I think there's a good chance that PlayStation attracts the most casual gamers at the moment; people who play Fortnite, CoD, Madden, and nothing else.
Since Xbox isn't that mainstream anymore, many Xbox gamers are probably more tuned in with the gaming community than casuals.
The real reason people left Xbox isn't because of the dudebro image they fostered (which people ironically miss nowadays), but rather because of the fact that Microsoft completely bungled the Xbox One launch.
Re: 'Our Biggest Competition Isn't Another Console': Xbox Doubles Down on Multiformat After Halo PS5 Shock
@Lowdefal A slight correction, Rise of the Ronin was not released on PC a week before its PS5 release, it was a PlayStation exclusive for almost exactly one year. I'm guessing you looked at the Wikipedia page and thought that March 11 2025 (the date of the PC release) was a week before March 22 2024 (the date of the PS5 release).
Re: Expect More Halo Games on PS5, Dev Says Series Is 'on PlayStation Going Forward'
@DennisReynolds Tbh I'm not sure Spider-Man would have had paid cosmetics, even if it was a fully multiplatform title. Games like Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy weren't created with the intent of selling consoles, and yet they had zero microtransactions.
Likewise, people give a lot of flack to EA, but they often forget that the Star Wars Jedi games have zero microtransactions, as well. Most of the skins you can unlock in-game for free, just like Spider-Man.
The costumes thing, I think, really depends on the intent of the publisher and the developer. It has less to do with exclusivity imo.
Re: Halo Confirmed for PS5, Remake of First Game Out in 2026
@zhoont Here: https://www.vice.com/en/article/new-halo-live-service-multiplayer-game-inspired-by-fortnite-reportedly-leaked/
There's not a lot of information on it, though. Just rumors at the moment. But credible ones, since these rumors are coming from the same guy that leaked the Combat Evolved remake.