@PuppetMaster You realize this is the equivalent of saying that because Doom: The Dark Ages and Alan Wake 2 didn't sell well in the US, that market must not be interested in shooters?
And, again, a Japanese-coded game will not necessarily appeal to the Japanese market. I'm not saying make Gravity Rush 3. I'm saying make something that succeeds in Japan.
@SeaDaVie I don't really see what Ghost of Tsushima's mild success has to do with what I said.
As an aside, that estimate included the PS4 release and PS5 Director's Cut, both physically and digitally, over the course of 3 years. The majority of Japanese sales numbers are limited to physical sales as tracked by Famitsu. In which regard, Tsushima only charted in the yearly top 100 in 2020. It hit shy of half a million that year — physically only. Why I think this is all relevant is two-fold: first, that is a fairly successful Japanese launch, but was during the PS4 days. You would often see popular PS-only/mostly series like Resident Evil and Final Fantasy charting well above their PS5 counterparts back then. Again, makes you think this is a PS5 issue. Be really interesting to see how Yotei faired this year. Secondly, it's hard to really say Tsushima was this phenomenal hit given aforementioned factors. Get those digital sales in there, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it be eclipsed by other PS4/5 games that only seemed modestly successful according to Famitsu charts.
More pertinent, though, I'd say there's a big misunderstanding from both fans who want more Japanese representation from Sony and Sony fans who justify the company abandoning the market. Just because a game is made in Japan, takes place in Japan, or generally feels 'Japanese,' that doesn't mean it appeals to Japan. I love Gravity Rush, but it doesn't feel particularly crafted to appeal to Japanese sentiments. The Last Guardian even less so. They are Japanese games, yes, but that doesn't mean they are for Japan. So when I say Sony should try to sway the market, that doesn't mean I think they need to make Gravity Rush 3 (they should just make Gravity Rush 3 because I personally want it). They should make a game Japan cares about. They should make several games Japan cares about. And, like, really market them, invest a lot into their success, and try to turn them into their Japanese liaisons.
There's way more the market responds to than anime gacha games. Nintendo alone is sufficient proof of that. And the few PS5 titles that manage to be successful despite being on the PS5 in Japan show there's demand. I mean, 2D platformer Mario Wonder sold 2 million in a year. A board game, train conductor...thing was one of the best selling games of the last 2 years. Minecraft is still regularly successful. It doesn't have to be a gacha game to be successful there. Being on the Switch does help, though... I mean, they could always just do that. Why not throw Astro Bot and Rachet on the Switch and see what happens?
@bossuche9 Regardless of which era of management is to blame for PlayStation's contemporary woes in Japan, that doesn't mean modern management is validated in ignoring the entire market.
I'd argue that if one flop closes down an entire studio at any major publisher, that major publisher should reevaluate its business structure. Even one as seemingly mismanaged as Microsoft isn't closing down Double Fine because of Keeper. They also didn't close down Ninja Theory because of Bleeding Edge. This isn't so much a Sony problem as it is a modern entertainment problem, but companies should be able to afford a flop here and there. That's the only way you're going to create hits in the first place.
And, if home consoles were successful in Japan in the past, that means the market is still there. Even looking at the Switch's success, we're just assuming people are buying it for the portability. That's despite the worst selling Switch model being the cheap, exclusively-portable version. It's very possible that, like in other regions, a great deal of Switch owners still use it as a home console a lot of the time. Which would mean this proposed stagnation of home consoles in Japan is foolhardy.
@Veritas7Ax I mean, yeah. But also, live shows are very difficult to coordinate, and time constraints as well as sponsorship prerequisites are incredibly important to adhere to.
It's like, most of TGA's biggest problems are likely the result of a limited budget. If money wasn't an issue, I'm sure event planners would love to allot every winner a solid 5-10 minutes to speak.
Generally, I feel like people are way too harsh on The Game Awards. I mean, yes, all awards shows are stupid, and TGA in particular is extremely cringey and hard to watch.
But it all feels like it came from a place of passion. A sincere desire to legitimize gaming with respect to its entertainment brethren. And it...kinda, mostly accomplishes that. At the very least, in 10 years they've put together a show with about as much pomp and circumstance as the Grammys and/or whatever the f*** the others are called. And that's an impressive accomplishment in and of itself.
Now, would I care to watch at all if not for the trailers? God no.
@bossuche9 I mean, 'trying' would be putting out a handheld. Or putting together some new IP that actually appeal to the market. Like, you're right that 3rd-party games have historically been what sell on PlayStation in Japan. But why doesn't Sony have an ongoing JRPG series, then? Or their own Resident Evil? Is it really so hard to compete with Mario Kart and Animal Crossing that it doesn't even warrant an effort? Even just looking at their older titles for IP they can revitalize and direct towards the Japanese market. PaRappa was pretty successful, why not try a new one? And I will die on the hill that Ape Escape had WAY more franchise potential than it achieved. They've literally been in this market for 30 years; you'd think they'd have more to show for it.
It's not like the Japanese market is impossibly impenetrable. Especially when Sony already has a s***ton of brand recognition there. While their ongoing neglect has resulted in Nintendo owning so much of the market that they likely will never be 1:1 with them, I'm certain they can do better than they're currently doing. S***, just get some kawaii characters and attempt something that isn't pseudo-realistic and overtly masculine. It's really not that hard. And Astro Bot not single-handedly catapulting their Japanese business to Nintendo levels does not mean it's a senseless endeavor.
@PuppetMaster @Coffeeglitch Concerning Japanese game sale trends, I don't really think either of you are quite on the pulse.
PuppetMaster is absolutely right that they don't just want "JRPGs, good mechanics, more creativity." While JRPGs still tend to be modestly popular, Dragon Quest and a few of Nintendo's are really the only ones blowing up their charts. And 'good mechanics' and 'more creativity' are pretty nebulous attributes. The former is so nebulous, I'm not even going to try quantifying it (the majority of video games released today have 'good mechanics' to some extent). As for the latter, pretty much all their top selling games are from established IP with conservative applications of originality. But even then, 'creativity' and 'originality' are not synonyms. Is Splatoon 3 creative because it's gushing with artistic expression, despite basically being Splatoon 1.8? You'd really have to be more specific there.
I think what's happening is you're confusing the types of games you associate with Japanese gaming with the games Japan actually buys and responds to. They are not an entire culture of — for lack of a better term — weebs. There's casuals there. Plenty that don't like anime. Plenty more that are reverse-weebs (Japan-born, west-obsessed). The only real consistent thing in their charts is that they love Nintendo.
As for PuppetMaster, I mostly agree with the sentiment of your comment. Although, I do think some of your points only make sense as a response to Coffeeglitch and aren't very fair on their own. For instance, FFXVI and FF7Rebirth were the 12th and 9th best selling games of their respective years (according to Famitsu, which does exclude digital sales). I wouldn't say that constitutes 'not giving a damn' about Final Fantasy and JRPGs in general. Especially when you see Rebirth sold 50% more than the PS5 version of DQIIIHD-2D. Of course, the Switch version sold just shy of a million. But that kinda makes you think these trends are more a PS5 problem rather than a not-DQ problem. It's hard to say if that's a software or just a hardware problem, but it does seem like Sony doesn't even try to put out stuff for their native fans these days.
@PuppetMaster @Oram77 @bossuche9 I'm not sure if all or some of you are being sarcastic, but I wouldn't say putting out a region exclusive console with a cheaper price point is a legitimate effort in any sense of the word.
@get2sammyb @jvecc I regularly see them at Targets. I wanna say I've seen them around for... probably about two years now. But I don't really pay them much attention, so that timing might be off.
@Summer235
"of you think."
Periods go inside of quotation marks, not outside.
It's always asinine to call out someone's grammar online. Even more so if yours isn't pristine.
While I wouldn't go so far as to say the US is the equivalent of a 3rd-world country, it's undeniable that the quality of living for many, MANY Americans is well below the standard people would associate with a 1st-world country.
@CP2 Really don't feel like SeaDaVie ever explicitly condoned arresting someone for nonviolent speech over the internet. Honestly, I would call that a gross misconstruing of everything they said.
And assuming you're talking about Cvantez's response to my comment, wherein he states simply walking in America is unsafe for all but those of a certain complexion, I'd call it a bit of an exaggeration, but not entirely incorrect. Once you hear that Native Americans have been detained by ICE and held in captivity until their tribe could prove their origins, it's really hard to deny simply being a certain spectrum of skin colors is enough for this current government to mistreat you.
Ya know, Battlefield 6 was in the #1 spot for one week. Black Ops 6 was in the #1 spot for 4 weeks, until EA Sports FC 25 came in above it. That's despite FC25 coming out several weeks before Black Ops 6 and consistently coming in at #2 after it launched — for 4 weeks, at least. Modern Warfare III was in the #1 spot for 1 week, before Hogwarts Legacy inexplicably shot up to #1 from #8. Then FC24 randomly shot up to #1 from #3 the week afterwards.
...Ya know, these 15 minutes of research has yielded an interesting pattern: even though FC comes out months prior, it always seems to shoot to the top of the UK weeklys at the end of November. I'm a filthy American, so I don't know what might be causing that uptick.
But, um — clears throat — between that pattern, seeing FC and CoD flip-flop #1 through the years, and seeing MASSIVE success Battlefield 6 and 2-year-ago CoD appear equally successful to MASSIVE failure Black Ops 7 when solely looking at these weeklys, I'm inclined to believe this isn't an accurate interpretation of these charts.
EDIT: Hold up, hold up. Maybe I'm stupid for this. I realized the charts I was looking through were GfK, not GSD. Having just learned that I frequently see the latter charts on PS and the former elsewhere, and mentally mix 'em together because I don't really care. The problem being that only GSD counts digital sales — aside from select, non-participating companies (I noticed Mario Kart World kept showing up in the other charts I was looking at despite being absent here). So I'm going to do 15 more minutes of research and see if the patterns I'd noticed hold when incorporating digital sales. See you in 15 minutes, non-existent people reading this!
@Rich33 I appreciate how you're applying solid reasoning to this analysis and bringing up more interesting perspectives.
We all seem to be in agreement that the comparison offered by the article isn't terribly effective. I'm not sure why that agreement has spawned such bitter arguments...
I hope their individual condescension at my expense was just a last ditch effort to save face after realizing they completely misconstrued your point. I can only hope...
@Gunbeld I dunno man. If you think that was anger, you really aren't good at gleaming emotions from written word. I just wrote long comments; I didn't do so out of impassioned rage, or anything. I just have a tendency to over write. And you cranking the condescension up to 11 really just makes you seem like an arse.
At no point did I express distress at the idea of the PS5 outperforming the Switch 2. At one point, I literally said I expect the PS5 to outsell the Switch 2 next year. You're arguing with a figment of your imagination.
@Gunbeld Defensive definitely isn't the right word for whatever the hell I am.
You didn't start your back-and-forth with Member by mildly noting how interesting it was that the PS5 managed to outsell the Switch 2 in any capacity. He said 12 months of sales data wasn't comparable to 6 months of sales data. Then you said, "So what's your excuse for the PS5 outselling it in October?"
That doesn't sound defensive to you? Like you're trying to prove something about the PS5's success relative to the Switch 2's? Why even point out it's "the last 2 months in a row"? Based on everything I've said, why would I care? If you're not trying to say the PS5 is the bestest console ever and more successful than the Switch 2, why point this out?
If I sound worked up, it's because this is the most pointless debate I've seen in a while. I'm not even disagreeing with anything you're saying. I'm just saying — over and over again — that what you're saying isn't relevant to what Member said.
And your last paragraph is just completely misunderstanding me. I'd be more offended if I hadn't already presumptuously assumed your motivations, as well. I can't speak for Member, but I clicked on this article because I was curious what the sales numbers were. I didn't expect this "edging" to hinge on incompatible sales data. I think it should be quite evident that the incompatibility is was bothers me. And I really only engaged in the comments because I thought your response to Member was, frankly, obnoxious.
And no, I don't agree that the PS5 selling more than the Switch 2 in a region that has historically preferred PlayStation to Nintendo is pretty interesting. I'd find it pretty interesting if the PS5 inexplicably outsold the Switch 2 in Japan. I'd find it interesting if the Switch 2 remained the highest selling console every month in every major region. This, though? This is normal. I'd be very surprised if the Switch 2 outsells the PS5 in the UK next year. Unless Sony drops the ball and Nintendo has a few Animal Crossing-level releases at the ready.
@naruball Heh. I should've taken scottXedgar's advice too. Welp, since I'm stubborn, I'll just self-destructively stay put.
Everyone here understands the October thing. It just isn't relevant. What does the PS5 selling more than the Switch 2 in October prove? Which of Member's points does it disprove?
And yes, you two sound threatened. Maybe insecure is the better word for it. No one was questioning the success of the PS5 or saying the Switch 2 is more successful. Someone was just pointing out how senseless it was to compare 12 months of sales to 6 months of sales. I think that's fairly reasonable. And yet you both want to focus on the specific month in which the PS5 outsold the Switch 2. And I can only assume that's because you need the PS5 to be more successful so your "team" that be victorious.
@judgmentarrows I mean, that's a very different criticism than 'not understanding their appeal.' And I wouldn't at all say "conservative" is the right word to use there.
I'm not going to defend any of Nintendo's litigious acts against fan games and content. I will say, while they're arguably the most trigger happy, many other companies do the exact same things. Sony, for instance, just shot down that Concord revive attempt and killed Bloodborne Kart. Which isn't to say it's fine for Nintendo to do it 'cause Sony does it — nor vice versa. It just becomes very arbitrary to single out certain multi-million dollar companies for immoral actions when they all do immoral actions.
You kinda just have to accept all these companies suck, and either follow them regardless or move on.
@Gunbeld That's only "better" if you have an interest in proving the superiority of one console over the other. That was not the intent of Member.
@naruball His point was that it's a silly comparison. Gunbeld's point that the demand of the PS5 was observably higher than that of the Switch 2 in October isn't relevant to the 'silly' point.
I don't know why both of you are so threatened by the possibility of a 12-month-available Switch 2 outselling the PS5 in the UK during its launch year. That's an extremely specific hypothetical that doesn't inherently prove the superiority of either console. 12 months of sales data isn't compatible with 6 months of sales data. 1 month of sales data doesn't invalidate other months of sales data. Don't worry, the PS5 is still a successful console — no one is trying to take that away from it.
@Gunbeld Pretty sure his point was that it's a silly comparison given the circumstances. Not that the Switch 2 would definitely sell better if it was out all year.
Ergo, he probably doesn't care that the PS5 outsold the Switch 2 in the UK in October, and wouldn't attempt to 'excuse' it.
@judgmentarrows It's all about personal preference, my guy. I'm sure many prefer God of War and Horizon to Mario and Zelda. And that's fine.
Many others, myself included, think very few games compare to Nintendo's greatest. Many more yet just don't see good alternatives to the likes of Mario Kart, Super Smash, or Animal Crossing.
There's plenty worthwhile on the Switch and PlayStation alike. And the Xbox, for that matter. I'm very adamant that there's not really a bad console these days. Even the PlayDate is a fun little novelty well worth the purchase, in my opinion.
"Now, if you think Sony's output isn't that egregious because of the small size of most of the series they've put out sequels to...[proceeds to explain the circumstances which make Sony's output seem tired]."
"And Insomniac Spiderman, Ghost, Helldivers, Horizon, and GoW aren't big series with tons of sequels either...[proceeds to detail the amount of entries each series has as though that wasn't already addressed]."
You didn't address my point about Mario-esque reinvention.
You didn't address my point about "degrees of egregiousness."
You didn't address my point about contemporary Sony's lack of new IP — or really any of the points in LONG PARAGRAPH.
Completely ignored my statement: "Sequels are fine."
And seemingly thought my allusion to Microsoft was an accusation at Sony's expense, even though I prefaced it by saying, "To ease up on Sony."
I'm still very much inclined to think you didn't understand my arguments. Or you chose not to engage with them. My arguments weren't empty — that's ridiculous. And I called you a fanboy because you ostensibly feel the need to counter all criticism of Sony.
@PuppetMaster Hmm, rude. Well, if you don't want to engage with my arguments, feel free to keep fanboying and ignore any arguments that might disrupt said fanboying.
@AhmadSumadi I mean, Ghosts... is Japanese in the same sense that Disney's Black Panther is African. It utilizes the culture of its setting, but was made with the sensibilities of the culture that made it.
It's not like Japan isn't aware of what games are and aren't made in Japan.
@Nei Don't take such an absolutist stance. Acquisitions are normal, and often aren't damaging.
It's literally a large publisher buying a small team from another large publisher, all of which have a long history of working closely. I'd barely count it as consolidation. And, if anything, I'd assume the team will be in a better position being a subsidiary of Nintendo instead of Bandai Namco.
@PuppetMaster This is a weird hill to die on. Death Standing and No More Heroes are bad examples of egregious sequels, as both series are fairly small. MGS, like Mario, reinvents itself; 1 and 2 are the only two entries I'd say are closely alike, but certainly not to the extent of something like Modern Warfare to Modern Warfare 2. The expectation isn't for a developer to throw out everything and start from scratch. Super Mario Galaxy feels like a successor to Super Mario 64, but it doesn't feel like the same experience.
I would add to Max_the_German's point by saying there are degrees of egregiousness to consider. It depends on the size of the series, how alike a sequel is, if it can do ANYTHING to differentiate itself (doesn't necessarily have to be gameplay), how derivative the original was to begin with, and how far apart entries are.
Now, if you think Sony's output isn't that egregious because of the small size of most of the series they've put out sequels to, I'd like to add another point: holistic originality output. Sony has a few problems that exacerbate the unoriginality vibes. Of course, the lack of new IP this gen is the biggest problem. It was literally only last gen that we got Horizon, Marvel's Spider-Man (which we'll pretend is a 'new IP' ), Death Stranding, Days Gone, Bloodborne, Dreams, Astro Bot, and Ghosts... (and Gravity Rush and Tearaway, if you include Vita) — and I'm sure I'm forgetting some like Resogun. This gen, really just Returnal, with Tokon, Wolverine, and Soros finally adding to that roster. Concord, too, I guess. And then we're on to the next big problem: most of the PS5's exclusives are direct successors to PS4 games. Almost all the PS4 era new IP I just listed have already gotten sequels, sequels in very close proximity to their predecessors. Without enough new IP to balance them out — or even series reinventions, like God of War saw last gen — it really feels like we're getting the same suite of games from 5 years ago. Also, contemporary PlayStation games have the problem of all feeling alike. Over-the-shoulder camera, high-fidelity, cinematic adventure games, all with a fairly cohesive art style. One of the things that helps Nintendo's HOO is that few of their series are alike, but the uninitiated might have a hard time differentiating between Horizon, God of War (Norse), and Death Stranding. Also-also, Sony's relatively smaller output makes it feel like these alike sequels are all we get.
LONG PARAGRAPH. To sort of co-opt Max's words, it's really not about sequels in general. Sequels are fine. I don't have much issue with how Nintendo mostly puts out sequels. But it's easy to fall into a rut if you don't handle those sequels correctly. To ease up on Sony, modern Halo and Gears are great examples of how to kill a series with derivative, frequent sequels.
Weird. The coolness of Kill Bill and Tarantino are really clashing with the dorky lameness of Fortnite for me.
Also really gives off '2000s movie director knows what video games are' vibes. Which is usually lame per se. But I'd still rather this exist than otherwise. And the cinematography looks neat. I'll probably try to give it a watch at some point.
@Northern_munkey Honestly, though, is BF6 superior in every department?
Its campaign wasn't really regarded any more highly than CoD's. People love the multiplayer, but no one's complaining about Blops' multiplayer — in fact, what I've played of BF6's multiplayer felt like it missed the mark compared to BF1 or 1942. It doesn't even have a mode comparable to Zombies, which I've mostly heard praise for apropos Blops7. And Redsec just came off as a cheap WarZone clone to me.
I've always thought the CoD vs. Battlefield rivalry — as boring and tired as it is — really just came down to preference. CoD's better for high-octane s***s-and-giggles, whereas Battlefield is better for grand-scale shenanigans. Throughout their history together, neither has been that spectacular, nor has either been significantly better than the other (post BF3, at least) — and Blops7's weird campaign doesn't change that.
@LogicStrikesAgain Oh, that's my misunderstanding, then. I was trying to give a nuanced take because I thought you were assuming people opposed to Sony's efforts are absolutely against any and all of their attempts at live-service.
That you were specifically questioning the reasoning around someone being an anti-live-service absolutist I actually empathize with. I have A LOT of negative opinions about their live-service push, and am not a fan of live-service in the first place. But with Helldivers II — not to mention all the other industry-wide success stories — live-service is absolutely here to stay. And, if the game's good and not too predatory, who really cares either way? The biggest thing for me is that it feels like they're planning on releasing a lot of non-live-service games here in the near future. Which makes it really hard to be that upset about it anymore.
@LogicStrikesAgain The problem isn't that Sony is doing live-service. The problem is they drunkenly and haphazardly bought several studios and asked many of their top partners to make 'em, just so they could greenlight 12 of them at once. Which, itself, is just bad business.
But where it really goads our gobs is that the move very apparently gutted their output of traditional games for several years. No one really minded that they did Helldivers II. Many were legitimately excited for Factions. I personally see nothing wrong with with that Horizon MMO being developed by an outside studio. But those and the 9 other games that are mostly cancelled now should not have came at the expense of the experiences most of us buy PlayStations for.
There's a right way to do it. Sony did it the completely wrong way. I have no personal vendetta against any of their live-service games — especially now that they're ostensibly shifting gears and deemphasizing live-service. And am kinda rooting for Bungie just because they're Bungie (single-player Marathon reboot would've been sick as f***, though). But when it seemed like the entire company was barreling towards a live-service, multiplayer focused factory, I think it was fair to hope they would fall flat on their face and return to what most people follow them for.
EDIT: Although I generally agree about the doomposting. I'm very exhausted of every mention of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 being a circle jerk of hate validation. I can't stand the internet's obsession with s***ing on Mario Kart World. And, yes, I agree that people disinterested in Marathon shouldn't feel the need to complain about it every chance they get at this point. I just find online gamers completely insufferable now, honestly.
@wildcat_kickz This guy gets it. All of Blops 7's problems stem from mismanagement. Not from anything the internet has cried about over the last year, but rather the reality of an annual franchise that's been going for over 20 years now.
Call of Duty itself still has plenty of life in it. But, like Modern Warfare III and Black Ops 4 before it, the results from Activision forcing one of its helmers to release a CoD back-to-back is never great. But, like Modern Warfare (Remake) or Black Ops: Cold War shows, all it takes is some decent development time and the fanbase will be there. And the internet will have a complete turn around, just like they did with Battlefield 6 after s***talking 2042 for years.
@McBurn Not too sure why people have convinced themselves lower sales = more effort. Especially in this case, where Blops 7's problems really don't have much to do with polish or lack of funds.
The next entry will have more effort put into it. Not because of this ostensibly below expectations release, but rather due to Infinity Ward and/or Sledgehammer Games being given more than a year to put it together.
@TicklefistCP This is just the US. I'm pretty sure most of Shadows' sales came from the UK.
Talking worldwide, and using the most up to date — but not necessarily verified — information, Shadows sold 4.3 million in 6 months while Deliverance II sold >4 million in 9 months. I think it's reasonable to assume, then, that Shadows has sold more globally than Deliverance II. That's despite Deliverance II charting here.
Does that make it more profitable? I don't know. Does that make it a success per se? I don't know. Was it really annoying for me to find this information, and more annoying yet that it's partially unconfirmed and fairly vague? God yes.
Translation: If a company says a game's successful, just take their word for it. You will not find enough information to make any real conclusion to the contrary. Case in point, according to Take-Two and Capcom, respectively, Borderlands 4 and Monster Hunter Wilds fell short of expectations.
Comments 1,155
Re: Japan's New PS5 Model Suffers Sales Slump in First Full Week of Data
@PuppetMaster You realize this is the equivalent of saying that because Doom: The Dark Ages and Alan Wake 2 didn't sell well in the US, that market must not be interested in shooters?
And, again, a Japanese-coded game will not necessarily appeal to the Japanese market. I'm not saying make Gravity Rush 3. I'm saying make something that succeeds in Japan.
Re: Japan's New PS5 Model Suffers Sales Slump in First Full Week of Data
@SeaDaVie I don't really see what Ghost of Tsushima's mild success has to do with what I said.
As an aside, that estimate included the PS4 release and PS5 Director's Cut, both physically and digitally, over the course of 3 years. The majority of Japanese sales numbers are limited to physical sales as tracked by Famitsu. In which regard, Tsushima only charted in the yearly top 100 in 2020. It hit shy of half a million that year — physically only. Why I think this is all relevant is two-fold: first, that is a fairly successful Japanese launch, but was during the PS4 days. You would often see popular PS-only/mostly series like Resident Evil and Final Fantasy charting well above their PS5 counterparts back then. Again, makes you think this is a PS5 issue. Be really interesting to see how Yotei faired this year. Secondly, it's hard to really say Tsushima was this phenomenal hit given aforementioned factors. Get those digital sales in there, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it be eclipsed by other PS4/5 games that only seemed modestly successful according to Famitsu charts.
More pertinent, though, I'd say there's a big misunderstanding from both fans who want more Japanese representation from Sony and Sony fans who justify the company abandoning the market. Just because a game is made in Japan, takes place in Japan, or generally feels 'Japanese,' that doesn't mean it appeals to Japan. I love Gravity Rush, but it doesn't feel particularly crafted to appeal to Japanese sentiments. The Last Guardian even less so. They are Japanese games, yes, but that doesn't mean they are for Japan. So when I say Sony should try to sway the market, that doesn't mean I think they need to make Gravity Rush 3 (they should just make Gravity Rush 3 because I personally want it). They should make a game Japan cares about. They should make several games Japan cares about. And, like, really market them, invest a lot into their success, and try to turn them into their Japanese liaisons.
There's way more the market responds to than anime gacha games. Nintendo alone is sufficient proof of that. And the few PS5 titles that manage to be successful despite being on the PS5 in Japan show there's demand. I mean, 2D platformer Mario Wonder sold 2 million in a year. A board game, train conductor...thing was one of the best selling games of the last 2 years. Minecraft is still regularly successful. It doesn't have to be a gacha game to be successful there. Being on the Switch does help, though... I mean, they could always just do that. Why not throw Astro Bot and Rachet on the Switch and see what happens?
Re: Japan's New PS5 Model Suffers Sales Slump in First Full Week of Data
@bossuche9 Regardless of which era of management is to blame for PlayStation's contemporary woes in Japan, that doesn't mean modern management is validated in ignoring the entire market.
I'd argue that if one flop closes down an entire studio at any major publisher, that major publisher should reevaluate its business structure. Even one as seemingly mismanaged as Microsoft isn't closing down Double Fine because of Keeper. They also didn't close down Ninja Theory because of Bleeding Edge. This isn't so much a Sony problem as it is a modern entertainment problem, but companies should be able to afford a flop here and there. That's the only way you're going to create hits in the first place.
And, if home consoles were successful in Japan in the past, that means the market is still there. Even looking at the Switch's success, we're just assuming people are buying it for the portability. That's despite the worst selling Switch model being the cheap, exclusively-portable version. It's very possible that, like in other regions, a great deal of Switch owners still use it as a home console a lot of the time. Which would mean this proposed stagnation of home consoles in Japan is foolhardy.
Re: We'll Soon See Whether Heavy Rain Dev's Live Service Multiplayer Gamble Pays Off
What the f*** is this?
That's a bad sign, already.
Re: The Game Awards Hype Video Is a Nice Reminder It Isn't All About the Trailers
@Veritas7Ax I mean, yeah. But also, live shows are very difficult to coordinate, and time constraints as well as sponsorship prerequisites are incredibly important to adhere to.
It's like, most of TGA's biggest problems are likely the result of a limited budget. If money wasn't an issue, I'm sure event planners would love to allot every winner a solid 5-10 minutes to speak.
Re: The Game Awards Hype Video Is a Nice Reminder It Isn't All About the Trailers
Generally, I feel like people are way too harsh on The Game Awards. I mean, yes, all awards shows are stupid, and TGA in particular is extremely cringey and hard to watch.
But it all feels like it came from a place of passion. A sincere desire to legitimize gaming with respect to its entertainment brethren. And it...kinda, mostly accomplishes that. At the very least, in 10 years they've put together a show with about as much pomp and circumstance as the Grammys and/or whatever the f*** the others are called. And that's an impressive accomplishment in and of itself.
Now, would I care to watch at all if not for the trailers? God no.
Re: Japan's New PS5 Model Suffers Sales Slump in First Full Week of Data
@bossuche9 I mean, 'trying' would be putting out a handheld. Or putting together some new IP that actually appeal to the market. Like, you're right that 3rd-party games have historically been what sell on PlayStation in Japan. But why doesn't Sony have an ongoing JRPG series, then? Or their own Resident Evil? Is it really so hard to compete with Mario Kart and Animal Crossing that it doesn't even warrant an effort? Even just looking at their older titles for IP they can revitalize and direct towards the Japanese market. PaRappa was pretty successful, why not try a new one? And I will die on the hill that Ape Escape had WAY more franchise potential than it achieved. They've literally been in this market for 30 years; you'd think they'd have more to show for it.
It's not like the Japanese market is impossibly impenetrable. Especially when Sony already has a s***ton of brand recognition there. While their ongoing neglect has resulted in Nintendo owning so much of the market that they likely will never be 1:1 with them, I'm certain they can do better than they're currently doing. S***, just get some kawaii characters and attempt something that isn't pseudo-realistic and overtly masculine. It's really not that hard. And Astro Bot not single-handedly catapulting their Japanese business to Nintendo levels does not mean it's a senseless endeavor.
Re: Japan's New PS5 Model Suffers Sales Slump in First Full Week of Data
@PuppetMaster @Coffeeglitch Concerning Japanese game sale trends, I don't really think either of you are quite on the pulse.
PuppetMaster is absolutely right that they don't just want "JRPGs, good mechanics, more creativity." While JRPGs still tend to be modestly popular, Dragon Quest and a few of Nintendo's are really the only ones blowing up their charts. And 'good mechanics' and 'more creativity' are pretty nebulous attributes. The former is so nebulous, I'm not even going to try quantifying it (the majority of video games released today have 'good mechanics' to some extent). As for the latter, pretty much all their top selling games are from established IP with conservative applications of originality. But even then, 'creativity' and 'originality' are not synonyms. Is Splatoon 3 creative because it's gushing with artistic expression, despite basically being Splatoon 1.8? You'd really have to be more specific there.
I think what's happening is you're confusing the types of games you associate with Japanese gaming with the games Japan actually buys and responds to. They are not an entire culture of — for lack of a better term — weebs. There's casuals there. Plenty that don't like anime. Plenty more that are reverse-weebs (Japan-born, west-obsessed). The only real consistent thing in their charts is that they love Nintendo.
As for PuppetMaster, I mostly agree with the sentiment of your comment. Although, I do think some of your points only make sense as a response to Coffeeglitch and aren't very fair on their own. For instance, FFXVI and FF7Rebirth were the 12th and 9th best selling games of their respective years (according to Famitsu, which does exclude digital sales). I wouldn't say that constitutes 'not giving a damn' about Final Fantasy and JRPGs in general. Especially when you see Rebirth sold 50% more than the PS5 version of DQIIIHD-2D. Of course, the Switch version sold just shy of a million. But that kinda makes you think these trends are more a PS5 problem rather than a not-DQ problem. It's hard to say if that's a software or just a hardware problem, but it does seem like Sony doesn't even try to put out stuff for their native fans these days.
Re: Japan's New PS5 Model Suffers Sales Slump in First Full Week of Data
@PuppetMaster @Oram77 @bossuche9
I'm not sure if all or some of you are being sarcastic, but I wouldn't say putting out a region exclusive console with a cheaper price point is a legitimate effort in any sense of the word.
Re: PS5 Outsold by an Unexpected Rival in the Run Up to Black Friday
@get2sammyb @jvecc I regularly see them at Targets. I wanna say I've seen them around for... probably about two years now. But I don't really pay them much attention, so that timing might be off.
Re: Sounds Like Saudi Arabia Will Own Almost All of EA After Buyout
@Summer235
"of you think."
Periods go inside of quotation marks, not outside.
It's always asinine to call out someone's grammar online. Even more so if yours isn't pristine.
While I wouldn't go so far as to say the US is the equivalent of a 3rd-world country, it's undeniable that the quality of living for many, MANY Americans is well below the standard people would associate with a 1st-world country.
Re: Sounds Like Saudi Arabia Will Own Almost All of EA After Buyout
@CP2 "Virtually every terrorist act across the world is committed by Muslims."
citation needed
Re: Sounds Like Saudi Arabia Will Own Almost All of EA After Buyout
@CP2 Really don't feel like SeaDaVie ever explicitly condoned arresting someone for nonviolent speech over the internet. Honestly, I would call that a gross misconstruing of everything they said.
And assuming you're talking about Cvantez's response to my comment, wherein he states simply walking in America is unsafe for all but those of a certain complexion, I'd call it a bit of an exaggeration, but not entirely incorrect. Once you hear that Native Americans have been detained by ICE and held in captivity until their tribe could prove their origins, it's really hard to deny simply being a certain spectrum of skin colors is enough for this current government to mistreat you.
Re: Sounds Like Saudi Arabia Will Own Almost All of EA After Buyout
Removed
Re: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's Lacklustre European Sales Continue Trending Downwards
15 MINUTE UPDATE:
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Re: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's Lacklustre European Sales Continue Trending Downwards
Ya know, Battlefield 6 was in the #1 spot for one week. Black Ops 6 was in the #1 spot for 4 weeks, until EA Sports FC 25 came in above it. That's despite FC25 coming out several weeks before Black Ops 6 and consistently coming in at #2 after it launched — for 4 weeks, at least. Modern Warfare III was in the #1 spot for 1 week, before Hogwarts Legacy inexplicably shot up to #1 from #8. Then FC24 randomly shot up to #1 from #3 the week afterwards.
...Ya know, these 15 minutes of research has yielded an interesting pattern: even though FC comes out months prior, it always seems to shoot to the top of the UK weeklys at the end of November. I'm a filthy American, so I don't know what might be causing that uptick.
But, um — clears throat — between that pattern, seeing FC and CoD flip-flop #1 through the years, and seeing MASSIVE success Battlefield 6 and 2-year-ago CoD appear equally successful to MASSIVE failure Black Ops 7 when solely looking at these weeklys, I'm inclined to believe this isn't an accurate interpretation of these charts.
EDIT: Hold up, hold up. Maybe I'm stupid for this. I realized the charts I was looking through were GfK, not GSD. Having just learned that I frequently see the latter charts on PS and the former elsewhere, and mentally mix 'em together because I don't really care. The problem being that only GSD counts digital sales — aside from select, non-participating companies (I noticed Mario Kart World kept showing up in the other charts I was looking at despite being absent here). So I'm going to do 15 more minutes of research and see if the patterns I'd noticed hold when incorporating digital sales. See you in 15 minutes, non-existent people reading this!
Re: Over 10.5 Million Concurrent Players Show Up for Avengers: Endgame-Esque Fortnite Event
Cooooooooooool, I guess...
This old, bitter moose's takeaways:
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@PuppetMaster "Finding enough time to just play and finished one game would be hard if you have 9-5 workshift every week."
Just try having a kid! I've probably played a 5th of the games I normally do this year with a baby — now toddler — in the mix.
It doesn't help that he likes grabbing any electronic I'm using...
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@Gunbeld You're quite the cool dude.
See you then, when we continue not being personally invested in which console sells better.
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@Rich33 I appreciate how you're applying solid reasoning to this analysis and bringing up more interesting perspectives.
We all seem to be in agreement that the comparison offered by the article isn't terribly effective. I'm not sure why that agreement has spawned such bitter arguments...
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@Member_the_game No problem, man.
I hope their individual condescension at my expense was just a last ditch effort to save face after realizing they completely misconstrued your point. I can only hope...
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@Gunbeld I dunno man. If you think that was anger, you really aren't good at gleaming emotions from written word. I just wrote long comments; I didn't do so out of impassioned rage, or anything. I just have a tendency to over write. And you cranking the condescension up to 11 really just makes you seem like an arse.
At no point did I express distress at the idea of the PS5 outperforming the Switch 2. At one point, I literally said I expect the PS5 to outsell the Switch 2 next year. You're arguing with a figment of your imagination.
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@Gunbeld @naruball Well, this was more inane and pointless than I thought it was going to be.
Re: Rumour: Dead Rising Sequel Will See Frank West Take on a Deranged Director in Hollywood
Something-something, zombie franchise is like a zombie itself, or something.
Wit.
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@Gunbeld Defensive definitely isn't the right word for whatever the hell I am.
You didn't start your back-and-forth with Member by mildly noting how interesting it was that the PS5 managed to outsell the Switch 2 in any capacity. He said 12 months of sales data wasn't comparable to 6 months of sales data. Then you said, "So what's your excuse for the PS5 outselling it in October?"
That doesn't sound defensive to you? Like you're trying to prove something about the PS5's success relative to the Switch 2's? Why even point out it's "the last 2 months in a row"? Based on everything I've said, why would I care? If you're not trying to say the PS5 is the bestest console ever and more successful than the Switch 2, why point this out?
If I sound worked up, it's because this is the most pointless debate I've seen in a while. I'm not even disagreeing with anything you're saying. I'm just saying — over and over again — that what you're saying isn't relevant to what Member said.
And your last paragraph is just completely misunderstanding me. I'd be more offended if I hadn't already presumptuously assumed your motivations, as well. I can't speak for Member, but I clicked on this article because I was curious what the sales numbers were. I didn't expect this "edging" to hinge on incompatible sales data. I think it should be quite evident that the incompatibility is was bothers me. And I really only engaged in the comments because I thought your response to Member was, frankly, obnoxious.
And no, I don't agree that the PS5 selling more than the Switch 2 in a region that has historically preferred PlayStation to Nintendo is pretty interesting. I'd find it pretty interesting if the PS5 inexplicably outsold the Switch 2 in Japan. I'd find it interesting if the Switch 2 remained the highest selling console every month in every major region. This, though? This is normal. I'd be very surprised if the Switch 2 outsells the PS5 in the UK next year. Unless Sony drops the ball and Nintendo has a few Animal Crossing-level releases at the ready.
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@naruball Heh. I should've taken scottXedgar's advice too. Welp, since I'm stubborn, I'll just self-destructively stay put.
Everyone here understands the October thing. It just isn't relevant. What does the PS5 selling more than the Switch 2 in October prove? Which of Member's points does it disprove?
And yes, you two sound threatened. Maybe insecure is the better word for it. No one was questioning the success of the PS5 or saying the Switch 2 is more successful. Someone was just pointing out how senseless it was to compare 12 months of sales to 6 months of sales. I think that's fairly reasonable. And yet you both want to focus on the specific month in which the PS5 outsold the Switch 2. And I can only assume that's because you need the PS5 to be more successful so your "team" that be victorious.
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@judgmentarrows I mean, that's a very different criticism than 'not understanding their appeal.' And I wouldn't at all say "conservative" is the right word to use there.
I'm not going to defend any of Nintendo's litigious acts against fan games and content. I will say, while they're arguably the most trigger happy, many other companies do the exact same things. Sony, for instance, just shot down that Concord revive attempt and killed Bloodborne Kart. Which isn't to say it's fine for Nintendo to do it 'cause Sony does it — nor vice versa. It just becomes very arbitrary to single out certain multi-million dollar companies for immoral actions when they all do immoral actions.
You kinda just have to accept all these companies suck, and either follow them regardless or move on.
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@Gunbeld That's only "better" if you have an interest in proving the superiority of one console over the other. That was not the intent of Member.
@naruball His point was that it's a silly comparison. Gunbeld's point that the demand of the PS5 was observably higher than that of the Switch 2 in October isn't relevant to the 'silly' point.
I don't know why both of you are so threatened by the possibility of a 12-month-available Switch 2 outselling the PS5 in the UK during its launch year. That's an extremely specific hypothetical that doesn't inherently prove the superiority of either console. 12 months of sales data isn't compatible with 6 months of sales data. 1 month of sales data doesn't invalidate other months of sales data. Don't worry, the PS5 is still a successful console — no one is trying to take that away from it.
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@Gunbeld Pretty sure his point was that it's a silly comparison given the circumstances. Not that the Switch 2 would definitely sell better if it was out all year.
Ergo, he probably doesn't care that the PS5 outsold the Switch 2 in the UK in October, and wouldn't attempt to 'excuse' it.
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@judgmentarrows It's all about personal preference, my guy. I'm sure many prefer God of War and Horizon to Mario and Zelda. And that's fine.
Many others, myself included, think very few games compare to Nintendo's greatest. Many more yet just don't see good alternatives to the likes of Mario Kart, Super Smash, or Animal Crossing.
There's plenty worthwhile on the Switch and PlayStation alike. And the Xbox, for that matter. I'm very adamant that there's not really a bad console these days. Even the PlayDate is a fun little novelty well worth the purchase, in my opinion.
Re: Nintendo Buys Singapore Studio Behind Papercraft PS5 Console Exclusive Hirogami
"Now, if you think Sony's output isn't that egregious because of the small size of most of the series they've put out sequels to...[proceeds to explain the circumstances which make Sony's output seem tired]."
"And Insomniac Spiderman, Ghost, Helldivers, Horizon, and GoW aren't big series with tons of sequels either...[proceeds to detail the amount of entries each series has as though that wasn't already addressed]."
You didn't address my point about Mario-esque reinvention.
You didn't address my point about "degrees of egregiousness."
You didn't address my point about contemporary Sony's lack of new IP — or really any of the points in LONG PARAGRAPH.
Completely ignored my statement: "Sequels are fine."
And seemingly thought my allusion to Microsoft was an accusation at Sony's expense, even though I prefaced it by saying, "To ease up on Sony."
I'm still very much inclined to think you didn't understand my arguments. Or you chose not to engage with them. My arguments weren't empty — that's ridiculous. And I called you a fanboy because you ostensibly feel the need to counter all criticism of Sony.
Re: Nintendo Buys Singapore Studio Behind Papercraft PS5 Console Exclusive Hirogami
@DarianStarfrog Mmm, some exaggeration there. But mostly accurate.
Just was curious what your reasoning was.
Re: Nintendo Buys Singapore Studio Behind Papercraft PS5 Console Exclusive Hirogami
@PuppetMaster Hmm, rude. Well, if you don't want to engage with my arguments, feel free to keep fanboying and ignore any arguments that might disrupt said fanboying.
Re: Nintendo Buys Singapore Studio Behind Papercraft PS5 Console Exclusive Hirogami
@DarianStarfrog Out of morbid curiosity, why do you think Nintendo is the worst, most morally corrupt company in contemporary gaming?
Re: Nintendo Buys Singapore Studio Behind Papercraft PS5 Console Exclusive Hirogami
@PuppetMaster And you apparently didn't try to understand what I was saying, or read through "LONG PARAGRAPH."
But I suppose I appreciate the needless Sony defending, nonetheless.
Re: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Is Already on Sale Just Two Weeks After Release
@SeaDaVie Just in time for Black Friday. Like this CoD sale.
Re: Japanese Ghost of Yotei PS5 Sales Are Just About Hanging On
@AhmadSumadi I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Ghost..., just that it isn't necessarily "Japanese."
Re: Japanese Ghost of Yotei PS5 Sales Are Just About Hanging On
@AhmadSumadi I mean, Ghosts... is Japanese in the same sense that Disney's Black Panther is African. It utilizes the culture of its setting, but was made with the sensibilities of the culture that made it.
It's not like Japan isn't aware of what games are and aren't made in Japan.
Re: Nintendo Buys Singapore Studio Behind Papercraft PS5 Console Exclusive Hirogami
@Nei Don't take such an absolutist stance. Acquisitions are normal, and often aren't damaging.
It's literally a large publisher buying a small team from another large publisher, all of which have a long history of working closely. I'd barely count it as consolidation. And, if anything, I'd assume the team will be in a better position being a subsidiary of Nintendo instead of Bandai Namco.
Re: Nintendo Buys Singapore Studio Behind Papercraft PS5 Console Exclusive Hirogami
@PuppetMaster This is a weird hill to die on. Death Standing and No More Heroes are bad examples of egregious sequels, as both series are fairly small. MGS, like Mario, reinvents itself; 1 and 2 are the only two entries I'd say are closely alike, but certainly not to the extent of something like Modern Warfare to Modern Warfare 2. The expectation isn't for a developer to throw out everything and start from scratch. Super Mario Galaxy feels like a successor to Super Mario 64, but it doesn't feel like the same experience.
I would add to Max_the_German's point by saying there are degrees of egregiousness to consider. It depends on the size of the series, how alike a sequel is, if it can do ANYTHING to differentiate itself (doesn't necessarily have to be gameplay), how derivative the original was to begin with, and how far apart entries are.
Now, if you think Sony's output isn't that egregious because of the small size of most of the series they've put out sequels to, I'd like to add another point: holistic originality output. Sony has a few problems that exacerbate the unoriginality vibes. Of course, the lack of new IP this gen is the biggest problem. It was literally only last gen that we got Horizon, Marvel's Spider-Man (which we'll pretend is a 'new IP' ), Death Stranding, Days Gone, Bloodborne, Dreams, Astro Bot, and Ghosts... (and Gravity Rush and Tearaway, if you include Vita) — and I'm sure I'm forgetting some like Resogun. This gen, really just Returnal, with Tokon, Wolverine, and Soros finally adding to that roster. Concord, too, I guess. And then we're on to the next big problem: most of the PS5's exclusives are direct successors to PS4 games. Almost all the PS4 era new IP I just listed have already gotten sequels, sequels in very close proximity to their predecessors. Without enough new IP to balance them out — or even series reinventions, like God of War saw last gen — it really feels like we're getting the same suite of games from 5 years ago. Also, contemporary PlayStation games have the problem of all feeling alike. Over-the-shoulder camera, high-fidelity, cinematic adventure games, all with a fairly cohesive art style. One of the things that helps Nintendo's HOO is that few of their series are alike, but the uninitiated might have a hard time differentiating between Horizon, God of War (Norse), and Death Stranding. Also-also, Sony's relatively smaller output makes it feel like these alike sequels are all we get.
LONG PARAGRAPH. To sort of co-opt Max's words, it's really not about sequels in general. Sequels are fine. I don't have much issue with how Nintendo mostly puts out sequels. But it's easy to fall into a rut if you don't handle those sequels correctly. To ease up on Sony, modern Halo and Gears are great examples of how to kill a series with derivative, frequent sequels.
Re: Visionary Director Quentin Tarantino Realises a 20-Year Dream within Fortnite on PS5, PS4
Weird. The coolness of Kill Bill and Tarantino are really clashing with the dorky lameness of Fortnite for me.
Also really gives off '2000s movie director knows what video games are' vibes. Which is usually lame per se. But I'd still rather this exist than otherwise. And the cinematography looks neat. I'll probably try to give it a watch at some point.
Re: Suddenly the PS5 Pro Doesn't Look That Expensive Anymore
No, it definitely still looks expensive.
Re: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Is Getting Comfortably Outsold by Battlefield 6 in Yet Another Country
@Northern_munkey Honestly, though, is BF6 superior in every department?
Its campaign wasn't really regarded any more highly than CoD's. People love the multiplayer, but no one's complaining about Blops' multiplayer — in fact, what I've played of BF6's multiplayer felt like it missed the mark compared to BF1 or 1942. It doesn't even have a mode comparable to Zombies, which I've mostly heard praise for apropos Blops7. And Redsec just came off as a cheap WarZone clone to me.
I've always thought the CoD vs. Battlefield rivalry — as boring and tired as it is — really just came down to preference. CoD's better for high-octane s***s-and-giggles, whereas Battlefield is better for grand-scale shenanigans. Throughout their history together, neither has been that spectacular, nor has either been significantly better than the other (post BF3, at least) — and Blops7's weird campaign doesn't change that.
Re: The Much Maligned PS5 Shooter Marathon Returns for Another Playtest in December
@LogicStrikesAgain Oh, that's my misunderstanding, then. I was trying to give a nuanced take because I thought you were assuming people opposed to Sony's efforts are absolutely against any and all of their attempts at live-service.
That you were specifically questioning the reasoning around someone being an anti-live-service absolutist I actually empathize with. I have A LOT of negative opinions about their live-service push, and am not a fan of live-service in the first place. But with Helldivers II — not to mention all the other industry-wide success stories — live-service is absolutely here to stay. And, if the game's good and not too predatory, who really cares either way? The biggest thing for me is that it feels like they're planning on releasing a lot of non-live-service games here in the near future. Which makes it really hard to be that upset about it anymore.
Re: The Much Maligned PS5 Shooter Marathon Returns for Another Playtest in December
@LogicStrikesAgain The problem isn't that Sony is doing live-service. The problem is they drunkenly and haphazardly bought several studios and asked many of their top partners to make 'em, just so they could greenlight 12 of them at once. Which, itself, is just bad business.
But where it really goads our gobs is that the move very apparently gutted their output of traditional games for several years. No one really minded that they did Helldivers II. Many were legitimately excited for Factions. I personally see nothing wrong with with that Horizon MMO being developed by an outside studio. But those and the 9 other games that are mostly cancelled now should not have came at the expense of the experiences most of us buy PlayStations for.
There's a right way to do it. Sony did it the completely wrong way. I have no personal vendetta against any of their live-service games — especially now that they're ostensibly shifting gears and deemphasizing live-service. And am kinda rooting for Bungie just because they're Bungie (single-player Marathon reboot would've been sick as f***, though). But when it seemed like the entire company was barreling towards a live-service, multiplayer focused factory, I think it was fair to hope they would fall flat on their face and return to what most people follow them for.
EDIT: Although I generally agree about the doomposting. I'm very exhausted of every mention of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 being a circle jerk of hate validation. I can't stand the internet's obsession with s***ing on Mario Kart World. And, yes, I agree that people disinterested in Marathon shouldn't feel the need to complain about it every chance they get at this point. I just find online gamers completely insufferable now, honestly.
Re: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Just Had the Worst Japanese Retail Launch in Series History
@wildcat_kickz This guy gets it. All of Blops 7's problems stem from mismanagement. Not from anything the internet has cried about over the last year, but rather the reality of an annual franchise that's been going for over 20 years now.
Call of Duty itself still has plenty of life in it. But, like Modern Warfare III and Black Ops 4 before it, the results from Activision forcing one of its helmers to release a CoD back-to-back is never great. But, like Modern Warfare (Remake) or Black Ops: Cold War shows, all it takes is some decent development time and the fanbase will be there. And the internet will have a complete turn around, just like they did with Battlefield 6 after s***talking 2042 for years.
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Confirms Free Attack on Titan Crossover Quest for a Limited Time
But historical accuracy.
Re: 'Terrible' Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 European Sales Are a Devastating 63% Below Battlefield 6
@McBurn Not too sure why people have convinced themselves lower sales = more effort. Especially in this case, where Blops 7's problems really don't have much to do with polish or lack of funds.
The next entry will have more effort put into it. Not because of this ostensibly below expectations release, but rather due to Infinity Ward and/or Sledgehammer Games being given more than a year to put it together.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Ghost of Yotei Is One of the USA's Best-Selling Games of 2025
@TicklefistCP This is just the US. I'm pretty sure most of Shadows' sales came from the UK.
Talking worldwide, and using the most up to date — but not necessarily verified — information, Shadows sold 4.3 million in 6 months while Deliverance II sold >4 million in 9 months. I think it's reasonable to assume, then, that Shadows has sold more globally than Deliverance II. That's despite Deliverance II charting here.
Does that make it more profitable? I don't know. Does that make it a success per se? I don't know. Was it really annoying for me to find this information, and more annoying yet that it's partially unconfirmed and fairly vague? God yes.
Translation: If a company says a game's successful, just take their word for it. You will not find enough information to make any real conclusion to the contrary. Case in point, according to Take-Two and Capcom, respectively, Borderlands 4 and Monster Hunter Wilds fell short of expectations.
Re: Eminem Hires Agent 47 to Kill Slim Shady in Hitman's Weirdest Elusive Target Yet
@TicklefistCP It was never suggested that Trump should be added against his will.
Maybe take a breath...