TrollOfWar

@get2sammyb

They're basically going to have to focus entirely on their existing install base.

How?

By charging more for games? Increasing subscription prices? Dynamic pricing?

This hobby is getting more unaffordable by each year for casuals with a low income. People will just stick to their old hardware (PS4, Switch, XB One, PC).

This generation will be known as the one where gaming became unaffordable.

If going forward all the first-party big-budget single player games are PS5 exclusive, then people will have no choice but to pay that price if they don't have a PS5 yet.

I think, with a few QoL and performance patches in the following weeks, this game could have earned a higher review score.

@wildcat_kickz Thanks.

Edit: To be clear, I also think that game budgets are out of control, but if you want American talent making a game, you need to pay American wages.

It's also worth adding that while game production costs differ between locations games still compete on a global level.

That also explains why many big studios outsource work to cheaper developers.

@Shinnok789

The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt: 81 million $ (110mil $ with inflation)

The annual salary of a game developer in Poland (where CD Projekt RED is located) is between $ 20.000 and $ 65.000. The annual salaries of devs in California (Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio, Insomniac Games) and Washington (Sucker Punch, Bungie) are between $ 90.000 and $ 135.000.

So had The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt been developed in that US region it probably would have been closer to $ 160m - $ 230m

Sony are in a pickle now.

What saved the PS3 era was for PlayStation to build a reputation on AAA blockbuster games with advanced cinematic presentations like Uncharted, The Last of Us, God of War, Killzone and Horizon, Marvel's Spide-Man, Death Stranding, Until Dawn, The Order: 1886 on PS4. These cinematic games show off the hardware at it's best. They're the reason why most casual players bought a PlayStation. Microsoft and Nintendo couldn't compete with that quality.

Now the production costs are terribly high for this type of blockbuster games, developers will take less risks and if a game flops it could result in layoffs and studio closures.

So when people ask Sony to invest in single player blockbusters like during the PS4 era, instead of multiplayer live-service games, they need to understand what it means.

@UltimateOtaku91

Microsoft are now doing the same but with consoles, offering different players different discounts basing it on their play time, subscription, and purchase behavior.

The difference is that on Xbox side it's visibly transparent that you get a better "Just for you" deal.

When this issue came up a few weeks ago Assassin's Creed Unity with my logged in PSN account was € 11.99 while logged out on the website it was € 4.49 (which was also the discounted price for the game on other stores). So I was expected to pay more than double than others during that sale, apparently because I have an account from 2009 and bought games from the store. I would not have been aware of it, if I hadn't compared the prices.

@LogicStrikesAgain

There are way worse games out there, and every week a new live service title gets announced by scummy publishers, but nothing seems to garner as much hate as Sony’s live service games, doesnt even matter if its a quality game or not.

I don't think that's true. Sony has a few successful live-service games - which aren't clearly apparent as live-service games because they aren't as predatory with their monetization - like Helldivers 2, MLB The Show and Gran Turismo 7.

Maybe the user base here on PushSquare (and on other PlayStation centric websites) voiced their dislike. PlayStation hardcore fans are known for their preference of single-player, story-driven games. Concord, despite some solid qualities failed due to not standing out as a paid product in a crowded market of mostly free-to-play competitive online shooters which offer more content and modes than Concord. For Sony the Concord case was a disaster, so fans don't want to see them repeat it again.

Marathon is more unique and has it's own identity. It has more concurrent players on Steam than some other long-running live-service games, like Sea of Thieves for example. But unfortunately it's too niche, focusing on a hardcore player base. Casual players will likely not want to spend $40 on a game where they get punished repeatedly and skilled, invested players have the upper hand. And that's not good for a game with a high development and marketing budget, and additional costs for running the live-service.

@get2sammyb

I also think the PS5 numbers, again assuming its accurate, are really bad.

Unfortunately, I believe the numbers from Alinea in this case might be accurate.

Comparing the player numbers of Marathon and Helldivers 2 on TrueTrophies.com and TrueAchievements.com shows that on PlayStation 5 Marathon has 1/18 of the recordes players Helldivers 2 has and on Xbox it's 1/10. Alinea Analytics also shared some Helldivers 2 numbers by platforms in January. So about 311k have played Marathon on PlayStation and 160K on Xbox, going by those numbers.

But if the game has only sold 1.2 million units, that's about $ 37 - 40 million in revenue (after the 30% cut on Steam and Xbox). That likely doesn't cover the development nor the huge marketing costs and I wonder what it costs to run the "live-service" in the long run.

It should not have a similar amount of players as Xbox considering the difference in install bases.

It's simply because traditionally shooters have been more popular on Xbox. I believe there was a report on that a few months ago. The Steam player numbers also show that Marathon is mostly played by people in Europe and North America, markets where Xbox is still present.

@get2sammyb Is this tied to Sony's stock value which has been falling since December 2025 and the end of the financial year now in March? Same with Epic Games laying off 1000 employees. They need to show shareholders that they are doing something to improve their financials.

@Haruki_NLI

He absolutely should be shown the door, but so should Jade Raymond. All she's done is hop from publisher to publisher, never releasing anything and setting up studios that inevitably falter before putting a game out.

Jade Raymond already left Haven Studios in May 2025.

@lazarus11

as the saying goes....you cant polish a turd

Actually, the Myth Busters proved that you can "polish a turd". 😄

So Final Fantasy is now a "dad game"? 😅

@wildcat_kickz

@dskatter This is an incredibly common practice for live-service games - not really sure what you're on about.

I would argue that this is a very uncommon practice, at least for Push Square, to delay a review by 17 days, just because it's a live-service game, based on their review history for other live-service games.

Usually they have a review published within 5 days after launch:

• Highguard: release 26. January, review 30. January
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7: release 14. November, review 19. November
• Battlefield 6: release 10. November, review 13. November
• Helldivers 2: release 8. February, review 13. February
• Concord: release 20. August, review 24. August
• Overwatch 2: release 10. October, review 12. October

Marathon got a special treatment.

@RiverGenie I was thinking more about being able to destroy certain things/objects like in Minecraft, or solving puzzles by building a bridge or some device (a catapult, a drill) in a simplified Minecraft manner with a simplified resource system.

Maybe I'm too naive about what is possible but I think it would solidify that Minecraft identity.

@Zeke68

That said, if I go to Push Square's sistersite for Xbox,Will I see 40 Sony articles the last months? I guess not.
Sammy & Co has a thing for Xbox lately and I think they should switch site to be honest.

There are also "similar" articles on PureXbox and NintendoLife about the other platforms, but lower in numbers and with a less divisive, conflict-enducing tone of voice.

They are running a business, they need to generate money. All these articles are resulting in many clicks, user engagement and ad revenue. Their approach is working as intended.

I haven't played the first game, but from what I saw Minecraft Dungeons only contains the "Minecraft visuals", but non of the "Minecraft mechanics" like crafting, building, digging.

Maybe the dev team can incorporate some of the typical Minecraft gameplay elements, similar to the LEGO games from Traveller's Tales.

Maybe the dev studio can fix some of the bigger issues with the performance and the combat in the coming weeks. Shouldn't we wait with the scored review until some of the problems are ironed out?

I replayed this a few years ago and it was pretty fun. It's not the most popular Battlefield game, but it's still a well made game with good ideas and fun multiplayer modes. A shame that it's being delisted and the servers shut.

@Zeke68

When I worked at a certain computer company in Stockholm I got to see with my own eyes how M$ works behind the scenes. Sadly I'm on a lifetime NDA but lets me summarize it for you. I hate M$ and their american way to make profit even if it means breaking swedish laws.
If you support the "american way" to "do business", youre a loser in my eyes. All I can say about that.
And this is a Playstation site, I dont CARE about M$ - at all!!
Edit: and they used the same tactic when they bought Acti-Blizzard. Not allowed but money in the right pockets and voila', it went through....
Lobbyism at the dirtiest.

And how do we know that Sony is different from Microsoft in doing business? They have multiple headquarters in the USA (in NY, San Mateo, San Diego, Culver City) and are spending between 2 and 3 million dollars per year on lobbying in the US. They are applying the "american way" of business just like Microsoft. Sony is facing lawsuits in the US, UK and Netherlands for allegedly abusing its dominat market position to inflate digital game prices. These companies don't care about their consumers, they only care about how to make more money.

@Stepan

so JSR and Crazy Taxi will come no sooner than 2027. You know, that's how their business model stands - one half of SEGA Japan's output is RGG Studio, the second is Team Sonic.

I don't get how it takes SEGA this long to release these reboots in the Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi series. These reboots have been talked about since 2023, so by 2026 they should have something to show. It's not like they need to iterate on the gameplay and find out what's fun, the original games already cover that process. Most fans are probably okay with some modern HD visuals, new locations and a banging new soundtrack.

@SBBuds

... and last I looked it had risen to 27th most played on PS. I have no idea of the numbers on console.

The game is doing fine on all platforms somewhere in the top 30s.

• PlayStation: at around 25th - 30th spot: https://www.truetrophies.com/n28015/playstation-gameplay-chart-week-ending-march-15th-2026 / https://ps-timetracker.com/statistic/last-30-days
• Steam: At the moment 84th, but it's because the majority of the player-base is located in North America, the daily average of 53K puts in the top 30 games: https://steamdb.info/charts/
• Xbox: 33rd spot last week: https://www.trueachievements.com/news/xbox-game-pass-cyberpunk-2077-construction-simulator

@glennthefrog I agree. Not to mention the amount of marketing budget this game has received.

The game seems to be aimed at a competitive hardcore player base, especially the new Cryo Archive, which is the most stand-out mode, but maybe less than 5% might be able to play it. Paul Tassi from Forbes has a good article on the current situation: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2026/03/21/marathons-cryo-archive-is-where-cool-design-meets-cold-reality/

Imagine doing the new, very hard Cryo Archive map in Marathon and then the PSN outage hits. 😅

• Neo Geo Arcade Collection 2
• Hi-Fi Rush
• maybe Sea of Thieves (new season)

The rumour continues that this would allow it to block its software from appearing on Xbox Helix, which will support third-party storefronts like Steam.

This is the point which proves this "rumor" to be fake.

Any effort from Sony to block its software from running on the "Xbox Helix" hardware might be futile. If it's a Windows PC which tells applications that it's a "Windows PC" than you cannot block it. Also modder can create an application which tells the launcher a different story.

I guess, this might actually be the reason why Sony is limiting their PC ports: it's an open ecosystem where they don't have the control over the hardware which runs their games.

@Max_the_German

... journalistic standards of PushSquare.

Journalistic standards? They rather post random reddit or Twitter/X messages from "angry fans" than request an official statement from a publisher. 😆

GTA 6 at 60 fps on PS5 Pro via frame gen confirmed? 😄

@rjejr

1 thing Cerny or anyone else at AMD or Nvidia talk about is how long it takes games that look this good. How long it adds to the development cycle. How much it adds to the cost of the games, and the hardware, to keep improving things incrementally. And then stop and ask themselves, is it worth it?

These are system architects, they don't necessarily care about how long it takes to create high fidelity AAA games. They only care about technical advancements at an affordable consumer price.

At least Mark Cerny was responsible, as far as I remember, for PlayStation 4 being more developer friendly than the PS3, with a more conventional X86 PC architecture. And he is in touch with development studios to understand what they need to develop future games.

@EfYI

I think it was a good update, and seeing as Nvidia is sitting on the lion's share of the market such successes may help AMD and Sony.

Microsoft's next Xbox hardware (Project Helix) will most likely also benefit from the technical advancements PlayStation and AMD have done together on upscaling, as they are also partnered with AMD.

Mark Cerny is playing on PC? That's blasphemy! 😄

On a more serious note, I bet AMD and PlayStation paid close attention to Nvidia's DLSS 5 reveal and this does read like some marketing PR reply to that reveal.

Nice to see these games being available to more people to play.

@LifeGirl I was surprised to read online that, while Sony owns the Spider-Man film IP and earns the majority of the revenue, Marvel Studios is actually producing the movies since 2017, after Sony's own attempts with Andrew Garfield failed.

Now Sony is obligated to produce and release new movies in the Spider-Man universe, because otherwise the film IP rights would revert back to the original owner (Marvel) after some years. The Sony Picture produced films are Venom (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), Morbius (2022), Madam Web (2024), Venom: The Last Dance (2024) and Kraven the Hubter (2024). Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/1as6uhj/is_there_any_way_to_revert_spidermans_rights_back/

Only played the demo last night, but I really enjoyed it. The combat is something new, the exploration in the demo feels satisfying and sci-fi visuals are great.

@Issen_Mode

I'd like to see the RE9 devs response to this since it does in fact look like an AI filter and not the same face model despite what nvidia is claiming lol. Don't they scan real people's faces in too?

It's pretty likely that Nvidia has presented the results and gotten the approval from Capcom and other game publishers, before they presented the demo footage to the public.

@LowDefAl

@TrollOfWar short term, no because AMD are so far behind on stuff like this coupled with the amount of people on older cards. Long term, who knows. It depends on how the tech is used.

Yes, I agree. I was thinking long term, like 8-10 years from now. Kind of how upscaling and frame gen are becoming standard tools for developers to hit a certain performance target.

What concerns me a bit, if AMD will have a similar gen AI technology built into their graphics cards in the future, and it becomes a standard technology, will developers use it as a crutch to save on time/budget on the graphical fidelity of a game? And will games have a certain "samey" look (like UE3 games during the PS3 era)?

Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but it seems somewhat suspicious to us that Nvidia decided to announce its new DLSS 5 upscaler on the day Sony revealed plans to roll out its new PSSR 2 upscaler.

Apart from the questionable results of the presented DLSS5 images, this article again is written in such a negative tone, aiming to stir up some non-existent controversy. It's highly unlikely that Nvidia was "attempting to p*ss on PS5 Pro's parade". March is end of Q1 and the end of the financial year for many companies, they want to show shareholders what they've been working on.

Despite the results which make it look like "AI slop dating model", I think it's impressive that it's technically possible to enhance an image in real-time to such a degree. I do agree that it's a shame if the original artistic vision is lost by this. I would like to see this showcased on something much older like MGS1, Deus Ex, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West or Tomb Raider Legends.

I'm looking forward to see the analysis by Digital Foundry. Based on the results in Resident Evil Requiem PSSR2 looks pretty decent.

EDIT: It's already available: https://youtu.be/U2j7ij9ZPDk

Yes, those costumes don't look good, but they are free, so I don't see why people get mad about them.

It's a bigger problem that the new update introduced more bugs.

Anyways I'll continue playing Tomb Raider I-III on Evercade. It's fun having the games on a pocket-sized device.

I believe many were expecting Gotham Knights to be similar to Marvel's Avengers, where the game is focused on mundane, repetitive tasks rathet than a meaningful progress. It also didn't help that the game launched with performance issues.

Sad to see people at WB Montreal losing their jobs. I personally really enjoyed Batman: Arkham Origins, it was very good.

@somnambulance

That said, I am sort of surprised Square didn’t try to get Forspoken a second life on Xbox and Switch. When the game went to PS+, it felt like opinions were far more positive than they were initially.

Didn't Square Enix disband the whole team who worked on the game and the Luminous Engine, due to poor sales numbers?
So even if Square Enix wanted to port the game now to Xbox and Switch 2, the people who are familiar with the game engine have moved on to other projects.

@UltimateOtaku91

Pretty funny seeing people moan about Sammy being a fanboy when those people themselves aren't playstation fans and are just here to stir the pot.

Hypocrisy at its finest.

Exactly, it’s truly inspiring to see. We’ve reached that peak level of civil discourse where you can’t just enjoy a hobby; you have to pick a side, build a wall, and treat 'the other guys' like they’re invading your borders. Truly, the gaming community is the final frontier of geopolitical diplomacy.

The Sword of Ianna, maybe something new on Evercade.
And maybe Sea of Thieves.

@Globo He is part of the PushSquare team and his actions shape the image of the website.

@Octorok_Prime

Marathon is a first party PS game, so, like it or not, how it is faring sales-wise on pc is newsworthy.

Maybe Sammy here from PushSquare can get in touch with his friend Lakrix on Twitter/X to get an estimate on the sales numbers of Marathon, like he did with the Final Fantasy 16 numbers for Xbox. 🤔

Next week on PushSquare: Random person writes mean things about PlayStation on Twitter/X. How will Sony react?

The inclusion of Play Anywhere indicates some kind of deal with Microsoft, although that’s our own speculation.

PushSquare never misses a chance to flame the "console wars".

Never change PushSquare. 😄