Honestly, not many of their first party games have interested me all that much. That said, I am really curious about Fable. And I plan to try Hellblade 2 and Indiana Jones sometime later down the road, just not a high priority right now.

Agreed. I don’t play a lot of their games, but I’m impressed at the steady flow of releases that they have been able to maintain. They have achieved a nice rhythm, alternating new Resident Evil games with Remakes. They keep some new IP coming like Pragmata and Kunitsu-Gami, keep their big franchises going like Monster Hunter and Street Fighter, go the the well of older IP like Dragon’s Dogma, Mega Man, and Onimusha. Sure, maybe a misstep here and there [cough, Exoprimal, cough] but it doesn’t slow them down.

@lazarus11 Yeah, I assume that might be the case. Although there’s some patches that do seem to be directly in response to real-time player feedback, so suggests that they weren’t already being worked on. (Again, not necessarily speaking of this game, but rather games in general)

This is one of the 2026 game releases that has my attention. I don’t think I have the bandwidth to play more than one or two games this year at launch, but this might be one of them. Depends on how Wolverine is looking come September.

I’m not a game developer so I’m speaking from a position of ignorance, but I never understand how a game can linger in development for years, be in alpha and beta stages for years getting tweaked, and then after release the patches start dropping at breakneck speed once it’s out and player feedback is given. Like, why does it take just a few days to fix things and add content in a post release patch, but the game will creep along being delayed for sometimes a couple years. Some of the patching (and not just for this game, but in general) feels like major stuff too, as if it would take months and months to develop or fine tune. And yet within days of launch these games get multiple patches.

In the case of Crimson Desert, the game has been out for 3 weeks and has had enormous changes in performance and content. Delaying another 3 weeks surely would have been advantageous to launch the game in its current state instead of 3 weeks ago. But yet something tells me that if it were delayed another 3 weeks we’d still have gotten the same version that launched. Maybe it’s a lack of QA testing?

@themightyant Yeah, I agree. I suspect the gamers that play these sorts of games are usually more accustomed to the drip-feed content and the anticipated money investment they’ll need to be planning on to keep playing the game. So fewer player numbers won’t necessarily be a limiter if that group spends a lot on MTX over time. Problem is that new content, server maintenance, constant updates… those cost money to produce too.

And unfortunately, if I’m not mistaken, the recent track record for Bungie suggests that they haven’t been good at growing a player base. They have a dedicated core of players but eventually those don’t stick around forever and new players didn’t replace those who were leaving, in the case of Destiny 2. Again, those that stuck around seemed to be willing to continue to pump money into the DLC, but I think the sales gradually shrank overall with subsequent expansions. As a player who was curious enough to have a budding desire to try Destiny 2 (even though the genre isn’t my cup of tea) I felt absolutely locked out of joining the crowd because of the poor new player onboarding in the latter stages. It was a decision that baffled me, the way the early game stuff was inaccessible and the systems impenetrable if you hadn’t been with the game from the start.

Presumably they have learned their lesson with Marathon, and the fact that it’s not as story based, from my understanding, would lead it to be a better game to jump into later. Personally, I have no more than mild curiosity of this game and suspect the gameplay loop is not for me, but there’s plenty of other players who I’m sure would be eager to try it, but are waiting for the right time.

Speaking of time, my analysis is also that the game suffers from comparisons to Arc Raiders, which beat it to market. In that sense, I feel like strategically they really suffered from the development delays and I bet the game would be doing better if it was the first of these two big extraction shooters to hit market. I don’t know why it was delayed, and certainly if it released last year but was a buggy mess then that would have been worse, but coming out a few months after the chief competitor already gobbled up the niche market was poor planning.

@themightyant Wondering if you had any thoughts on this. We had a good and thorough discussion about gaming budgets and project management recently.

I’m actually not too surprised by the development cost numbers being proposed here, but I do think that so far the financial performance of Marathon leaves a lot to be desired if indeed the development cost is in that $250+ million range. I don’t think this information changes anything about my thoughts and I assume not your either. The jury is still out on Marathon and we’re still a long way from calling it a failure for Sony, but the ice is getting thinner for their first party management decisions. I don’t think my diminishing faith in administration is changed (it was getting pretty low as you recall before) but seeing how Marathon seems to have taken a nosedive with this size of a budget it’s put more pressure on that Horizon Hunter game to really perform.

Second party live service games seem to be much better decisions — Helldivers, and I feel Marvel Tokon will do well.

Anyway, I won’t ’armchair CEO’ anymore, but was curious if you had a take on the money being spent here.

@psmr I know, right… if you add here then you have to take away there. So one more Soulslike on the schedule means one less of something else. I’m only doing one Souls game per year but I missed 2025 because of the albatross hung around my neck named Baldur’s Gate 3. 😂 And here we are starting Q2 of 2026 and I’ve yet to boot up DS3. If I don’t get it started in the next month or two then I’m going to start panicking.

@Number09 Yeah, you’re right— the drive does make some noise and maybe a smidge louder than my base PS5 with a native disc drive, but it’s not too bad and like you say, after the initial spinning and confirmation with the disc, the disc drive just shuts down while playing the game from the hard drive data file.

@Number09 “The disc attachment was worth the money.”
Definitely. If a person has any tolerance whatsoever to use discs, even just some of the time, then the disc drive pays for itself— picking up just a few games for $10 cheaper than the digital version, and then maybe even selling some of those games back on the second hand market… you’ve recouped the $80 investment after just a few games. For most of us who buy multiple games a year, probably break even on the thing within a few weeks! 😅

@Silenos Thanks, good to see some more support for the game. And somehow Bleak Faith sneaked past me, that’s not one that was on my radar.
@psmr Have you played Bleak Faith or have it on your backlog schedule? Looks like it’s on sale right now for $14 (at least that’s the price that my ‘dynamic pricing’ is giving me 😅)

@Ralizah @Boxmonkey Yes, these are my thoughts as well. Variety is the spice of life. Honestly, there’s only a very few live service games that actually have had any substantial staying power beyond post launch. And those that have, like Fortnite, had to invest oodles of money and resources to keep it going and still see drops in player engagement. Destiny 2 was similar; player base dwindles by attrition and people seek a new experience. So it’s almost as if the answer is… gosh, I don’t know… maybe making actual separate new games and sequels rather than iterating a solitary game. Imagine that. 😅

@PSbox Honestly, I’m really excited to get to Elden Ring, but my obsessive-compulsiveness pushes me to do DS3 first. It’s also a favorite for many fans so it’s a no-lose situation. But yeah, 320 hours is a lot! ER must be awesome!

@GirlVersusGame It sounds like maybe you played Lords of the Fallen (2014), and not Lords of the Fallen (2023). I have no idea why they chose to give the game the same name as the 2014 (which didn’t do well commercially nor critically, so why recycle the title?). I can see when a studio makes a reimagining of a mega popular IP, like God of War, then they want to keep the name and so that’s how we get God of War (2018) instead of “Rise of Atreus” or some other random title. It makes sense to keep “God of War”, but for “Lords of the Fallen”… the name has some stink on it from the 2014 flop and so I wonder if they would have called it something different if it would have sold better.

Either way, @psmr is a good resource on the game, and as a Souls aficionado, he said LotR (2023) is probably the best non-From Soulslike he’s played. I don’t think he’s played Lies of P yet though. So you might consider trying this game even though the older PS4 game wasn’t to your liking. But you have to make your way through and conquer Bohemia first, which is no short task! 😄

@GirlVersusGame Dark Souls 3 (hopefully getting that started within the next couple months), Sekiro, and Elden Ring (not sure which order I’ll play those).
Once I’ve gone through the FromSoft library then I’ll be looking at LotF, Lies of P, and other non-From Soulslikes.

Ah, nice to see the TR collection. I might play these when they are patched and fixed. Also might get to LotF one day when I’ve cleared my FromSoft backlog (I have 3 more to go)

@aj21009 Yeah, I think I heard that about even Concord. Cancelling it and pulling it allowed for write-offs to lessen the impact.

If it’s a choice between this remake and getting FF7 Part 3 out quicker, I’ll take putting 9 on ice. It would be nice to have FF7 all wrapped up on PS5. At this rate, each of the 3 parts will launch on a different generation. 😅 Although I assume Part 3 might be cross gen when it comes out.

I guess the first sales quarter after the price increase will tell us for sure if people are willing to pay the higher prices. I predict the number of consoles sold to plummet. Depending on how things go it may recover, but I think there will be very few PS5’s sold from April-June.

Eeesh… Sword Art Online isn’t a series I’ve held any interest in. Aw well, the LotF game is a solid addition for those of us who like Souls games. It might be a while until I get around to it.
Hopefully the third game is something good. I’ll take a little indie game in that slot please.

I did this last year before the first price hike. I was on the fence and the announcement of it going from $700 to $750 was enough to push me to make a quick impulse buy the next day. Unlike most impulse buys, I’ve not regretted the purchase one minute.

It does feel like rather convenient timing, the way they rolled out PSSR2 and got everyone excited, and then announce a price increase imminent. Great marketing tactic to push the fence sitters to click ‘Buy’ button.

It depends highly on the specs, but if the jump in tech is what I think it’ll be, $1000 is the point at which I start to have second thoughts

Holy mackerel! Glad I bought my Pro for $700 before the first price hike… sheesh, that has turned into one of the best decisions I’ve made recently. 😅

This is my retirement plan— keep my PS5 to resell in a few years. It’s value keeps increasing and it’s doing better than my stocks are!

@themightyant Well buddy, I respect your views and your measured and analytic response to the situation. And like I mentioned, until recently I felt similarly inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to the system and those who run it. However, I grow more distrustful by the day. Watching people I know fall victim to these similar sorts of large layoffs and closures, I’m losing the ability to keep a distant and objective opinion.

However, as a gamer I’m very happy and I have the largest, most robust backlog I’ve ever had. I’m spoilt for choice every time I turn on my PS5. For me, my disappointment is more about the trajectory of the market, the economy, and its effect on those of us on the ground level.

Reading an article like this and the subsequent comments by people saying developers need to make less ambitious games… it can make a person feel guilty for liking and buying AAA games. It’s my favorite kind of game! As a consumer who gorges on the high end Sony first party output and the like, it makes you feel like you’re part of the problem, as if we’re responsible personally for driving up game development costs because these are the games we like.

But I refuse to feel guilty. I don’t think I should feel responsible; the consumer is not the problem. In my opinion our job is to buy the games we like. The company’s job is to do it well and control the budget and run the business. That’s all I’m saying really. Yes, they have hard choices to make and they aren’t easy decisions. But let’s be real— we all do. I have “rock and a hard place” choices almost daily. None of us are perfect, of course. But if I make 3 or 4 really poor decisions at my job in a year then I’m in real trouble. If I made dozens of errors? I would be considered incompetent and kicked to the curb.

I said this with an earlier article but the “you win some, you lose some” ratio right now is 2/12 with Sony live service. 2 out of 12 planned live service projects even made it to release! That’s more like “you win few, you lose many”! 😂 If you’re a coach with that record you’re fired. To be fair, the Horizon Hunter game will probably make it to market, so we can say 3/12. That’s still only 25% of your future projects you touted as your big strategic plan for the future actually even got released. If you missed on 75% of your projects at your work would your boss be happy?
It’s outdated now but here’s the 12 live service projects:
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2025/01/lists-of-sonyrs-cancelled-live-service-ps5-games-paint-a-worrying-picture

This is just an example, as what we’re talking about is not just live service but really the broad concept of management of a company, teams, and people. Nonetheless with just this subset of projects as a carve-out to assess, if the teams you manage are failing 75% of the time, maybe the problem’s not with them, but with you. You’re the one common denominator with all of them.

Please know I’m not trying to be contrary, and I have learned some new perspective from some of what you’re saying, and I enjoy the discussion and insight. I agree the COVID boom is a big driver here, as is other unforeseen tech developments and economic hardships. And we don’t have all the information, I agree. Perhaps we’d all make the same decisions if we sat in the boardroom. I used to think so, but the older I get, the more critical I have become.

@Metonymy Lol, exactly — creative accounting is what I mean. I see it happening a lot to prove or disprove profitability, where the fancy numbers don’t seem to pass the common sense test.

@themightyant Yes, I think we’re mostly agreeing in theory on the industry, but I can’t help but think we’re way beyond “you win some, you lose some”, don’t you think? The layoffs and closures are unprecedented. And, as I mentioned, it’s not just Sony first party. I know when I saw Embracer buying every studio that had a pulse that it was going to be unsustainable for them. So many corporations buying studios to just shut them down a couple years later… how is that good business sense? I just can’t understand how so many (supposedly smart and educated) decision makers can make so many catastrophic decisions. And again, I know it’s not just gaming. Layoffs abound everywhere. But the buck has to stop somewhere, and as a consumer I used to feel responsible for the direction of the industry, because… well, I thought, the higher-ups must know what they’re doing… But lately my faith in their expertise to run their companies is severely shaken. Sure, the bad economy, the AI RAMageddon, the tariffs, all the stuff… I know we haven’t always seen this coming, but if I’m running a multibillion dollar corporation isn’t it my job to know and predict this stuff? To put it back in the context of Sony and Firewalk, whether there was “toxic positivity” or not behind closed doors, there was definitely fan feedback that was ignored. Same for [name the cancelled game or shuttered project]. And I realize it’s easy to be an “armchair CEO” sitting on the sidelines, which is why I really have given these corporations a lot of leeway over the years, but we’re 3-4 years into this downward spiral, every week a new closure and more layoffs. When is it going to end?

Anyway, this is just me still feeling the sting of BluePoint and the disgruntled attitude of seeing good people jobless. I just feel sometimes like we’re pawns or playthings for people who don’t know what they’re doing. 😅

@themightyant And honestly, whether the game cost $10 million or $400 million it was a catastrophic loss and failure, which I think all can agree on. And I think the core of the anonymous conversation Colin had was about the corporate “toxic positivity”, a complete lack of self-awareness and a culture of executive avoidance in taking constructive criticism. The number was what everyone focused on, but the principles behind the mistakes in development are certainly the most important. Again, it’s only one anonymous source, but even if one person’s perception was that the leadership fostered a toxic environment, it’s an interesting insight.

(And forgive me for going on a bit of a related tangent here…) I think when we’re talking budget and cost there’s often a lack of true objective accuracy, in my opinion. I don’t think the accounting for cost and revenue is always accurate when you get to the scale of a mega-corporation or a government. A project’s budget may be calculated based on the salaries of the studio, the facility rent and leasing of equipment, actors fees, musician contracts, etc that relate to that game, but the shared cost of some aspects of the development is probably not easy to assign. Not to mention things that don’t have a firm objective price. I might not be making sense but as an example, PSSR development or an advertising campaign that uses assets or scenes from a game, etc. are things that may benefit a specific game but don’t show up on that game’s budget. Or as far as Sony corporate first party leadership salaries are shared across all the projects in development, but they may be spending a lot more time with one team or studio over another. So there’s times when a budget and/or related profitability is either falsely inflated or falsely considered too low, and we get a skewed view of reality.

Another example is the non-objective value to the Sony brand that it gets from smaller games that may not sell well but absolutely add to the value of Sony’s bottom line. So taking something like Returnal as a random example, which didn’t set the world ablaze with huge sales but fostered a positive buzz for PS5, became an entry point for a lot of PS5 players, and led them to buy a lot more games that made more money. So some of those things don’t show up on the balance sheet as a firm number. So both game development costs and profits are not as back and white as people think. And sometimes I think even the corporations forget this concept too and make knee jerk decisions based on numbers on a spreadsheet.

@themightyant Yeah, and I guess my point is that the number isn’t as far-fetched as it was at first blush, whether it’s accurate or not. But I know that his report was based on a source that he was not at liberty to divulge and so it is unverifiable.

@roe Yeah, I used to adhere to the philosophy that in a free market (or in a democratic society) we get what we deserve, in the sense that as a whole the market (or the government) is composed of people and ideas and projects that we chose by the way we collectively spent our money (or voted). Now as I get older I’m more and more of the mindset that, although we consumers (and citizens in the case of general societal leadership) collectively choose the market by the way we spend and vote, nevertheless a large amount of the responsibility and blame needs to rest on the heads of the upper leadership. They certainly benefit when things go well, so they should likewise bear the burdens and criticisms when things don’t go well.

And although I realize that being a corporate level executive leader, CEO, or president are not easy jobs and I give them some grace to make mistakes like we all do who are human, when we see entire industries and societies floundering from multiple consecutive poor decisions and repeated strategic miscalculations, well… then I feel like we need to shift the blame away from the consumer.

In the case of the game budget explosion topic and the prolonged and expensive development cycles, it’s not an issue exclusive to Sony. It’s the entire industry who have completely misjudged the market, otherwise we wouldn’t be seeing tens of thousands of layoffs in the last few years, dozens and dozens of studio closures and project cancellations. Sure, some layoffs and closures is just the normal cost of doing business, but the sheer volume of strategic errors that the industry has made these past few years is, in my opinion, a sign of something more than just normal business and indicates there’s a core problem amongst executive leadership that goes beyond just normal poor prognostication. I don’t know what the root cause is and I’m not a business major, but is there some fundamental changes that need to be made in business and economic education maybe? I assume these decision makers in the boardrooms are only making decisions based on how they were trained, so maybe it’s the core training and education of our business administration that has failed us. I honestly don’t know.

@Boxmonkey I wonder how much RE Requiem cost to develop. I tried looking it up but couldn’t find a number (granted, I don’t look that hard). But I think I did see something about it being the most expensive RE game with the longest production period they ever made, and something about how it might end up having to be the last mainline RE game of its kind. So it may very well be one of these $300 million games. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@AdamNovice I think even the conservative reports are that the game had a $200 million budget. According to the anonymous sources, that was all spent by the time the game hit alpha before Sony came along, and when Sony bought the rights and eventually the studio, an additional $200 was spent. I think including marketing.

Some studios do better than others at controlling costs. Remedy produce great AAA games for a fraction of that cost. A lot of it has to do with location and the cost of running a studio in Southern California versus in Finland. But still, I think we need to look at the management aspects.

Funny how everyone gave Colin a hard time when he broke the story that Concord cost $400 million to produce, thinking the number was preposterous, but it seems clear that figure isn’t so unbelievable now

I enjoyed the J&D games at the time. In fact I really enjoyed them. But honestly, I doubt I’d want to play them again. I suspect they really wouldn't hold up. Speaking for me personally of course.

What’s with this Dealabs person? They must have microphones in Sony’s PS+ boardroom or something. Maybe Dealab is the janitor at Sony HQ and he looks through the papers after their monthly meetings where they decide the games.

Dangit, I’m in the 34% off/$39 club, not the exclusive 55% off club. Blast you, Sony! What did I ever do to you to deserve this?! Haven’t I been a loyal son all these years?

Ha, ha! I just had to say that’s the tagline of the week so far. 😂

@Fiendish-Beaver I’m glad I’m not the only one with such bad habits! Although I actually never got around to buying this game, despite loving the first one.

But yes, I have my own little stockpile of games I bought and have yet to get to. (I’m looking at you Death Stranding 2, FF7 Rebirth, GoW Ragnarok, Elden Ring, Expedition 33,….)

We should probably create a support group. 😂

@EfYI Not a dumb question at all. Unfortunately, the gameplay you’re likely referring to— running around to track down items (like a missing button on a jukebox) that are inexplicably tucked away in another area of the map sitting on some random desk or at the bottom of a bathtub… well, that kind of gameplay loop continues throughout. The combat does evolve some, with a few added weapons along the way, but it’s basically either shoot them or melee them with a stick. The enemy variety is not very vast either. I spent the first half of the game fighting the same 3-4 basic enemy types. Nevertheless, enemy placement is tricky and keeps you on your toes and they have a way of making encounters feel a little different, but it’s not a huge change if you don’t like the initial hours. As you make your way into some larger indoor buildings, there’s different settings, but the game still has the same structure and the same dated stiff dialogue, and slow methodical pace.

As @Queesh alludes to, I have to admit the game gets a bit redundant, in a way, as you progress through the middle areas. Lots of searching through a map of corridors and rooms tracking down keys and items to solve puzzles. Not unlike the older Resident Evil games, but with more items, more supplies, and what feels like a little more combat. It’s 1990’s video game logic with 2020’s coat of paint.

However I’m loving it, and much of SH2’s old-school gameplay is what makes it very refreshing when played in the context of modern gaming. We’re all up to our eyeballs with current gaming’s skill trees, complex frenetic action/perry combat, huge open worlds, movie level cinematic sequences every 30 minutes, and safe narrative direction. A lot of gamers criticize modern games for their lack of creativity, churning out the same basic types of gameplay, so a return to these linear puzzle laden survival horror games with really campy dialogue and clever tricks with level design is something to be happy about. If you’re wanting more of a quick paced shooter then I don’t think the game would get any more interesting for you. Its strength is in the art direction, mood setting, linear mostly clever puzzles, and satisfaction of gradually making your way through a mystery, albeit very slowly. 😄

Edit: Oh, and as a side note, thanks for mentioning Space Marine 2 up there also, especially with the endorsement that it works well on Portal. I’m always looking to have good games for my Portal (which incidentally I’ve played over half my time with SH2 on my Portal. It fits really well as a Portal game because its slower combat). I know almost nothing about Warhammer but I have been curious about SM2 and might have to move it up the backlog list as it sounds like you’re really enjoying it.

I really enjoyed reading this Sammy, thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

I’ve been a little late to the Resident Evil party, as I don’t place horror amongst my favorite genres. I’d had a little exposure to the original games back in PS1, but it wasn’t until playing REmake 1 on PS4 that I fully understood how great the games are. I’ve continued to gradually make my way through the mainline games. I consider RE2 Remake my favorite, but the 1-4 remakes have all been really grand (you need to get on that RE4 Remake, Sammy!)

For my horror gaming, I’ve presently strayed away from RE to try my hand at the Silent Hill series, currently playing SH2 Remake, but I hope to squeeze in one more RE game this year. I’m just not sure if it will be RE5, or if I skip ahead to RE7.

I’m still swapping between Horizon Forbidden West and Silent Hill 2
I’m finding myself pulled more toward SH2, to my surprise, and so it’s getting more of my attention the last couple weeks. And yet, whenever I pop into Aloy’s second adventure I end up enjoying it thoroughly as well.

When I play two (or more) game side-by-side I try to make sure they are very different, tonally and in gameplay. And playing a survival horror game next to an open world action futuristic post-apocalyptic narrative game has mostly worked out. But with both protagonists being stoic super-serious characters, I feel like Aloy and James could be siblings. 😂 I might need to boot up Uncharted or something for some levity!

I’ll wait to see what the new name and logo become, but I find this a bit unusual. Despite “PSN” being an awkward and old-fashioned moniker, there’s value in name recognition and sometimes a change only confuses people and backfires.

Really excited about this. There’s six on that short list that are in my backlog (one I’m currently playing). But even beyond that, I’m looking forward to see other games enhancements.

Doesn’t Nintendo want Forspoken? 😄

Square-Enix is the most confusing company in gaming.

Ray tracing to me is like frame rate is for other people— I don’t understand why people can’t tell the difference when it’s implemented. I think it enhances the image so much. If I play with ray tracing enabled and then disable it, I immediately see the difference and everything seems more bland and dull. People have told me they can tell 55 fps vs 60 fps and I simply can’t see the difference and the game functions fine. Sometimes I can’t even tell a game is 30 fps in a slower game if it’s stable. Yet some players eyes start to bleed if the frame rate drops to 59. For me, ray tracing is kind of like that. I try to always have it enabled in games that support it.

@The_Jobbo Yeah, I agree with that for the most part. As I mentioned a couple comments above that key factors may be RE’s shorter length and replayability of the game design. I still think there’s a bit of uneven expectations though leveraged at Sony. In reality I think most people play through the Resident Evil games only once (like the way I play them), and trophy data would support that. It’s a small minority which do multiple runs (like roughly 7-20% based on trophy data) It still makes me think there’s at least a smidgen of a double standard amongst the larger community.

But yes, I agree that I’m more likely to replay RE2 or RE4 than I am to replay Spider-Man or God of War. But the sequels do feel different to me. At least as different as the RE sequels that I’ve played feel. (Granted I still haven’t made my way to 7-9 which do have the POV change.)

Bummed to not get Dragon’s Dogma 2, but Space Marine 2 is a nice consolation prize.

The interesting part of this article for me was the statement that Helix is “not meant for a mass market target audience”.

So it seems as if there’s no expectation that this console is a key part of their ecosystem, but rather a niche product. So, in a way, it’s not really a direct competitor to the PS6/PS5 Pro. Perhaps indirectly, but with this in mind then maybe we won’t see Sony accelerate the PS6 development or release.

I’ll be very curious to see what’s announced at GDC and how it’s received because I think that will determine Sony’s next move.

I’ve hovered over the purchase button for DD2 several times. I was always put off by the fact my backlog is so big I wouldn’t get to it so I might as well wait. Hopefully my patience has been rewarded.

FF16 on the other hand I bought and played at launch. Really enjoyed it a lot.