Gotta recoup those newly minted "Xbox exclusives",on Gamepass thus relying on Steam/PC sales doing the heavy lifting in light of cancelling Playstation ports/sales!🙄
Next gen Xbox appears to be little more than a branding gimmick buried in software sauce API's running XB/One/SX & legacy 360, whilst being a TV connected mini PC to run players Stean/Microsoft Store/Epic (& GOG??), much like a modified Steam Deck!
How easily people forget the new broom "Consumer Pro Xbox friendly" Asha was parachuted in from the A.I. Division of Microsoft....
On a broader base of concern,whether next gen Xbox Helix or PS6, I hope the "solution" to reign in storage/memory costs aren't reliant on letting players pay a small fortune buying SSD expansion themselves or certainly a Microsoft tactic to lure folks into Cloud storage relying on a permanent connection online!🤔
Remember the original Thief fondly (& the sequel), on PC,so will be quite interested how Nightdive have gone with adapting the controls to console/gamepad...still, with any luck this is the kind of thing Nightdive have been doing for years now so fingers crossed.
@get2sammyb If Sony wanted to go "Dark Pictures Anthology", then fine go with Until Dawn Adventure Series/Metaverse, whatever, but just a bit disappointed after directly retconning the "good" secret ending of the PS5 remaster we don't get to finish what was teased there...the Wendigo Lore & finishing that story deserves an ending!
Still feel like Sony missed a trick between the (rumoured),falling out with Supermassive over a sequel or Quantic Dream whom similary had done their own Choose Your Own Adventure/ Butterfly Effect,games. Would've been a potential for acquisition.
Maybe there's more bait & switch in-game yet, but just wanted to see that new ending tease of Until Dawn play out into its own sequel
Much as I'd said in a previous thread, would give it a pass to good rating overall. Yes, there were a few to several titles that weren't to personal tastes so filter out multiplayer dross like Marathon or mtx-filled 1vs1 online fighters etc.
Given the focal point was on some single player games appreciated that...Personally whilst I should be happy finally seeing the Until Dawn 2 logo,felt badly let down when seeing it used in such a bait & switch manner instead of seemingly continuing Sam's story after the lacklustre remaster's retcon of the secret good ending.🤔 If they want to go the Dark Pictures Anthology route,fine,hope it's still good,but don't call it Until Dawn 2 per say,save that for Sammy.
Whether the God of War "spinoff" ends up ad more of a reskin in the same universe time will tell...so long as the story is intriguing & protagonist not insufferable ala Abby then I'll keep an open mind. (For context, liked Horizon Zero Dawn,could never warm up to Niko in GTA IV, but was glued to John Marston's story in RDR, Ditto was unsure on Joel & Ellie TLOU & gutted losing Tess early on, but that opened up beautifully).
Whilst I miss the Hugh Jackman voice & persona of Logan, Wolverine was the easy star of the show & the gameplay on point, if gory & Insomniac doing Naughty Dog better than ND themselves at present in sucking you in for cinematic games even if in reality they ARE movie licenses!😅
Whilst PS Classics program might be a tad subjective on what games are classics, the lack of genuine 3rd party old AAA content continues to disappoint. It's a psn "feature" done on minimal budget & rarely seems to feature the sort of best sellers you'd seen reach the old PS1 & PS2 Platnium range BITD. They don't engage players on titles to wishlist etc. Something like the RE Trilogy or Dino Crisis releasing is like pulling teeth rather than a given.Given Ubisoft's issues delivering Splinter Cell for instance,why not release the ps2 versions on PS Classics?
Rayman on paper should be a nice surprise albeit I do miss the 2D artstyle sacrificed to include 2.5/3d bits but hopefully still is rayman underneath. Stuntman drove me tearing my hair out almost as badly as Driver's tutorials BITD but can see my buddy loving this if he can afford a ps5.
Overall would give it a pass to good...the focal point on single player titles (even if some not to my most wanted list).
Still remain disappointed at Until Dawn 2 on first appearance having nothing to do with continuing the new secret ending of the otherwise lacklustre remaster. Still, I hope whatever that not really a sequel continues the series tradition.🤔
Wolverine the star of the show, time will tell if the new God of War game is like a reskin of the similar style mechanics of the later games, BUT fingers crossed the lead character & story are engaging in a way I just couldn't with Abbie TLOU 2. (I liked the original HZD, & likewise never warmed up to GTA IV's Niko but played RDR later that gen to death. Won't pretend my tastes match younger players, but if I find the character generally appealing rather than niche or too clever for their own good or a prat then will give it a go.)
🤔 Soo...we've gone from the rushed out remaster with the new ending teasing possibilities to this??!🤯
Not quite sure how this is supposed to be Until Dawn 2 unless the Wendigo's have taken a tropical vacation!🙄😅 Want to hope for the best even with this bait & switch "sequel", but still peeved how the budget remaster flopped it seemingly killed the pathway towards the sequel fans of the original were hoping for! Thanks Hermen.😑😕
Who would've guessed pressuring Worldwide Studios whom were mostly built around making single player & or single player plus some online modes into making online only live service games expecting GTA Online or Fortnite like success would bomb so badly?!🙄
Hermen Hulst continued the same mission first set as Jim Ryan's captain's pick to take over from the experienced Shuhei Yoshida, (& likes of Shawn Layden & others before him). His obsession with Fortnite/Overwatch style clones only worsened with his push in acquiring Bungie & using their so called "expertise" to assess their initial live service efforts...
Remember he acquired the startups of Fairgames & Concord without them having produced a game yet,& described Concord as one of Sony's best releases ever prior to its release! He squandered Bluepoint, a studio that'd been producing quality remasters & ports for years instead into a live service God of War universe game that suspiciously sounded like a Fortnite style game much like the Horizon Zero Dawn ones still in development!
You saw veterans of several studios leave either quietly,(or the likes of Days Gone creator not so quietly)...the rare times we'd read of a Hermen interview we'd hear he was only interested in single player games if they could be IP's spun off into streaming series, movies etc. Heaven forbid if unlike the older days of Layden, Shu Yoshida etc., if the game is, I dunno, fun or engaging,first?!🙄
Then you've had creative studios like Naughty Dog get distracted either building a full game of Factions when it was an extra component to the main game, or a distracted Neil Druckman not only dividing fans with TLOU 2 doing a very tired bait & switch trope common in Hollywood, then retconning TLOU (on streaming),& leaving the studio doing remasters of questionable value.
Hermen Hulst absolutely deserves to share credit & be subjected to the same scrutiny as Jim Ryan's bungling this generation as opposed to his throwing devs under the bus to date that he has achieved.
Whilst there's any number of things one can grumble about Sony's management's tone deafness on, will give a nod of respect to whomever has been spearheading the whack a mole of Slop "games" that give genuine indies a bad name or can't be seen beneath the onslaught of gaming slop!
Genuinely surprises me there isn't a more concerted effort across gaming platforms to do the same!
Who would've guessed the broken (relative to other countries),system of U.S. Quid Pro Quo Inc.wherein in return for "donations" & investments by the lawmakers, the Big Tech Oligarchy get taxpayer kickbacks, reduced taxes for their billionaire CEO's, & ZERO regulation of not only their data gathering & A.I. scrapings of everyone's activities, but deliberately constrain supply of memory chips to consumer products whether,PC,Console,cars, phones,you name it.
As a result,they drive up the prices of all these consumer tech products artificially to increase their profit margins!🙄 Meantime the console makers like Sony & Nintendo etc., have evolved the sell consoles at a loss to selling them at a small margin & then charging like a herd of elephants for online services,subs, & everything else!
In any other universe, the Big Tech mobs would be investigated & taken to court for collusion & market fixing! Instead,the rest of the world suffers!
@get2sammyb Now the Days of Play specials are actually live can now confirm.... 1) Not only did Playstation increase PS Plus 12 month subscriptions $10/yr across all Essential/Extra/Deluxe tiers for the second time in under a year....BUT
2) Australian players also have been excluded from ANY PS Plus subscription "sales" completely....there are ZERO subscription offers & they remain at full price!🤯
Talk about taking your customer player base not only for granted but outright contemp!🤨
@get2sammyb Don't forget the axing of PS Stars either...needed to buy a fair bit or play select featured "challenges" to even earn sufficient points to redeem as a $5 or $15 "reward" (Down Under)....but since it's axing absolutely nothing unless you count the laughable merch deals for EU/U.S. customers! 🙄 Really doesn't help the perception (right or wrong),that they're using PS Plus to recoup lost revenue from their live service flops!
Makes Jim Ryan's mea culpa when he tried to shut PS3/Vita legacy stores with little notice & personally say "we got it wrong" ,look almost player/consumer friendly when the reality is he set the current standards now of current management to stay silent & NEVER engage with players....the days of folks like Shawn Layden,Shuhei Yoshida, even folks like Adam Boyes, etc have long gone!😕
They expect players to be like Nintendo or Apple acolytes, take the increases & smite the unfaithful! Old enough to recall when not only we'd see price drops on consoles over time but how the Platnium Classics range on PS1 & 2 undercut the likes of Nintendo stubbornly keep their first party offerings at full price!
Even during PS4 era you'd see a mix of first party pricing & good discounts later depending on games being remasters or whatsuch...compare that to this gen with initial begrudging upgrade pricing to dispensing of it altogether & charge higher prices on the likes of TLOU,Until Dawn etc
There's nothing "reportedly" about the 12 month subscription increase Down Under, $10/yr increase across all tiers, if I could post a picture from PSN Australia Web store I would!
As I mentioned in the Days of Play thread, a few days ago a theoretical 25% discount on a lapsed Essential subscription would've been $103/yr reduced to $77/78...now IF even offered here, it would be $113/yr & only reduces to $84/85...so instead they cagily word it as "up to 33% in select countries", whoopee?!🙄
Ever since the introduction of the "tiers" system they quietly nuked the ability to buy discounted subscriptions at retail during Days of Play, Black Friday etc.,& effectively created the monopoly thru PSN only,with no recourse for existing subscribers to "stack" like it was somehow cheating or defrauding them.
In the meantime they've increased the price dramatically with little to show for it...the PS Classics range continues at a trickle with little third party support & zero promotion..again, little wonder Implicit Conversions elected to take Atari's $$ & join them when they couldn't even discuss their PS Classics works!
The store monopoly on subscriptions & zero incentives to resubscribe,(other than the recent increase for lapsing/changing tiers),might pump up their earnings in investor calls, but does zero to win goodwill with the PS5 (& PS4 users whom failed to be won over to upgrade), base whom not only give the Playstation suits their jobs but are supposed to win over with PS6.
Goodluck with that treating players like cash cows & dividing PS regions with some effectively subsidising others with additional price increases!🙄
Goodluck posting those critiqueson the PS Blog either! So much for listening to players feedback!😂
"Players in participating countries who join PlayStation Plus during PlayStation’s Days of Play promotion can save up to 33% on a 12-month membership.*"
Since my previous feedback on the PS Blog got deleted about the recent price increase, just sends any new posts into the void there!🙄😂
In short, IF my lapsed PS Essential sub even garners the 25% discount,thanks to the $10 increase Down Under on 12 months (unlike elsewhere),means that instead of a discount from $103/yr to $77/78 a few days ago, it'll be $113/yr, reduced to $84/85 approximately now!🙄 A reduction in theory,yes but even less of one given Essential/Extra/Deluxe 12 months all went up $10/yr on lapsed subscriptions! (And with increases in everyday bills, had to let Essential go in the hopes of a sale later when lapsed in February).
Just saying it's a far cry from the old days of Days of Play,Black Friday etc.,when one could buy a 12 month subscription at retail on sale discount & "stack"/add it to an existing subscription...the moment they introduced the tier system & introduced this Clayton's sale only on upgrading tiers then whacking players at full price thereafter & treating players as cash cows with continual price increases & zero rewards,(indeed they even removed PS Stars,let alone claiming subscriptions as points for it),& little to show for it...the PS Classics releases are a trickle, barely any third party support, & certainly no promotion of it by Sony.
Little wonder Implicit Conversions jumped at the opportunity to join Atari. Unfortunately the tone deaf management at Playstation don't want negative feedback at how much they're ripping players off...PC hardware is similarly super expensive, BUT there are multiple storefronts depending on your tastes, whether GOG,Steam & others.
The financial "suits" might keep talking up financials in investor meetings, but keep missing the mark in first party releases & squeezing current players & taking them for granted & see how they get on selling the PS6 given what a botched job Jim Ryan, Hermen Hulst & the rest have left as their legacy this generation!
Wonder how long the beancounters running Sony upper echelons these days finally work out the sheer frequency of cost blow-outs & general mismanagement of Worldwide Studios (& sales flops), have increased under Hermen Hulst's watch? 🙄
As for misquotes & socials,Purple Monkey Dishwashers!😂
Another one whom hasn't received a survey either,but likewise let my Essential lapse after many years too! You would've thought if they were truly concerned about players feelings they'd be asking those that let their Plus lapse too!🙄
Whilst without seeing if the survey has anything beyond the article, that they don't appear to allow feedback on how they removed the ability to resubscribe/"stack" or buy Essential PS Plus on discount sales like one used to says they just want curated answers to their questions rather than listen to negative feedback!
Also note that they completely skip any mention of the PS Classics content either which speaks volumes to how little commitment/priority they're giving that either sadly!😕
RPCPS3 is the best homebrew solution to a problem that Playstation publicly tossed in the too hard basket years ago. On one hand they don't have the software engineering resources like Microsoft threw into their Virtual Machine/ emulation/recompiling "special sauce" program.
However, it was always disappointing that having seen ports of select PS3 to PS4 titles like Uncharted (by Bluepoint no less), or The Last of Us, in the rush for live service games Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst ignored games like Resistance, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet 1&2 etc.,that had the very multiplayer content opportunities they kept prattling on ABOUT AND wonderful,solid single player modes!
Add to that Single player titles & there was more than enough for a Bluepoint or other dev porting studios to work on alongside Implicit Conversions etc. Instead Hermen bough Nixxes, Mobile game studios & funded start-ups to produce flops like Concord & waste money on Bungie's disastrous advice what multiplayer games to pursue...if those results produced Concord etc., then it's clear they were as out of their depth as Hermen Hulst is.
Back on topic, with Implicit Conversions now at Atari, does the anonymous Project Crayon (Revealed by Mystic Ryan on YouTube, &made up of select Implicit Conversions staff). They have a website but don'tinteract on what Sony Classic titles they'reworking on), have access to the same Syrup emulation engine for any alleged PS3 emulation in future?
@get2sammyb Because a reactionary Jim Ryan worried about the Activision Blizzard buyout & COD, sent his relatively new captain's pick of SIE Worldwide Studios head Hermen Hulst to do the due diligence & they believed the spin of the ex-Microsoft execs whom had taken over Bungie (& had pushed out other Bungie veterans even prior to Destiny), on their so called live services gaming expertise.
When Shuhei Yoshida made the veiled "jokes" that he likely might’ve pushed back a bit harder on some of the live service ventures being pushed based off his gaming producer experience on what constitutes a good game idea or not....can't help but suspect he'd have questioned Bungie's asking price.
He mentioned the cancelled Last of Us Factions game was coming along well,(even if the likes of Neil Druckmann later defended the decision to cancel it as given Naughty Dog's size their entire staff would be too busy to create other games).
Shuhei Yoshida never pretended choosing what games to cancel & what projects to press on with & hope they would he successful was easy with big AAA budgets. But looking at Hermen's track record even after Jim Ryan's departure he seems out of his depth as he seems tone deaf to what the player base likes this generation.
At this rate,whomever they keep or put into Bungie,perhaps they should give them an existing IP like Killzone,or Resistance or even Warhawk etc.,have a mix of single & online player content as a smaller scale project & see if they can rebuild their battered reputation & still tap into their multiplayer background. They can't do Halo, so perhaps tapping into Sony's IP vault is the next best thing?
Well part of the issue is just that...look at Hermen Hulst. Ever since Jim Ryan replaced Shuhei Yoshida with Hulst,to his promotion after,he's pursued nothing but a Fortnite/ Overwatch knock off...forgetting or ignorantly thinking that studios like Epic or Rockstar employs hundreds of staff to make live service content & whether Sony or in this example Quantic Dream think a relatively smaller team of a hundred give or take less or more knock up the same base concept then run the COD/GTA model & charge for the game & mtx or gamble with it being freemium with even more mtx & vague promises to their devs of extra hirings once this takes off,then when it bombs either being rushed out buggy, or lacking in anything different & the kids go back to Fortnite,GTAO, Minecraft, Roblox the dev studio get thrown under the bus & closes or has lay-offs!🙄
Much like Supermassive, Quantic Dream's best work arguably came with Sony,(under the likes of Shuhei Yoshida & those before him). But would they have adapted to a Hermen Hulst chasing after quick live services pot of gold when so many others like Bluepoint didn't? Probably not,& probably would've been closed by him too.
Unfortunately too many publishers run by beancounters prattling on about player engagement,& forgetting games that had single & multiplayer modes,(like some classic arcade racing titles,or stuff like LBP with creation tools), had an emphasis on fun drawing in engagement & allowing organic growth of extras in multiplayer rather than out & out clone copying of the same old stuff.
@get2sammyb Assuming the 12 month subscription isn't affected in US/EU regions unlike here Down Under, what almost feels like "Dynamic Pricing" in force for PS Plus would be a new low for this current management.🙄
I contrast how select Antivirus or VPN software suites on PC entice new subs with decent so-called discounts,but if you don't switch off auto renewals they'll aim to charge you their full charging herd of elephants rates. That said, can still then buy a discounted new subscription to either stack it or like a Antivirus thru digital retail official partner & save some $$ off full price.
Playstation on the other hand are taking the Netflix or similar & just up the price at their whim,& in this instance punish you if you let the subscription lapse & only offer a Clayton's discount if you upgrade an existing tier but then charge you the full increased rate after!
Really doesn't help when they release press statements written by A.I. chat bots & there's zero to show for the increases other than execs boasting of increased revenue earnings during investor calls getting leaked to websites like here making a mockery of their statements!🙄
Really doesn't help the perceptions of Concord/Marathon/Insert Hermen Hulst's latest live service failure game tax to make up the shortfall!
As it is, Playstation didn't even bother posting about the PS Essential increase on their local AU twitter at the time,it was via a press release to local gaming news website! Won't surprise if Extra/Deluxe go up here too. 😕
Whilst I'm hardly surprised given current management's "oops sales are slowing, so let's squeeze the current base harder!", approach could also see other issues too.
Just recently Down Under one of the big two grocery retailers was found to have violated consumer laws here advertising "specials" on products they'd increased the price of recently beforehand, then claimed an "everyday low price" special which in reality was still an increase on the old lower price. In particular the court found the period of time between the original larger increase & the claimed "savings" on the lower price which was still an increase on the old original price was too short. (& thus deceptive).
Not sure on other territories, but Sony would be treading a fine line in light of jacked up prices to then claim "savings" on console hardware already significantly higher than its older price point.🤔
Will be curious on PS Plus given the multiple increases including the latest one. Unfortunately can't see this current tone deaf management changing their ways anytime soon.
You sure Playstation management won't start charging us to watch State of Plays next?! 🙄😂 After seeing 12 month PS Essential has gone up Down Under (if lapsed),despite reporting here saying it was only one & three month subscriptions affected, nothing would surprise anymore with current management!
Hope to be surprised, but things under Hermen Hulst's reign have only been a surprise when something good emerges amongst a glut of mediocrity.
Wish him luck,(& hope the chase for investors doesn't see it transmogrified into an online shooter)...just hope he doesn't end up becoming the new Housemarque if Hermen Hulst isn't done throwing first party studios under the bus for his mismanagement if they don't meet "sales expectations".🙄
Must admit, I do miss the Housemarque that made the likes of Stardust, Dead Nation, Resogun etc. They might’ve been "simple" blast em ups, in concept but they were great fun & didn't worry about if they had to be a deeply emotional cinema experience!
No doubt Project Helix had an influence on the decision. As to how much this affects Hermen Hulst's obsession with live service Fortnite knock offs & having closed studios or seen veterans depart other studios, remains to be seen. Hermen is clearly a great talker in those investor meetings as you would've thought his blunders & misfires would've seen him booted before now.
The biggest issue I've had with the rolling PS Plus price increases ($103 for 1yr Essential my territory),has been ever since the "tier" system was introduced AND Sony stopped selling retail subs (in bricks & mortar stores), they killed any discounting on resubbing during their annual sales Days of Play,Black Friday etc.
Didn't bother resubbing after the last price hike. TBH could almost live without the "free" Essential games only the extra (occasional) discounts on games & the other basics. Sadly doesn't help the current perception that current Playstation management is completely tone deaf to the Playstation players concerns.😕
Found LA Noire bot of a mixed bag. Whilst I got the fact it was never going to be a GTA as cops, it was the city being so big & yet so empty that felt quite the let down. The only real side missions were stopping a bank heist or what such & just felt too empty. Probably for myself (much like GTA IV), never really found the main protagonist Cole relateable or engaging enough character either ...really wasn't until RDR came along with John Marston that I found something to sink my time into.
Probably the most memorable thing thereafter was all the controversy of crunch, burnout, uncredited people that'd worked on it, & lay-offs afterwards & promises by McNarmara of future projects coming to nothing.
Was k8nd of curious to give it another try on ps4 but the ridiculous pricing by Rockstar even on discount means that'll be unlikely.
Only hit up GTA 3 after Vice City which my oldest buddy & I adored with the 80's setting & music. Technically was quite the upgrade from the 2d games. I just got rather annoyed with how GTA 3 forced you away from old locations via whatever group you'd hacked off shredding you with gunfire if you even drove past!
Preferred the likes of Vice City where one could avoid setting off the gangs until late in the game. GTA San Andreas took the loading system a step further by removing the City loads of Liberty & Vice City but threw in the fog style affect so you couldn't see the full world. Brilliant stuff...albeit exposed the poor effort of offloading to Grove Street Games when they initially left the haze effect out completely!🙄😅
"PS6 will surely not hit for figures"...wouldn't hold my breath!🤯😅 @get2sammyb PS5's with an optical drive (not Pro),are already at the $1000 price Down Under after the last increase,& higher than that for the Pro. Meantime I well remember the PS3 60Gb model also launching at about $1000 here AND only learning days from launch the PAL region lacked some of the PS2 hardware for backwards compatibility relying on partial software level....was a lowly casual in gam8ng retail at the time & peeved at the change. Plus suffered the Infamous yellow light of death only a couple months past the 12 month warranty! Got better on pricing with the slim...still working last I booted it up! Certainly saw more dead Xbox 360's once the PS3 slim models came about...nevermind the constant laser burn on their DVD game discs.
PS3 never quite lost its negative vibe despite its sales catching up to 360, & some great first party games like Uncharted,TLOU, & others like Resistance/Motorstorm series,LBP 1 & 2, Infamous, Rain,Puppeteer, that remain PS3 locked to this day! Didn't help a lot of third parties were built around the Xbox 360 (& hard to adapt to the PS3 & the more limited video card gpu it used).
The biggest thing then vs now,is Sony execs realised they made mistakes & definitely learned to better engage with the player base & made first party games system sellers. Hermen Hulst's still having a one track mindset of Fortnite knock offs,& as you state, the middle & upper management now just hide behind P.R. spin announcements on the the official twitter handle or the blog, and they NEVER engage with players.
The recent excerpts & revelations of the shareholders meeting sum up the tone deafness of a proverbial bunch of suits whom have little appreciation of the very customers that give them their jobs. They're more concerned with spinning shareholders & rely too much on squeezing players as cash machines & stat's on spreadsheets.
Katarugi's obsession with the Cell CPU & the delays & overruns signed his own retirement papers with the "you'll want to work two jobs for this!"...current management unfortunately are ignoring what the likes of Shawn Layden, Shuhei Yoshida, Mark Cerny, Andrew House & others learned at that time, don't take your customers for granted & don't tell what they have to like.
It might be great they have a "preservation division"...unfortunately it doesn't fully translate into actual support of the PS Classics range with the likes of the PS1/PS2 Gran Turismo's, Wipeouts, PS2 Ratchet games, Psygnosis stuff like Colony Wars,Adventures of Lomax, Alundra, Discworld etc., where its usually a shrug of the shoulders "meh,licensing what are you gonna do?!", let along PS3 locked IP's LBP 1 & 2, Resistance or Motorstorm series, Infamous,even Rain,Puppeteer etc.
Nor do the nameless PS Classics 3rd party Sony content managers seem bothered chasing Classics content,& left it to Implicit Conversions & now seemingly the anonymous Project Crayon to do the work on a petty cash budget vs Hermen Hulst's blowing millions on failed live service Fortnite knock offs!
Whilst the decision to ultimately buy Bungie was under Jim Ryan's going cap in hand to Sony upper management, the fact remains that his captain's pick Hermen Hulst's reign as Worldwide Studios head has largely been disastrous & purchases like Bungie, Haven etc , were at his behest
We've seen several senior heads & creatives at the likes of Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Sony Bend & others "retire" in the face of pressure from Hulst only greenlighting live service games or the occasional single player game with select favourites on the basis it would be spun off to Streaming/Movies, merchandise & PC ports....add to it forcing Studios like Bluepoint away from their expertise in remasters & remakes,(& older IP's sitting unused ala Resistance, Motorstorm, LBP & others),to Hermen's obsession with Fortnite knock offs & being thrown under the bus whilst he still keeps his job.
Rehiring Shuhei Yoshida would be a start...but moreso, the current silent,aloof,& tone deaf suits installed during & since Jim Ryan's reign should be booted out for a far more engaging middle management who listen to what players might want out of PS Plus & PSN services & first party games instead of price hikes, bugger all classics, or dynamic pricing A.I. nonsense...🙄
As always when it comes to Playstation these days, it's the silence when they spring these surprises on players. Yes, maybe there is some UI mega update or something, but instead of getting on the front foot & saying there's some store maintenance or similar they let these things build with speculation...really makes you wonder what the P.R./Socials teams do for their day job sometimes,or have they been all replaced by A.I. Bots?🙄
Value?! The same Take-two that outsourced the GTA Trilogy remastered "definitive edition" minus several songs due to being cheap on renewing licenses, only after several in-house patches increased the price for a cross buy version on PSN (no such option for ps4 physical owners)? Likewise the full priced GTA V releases over multiple gens? 😅
As to how much the story mode gameplay mechanics in GTA VI are influenced with the online mode (found the share market in GTA V to make decent $$ for properties etc. annoying even in single player),time will tell but not holding my breath.
@get2sammyb Shouldn't be that surprised at Xbox leadership playing guessing games like this in the lead up to the next gen launch wars.
As the current gen see-sawed liked a roller coaster with world events & initial big cash splurges & PS5 continued to lead sales despite Microsoft buying up Activision Blizzard & Zenimax Bethesda (& Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst continued stumbles in live service games), Satya & the Microsoft board wanted to stem the losses of this gen & played hardball with Phil Spencer & Sarah Bond failures to deliver a win over Sony, hence the PS5 floodgates opened on releases & garner some revenue.
Now the new team are in place & they're pushing a new Xbox console which on paper sounds more like a gaming PC built on a Windows base & promises of accessing PC players gaming libraries,(& legacy Xbox gaming libraries), they're being given leeway to entice Xbox/PC players with exclusives again & deliver the gamepass numbers that Phil Spencer promised Satya. Ultimately Satya will be the one as next gen unfolds who'll make the call if the numbers don't stack up.
Sony safeguarding certain exclusives make sense, but they'll need to be the kind of hard hitting winners that the Uncharted series, OG TLOU, Spiderman, Horizon Zero Dawn & others delivered across the late PS3/PS4 gen rather than Hulst's overall track record has been as Worldwide Studios this gen.
With the state of things atm, can understand why Implicit Conversions took the offer. However,it doesn't inspire the greatest confidence in Playstation's commitment to its classics program when the releases continue at a trickle, & tend to lack a lot of the heavy hitter third party classics of the kind that used to feature on Sony's budget platinum range BITD before the age of digital allegedly made things so much more widespread & better!🙄😋 Everyone has their own tastes & unfortunately licensing is the popular crutch, but to nominate a few titles possibly Colony Wars, Alundra, Adventures of Lomax, Ultimate Ghosts'n'Goblins, Maximo Quest for Glory & Army of Zin, NFS Underground 2, SSX Tricky & SSX3, GTA LCS/VCS, Splinter Cell ps2 series... like I said, unlikely....anyway, not exactly sure how they'll fit into working with the IP's the current Atari have, but who knows maybe it'll open more third party doors than Sony managed with its range.🤔
One of the few things Jim Ryan actually didn't fumble on,(though Shawn Layden confirmed much the same from his time in SIEA & Worldwide Studios). I mean props to the new Xbox leadership for actually trying to reduce a subscription price & at least appear consumer friendly to stem losses.
But by virtue of combating the potential PS5 buyers wanting access to their PS4 library, Phil Spencer tried enticing everyone with the instant games library on Xbox One & later Series S/X/PC. All he ended up doing after the AAA publisher buying spree was reinforced a culture to Xbox players they didn't need to buy games which might’ve worked if Gamepass was in as widespread use on streaming platforms & PC,but it isn't.
Even in Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst's mad pursuit of a Fortnite first party pot of gold they still strictly follow the likes of Take-two/Rockstar with GTA & want people to BUY games,then spend more afterwards rather than bundle them into PS Plus permanently.
Whilst if you're an indie gamer,(& given the current state of AAA releases,glad I am, though mostly those with a retro theme),I suppose one should be relieved Shuhei Yoshida was able to turn around some of the operations of the Indie division that'd been allowed to slide from the early ps4 era.
However, as we'd heard in the past like with the original God of War reboot,the combat & game received some major retooling after a rather critical Yoshida visit...compare & contrast Hulst (& the ex-guerilla folk he seemingly moved into Worldwide Studios as his "yes" people),proclaiming Concord one of the best games he'd ever played.
Yes,little doubt Jim Ryan started the rot with the live service push,but Hulst has continued the nonsense,& played the corporate slippery pole far better than Ryan by virtue of how many dev studios & lay-offs he's done since Totoki took charge of Sony operations.
Sadly we haven't just seen Shuhei Yoshida leave but founders of the likes of Naughty Dog (& creative heads like Amy Hennig & Bruce Strayley leave), Insomniac retire/leave,& other veterans in Bend, Media Molecule etc.
Would love to see Shuhei & others return, but the legacy of Jim Ryan, Hulst etc., is anyone that actually enjoyed gaming & interacted with players have been replaced by "suits" whom post on the blog if you're lucky or some financial website or investor meetings talking about player engagement & profit margins rather than are the first party games actually fun to play rather than,"how can we squeeze more from the user base?".😑🙄
As it is,since Shu left Sony,not even sure who runs their indie division...he's still doing more to promote them than whomever replaced him!
Unfortunately,most Playstation gamers don't know anyone who's a Sony shareholder,(& the latter care for profits,not quality of "product"), but can foresee Hermen Hulst doing the kind of throwing everyone under the bus,that he should be in those Scottish pole tossing events!🙄😂
"It was Jim's fault! He wanted Bungie! I certainly wasn't taken in by their Microsoft execs that came in & driving out their older talent before Destiny....they forced me to create an "advisory" group on multiplayer games because I had no idea & cancelled several on Jim Ryan's way out!🙄 "
Yes,as Shuhei Yoshida readily admitted before & after his Sony retirement, trying to back a "winning" development that'll succeed is hard & expensive....BUT Hermen Hulst' obsession with pushing Worldwide Studios into live service Fortnite & Overwatch style knock-offs at the cost of closures & departures of veteran talent whilst continuing to flog the dead horse of what's left of Bungie is the epitome of his mismanagement!🤨😑
The times I'd read his token word salad of legacy gaming IP's of Sony locked away on older systems like Resistance, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet (& some lovely single player games too),which featured single & multiplayer modes being abandoned in favour of his online only big scale live service knock offs, the only thing I can admire is his continual ability to convince the "suits" & accountants it's everyone else's fault!🙄
Meantime we're how many months on from the closure of the "experimental" PS Stars rewards program with vague promises of something better to replace it & still nothing?! But of course they definitely didn't shutter it because heavens forbid players would trade points for PSN Credits,right Sony?🙄😂
I loved the Uncharted series right from the get go...it felt fresh, the dynamics of Nate, Elena etc were superb & the wise cracking hero in numerous adventures...but with a lot of the principal creators that made Nathan Drake such an appealing & beloved character with the likes of Amy Hennig or Bruce Strayley long gone, really not sure I want to see Uncharted return. As much as it was teasing about their daughter, I'd fear the now common Hollywood trope,(Disney especially), of trying to boost her at the expense of a broken,divorced old Nathan Drake. Mere speculation & cynicism of Druckman's creative output,but my point was the Drakes went "legit" treasure hunters.
I'd like to see a new hero in some sort of similar action hero vein,& maybe the Sci Fi Intergalactic could surprise yet...but Druckmann without a Creative Director reigning him in has become another predictable Hollywood style creative in recent years & hate to see him change what made Uncharted a classic series!
Big tech would love to get more & more services that can & have been done offline on a PC or games console for decades just like they have with music,movies etc.
But personally any gaming group that switches their console/PC to be locked into cloud services,(& Windows 11 is already trying awfully hard at this), then I'm out of their ecosystem. It's enough dealing with numerous patches & hoping single player games are functional enough insofar as the servers whether Steam,PSN etc., remain online to download them again....when those options become unavailable then will be looking at alternatives or stick to retro.
Much like I posted in the price rise articles, there's world event ripples going on outside their control...ie: taxpayer/Wall Street funding an A.I oligarchy promising huge returns on A.i. farms, in collusion with RAM manufacturers (whom as shown in the likes of Gamers Nexus videos have colluded on pricing long before A.I.),& Big tech suppliers all too willing to chase higher sales,& meantime price gouge consumer grade parts with the leftover crumbs.
However, the manner of how Playstation's management's (kicked off by the short sighted Jim Ryan's captain's pick Hermen Hulst heading up Worldwide Studios),approach to betting the farm on live service games, pensioning off experienced middle management whom might’ve pushed back on what was being greenlighted or purchases like Bungie & their so called expertise & just the increasingly tone deaf approach of random "suits" whom will now drop an announcement on the PS Blog of PS Plus price rises, hardware rises,studio closures (in the press) & then they bunker down like it's the Winchester in Shaun of the Dead & hope it'll blow over is really widening the perception of aloofness & disconnect.
The days of PS1 or PS2 console pricing reducing over time with model revisions & game classics that would go cheaper on Platnium labels unlike Ninty's first party cartridge games or later on more digital based stores like PS4 & sales on PS Plus subscriptions so you could stack them have long gone!🤯😕
Instead you have a management that is quite willing to squeeze the existing player base & try recoup on the losses of some of their live service failures & yet still make sure the Playstation division still returns a profit. Sony management is now running a very tight financial leash due to the mismanagement of Ryan,Hulst etc.
Why do I get the sneaky suspicion that Tim Sweeny's medical & other insurance executive packages would not only cover his expenses if dramatically ill,but also include significant payouts if anything as serious happened to HIM!🙄
Unlike the previous price hikes which were all about profit margins,(ie: not selling at a loss), this is all about the rampocalypse,(& Gamers Nexus has done excellent coverage on the ram manufacturers colluding before),& the A.I. Oligarchy,& Big tech vendors like Nvidia,AMD & others quite happy in return for taxpayer & Wall Street money funding the A.I. bubble to screw over consumers & constrain supply & price gouge them all at the same time.
However, Sony's tone deaf responses this gen of squeezing PS Players especially those outside of the U.S. with price hikes on PS Plus ($103 for Essential my region),& zero discounts on buying a new subscription only upgrading existing one has ll Ed me to drop it first time in years! Did we ever see PS Deluxe regions get PS Premium? Nope! Has the PS Classics program been dramatically expanded with multiple first parties? Lucky to see a capcom or Bandai Namco title,& a dribble of one title or so!
We've seen the likes of Shawn Layden & Shuhei Yoshida pensioned off,as have the founders & prominent heads from the likes of Bend, Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Media Molecule & others, whilst Hermen Hulst has pushed studios into live service disasters & closed studios whilst ignoring PS3 locked IP's to pursue Fortnite knock offs or spin off games into Steaming TV,TV,TV rather than if a game is fun or any good!🙄
Worse still with the departure of execs like Layden or Yoshida you have nameless tone deaf "suits' Iin charge whom have taken the Jim Ryan model of make a tone deaf announcement on the blog, go to the Winchester, & hope it'll all blow over!
Except it isn't Shaun of the Dead,Sony. If you don't give a perception of value & variety & reasons to stay loyal, PS users whom have been around since PS1 & PS2 & knew that Playstation used to represent value vs expensive alternatives will leave. Especially when you're as aloof & tone deaf as current management are.
On one hand, yes this is very much a situation outside of their control & look no further than the Big Tech Cabal of the A.I. tech oligarchy & all too willing partners of the RAM manufacturers,& the likes of AMD,Nvidia (yes I know they don't contribute PS5 parts), etc. quite happy to constrain consumer supplies & gouge us with the crumbs left over all for "doing business" in the land of Quid Pro Quo Incorporated.🤯😤☹️
However, Playstation management this generation have made the Infamous missteps of the Playstation 3 generation look like pure genius when compared to how remote & out of touch they've been this generation. Whether it's token efforts of accessing legacy gaming libraries with PS Deluxe, to buying up talented Studios like Bluepoint only to now close them, to releasing disasters like Concord or potentially now Marathon in Hermen Hulst's continued live service Fortnite obsession to the detriment of the game variety & independence that made Sony Worldwide Studios so strong before his disastrous reign.🙄
But add to it the forced retirements of the likes of Shuhei Yoshida & other Worldwide Studios heads & producers for Hulst's favourites, alongside a bunch of "suits" who'll post in the PS Blog & absolutely avoid interacting with the very player base that provide their employment & its little wonder veteran PS Fans are left wondering do I even bother replacing my console if anything happens let alone think about PS6 especially in the current tech rampocalypse.🤨
As others have said, let my PS Essential lapse for the first time in years & with the lack of any discounts for it, incoming "features" like dynamic pricing,things Sony CAN control, they're certainly not winning me over vs just playing my backlog & picking up the same indies on PC.
@Yousef- Would be a tight finish between Angry Video Gamer Nerd's Plumbers Don't Wear Ties or Seaman as to which he had most fun filming given both "games" were perfectly suited to his humour!! 😁
Go back to was it late ps4 gen or early ps5 era comments of Shawn Layden discussing the "value" of "shorter" AAA games maybe only 18-20 hours vs ones being 50hrs+, & then possibly lined with grindfest gameplay mechanics to push mtx down your throat....& that's not including online loot boxes or virtual currency ala Fortnite,GTA etc.
I honestly was comfortable enough with games like say Little Big Planet or Motorstorm that had solid single & local player stuff,(or Uncharted),& optional online stuff but didn't ram things down your throat. Even PS4 earlier on in the generation was great for first party stuff that like, you could hit up Horizon as quick or slow as you wanted...
But now AAA publishers want to push live services & make their game you "main" weekly grindfest whether COD,Fortnite,GTA,(& Hermen Hulst been wasting PS Studios & closing them left & right to get his own mega online cashcow),to put hundreds of hours in & considerably extra $$ than the initial payment.
Smaller is better,& likewise even in the single player, spare me the gritty depressing worlds like Neil Druckman wants to rinse & repeat regardless of whatever storyline he's pitching.
But I'm old so,I'm not their demographic anymore,so retro inspired indies more my jam it is,they won't care me yelling at the clouds!😂😋
Must admit in just catching up on PS Gaming news I was dreading it being someone like Media Molecule or Bend...guessing this was another one of Hulst's "live service" dream dev director led teams. Which after the disaster of Concord we've seen several of the listed studios old& new be thrown under the Hermen Hulst bus of blame if they fail the "blockbuster" test whilst he would mostly only greenlight live service Fortnite rip-offs & certainly little interest in old Sony IP's that pre-dated his tenure as Worldwide Studios head.🙄😕
Shuhei Yoshida, Shawn Layden etc might not have always picked a winner or big live service successes but they knew their games far more than the clueless Jim Ryan that wanted a yes man rather than anyone push back against his reign of mediocrity & panic decision making which has left us the out of his depth Hulst.
It's very 2026 that the top priority they're making is to rebrand the PSN moniker! Store gifting to your friends?, Steam style refunds instead of the vague "case by case" & stated policies of "if you downloaded it, you bought it",but try our chat bot support if you're in a territory with stronger consumer laws & you may reach someone!! Being serious, yes we've seen some small wins like displaying of previous prices & wishlisting to a degree when it doesn't bug out. Very welcome....but the glacial speeds of actual tangible improvements vs the actual age of the overall Playstation storefronts over multiple generations has been ridiculously slow vs the prices & changes they've applied like PS Plus etc. And not many wins for the players in terms of features either!
Just remember folks,the reason we're facing the rampocalypse, SSD, & GPU shortages, & increased pricing on future gen in a deliberately manipulated shortage by the billionaire tech oligarchy so we can enjoy snapchat like filters...when they're not pilfering our data to feed their AI,unregulated! 2026, what a time to be alive! 🙄
Might be mistaken,but I seem to recall in & around the time frame of the likes of the Octopath Traveller games & I think some of the "classic" FF games announced coming to Gamepass/Xbox there was a mention of a change in Square Enix management that was more Xbox friendly after a period of frosty relations & timed exclusive on Final Fantasy 7 remake etc. We've certainly seen an increased level of public "snarking" from Square Enix repeatedly hammering "disappointing" results on Sony marketed games but never heard a peep on Gamepass exclusives like Octopath Traveller etc ,where Playstation owners were locked out for the longest periods. And yes, the golden child Nintendo fanbase would repeat the bot like Xbox line & games press on Sony money hitting deals when Nintendo Square Enix exclusives have been a repeating pattern!🙄
Thankful someone in the press has finally highlighted this hypocrisy, but sadly we won't see it elsewhere. Clearly Square Enix are still very happy to do exclusive deals for $$ from Microsoft or Nintendo & people in their management have a beef with Sony at present but as always its the players that suffer!
Comments 1,573
Re: Xbox Planning Major Layoffs Next Month, Could Involve a Studio Closure
Gotta recoup those newly minted "Xbox exclusives",on Gamepass thus relying on Steam/PC sales doing the heavy lifting in light of cancelling Playstation ports/sales!🙄
Next gen Xbox appears to be little more than a branding gimmick buried in software sauce API's running XB/One/SX & legacy 360, whilst being a TV connected mini PC to run players Stean/Microsoft Store/Epic (& GOG??), much like a modified Steam Deck!
How easily people forget the new broom "Consumer Pro Xbox friendly" Asha was parachuted in from the A.I. Division of Microsoft....
On a broader base of concern,whether next gen Xbox Helix or PS6, I hope the "solution" to reign in storage/memory costs aren't reliant on letting players pay a small fortune buying SSD expansion themselves or certainly a Microsoft tactic to lure folks into Cloud storage relying on a permanent connection online!🤔
Re: Stealth Royalty Thief: The Dark Project Steps Out of the Shadows Remastered on PS5
Remember the original Thief fondly (& the sequel), on PC,so will be quite interested how Nightdive have gone with adapting the controls to console/gamepad...still, with any luck this is the kind of thing Nightdive have been doing for years now so fingers crossed.
Re: PS5's Until Dawn 2 Has Been in Development for At Least 4 Years Already
@get2sammyb If Sony wanted to go "Dark Pictures Anthology", then fine go with Until Dawn Adventure Series/Metaverse, whatever, but just a bit disappointed after directly retconning the "good" secret ending of the PS5 remaster we don't get to finish what was teased there...the Wendigo Lore & finishing that story deserves an ending!
Still feel like Sony missed a trick between the (rumoured),falling out with Supermassive over a sequel or Quantic Dream whom similary had done their own Choose Your Own Adventure/ Butterfly Effect,games. Would've been a potential for acquisition.
Maybe there's more bait & switch in-game yet, but just wanted to see that new ending tease of Until Dawn play out into its own sequel
Re: Reaction: Leaks Robbed State of Play of Its Biggest Surprise, But Show Still Spotlighted Many PS5 Games I'll Buy
Much as I'd said in a previous thread, would give it a pass to good rating overall. Yes, there were a few to several titles that weren't to personal tastes so filter out multiplayer dross like Marathon or mtx-filled 1vs1 online fighters etc.
Given the focal point was on some single player games appreciated that...Personally whilst I should be happy finally seeing the Until Dawn 2 logo,felt badly let down when seeing it used in such a bait & switch manner instead of seemingly continuing Sam's story after the lacklustre remaster's retcon of the secret good ending.🤔
If they want to go the Dark Pictures Anthology route,fine,hope it's still good,but don't call it Until Dawn 2 per say,save that for Sammy.
Whether the God of War "spinoff" ends up ad more of a reskin in the same universe time will tell...so long as the story is intriguing & protagonist not insufferable ala Abby then I'll keep an open mind. (For context, liked Horizon Zero Dawn,could never warm up to Niko in GTA IV, but was glued to John Marston's story in RDR, Ditto was unsure on Joel & Ellie TLOU & gutted losing Tess early on, but that opened up beautifully).
Whilst I miss the Hugh Jackman voice & persona of Logan, Wolverine was the easy star of the show & the gameplay on point, if gory & Insomniac doing Naughty Dog better than ND themselves at present in sucking you in for cinematic games even if in reality they ARE movie licenses!😅
Whilst PS Classics program might be a tad subjective on what games are classics, the lack of genuine 3rd party old AAA content continues to disappoint. It's a psn "feature" done on minimal budget & rarely seems to feature the sort of best sellers you'd seen reach the old PS1 & PS2 Platnium range BITD. They don't engage players on titles to wishlist etc. Something like the RE Trilogy or Dino Crisis releasing is like pulling teeth rather than a given.Given Ubisoft's issues delivering Splinter Cell for instance,why not release the ps2 versions on PS Classics?
Rayman on paper should be a nice surprise albeit I do miss the 2D artstyle sacrificed to include 2.5/3d bits but hopefully still is rayman underneath. Stuntman drove me tearing my hair out almost as badly as Driver's tutorials BITD but can see my buddy loving this if he can afford a ps5.
Re: Latest PS5 State of Play Already Most Watched Ever, On Track to Overtake PS Showcases
Overall would give it a pass to good...the focal point on single player titles (even if some not to my most wanted list).
Still remain disappointed at Until Dawn 2 on first appearance having nothing to do with continuing the new secret ending of the otherwise lacklustre remaster. Still, I hope whatever that not really a sequel continues the series tradition.🤔
Wolverine the star of the show, time will tell if the new God of War game is like a reskin of the similar style mechanics of the later games, BUT fingers crossed the lead character & story are engaging in a way I just couldn't with Abbie TLOU 2. (I liked the original HZD, & likewise never warmed up to GTA IV's Niko but played RDR later that gen to death. Won't pretend my tastes match younger players, but if I find the character generally appealing rather than niche or too clever for their own good or a prat then will give it a go.)
Re: 11 Years Later, Until Dawn 2 Is Official and Coming to PS5 in 2027
🤔 Soo...we've gone from the rushed out remaster with the new ending teasing possibilities to this??!🤯
Not quite sure how this is supposed to be Until Dawn 2 unless the Wendigo's have taken a tropical vacation!🙄😅 Want to hope for the best even with this bait & switch "sequel", but still peeved how the budget remaster flopped it seemingly killed the pathway towards the sequel fans of the original were hoping for! Thanks Hermen.😑😕
Re: PS5 First-Party Sales Have Fallen Sharply, But It Doesn't Tell the Full Story
Who would've guessed pressuring Worldwide Studios whom were mostly built around making single player & or single player plus some online modes into making online only live service games expecting GTA Online or Fortnite like success would bomb so badly?!🙄
Hermen Hulst continued the same mission first set as Jim Ryan's captain's pick to take over from the experienced Shuhei Yoshida, (& likes of Shawn Layden & others before him). His obsession with Fortnite/Overwatch style clones only worsened with his push in acquiring Bungie & using their so called "expertise" to assess their initial live service efforts...
Remember he acquired the startups of Fairgames & Concord without them having produced a game yet,& described Concord as one of Sony's best releases ever prior to its release! He squandered Bluepoint, a studio that'd been producing quality remasters & ports for years instead into a live service God of War universe game that suspiciously sounded like a Fortnite style game much like the Horizon Zero Dawn ones still in development!
You saw veterans of several studios leave either quietly,(or the likes of Days Gone creator not so quietly)...the rare times we'd read of a Hermen interview we'd hear he was only interested in single player games if they could be IP's spun off into streaming series, movies etc.
Heaven forbid if unlike the older days of Layden, Shu Yoshida etc., if the game is, I dunno, fun or engaging,first?!🙄
Then you've had creative studios like Naughty Dog get distracted either building a full game of Factions when it was an extra component to the main game, or a distracted Neil Druckman not only dividing fans with TLOU 2 doing a very tired bait & switch trope common in Hollywood, then retconning TLOU (on streaming),& leaving the studio doing remasters of questionable value.
Hermen Hulst absolutely deserves to share credit & be subjected to the same scrutiny as Jim Ryan's bungling this generation as opposed to his throwing devs under the bus to date that he has achieved.
Re: 'We're Continuing Our Journey on Xbox, Switch, and Steam': Sony Wages War on 1,000+ Crappy PS5 Games
Whilst there's any number of things one can grumble about Sony's management's tone deafness on, will give a nod of respect to whomever has been spearheading the whack a mole of Slop "games" that give genuine indies a bad name or can't be seen beneath the onslaught of gaming slop!
Genuinely surprises me there isn't a more concerted effort across gaming platforms to do the same!
Re: Sudden Steam Deck Price Increase Pins More Questions on PS6
Who would've guessed the broken (relative to other countries),system of U.S. Quid Pro Quo Inc.wherein in return for "donations" & investments by the lawmakers, the Big Tech Oligarchy get taxpayer kickbacks, reduced taxes for their billionaire CEO's, & ZERO regulation of not only their data gathering & A.I. scrapings of everyone's activities, but deliberately constrain supply of memory chips to consumer products whether,PC,Console,cars, phones,you name it.
As a result,they drive up the prices of all these consumer tech products artificially to increase their profit margins!🙄
Meantime the console makers like Sony & Nintendo etc., have evolved the sell consoles at a loss to selling them at a small margin & then charging like a herd of elephants for online services,subs, & everything else!
In any other universe, the Big Tech mobs would be investigated & taken to court for collusion & market fixing! Instead,the rest of the world suffers!
Re: With PS5 at Its Highest Ever Price, There'll Be No Console Discounts for Days of Play
@get2sammyb Now the Days of Play specials are actually live can now confirm....
1) Not only did Playstation increase PS Plus 12 month subscriptions $10/yr across all Essential/Extra/Deluxe tiers for the second time in under a year....BUT
2) Australian players also have been excluded from ANY PS Plus subscription "sales" completely....there are ZERO subscription offers & they remain at full price!🤯
Talk about taking your customer player base not only for granted but outright contemp!🤨
Re: Current PS Plus Subscribers Screwed Again by Days of Play Discounts
@get2sammyb Don't forget the axing of PS Stars either...needed to buy a fair bit or play select featured "challenges" to even earn sufficient points to redeem as a $5 or $15 "reward" (Down Under)....but since it's axing absolutely nothing unless you count the laughable merch deals for EU/U.S. customers! 🙄
Really doesn't help the perception (right or wrong),that they're using PS Plus to recoup lost revenue from their live service flops!
Makes Jim Ryan's mea culpa when he tried to shut PS3/Vita legacy stores with little notice & personally say "we got it wrong" ,look almost player/consumer friendly when the reality is he set the current standards now of current management to stay silent & NEVER engage with players....the days of folks like Shawn Layden,Shuhei Yoshida, even folks like Adam Boyes, etc have long gone!😕
They expect players to be like Nintendo or Apple acolytes, take the increases & smite the unfaithful! Old enough to recall when not only we'd see price drops on consoles over time but how the Platnium Classics range on PS1 & 2 undercut the likes of Nintendo stubbornly keep their first party offerings at full price!
Even during PS4 era you'd see a mix of first party pricing & good discounts later depending on games being remasters or whatsuch...compare that to this gen with initial begrudging upgrade pricing to dispensing of it altogether & charge higher prices on the likes of TLOU,Until Dawn etc
Re: Current PS Plus Subscribers Screwed Again by Days of Play Discounts
There's nothing "reportedly" about the 12 month subscription increase Down Under, $10/yr increase across all tiers, if I could post a picture from PSN Australia Web store I would!
As I mentioned in the Days of Play thread, a few days ago a theoretical 25% discount on a lapsed Essential subscription would've been $103/yr reduced to $77/78...now IF even offered here, it would be $113/yr & only reduces to $84/85...so instead they cagily word it as "up to 33% in select countries", whoopee?!🙄
Ever since the introduction of the "tiers" system they quietly nuked the ability to buy discounted subscriptions at retail during Days of Play, Black Friday etc.,& effectively created the monopoly thru PSN only,with no recourse for existing subscribers to "stack" like it was somehow cheating or defrauding them.
In the meantime they've increased the price dramatically with little to show for it...the PS Classics range continues at a trickle with little third party support & zero promotion..again, little wonder Implicit Conversions elected to take Atari's $$ & join them when they couldn't even discuss their PS Classics works!
The store monopoly on subscriptions & zero incentives to resubscribe,(other than the recent increase for lapsing/changing tiers),might pump up their earnings in investor calls, but does zero to win goodwill with the PS5 (& PS4 users whom failed to be won over to upgrade), base whom not only give the Playstation suits their jobs but are supposed to win over with PS6.
Goodluck with that treating players like cash cows & dividing PS regions with some effectively subsidising others with additional price increases!🙄
Goodluck posting those critiqueson the PS Blog either! So much for listening to players feedback!😂
Re: PlayStation Days of Play Sales Start Tomorrow with Physical and PS Store Offers
"Players in participating countries who join PlayStation Plus during PlayStation’s Days of Play promotion can save up to 33% on a 12-month membership.*"
Since my previous feedback on the PS Blog got deleted about the recent price increase, just sends any new posts into the void there!🙄😂
In short, IF my lapsed PS Essential sub even garners the 25% discount,thanks to the $10 increase Down Under on 12 months (unlike elsewhere),means that instead of a discount from $103/yr to $77/78 a few days ago, it'll be $113/yr, reduced to $84/85 approximately now!🙄 A reduction in theory,yes but even less of one given Essential/Extra/Deluxe 12 months all went up $10/yr on lapsed subscriptions! (And with increases in everyday bills, had to let Essential go in the hopes of a sale later when lapsed in February).
Just saying it's a far cry from the old days of Days of Play,Black Friday etc.,when one could buy a 12 month subscription at retail on sale discount & "stack"/add it to an existing subscription...the moment they introduced the tier system & introduced this Clayton's sale only on upgrading tiers then whacking players at full price thereafter & treating players as cash cows with continual price increases & zero rewards,(indeed they even removed PS Stars,let alone claiming subscriptions as points for it),& little to show for it...the PS Classics releases are a trickle, barely any third party support, & certainly no promotion of it by Sony.
Little wonder Implicit Conversions jumped at the opportunity to join Atari.
Unfortunately the tone deaf management at Playstation don't want negative feedback at how much they're ripping players off...PC hardware is similarly super expensive, BUT there are multiple storefronts depending on your tastes, whether GOG,Steam & others.
The financial "suits" might keep talking up financials in investor meetings, but keep missing the mark in first party releases & squeezing current players & taking them for granted & see how they get on selling the PS6 given what a botched job Jim Ryan, Hermen Hulst & the rest have left as their legacy this generation!
Re: 'Absurd': Social Media Misquotes Journalist, Erroneously Claims Sony Is Angry at Naughty Dog
Wonder how long the beancounters running Sony upper echelons these days finally work out the sheer frequency of cost blow-outs & general mismanagement of Worldwide Studios (& sales flops), have increased under Hermen Hulst's watch? 🙄
As for misquotes & socials,Purple Monkey Dishwashers!😂
Re: Now It's Raised the Price, PlayStation Wants Your Thoughts on PS Plus
Another one whom hasn't received a survey either,but likewise let my Essential lapse after many years too! You would've thought if they were truly concerned about players feelings they'd be asking those that let their Plus lapse too!🙄
Whilst without seeing if the survey has anything beyond the article, that they don't appear to allow feedback on how they removed the ability to resubscribe/"stack" or buy Essential PS Plus on discount sales like one used to says they just want curated answers to their questions rather than listen to negative feedback!
Also note that they completely skip any mention of the PS Classics content either which speaks volumes to how little commitment/priority they're giving that either sadly!😕
Re: Is PS3 Emulation Possible on PS5? Tech Experts Find Fascinating Results
RPCPS3 is the best homebrew solution to a problem that Playstation publicly tossed in the too hard basket years ago. On one hand they don't have the software engineering resources like Microsoft threw into their Virtual Machine/ emulation/recompiling "special sauce" program.
However, it was always disappointing that having seen ports of select PS3 to PS4 titles like Uncharted (by Bluepoint no less), or The Last of Us, in the rush for live service games Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst ignored games like Resistance, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet 1&2 etc.,that had the very multiplayer content opportunities they kept prattling on ABOUT AND wonderful,solid single player modes!
Add to that Single player titles & there was more than enough for a Bluepoint or other dev porting studios to work on alongside Implicit Conversions etc. Instead Hermen bough Nixxes, Mobile game studios & funded start-ups to produce flops like Concord & waste money on Bungie's disastrous advice what multiplayer games to pursue...if those results produced Concord etc., then it's clear they were as out of their depth as Hermen Hulst is.
Back on topic, with Implicit Conversions now at Atari, does the anonymous Project Crayon (Revealed by Mystic Ryan on YouTube, &made up of select Implicit Conversions staff). They have a website but don'tinteract on what Sony Classic titles they'reworking on), have access to the same Syrup emulation engine for any alleged PS3 emulation in future?
Re: Bungie Is Not Making Destiny 3, Dev to Be Rocked by 'Significant' Layoffs
@get2sammyb Because a reactionary Jim Ryan worried about the Activision Blizzard buyout & COD, sent his relatively new captain's pick of SIE Worldwide Studios head Hermen Hulst to do the due diligence & they believed the spin of the ex-Microsoft execs whom had taken over Bungie (& had pushed out other Bungie veterans even prior to Destiny), on their so called live services gaming expertise.
When Shuhei Yoshida made the veiled "jokes" that he likely might’ve pushed back a bit harder on some of the live service ventures being pushed based off his gaming producer experience on what constitutes a good game idea or not....can't help but suspect he'd have questioned Bungie's asking price.
He mentioned the cancelled Last of Us Factions game was coming along well,(even if the likes of Neil Druckmann later defended the decision to cancel it as given Naughty Dog's size their entire staff would be too busy to create other games).
Shuhei Yoshida never pretended choosing what games to cancel & what projects to press on with & hope they would he successful was easy with big AAA budgets. But looking at Hermen's track record even after Jim Ryan's departure he seems out of his depth as he seems tone deaf to what the player base likes this generation.
At this rate,whomever they keep or put into Bungie,perhaps they should give them an existing IP like Killzone,or Resistance or even Warhawk etc.,have a mix of single & online player content as a smaller scale project & see if they can rebuild their battered reputation & still tap into their multiplayer background. They can't do Halo, so perhaps tapping into Sony's IP vault is the next best thing?
Re: We Have to Talk About Live Service, After Heavy Rain Dev's Online Gambit Is Scrapped
Well part of the issue is just that...look at Hermen Hulst. Ever since Jim Ryan replaced Shuhei Yoshida with Hulst,to his promotion after,he's pursued nothing but a Fortnite/ Overwatch knock off...forgetting or ignorantly thinking that studios like Epic or Rockstar employs hundreds of staff to make live service content & whether Sony or in this example Quantic Dream think a relatively smaller team of a hundred give or take less or more knock up the same base concept then run the COD/GTA model & charge for the game & mtx or gamble with it being freemium with even more mtx & vague promises to their devs of extra hirings once this takes off,then when it bombs either being rushed out buggy, or lacking in anything different & the kids go back to Fortnite,GTAO, Minecraft, Roblox the dev studio get thrown under the bus & closes or has lay-offs!🙄
Much like Supermassive, Quantic Dream's best work arguably came with Sony,(under the likes of Shuhei Yoshida & those before him). But would they have adapted to a Hermen Hulst chasing after quick live services pot of gold when so many others like Bluepoint didn't? Probably not,& probably would've been closed by him too.
Unfortunately too many publishers run by beancounters prattling on about player engagement,& forgetting games that had single & multiplayer modes,(like some classic arcade racing titles,or stuff like LBP with creation tools), had an emphasis on fun drawing in engagement & allowing organic growth of extras in multiplayer rather than out & out clone copying of the same old stuff.
Re: PS Plus Price Increases Also Hit Extra, Premium Tiers - Here Are All the New Prices
@get2sammyb Assuming the 12 month subscription isn't affected in US/EU regions unlike here Down Under, what almost feels like "Dynamic Pricing" in force for PS Plus would be a new low for this current management.🙄
I contrast how select Antivirus or VPN software suites on PC entice new subs with decent so-called discounts,but if you don't switch off auto renewals they'll aim to charge you their full charging herd of elephants rates.
That said, can still then buy a discounted new subscription to either stack it or like a Antivirus thru digital retail official partner & save some $$ off full price.
Playstation on the other hand are taking the Netflix or similar & just up the price at their whim,& in this instance punish you if you let the subscription lapse & only offer a Clayton's discount if you upgrade an existing tier but then charge you the full increased rate after!
Really doesn't help when they release press statements written by A.I. chat bots & there's zero to show for the increases other than execs boasting of increased revenue earnings during investor calls getting leaked to websites like here making a mockery of their statements!🙄
Really doesn't help the perceptions of Concord/Marathon/Insert Hermen Hulst's latest live service failure game tax to make up the shortfall!
As it is, Playstation didn't even bother posting about the PS Essential increase on their local AU twitter at the time,it was via a press release to local gaming news website! Won't surprise if Extra/Deluxe go up here too. 😕
Re: PlayStation's Huge Days of Play Sales Begin Next Week, Reportedly No PS5 Console Discounts
Whilst I'm hardly surprised given current management's "oops sales are slowing, so let's squeeze the current base harder!", approach could also see other issues too.
Just recently Down Under one of the big two grocery retailers was found to have violated consumer laws here advertising "specials" on products they'd increased the price of recently beforehand, then claimed an "everyday low price" special which in reality was still an increase on the old lower price.
In particular the court found the period of time between the original larger increase & the claimed "savings" on the lower price which was still an increase on the old original price was too short. (& thus deceptive).
Not sure on other territories, but Sony would be treading a fine line in light of jacked up prices to then claim "savings" on console hardware already significantly higher than its older price point.🤔
Will be curious on PS Plus given the multiple increases including the latest one. Unfortunately can't see this current tone deaf management changing their ways anytime soon.
Re: State of Play Confirmed for 2nd June, 60+ Minutes of Wolverine and PS5 Games
You sure Playstation management won't start charging us to watch State of Plays next?! 🙄😂 After seeing 12 month PS Essential has gone up Down Under (if lapsed),despite reporting here saying it was only one & three month subscriptions affected, nothing would surprise anymore with current management!
Hope to be surprised, but things under Hermen Hulst's reign have only been a surprise when something good emerges amongst a glut of mediocrity.
Re: 'We're Not Standing Still': Returnal Director Forms New Studio to Make Games That Trust You
Wish him luck,(& hope the chase for investors doesn't see it transmogrified into an online shooter)...just hope he doesn't end up becoming the new Housemarque if Hermen Hulst isn't done throwing first party studios under the bus for his mismanagement if they don't meet "sales expectations".🙄
Must admit, I do miss the Housemarque that made the likes of Stardust, Dead Nation, Resogun etc. They might’ve been "simple" blast em ups, in concept but they were great fun & didn't worry about if they had to be a deeply emotional cinema experience!
Re: Poll: Sony's Killing Its PS5 PC Ports - But Do You Agree with Its Decision?
No doubt Project Helix had an influence on the decision. As to how much this affects Hermen Hulst's obsession with live service Fortnite knock offs & having closed studios or seen veterans depart other studios, remains to be seen. Hermen is clearly a great talker in those investor meetings as you would've thought his blunders & misfires would've seen him booted before now.
Re: 'It Should Be Free to Play Online Games': PS Plus Price Squeeze Taken to Task by PS5 Owners
The biggest issue I've had with the rolling PS Plus price increases ($103 for 1yr Essential my territory),has been ever since the "tier" system was introduced AND Sony stopped selling retail subs (in bricks & mortar stores), they killed any discounting on resubbing during their annual sales Days of Play,Black Friday etc.
Didn't bother resubbing after the last price hike. TBH could almost live without the "free" Essential games only the extra (occasional) discounts on games & the other basics.
Sadly doesn't help the current perception that current Playstation management is completely tone deaf to the Playstation players concerns.😕
Re: Feature: 15 Years Ago Today, We All Pushed Square to Doubt
Found LA Noire bot of a mixed bag. Whilst I got the fact it was never going to be a GTA as cops, it was the city being so big & yet so empty that felt quite the let down. The only real side missions were stopping a bank heist or what such & just felt too empty.
Probably for myself (much like GTA IV), never really found the main protagonist Cole relateable or engaging enough character either ...really wasn't until RDR came along with John Marston that I found something to sink my time into.
Probably the most memorable thing thereafter was all the controversy of crunch, burnout, uncredited people that'd worked on it, & lay-offs afterwards & promises by McNarmara of future projects coming to nothing.
Was k8nd of curious to give it another try on ps4 but the ridiculous pricing by Rockstar even on discount means that'll be unlikely.
Re: How Rockstar Squeezed a Whole City into Your PS2
Only hit up GTA 3 after Vice City which my oldest buddy & I adored with the 80's setting & music. Technically was quite the upgrade from the 2d games. I just got rather annoyed with how GTA 3 forced you away from old locations via whatever group you'd hacked off shredding you with gunfire if you even drove past!
Preferred the likes of Vice City where one could avoid setting off the gangs until late in the game.
GTA San Andreas took the loading system a step further by removing the City loads of Liberty & Vice City but threw in the fog style affect so you couldn't see the full world.
Brilliant stuff...albeit exposed the poor effort of offloading to Grove Street Games when they initially left the haze effect out completely!🙄😅
Re: Giant Enemy Crabs, $599, Ridge Racer: Sony's Wild E3 2006 Is Now 20-Years-Old
"PS6 will surely not hit for figures"...wouldn't hold my breath!🤯😅
@get2sammyb PS5's with an optical drive (not Pro),are already at the $1000 price Down Under after the last increase,& higher than that for the Pro.
Meantime I well remember the PS3 60Gb model also launching at about $1000 here AND only learning days from launch the PAL region lacked some of the PS2 hardware for backwards compatibility relying on partial software level....was a lowly casual in gam8ng retail at the time & peeved at the change. Plus suffered the Infamous yellow light of death only a couple months past the 12 month warranty!
Got better on pricing with the slim...still working last I booted it up! Certainly saw more dead Xbox 360's once the PS3 slim models came about...nevermind the constant laser burn on their DVD game discs.
PS3 never quite lost its negative vibe despite its sales catching up to 360, & some great first party games like Uncharted,TLOU, & others like Resistance/Motorstorm series,LBP 1 & 2, Infamous, Rain,Puppeteer, that remain PS3 locked to this day!
Didn't help a lot of third parties were built around the Xbox 360 (& hard to adapt to the PS3 & the more limited video card gpu it used).
The biggest thing then vs now,is Sony execs realised they made mistakes & definitely learned to better engage with the player base & made first party games system sellers.
Hermen Hulst's still having a one track mindset of Fortnite knock offs,& as you state, the middle & upper management now just hide behind P.R. spin announcements on the the official twitter handle or the blog, and they NEVER engage with players.
The recent excerpts & revelations of the shareholders meeting sum up the tone deafness of a proverbial bunch of suits whom have little appreciation of the very customers that give them their jobs. They're more concerned with spinning shareholders & rely too much on squeezing players as cash machines & stat's on spreadsheets.
Katarugi's obsession with the Cell CPU & the delays & overruns signed his own retirement papers with the "you'll want to work two jobs for this!"...current management unfortunately are ignoring what the likes of Shawn Layden, Shuhei Yoshida, Mark Cerny, Andrew House & others learned at that time, don't take your customers for granted & don't tell what they have to like.
Re: PlayStation's Lofty Preservation Efforts 'Not Stopping Anytime Soon'
It might be great they have a "preservation division"...unfortunately it doesn't fully translate into actual support of the PS Classics range with the likes of the PS1/PS2 Gran Turismo's, Wipeouts, PS2 Ratchet games, Psygnosis stuff like Colony Wars,Adventures of Lomax, Alundra, Discworld etc., where its usually a shrug of the shoulders "meh,licensing what are you gonna do?!", let along PS3 locked IP's LBP 1 & 2, Resistance or Motorstorm series, Infamous,even Rain,Puppeteer etc.
Nor do the nameless PS Classics 3rd party Sony content managers seem bothered chasing Classics content,& left it to Implicit Conversions & now seemingly the anonymous Project Crayon to do the work on a petty cash budget vs Hermen Hulst's blowing millions on failed live service Fortnite knock offs!
Re: Is Bungie Sony's Worst Ever Acquisition After $765 Million Write-Down?
Whilst the decision to ultimately buy Bungie was under Jim Ryan's going cap in hand to Sony upper management, the fact remains that his captain's pick Hermen Hulst's reign as Worldwide Studios head has largely been disastrous & purchases like Bungie, Haven etc , were at his behest
We've seen several senior heads & creatives at the likes of Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Sony Bend & others "retire" in the face of pressure from Hulst only greenlighting live service games or the occasional single player game with select favourites on the basis it would be spun off to Streaming/Movies, merchandise & PC ports....add to it forcing Studios like Bluepoint away from their expertise in remasters & remakes,(& older IP's sitting unused ala Resistance, Motorstorm, LBP & others),to Hermen's obsession with Fortnite knock offs & being thrown under the bus whilst he still keeps his job.
Rehiring Shuhei Yoshida would be a start...but moreso, the current silent,aloof,& tone deaf suits installed during & since Jim Ryan's reign should be booted out for a far more engaging middle management who listen to what players might want out of PS Plus & PSN services & first party games instead of price hikes, bugger all classics, or dynamic pricing A.I. nonsense...🙄
Re: PS Store's Deals Section Missing as PS5 Breaks Its Streak of Constant Sales
As always when it comes to Playstation these days, it's the silence when they spring these surprises on players. Yes, maybe there is some UI mega update or something, but instead of getting on the front foot & saying there's some store maintenance or similar they let these things build with speculation...really makes you wonder what the P.R./Socials teams do for their day job sometimes,or have they been all replaced by A.I. Bots?🙄
Re: 'Our Job Is to Charge Way, Way, Way Less of the Value': GTA 6 Unlikely to Cost $100+ on PS5
Value?! The same Take-two that outsourced the GTA Trilogy remastered "definitive edition" minus several songs due to being cheap on renewing licenses, only after several in-house patches increased the price for a cross buy version on PSN (no such option for ps4 physical owners)? Likewise the full priced GTA V releases over multiple gens? 😅
As to how much the story mode gameplay mechanics in GTA VI are influenced with the online mode (found the share market in GTA V to make decent $$ for properties etc. annoying even in single player),time will tell but not holding my breath.
Re: 'We'll Share More When We're Ready': Xbox Wants to Make the 'Right Decision' on Exclusivity and PS5
@get2sammyb Shouldn't be that surprised at Xbox leadership playing guessing games like this in the lead up to the next gen launch wars.
As the current gen see-sawed liked a roller coaster with world events & initial big cash splurges & PS5 continued to lead sales despite Microsoft buying up Activision Blizzard & Zenimax Bethesda (& Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst continued stumbles in live service games), Satya & the Microsoft board wanted to stem the losses of this gen & played hardball with Phil Spencer & Sarah Bond failures to deliver a win over Sony, hence the PS5 floodgates opened on releases & garner some revenue.
Now the new team are in place & they're pushing a new Xbox console which on paper sounds more like a gaming PC built on a Windows base & promises of accessing PC players gaming libraries,(& legacy Xbox gaming libraries), they're being given leeway to entice Xbox/PC players with exclusives again & deliver the gamepass numbers that Phil Spencer promised Satya. Ultimately Satya will be the one as next gen unfolds who'll make the call if the numbers don't stack up.
Sony safeguarding certain exclusives make sense, but they'll need to be the kind of hard hitting winners that the Uncharted series, OG TLOU, Spiderman, Horizon Zero Dawn & others delivered across the late PS3/PS4 gen rather than Hulst's overall track record has been as Worldwide Studios this gen.
Re: The Dev Behind Many Classic Games on PS5 and PS Plus Just Got Bought By Atari
With the state of things atm, can understand why Implicit Conversions took the offer. However,it doesn't inspire the greatest confidence in Playstation's commitment to its classics program when the releases continue at a trickle, & tend to lack a lot of the heavy hitter third party classics of the kind that used to feature on Sony's budget platinum range BITD before the age of digital allegedly made things so much more widespread & better!🙄😋
Everyone has their own tastes & unfortunately licensing is the popular crutch, but to nominate a few titles possibly Colony Wars, Alundra, Adventures of Lomax, Ultimate Ghosts'n'Goblins, Maximo Quest for Glory & Army of Zin, NFS Underground 2, SSX Tricky & SSX3, GTA LCS/VCS, Splinter Cell ps2 series... like I said, unlikely....anyway, not exactly sure how they'll fit into working with the IP's the current Atari have, but who knows maybe it'll open more third party doors than Sony managed with its range.🤔
Re: Xbox Game Pass vs PS Plus: Was Sony Right All Along?
One of the few things Jim Ryan actually didn't fumble on,(though Shawn Layden confirmed much the same from his time in SIEA & Worldwide Studios). I mean props to the new Xbox leadership for actually trying to reduce a subscription price & at least appear consumer friendly to stem losses.
But by virtue of combating the potential PS5 buyers wanting access to their PS4 library, Phil Spencer tried enticing everyone with the instant games library on Xbox One & later Series S/X/PC. All he ended up doing after the AAA publisher buying spree was reinforced a culture to Xbox players they didn't need to buy games which might’ve worked if Gamepass was in as widespread use on streaming platforms & PC,but it isn't.
Even in Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst's mad pursuit of a Fortnite first party pot of gold they still strictly follow the likes of Take-two/Rockstar with GTA & want people to BUY games,then spend more afterwards rather than bundle them into PS Plus permanently.
Re: 'I Didn't Listen to Him': Ex PlayStation Boss Shu Yoshida on Why Jim Ryan 'Fired' Him
Whilst if you're an indie gamer,(& given the current state of AAA releases,glad I am, though mostly those with a retro theme),I suppose one should be relieved Shuhei Yoshida was able to turn around some of the operations of the Indie division that'd been allowed to slide from the early ps4 era.
However, as we'd heard in the past like with the original God of War reboot,the combat & game received some major retooling after a rather critical Yoshida visit...compare & contrast Hulst (& the ex-guerilla folk he seemingly moved into Worldwide Studios as his "yes" people),proclaiming Concord one of the best games he'd ever played.
Yes,little doubt Jim Ryan started the rot with the live service push,but Hulst has continued the nonsense,& played the corporate slippery pole far better than Ryan by virtue of how many dev studios & lay-offs he's done since Totoki took charge of Sony operations.
Sadly we haven't just seen Shuhei Yoshida leave but founders of the likes of Naughty Dog (& creative heads like Amy Hennig & Bruce Strayley leave), Insomniac retire/leave,& other veterans in Bend, Media Molecule etc.
Would love to see Shuhei & others return, but the legacy of Jim Ryan, Hulst etc., is anyone that actually enjoyed gaming & interacted with players have been replaced by "suits" whom post on the blog if you're lucky or some financial website or investor meetings talking about player engagement & profit margins rather than are the first party games actually fun to play rather than,"how can we squeeze more from the user base?".😑🙄
As it is,since Shu left Sony,not even sure who runs their indie division...he's still doing more to promote them than whomever replaced him!
Re: You Might Not Want to Know How Much It Reportedly Cost Bungie to Make Marathon
Unfortunately,most Playstation gamers don't know anyone who's a Sony shareholder,(& the latter care for profits,not quality of "product"), but can foresee Hermen Hulst doing the kind of throwing everyone under the bus,that he should be in those Scottish pole tossing events!🙄😂
"It was Jim's fault! He wanted Bungie! I certainly wasn't taken in by their Microsoft execs that came in & driving out their older talent before Destiny....they forced me to create an "advisory" group on multiplayer games because I had no idea & cancelled several on Jim Ryan's way out!🙄 "
Yes,as Shuhei Yoshida readily admitted before & after his Sony retirement, trying to back a "winning" development that'll succeed is hard & expensive....BUT Hermen Hulst' obsession with pushing Worldwide Studios into live service Fortnite & Overwatch style knock-offs at the cost of closures & departures of veteran talent whilst continuing to flog the dead horse of what's left of Bungie is the epitome of his mismanagement!🤨😑
The times I'd read his token word salad of legacy gaming IP's of Sony locked away on older systems like Resistance, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet (& some lovely single player games too),which featured single & multiplayer modes being abandoned in favour of his online only big scale live service knock offs, the only thing I can admire is his continual ability to convince the "suits" & accountants it's everyone else's fault!🙄
Re: 'Who on Earth Would Want This?': Almost 90% of PS5 Fans Not Interested in New 'Playerbase' Program
Meantime we're how many months on from the closure of the "experimental" PS Stars rewards program with vague promises of something better to replace it & still nothing?! But of course they definitely didn't shutter it because heavens forbid players would trade points for PSN Credits,right Sony?🙄😂
Re: Rumour: Naughty Dog 'Floated' the Idea of Uncharted 5 Before COVID
I loved the Uncharted series right from the get go...it felt fresh, the dynamics of Nate, Elena etc were superb & the wise cracking hero in numerous adventures...but with a lot of the principal creators that made Nathan Drake such an appealing & beloved character with the likes of Amy Hennig or Bruce Strayley long gone, really not sure I want to see Uncharted return.
As much as it was teasing about their daughter, I'd fear the now common Hollywood trope,(Disney especially), of trying to boost her at the expense of a broken,divorced old Nathan Drake. Mere speculation & cynicism of Druckman's creative output,but my point was the Drakes went "legit" treasure hunters.
I'd like to see a new hero in some sort of similar action hero vein,& maybe the Sci Fi Intergalactic could surprise yet...but Druckmann without a Creative Director reigning him in has become another predictable Hollywood style creative in recent years & hate to see him change what made Uncharted a classic series!
Re: 'The Solution Is to Get Rid of Consoles': Analyst Predicts $1,000 PS6 and a Transition to Game Streaming
Big tech would love to get more & more services that can & have been done offline on a PC or games console for decades just like they have with music,movies etc.
But personally any gaming group that switches their console/PC to be locked into cloud services,(& Windows 11 is already trying awfully hard at this), then I'm out of their ecosystem. It's enough dealing with numerous patches & hoping single player games are functional enough insofar as the servers whether Steam,PSN etc., remain online to download them again....when those options become unavailable then will be looking at alternatives or stick to retro.
Re: 'It's All a Bit Depressing': Just 13% Think PS5 Is Worth Its New Price
Much like I posted in the price rise articles, there's world event ripples going on outside their control...ie: taxpayer/Wall Street funding an A.I oligarchy promising huge returns on A.i. farms, in collusion with RAM manufacturers (whom as shown in the likes of Gamers Nexus videos have colluded on pricing long before A.I.),& Big tech suppliers all too willing to chase higher sales,& meantime price gouge consumer grade parts with the leftover crumbs.
However, the manner of how Playstation's management's (kicked off by the short sighted Jim Ryan's captain's pick Hermen Hulst heading up Worldwide Studios),approach to betting the farm on live service games, pensioning off experienced middle management whom might’ve pushed back on what was being greenlighted or purchases like Bungie & their so called expertise & just the increasingly tone deaf approach of random "suits" whom will now drop an announcement on the PS Blog of PS Plus price rises, hardware rises,studio closures (in the press) & then they bunker down like it's the Winchester in Shaun of the Dead & hope it'll blow over is really widening the perception of aloofness & disconnect.
The days of PS1 or PS2 console pricing reducing over time with model revisions & game classics that would go cheaper on Platnium labels unlike Ninty's first party cartridge games or later on more digital based stores like PS4 & sales on PS Plus subscriptions so you could stack them have long gone!🤯😕
Instead you have a management that is quite willing to squeeze the existing player base & try recoup on the losses of some of their live service failures & yet still make sure the Playstation division still returns a profit.
Sony management is now running a very tight financial leash due to the mismanagement of Ryan,Hulst etc.
Re: Epic to 'Solve' Life Insurance After Terminally Ill Employee Was Laid Off
Why do I get the sneaky suspicion that Tim Sweeny's medical & other insurance executive packages would not only cover his expenses if dramatically ill,but also include significant payouts if anything as serious happened to HIM!🙄
Re: Feature: PS5 Price - Why Does It Cost So Much in 2026?
Unlike the previous price hikes which were all about profit margins,(ie: not selling at a loss), this is all about the rampocalypse,(& Gamers Nexus has done excellent coverage on the ram manufacturers colluding before),& the A.I. Oligarchy,& Big tech vendors like Nvidia,AMD & others quite happy in return for taxpayer & Wall Street money funding the A.I. bubble to screw over consumers & constrain supply & price gouge them all at the same time.
However, Sony's tone deaf responses this gen of squeezing PS Players especially those outside of the U.S. with price hikes on PS Plus ($103 for Essential my region),& zero discounts on buying a new subscription only upgrading existing one has ll Ed me to drop it first time in years! Did we ever see PS Deluxe regions get PS Premium? Nope! Has the PS Classics program been dramatically expanded with multiple first parties? Lucky to see a capcom or Bandai Namco title,& a dribble of one title or so!
We've seen the likes of Shawn Layden & Shuhei Yoshida pensioned off,as have the founders & prominent heads from the likes of Bend, Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Media Molecule & others, whilst Hermen Hulst has pushed studios into live service disasters & closed studios whilst ignoring PS3 locked IP's to pursue Fortnite knock offs or spin off games into Steaming TV,TV,TV rather than if a game is fun or any good!🙄
Worse still with the departure of execs like Layden or Yoshida you have nameless tone deaf "suits' Iin charge whom have taken the Jim Ryan model of make a tone deaf announcement on the blog, go to the Winchester, & hope it'll all blow over!
Except it isn't Shaun of the Dead,Sony. If you don't give a perception of value & variety & reasons to stay loyal, PS users whom have been around since PS1 & PS2 & knew that Playstation used to represent value vs expensive alternatives will leave. Especially when you're as aloof & tone deaf as current management are.
Re: Sony Announces Gigantic PS5 Price Increases, Effective from April 2026
On one hand, yes this is very much a situation outside of their control & look no further than the Big Tech Cabal of the A.I. tech oligarchy & all too willing partners of the RAM manufacturers,& the likes of AMD,Nvidia (yes I know they don't contribute PS5 parts), etc. quite happy to constrain consumer supplies & gouge us with the crumbs left over all for "doing business" in the land of Quid Pro Quo Incorporated.🤯😤☹️
However, Playstation management this generation have made the Infamous missteps of the Playstation 3 generation look like pure genius when compared to how remote & out of touch they've been this generation. Whether it's token efforts of accessing legacy gaming libraries with PS Deluxe, to buying up talented Studios like Bluepoint only to now close them, to releasing disasters like Concord or potentially now Marathon in Hermen Hulst's continued live service Fortnite obsession to the detriment of the game variety & independence that made Sony Worldwide Studios so strong before his disastrous reign.🙄
But add to it the forced retirements of the likes of Shuhei Yoshida & other Worldwide Studios heads & producers for Hulst's favourites, alongside a bunch of "suits" who'll post in the PS Blog & absolutely avoid interacting with the very player base that provide their employment & its little wonder veteran PS Fans are left wondering do I even bother replacing my console if anything happens let alone think about PS6 especially in the current tech rampocalypse.🤨
As others have said, let my PS Essential lapse for the first time in years & with the lack of any discounts for it, incoming "features" like dynamic pricing,things Sony CAN control, they're certainly not winning me over vs just playing my backlog & picking up the same indies on PC.
Re: Fans of Old Dreamcast Games Are Going to Go Gaga for This Strange Fishing Sim
@Yousef- Would be a tight finish between Angry Video Gamer Nerd's Plumbers Don't Wear Ties or Seaman as to which he had most fun filming given both "games" were perfectly suited to his humour!! 😁
Re: 'This Is Unsustainable Madness': Modern Video Game Budgets Are Out of Control
Go back to was it late ps4 gen or early ps5 era comments of Shawn Layden discussing the "value" of "shorter" AAA games maybe only 18-20 hours vs ones being 50hrs+, & then possibly lined with grindfest gameplay mechanics to push mtx down your throat....& that's not including online loot boxes or virtual currency ala Fortnite,GTA etc.
I honestly was comfortable enough with games like say Little Big Planet or Motorstorm that had solid single & local player stuff,(or Uncharted),& optional online stuff but didn't ram things down your throat.
Even PS4 earlier on in the generation was great for first party stuff that like, you could hit up Horizon as quick or slow as you wanted...
But now AAA publishers want to push live services & make their game you "main" weekly grindfest whether COD,Fortnite,GTA,(& Hermen Hulst been wasting PS Studios & closing them left & right to get his own mega online cashcow),to put hundreds of hours in & considerably extra $$ than the initial payment.
Smaller is better,& likewise even in the single player, spare me the gritty depressing worlds like Neil Druckman wants to rinse & repeat regardless of whatever storyline he's pitching.
But I'm old so,I'm not their demographic anymore,so retro inspired indies more my jam it is,they won't care me yelling at the clouds!😂😋
Re: PlayStation's Disastrous First-Party Leadership Culminates in Yet Another Studio Closure
Must admit in just catching up on PS Gaming news I was dreading it being someone like Media Molecule or Bend...guessing this was another one of Hulst's "live service" dream dev director led teams. Which after the disaster of Concord we've seen several of the listed studios old& new be thrown under the Hermen Hulst bus of blame if they fail the "blockbuster" test whilst he would mostly only greenlight live service Fortnite rip-offs & certainly little interest in old Sony IP's that pre-dated his tenure as Worldwide Studios head.🙄😕
Shuhei Yoshida, Shawn Layden etc might not have always picked a winner or big live service successes but they knew their games far more than the clueless Jim Ryan that wanted a yes man rather than anyone push back against his reign of mediocrity & panic decision making which has left us the out of his depth Hulst.
Re: Opinion: Why Is Sony Scrapping the PSN Name?
It's very 2026 that the top priority they're making is to rebrand the PSN moniker!
Store gifting to your friends?, Steam style refunds instead of the vague "case by case" & stated policies of "if you downloaded it, you bought it",but try our chat bot support if you're in a territory with stronger consumer laws & you may reach someone!!
Being serious, yes we've seen some small wins like displaying of previous prices & wishlisting to a degree when it doesn't bug out. Very welcome....but the glacial speeds of actual tangible improvements vs the actual age of the overall Playstation storefronts over multiple generations has been ridiculously slow vs the prices & changes they've applied like PS Plus etc. And not many wins for the players in terms of features either!
Re: Nvidia Says You're All 'Completely Wrong' About Its Controversial AI Upscaler DLSS 5
Just remember folks,the reason we're facing the rampocalypse, SSD, & GPU shortages, & increased pricing on future gen in a deliberately manipulated shortage by the billionaire tech oligarchy so we can enjoy snapchat like filters...when they're not pilfering our data to feed their AI,unregulated! 2026, what a time to be alive! 🙄
Re: Street Fighter 6's Incestuous New Storyline Divides Opinion
Cue that old ps4 Resident Evil demo ending "Welcome to the family,son!"😱😋🤣 When you're in the Capcom game family, you're not leaving!😅🤯
Re: 'What the F*ck Are We Doing Here?': PS5 Fans Slam Square Enix for Sloppy Multiformat Strategy
Might be mistaken,but I seem to recall in & around the time frame of the likes of the Octopath Traveller games & I think some of the "classic" FF games announced coming to Gamepass/Xbox there was a mention of a change in Square Enix management that was more Xbox friendly after a period of frosty relations & timed exclusive on Final Fantasy 7 remake etc.
We've certainly seen an increased level of public "snarking" from Square Enix repeatedly hammering "disappointing" results on Sony marketed games but never heard a peep on Gamepass exclusives like Octopath Traveller etc ,where Playstation owners were locked out for the longest periods.
And yes, the golden child Nintendo fanbase would repeat the bot like Xbox line & games press on Sony money hitting deals when Nintendo Square Enix exclusives have been a repeating pattern!🙄
Thankful someone in the press has finally highlighted this hypocrisy, but sadly we won't see it elsewhere. Clearly Square Enix are still very happy to do exclusive deals for $$ from Microsoft or Nintendo & people in their management have a beef with Sony at present but as always its the players that suffer!