As others have observed. It's not just the culmination of arrogant,unpopular announcements on the PS Blog, it's the complete silence on obvious follow up questions thereafter that typify this Playstation management.

Are there ANY plans for players ps4/ps5 physical games libraries to be accessible on an all digital PS6? Or if true to recent form will it be a premium one like an add-on physical drive, or repurchasing games digitally etc.?

Likewise, if the PSN is becoming a monopoly, are they going to make any improvements to bring the PSN Store up to other stores like Steam/GOG style refunds,gifting etc?

Recently reminded they also still don't allow region swapping,& people that have an old or alternate account to access other games not available on your own region in theory could get removed/banned if they choose to further maximise profits with importing physical discs is no longer an option!
Likewise looking at situations like Down Under when they jacked up PS Plus 12 month subscriptions twice under a year here & locked us out of the Days of Play subscription discounts just a few days later, how they intend to use their monopoly to disadvantage smaller regions with dynamic pricing, their poor delivery of PS Classics retro games etc., just where is the value to players to remain with an aloof, arrogant & self serving Playstation leadership team?

There might still be the Acolytes,good for them. You're the exact cashcows the current PS leadership is banking on to literally monetise on in an increasing capacity.

You can likely guarantee based off the likes of Rockstar/Take-two that all digital day one games will be sold at full price increasing the margins rather than pass on savings.

Sony are already exercising "Dynamic pricing" in smaller regions such as when they increased PS Plus 12 month subscriptions across all tiers for the second time in under a year Down Under this year,(unlike the U.S./UK/EU), then locked Aussie players out of ANY discounts for lapsed or upgrading subscriptions in Days of Play literally days later!🙄

At best,I suspect any plans about backwards compatibility of players physical games libraries onto ps6 will be premium ones. Whether a physical drive add on, maybe a PS Plus cloud save type thing locked into digital games license upgrades of physical or otherwise just a straight out buy em again your problem suckers!
They have had every opportunity to follow up those very questions & are choosing silence.

As noted already, storefronts like Steam/GOG already offer better refund options than PSN & gifting etc. Nevermind emulation options which might not always be perfect, but alternatively can revisit legacy games of PS1/PS2/PS3 that a penny pinching PS Deluxe would never bother adding compatibility for.

Building DIY PC's isn't easy these days due to the same A.I. bubble issues & spyware overtures of Windows 11 forced online accounts etc.,but there are options.

Even the "what's the big deal?",zealouts will find out next gen when they start getting squeezed with dynamic pricing, increasing price hikes etc.,that a 100% store monopoly isn't a good thing after all!🙄 This aloof Management cannot be trusted.

Daresay the reality is this cowardly,arrogant Sony executive is still looking to "ghost" its customers with zero details on backwards compatibility of players physical games libraries on an all digital PS6 being anything other than a premium,profiteering one.

But with paid up 3rd parties having games & products to promote they're now trying to "flood the zone" & bury the negative feedback. I feel sorry for those devs being caught in the crossfire, but if customers do follow through with buying them elsewhere on PC or other formats Playstation leadership is going to find a real PS6 problem beyond its luxury pricing if it's messaging is drowned out by its trashed reputation by this tone deaf management.

Guessing it'd be a regional thing anyway. Again, before their spectacular own goal last week, Playstation jacked up PS Plus 12 month subscriptions Down Under (unlike other regions only affected by 1 or 3 months), twice in under a year AND locked Doown Under players out from the Days of Play subscription discounts only a few days later!

No offer when I cancelled in February, no discounts since, & goodluck getting my $$ for their continued profiteering in regions like mine whilst clearly showing their monopolistic intent of dynamic pricing rip-offs via PSN & zero information of physical games library backwards compatibility into an all digital console.🙄

Think Sammy's observations sadly say a lot about this Playstation management They truly don't feel the need to engage with gaming media much less their customers. They'd rather engage with business sites & only engage with investors in shareholder calls.
They only bother with word salad chatgpt like statements like the one by Sid Shuman then go & hide.

Given Sony's track record in recent years like promising PS Plus Deluxe having a library of classic PS1/PS2/PSP games, yet it has little third/first party support of genuine best selling classics of those eras & clearly it devotes a pittance of its PS Plus revenues towards it vs just profiting off customers with continued price increases.

The obvious questions of how they plan to address PS4/PS5 backwards compatibility of players physical libraries on an all digital PS6 suggests no plan, or a premium one for digital licenses of those games.🙄
Likewise have zero confidence they have any will to improve the PSN Store feature wise as much as they're looking to profit off customers with a full monopoly.

Unfortunately the only real language that'll make them pivot I suspect is financial if they suddenly find their PSN revenues tank if PS players actually follow through & take their business elsewhere.

If the PS Blog is any indication, they might try & switch from ghosting players to simply trying to "flood the zone" & bury the negative comments hoping the Xbox studios or indeed pretty much anything else at this point takes the news.

Much as a couple of YouTube channels have observed, they timed the announcement to not overtly affect current figures to investors in quarterly earnings...it will be up to PS players maintain a stand...ie: cancelling subscriptions, digital preorders, even PSN sales etc., over the coming months & continue flooding their socials & Blog for an extended period.

Will they blink? This leadership group have perfected the art of hoodwinking & engaging with shareholders more than they bother connecting with their customers...but the longer this goes on & more critically IF players actually do disengage from PSN in terms of cancelling subscriptions & GTA VI preorders etc, it'll become far harder for them to insist everything is awesome, especially if they refuse to address the questions of physical games library backwards compatibility not having any sort of carry over to an all digital PS6 or a premium solution like repurchasing games etc.,& zero improvements to a monopoly PSN Store experience.

Yes there's all the very dry talk of figures, trends, costs etc., that the current aloof, arrogant, remote, out of touch & cowardly leadership group excel at.

What separates this bunch of clowns to Shawn Layden, Shuhei Yoshida, Adam Boyes, Andrew House, or others (nevermind the creatives at Sony studios that'd "retired" or been forced out in recent years under Hulst's disastrous reign), is they engaged with their customers even on more trickier conversations.

For example when they designed the PS4 it was effectively a complete reset from older gens. No backwards compatibility (& disappointingly only a trickle of PS2 classics later on digitally), BUT they acknowledged PS3 was too expensive & fell short of the hype despite some wonderful later gen first party titles.
What key titles like the Uncharted Trilogy, or TLOU that did get ported from PS3 weren't charged as full priced releases &/or unlike Nintendo you could count on deep discounts later on first party titles.

What do this lot do? Charge top price on remasters of the likes of TLOU 1 & 2, or Until Dawn, with changed or lesser content than the PS4 originals! They create a PS Plus tiers system but remove subscriptions from retail sale, take away discounts for renewals or in regions like Down Under recently with Days of Play bump up the price & lock our region out from any subscription discounts even if your sub lapsed months ago!
They advertised a PS Deluxe tier boasting PS1/PS2/PSP Classics yet first & third party support has been abysmal & quirky rather than classics for the most part.

They make chatGPT PR word salad announcements on the PS Blog then bunker down & hide
In this instance,the simple question is, you announce an all digital future...fine. what's the plan for accessing your physical ps4/ps5 games library on PS6,Playstation leadership?

Are you going to charge a premium on a external drive? Expect your customers to repurchase your physical library all over again digitally? Or tie up a "free" upgrade digitally into some paywalled PS Plus style subscription nonsense when even Microsoft is leaking a potential free upgrade path similar to what they offered with their select 360 games on Xbox one programme that still carries over to their current gen if I'm not mistaken?

You really can't help at this point but believe Sony's deafening silence suggests there is no free upgrade path & they plan to profiteer on their player base!🙄🤯😤 Veterans who remember the Playstation of PS1/PS2 eras &/or felt being burnt during PS3's missteps simply have no patience left for a current gen management that refuse to engage with its audience & think they can spin their way out of it like it was a shareholder investor meeting

If this leadership group actually played the games & knew what their audience liked instead of telling us "Concord/Marathon or insert X title here are the best things ever, you like 'em or else!",they'd appreciate why games library access & preservation matters. This lot only care about milking it's audience.

All very sensible steps Sammy...& unfortunately based off the cowardly weak, aloof & arrogant Playstation leadership team they'll completely ignore every single step!🙄

That the best they could do was hide behind veteran Communications Director Sid Shuman's Chat GPT Word salad announcement & then bunker down in silence like it was the Winchester & hope it'll all blow over speaks volumes.

Meantime, Microsoft is already leaking via Windows Central about a likely all digital future but spinning a plan to roll-over physical discs into digital library free upgrades.

What has Sony done when the obvious question of ps4/ps5 physical backwards compatibility been asked since? Go quiet, go dark....again.
Remember when they promised PS Deluxe would expand with PS Classics as would games streaming territories that had didn't have Premium? How did that go? PS plus been hiked up multiple times & territories like mine Down Under got locked of of subscription discounts in Days of Play entirely!🤯😤

Remember when they shuttered PS Stars with the vague promise,we have something better planned? How did that work out? Oh, overpriced merch to VIP's, nothing for the plebs!

Gaming executives ala Adam Boyes, Shuhei Yoshida, Shawn Layden,etc. brought us along because not only did they acknowledge the arrogance & mistakes, but tried to be honest so like we heard you PS3 was too expensive, so here is the ps4...the trade off is no backwards compatibility to PS3 but we won't charge you the earth for remasters & first party games had deep discounts.

Compare & contrast Hermen Hulst (& Jim Ryan etc),here's full priced PS5 remasters of Until Dawn, TLOU,TLOU2 etc. No upgrade path, pay more & sometimes get less content & be happy, pay up suckers!🤡

They could've changed direction after Jim Ryan's departure...Hermen stayed the disastrous course of live services, keeping PS3 IP's locked in the attic chest & treating gamers with silence,& shutting studios that don't meet his impossible demands & we seen veteran creatives leave Worldwide Studios to be replaced by aloof ones ala Neil Druckman.

This isn't the Playstation that launched CD & DVD consoles & cut console prices & budget Platnium labels of first & third party greatest hits...this is one full of arrogant suits whom think Playstation is Apple & they dictate to their customers to swallow their slop & milk us like cashcows & just go silent when they intend to profiteer on them like their all digital future!🙄

That's fine Sony...you sure made your silence clear of intent,so it makes the expensive option of a PC As a choice of emulation of when Playstation was good & indie games easier despite the rip-offs & Microsoft snoopware & AI slop there too...at least there's still DRM free options ala GOG store.

Beat me to it with the Shaun of the Dead reference!🙄😅 It's been their modus operandi this generation...an executive that doesn't interact with players unlike gaming execs of the past ala Shawn Layden, Shuhei Yoshida etc.),only shareholder meetings...post on the Blog & then go underground.

Add to it decisions like killing the legacy PSN which in itself would be sensible but for the fact that the PS Deluxe (as exists in most countries with no games streaming legacy games),offers bugger all actual "Classics" or best sellers of the PS1 & PS2 eras that even their previous main outsourced developer now is part of Atari! But they keep increasing PS Plus like here Down Under twice inside a year on 12 month subs & excluded us from the Days of Play subscription sale!🙄

The disconnect has never been greater. Short of a drop off in PSN revenue this bunch of clowns will never get it.

@get2Sammyb Unfortunately this rot & burning of goodwill can be traced to the start of Jim Ryan's disastrous reign (& the departures of "gaming" executives like Shawn Layden, Shuhei Yoshida etc). Instead we saw financial "suits" take over & an executive like Hermen Hulst whom are more Infamous for their flops & shutting studios than they are for successes.

To seemingly compensate for the sea of red left by Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst wasting billions on live service flops & Bungie we now see a Playstation management that only see themselves answerable to Investor calls rather than the customer base that give Playstation staff their jobs.

They make P.R. Statements on the Blog which effectively amount to "take our slop & direction & like it",& think going silent afterwards is the answer. There's only so many times you can squeeze the cashcow & then find it kicking them out the back of the barn & leaving a hoofprint on the foregead!🙄

@VeganH Yep,says it all about the current Playstation management that the CEO or Hermen Hulst etc ,spend their time only communicating in Investor calls & never interact with the customers that have given current management their jobs.

The likes of Shawn Layden or Shuhei Yoshida etc., have expressed over the years what the PS3 era mistakes taught them at the time, a lesson completely lost on this bunch of aloof financial "suits",whom are better known for their continued arrogance & missteps whilst insisting they know better than their customers!🙄

Despite their attempts to bury the post on the Blog,that the ancient Blog is currently up to around 4300+ posts & struggling shows what little understanding of the tidal wave of red hot anger they've unleashed & what little goodwill Jim Ryan's leadership at the start of this gen burnt away!🙄

Given this management's current form, will likely be "too bad,buy the digital versions you wanna play physical,just buy a PS5+drive!"

Sadly, the legendary Shuhei Yoshida "game share" jibe with a disc from the PS4 announcement is lost on these clowns!🙄

Sony shutting legacy stores even when Jim Ryan tried it on wasn't the issue. At that time the bigger issue was PS Players not being presented with any means to play the older games.

What did we get since? A lacklustre "Premium" with limited third & first party "classic" games more often "quirky" rather than genuine one time AAA classics, let alone the PS3 games still locked onto that ecosystem that Sony will never likely port having already shuttered the likes of Bluepoint....the disconnect of this management knows no bounds!🙄

Decided to paste my thoughts from the PS Blog given only just read about this & have zero confidence it won't be deleted there.🙄

As others have commented. Owned every console from the OG PS1. If this is the cheapskate strategy for PS6, then my PS5 will be my last PS Console.

One of the very features dating back to PS1/PS2 gens were cheaper games over time like the platnium classics range. Compare & contrast present day Sony that you're lucky to see digital first parties reach what would be day one PS4 new release prices!

Since PS Plus Essential subscriptions got removed from retail stores you've pushed the prices up multiple times & even excluded Down Under from ANY discounts for Days of Play!🙄
The tone deafness of this management make Jim Ryan's reign look like the "good old days!"😑

I do wish the devs that Atari have picked up all the best & continue what they do best,just get an awful dose of dejavu when on the back of investor $$:a smaller player buys up a bunch of devs,only for things to go Pear shape later!
Remember when Embracer THQ 2.0 did the same? Microsoft,Sony etc.?🤞🙏

At this rate I half expect they'll buy up "Commodore 2.0" & or the current car boot sale owners of the Amiga IP, next!🙄😅

Daresay on top of sales declining the prospects of the Steam Console (until the price announcement),&/or Project Helix Xbox running Sony "exclusives" killed off single player ports! As for Shawn mot understanding Sony's thinking,don't worry too much, I doubt Hermen Hulst knows what he's doing these days either other than shifting positions like a politician !!🙄😂

What's even more unfortunate is if Arkane was solely working on Blade then it's unlikely they have any back up projects in the pipeline as the license wouldn't travel with them for a sale. Likewise older IP's remain with Zenimax Bethesda/Microsoft. 😕
As always, replace one Megacorp suit with another & the "new broom"/reset is always the same as the old suit!🙄

It might sound easy "just shop it to Sony", there's undoubtedly no compete clauses to prevent such things,(expensive to bring lawyers in),let alone very much a buyers market as far as publishers are concerned.

Hope longer term IO bounce back from this. Agree it'll be curious if Kojima's project remains after the cull. Certainly feels like the smaller previously independent studios Microsoft bought up are the ones facing the chop.

"Even Apple are increasing their prices!"...🤯 Whilst it's quite true consumer pricing of memory is quite beyond the likes of Sony, the Xbox gaming division, or even the likes of the mighty Apple, I highly recommend people watch Gamers Nexus breakdowns of what's been happening including even his latest on Micron/Crucial just one of the big three players at the heart of the cartel.

The likes of Nvidia,AMD,Apple, Microsoft etc., in their trillions could easily fund competitors in the memory manufacturing game...the big three themselves could expand if they wanted to...but the reality is in return for massive donations to a Quid Pro Quo Inc US government, billions in tax breaks & kick backs etc., they are making profits like they never had.

It's far easier for those with skin in the A.I. Bubble to sign MOU's & I.O.U's on future allocations thus allowing the "Big three" memory makers in the west to dictate consumer pricing regarding console makers, TV'S, phones etc., telling them to take it or bugger off.

Ironically even China mandates (& has a financial stake in),it's memory manufacturing still maintains a reasonable local supply of consumer RAM despite its own expansion of A.I. Compare & contrast the memory manufacturers & the biggest tech companies whether an Apple, Microsoft, or AMD/Nvidia with gpu's etc., that'll happily pass on increases to consumers for a market constraint they have caused, they aren't competing with each other, they're happily dividing a bigger slice of the financial pie.

They're quietly setting the scene for cloud computing & "cheap" boxes reliant on the cloud to store your data,play games,or productivity (all for subscription),& act like they're doing the plebeian consumers a favour for a supply & demand situation they've engineered!🙄

Sony between a rock & a hard place, but will hardly feel like much of a new gen when there'll be so few sales they'll be relying on a PS5 gen already slowing down drastically due to the same memory cartel & A.I. tech billionaires.

Sadly don't see the situation changing anytime soon.😑 Yes,by all means try build a PC & play a retro library, but be aware memory prices & supplies are only getting worse there too...

@get2Sammyb Except the biggest thing is most of the current "succesful" live service games were done by experienced dev teams &/or BEFORE Jim Ryan's captain's pick "yes" man Hermen Hulst took creative control of Worldwide Studios!🙄

We've heard Shuhei Yoshida (& Shawn Layden whom departed after Jim took the reigns), openly admit picking which games to keep backing & which to cancel is a brutally hard process but that was the job description.

Instead you've had Hermen Hulst pressure Studios that were based around making Single player games (mostly),suddenly only greenlight a single minded strategy of Fortnite style knock offs....you had Studios like Bluepoint being wasted on a GOW fortnite game or be a support studio instead of where there were numerous Sony IP's like Resistance, Motorstorm series, LBP 1 & 2/Go Karting, & others with multiplayer modes & mtx content left gathering dust....a number of good senior creatives & indeed producers quietly "retired" or were pushed out & then following Hermen pushing for the Bungie buyout he initiated the first wave of mass live service cancellations based off their "advisory" panel, which still spat out the disastrous Concord. He bought start ups without their having produced a single success whilst shutting down other Studios.
Seriously,when does the buck stop with his disastrous mismanagement?

If Sony want to learn from mistakes, start re-engaging with players & get back the people that made Playstation successful & show Hermen & his favourites the door!

Surprisingly saw some troll bots on the PlaystationAU twitter feed flooding Destiny 3 posts on the GTA VI announcement but yep can't feel that much sympathy when seen other better teams like Bluepoint be sacrificed among others.

My only real query is what will it take to get Hermen Hulst fired? He was undoubtedly a big part of the Bungie buyout & cheerleader yes man Captains pick by Jim Ryan in making the live service push across the board of Worldwide Studios & despite his numerous poor management decisions & departures & retirements & dev houses thrown under the bus by him,he's somehow still there!

Show him the door too & make their apologies & offer Shuhei Yoshida his job back!

Personally loved Tekken 2 (& 3 wasn't half bad either),albeit haven't got around to the PS Classic Implicit Conversions/or Project Crayon ports of them yet.
As others have observed Teeken is quite rough compared to the others,bit like how MK Legacy Kollection has the better earlier games but have to pay a premium to get that full collection too!

Makes me sadly think Bandai Namco will happily outsource other older stuff to Hamster at the higher price points rather than bother with Sony's Classics program which is already starved of third party formerly AAA classic content!😕

@get2Sammyb Wonder if this might be a sneaky way of making a GTA+ subscription compulsory as part of a GTA Online 2.0, in lieu of it being a "free" update to single player later or possibly in addition to selling the multiplayer portion as an extra package? 🤔 This is Strauss Zelnick calling the shots these days after all!

Just catching up with the headlines here...soo, a "physical edition",which isn't a disc,but a code ,(despite the P.R. dribble denying it a month or so back but cagily omitted about the disc situation)...& now the paywalling shops etc with this "Ultimate edition"? 🙄

I'm sure there'll be a truckload of buyers whom much like Nintendo acolytes, all too happy to reward the corporate greed of the likes of Strauss Zelnick, but even IF they pull off stellar reviews think I'll be good with sticking to their back catalogue...

Well when you have the likes of AMD CEO Lisa Su observing "We're not in competition with each other,we're all friends,LOL!", & Jesen Huang talking up A.I. Agents being his most important market over humans,let alone gamers are you that shocked?🙄

You have the Big tech A.I. oligarchs operating off I.O.U.'s getting allocation from the "Big three" RAM chip makers,(a group previously prosecuted years ago for market collusion), whilst Nvidia & AMD are happily inflating that bubble in return for "donations" to Quid Pro Quo government & zero regulation & tax breaks!🙄

The infuriating thing is these Megacorps (or even a collection of smaller Big corps ala Sony, Asus,MSI,etc),could have the resources to fund competition to the current RAM manufacturers & wherein provide additional supplies badly needed in the consumer market (or indeed extra factories by the Big three themselves), but why go to that bother when it's soo much easier to rip-off & gouge consumers with higher prices & profiteer in the meantime whilst wringing their hands,sighing & plead it's not their fault!🤨

But meantime A.I. memes, misinformation & data scraping off everyone's personal information & artwork * lord knows what else are all things now in a unregulated space, 2026 what a time to be alive!

Pray your game consoles & existing PC's can last the distance everyone!🦶🤞

Also Hermen Hulst when Hiroki Totoki started looking at the red ink with the likes of Bungie & Nixxes sales figures: "It was all Jim's fault,sir! I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen! And Worldwide Studios were begging me to make these live service games,I couldn't stop them!" 🤯😱🤣....probably!😋

Between Project Helix's access to PC Steam gaming library &/or the Steam Console itself being competition next gen,title wonder they rather tailor single player games as system sellers to keep players in the Playstation ecosystem then be beholden to Gabe Newell.

Besides which I doubt Hermen has given up his Fortnite/Overwatch first party live service pot of gold dreams quite yet...he just can't throw as much $$ at it with the financial suits well & truly calling the shots & looking to keep a tighter hold on the purse strings.
Hermen's best "game" by far has been to throw other studios & execs under the bus & keep his job!🙄

Given Playstation's most recent stunt Down Under was not only increasing the 12 month subscription prices for the second time in under 12 months Down Under but then also exclude my region from ANY discounts in the Days of Play sale (despite my sub lapsing 3-4 months prior), goodluck incentivising us when they're already ripping off my region!🙄

Given the lack of third party (& first party), PS1 & PS2 Classics & seeing the likes of nouveau Atari having made more efforts than Playstation can be bothered with talk is cheap Sony,actions speak louder than words.

"What does it do?"....Given Sony have been communicating to devs etc.,about PS4 services being turned off,more likely each firmware update likely to having it doing less, not more! Though not quite (thankfully), the broken state of the PS3 accessing it's PSN Store that I'd seen in a couple of YouTube videos!

@sanderson72 As much as one could understand some "new" or experimented features they wanted to try to promote the PS5, agreed it seemed rather strange just how little of certain PS4 features even ones that were considered popular got dropped on ps5!🤔

Seem to recall Playstation cited the pandemic for the initial slow progress on system feature additions or changes...will be a curious question if/when the PS6 is eventually unveiled just what might or might not transition from the PS5 UI?

Ironically when Ninja Theory were spruiking the benefits of joining Microsoft,(having previously spruiked the benefits of self publishing & being truly independent),a lot of PS Fans were surprised Sony hadn't shown interest or that Sony would've been a better fit

Having seen Hermen Hulst's live service push largely blow up in his face like he was Wyle E. Coyote,they probably dodged a bullet to avoid being Bluepoint but unfortunately now find themselves in a very similar situation with Microsoft

Even IF Sony were interested (unlikely given they're still in a sea of red ink with Bungie), & the Hellblade IP probably remains with Microsoft so anyone else looking at Ninja Theory would be potentially looking at one devoid of any in-house gaming IP's unless tied into any sale.

@get2sammyb Seemed pretty clear from Phil Spencer's reduced appearances he was on his way out after the multiformat demand from Satya Nadella came down...though does anyone really believe Jim Ryan wasn't similarly tapped on the shoulder with all the initial wave of live service game cancellations & closures on his way out the door?

As for Double Fine similar story since Psychonauts IP would likely be their most valuable IP to buy back from Microsoft.
Wish these dev studios the best but they're at the mercy of a buyers market at present!

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.