boogieman117

Expectations are the thief of joy.

The “why” seems brilliantly simple - because $.40 off a $2 game (in a digital environment where quality content doesn’t fight for shelf space) for a is $.40 they didn’t have.

This is probably why they can’t tie any incentives to trophy scores or the like - it’s more profitable to flood the marketplace and reap the rewards since they are one of, if not, the biggest console marketplaces around.

My son and daughter will be unboxing a PS5 Slim on the 25th. I will likely be spending time downloading patches and firmware updates prior to boxing it and wrapping it.

After that, we'll likely be playing Lego Fortnite or OG Fortnite, Fall Guys, or other multiplayer games. Aside from that, I have Cuphead, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Lego Horizon Adventures, and Astro Bot (the game) and Astro Bot's Playroom for them.

@DennisReynolds Can't games be user-review-bombed on Steam as well?

To me, anytime you can introduce a scale system to a large group of people, that scale system can be easily manipulated.

Considering Xbox only has 25% market share in the UK and they are down 'two thirds', I can't imagine that Microsoft is too worried about it when the bar is already that low.

@Illyrian every time I do it makes me laugh

@rjejr When my 7-year-old and 10-year-old referred to TV commercials as 'unskippable ads', I immediately grew dozens of grey hairs.

@nomither6 Honestly, as a 40-year-old who has a general disdain for MTX, playing as Eminem, Snoop or any other icons of my generation is appealing. The game and the hook already have my kids, this is something aimed squarely at those looking at their retirement accounts instead of their TikTok accounts.

@IOI oh, sorry for the confusion - this wasn't a direct jab at Xbox. I fully think its not an “if” but “when” Halo comes to PlayStation only because other Xbox IP has come over and a Halo port would generate a massive profit for Microsoft.

@colonelkilgore Duck and cover if Halo Studios announces a Master Chief Anniversary edition for the PS5 using Unreal Engine 5.

@get2sammyb definitely needs Ray Hudson in the mix.

Writeup was good, but the little snapshots of airport nightmares and flying woes were the icing on the cake.

@get2sammyb This feels like if Second Live was successful.

@LifeGirl I can powerwash something and cut my grass as well. If someone can gamify it, it can be sold.

@rjejr I'm not sure about that.

1. Festival is an 'finger' on the hand that is Fortnite on the giant that is Epic - it's not going anywhere as long as it's profitable.

2. I'm 39, grew up in the height of GH/RB, and struggle badly in Festival since it's using the face buttons on my console. My muscle memory wants to use a 'guitar' to play along (with the bass and lead options), so there could be a market for this.

@Savage_Joe I agree that it draws a lot of eyes, but it draws eyes for the wrong reasons.

When dedicating the award to a member of a GOTY-winning team who had died during development and saw the words “Please wrap it up” while Kojima gets more airtime to talk about nothing, there's a massive problem.

Here's an irrational thought: stop making The Game Awards about announcements and release dates - that's what E3 (or that time in June since E3 is dead) was for. If you're going to make an AWARDS show, make the main subject matter the AWARDS.

Everyone's hyped about the 5 games announced and I'm just happy for the screaming 'SEGA!' stinger at the end.

@KayOL77 you weren’t around for the Dreamcast, were you?

Impossible burger + chance at a PS5? Okie dokie.

@Friendly We've been doing that with Ubisoft games for years.

@kac Check out truetrophies.com - they have a pretty slick 'library' function that you can manipulate. Or stick to spreadsheets.

That gave me 'booth babe' vibes from E3's of long ago.

I miss the booth babes.

/s

In all seriousness, the pandemic and adult life have distracted me from E3 this year. As much as it's a physical space for gamers to congregate and enjoy what's to come, the world seems to have 'moved on' from that style of information distribution to an online space that has more creative freedom. Additionally, as a 36-year-old gamer with a wife, kids, and other adult life woes, I can't sit down and consume E3 as I did during the last generation. I've found that I'll watch or listen to [insert personality here] 's take on what was announced since I don't have time to watch it personally and I'm already a fan of [insert personality here], so why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone?

Finally, big 3rd-party studios seem to shoehorn themselves into those spots to remain visible (ex: why in the hell did Bethesda mention 'Starlight' and breathe the words 'ES:6') during E3, so if you as a studio don't have a "Bethesda 2015" caliber conference to give, so there's no need to put out something subpar aka Bethesda 2016, 2017, 2018. If you have something 'big' to announce, these studios can do what Sony has done - produce a well designed, polished video and release it to the masses. Wanna do a Q/A afterward if you're feeling bold? Host a Reddit AMA after the announcement on /r/[studio] and let the reporters and media companies sift through that for bylines and such.

@iamtylerdurden1 "This is more than a game, it's a living, breathing, movement that should evolve over time."

This is great for those that want it, but I'd be concerned about those people like me that look for a more grounded experience. I like the concept of "Dreams", but the vast amount of content available to play will trigger my 'overchoice' and turn me off to the game entirely.

@Quintumply "What's so refreshing about the game is how positive its community is."

I worry very much about this lasting into release. Everyone until now has had to pay/play using early access - those that have created content are likely going to support other content creators such as themselves while in the 'early access' cocoon/echo-chamber.

My concern is that people who buy the game and simply dislike content for one reason or another, legitimately or to troll, will cause a ripple event amongst the community as it expands from early access to full release. I'm hoping for the best.

@Salmonella I understand. Sadly, that all comes back to parental responsibility. Don't give Lil' Billy the controller unless you've prevented Lil' Billy from draining your accounts.

I'm fine with it, as long as it's optional.

Re: children - I have 2 child accounts and both of them have a zero allowance option so that they can't use and abuse my cards. If you want to protect your kids from draining your wallet, measure twice and cut once when it comes to access controls - that's what they are there for.

@marloc_x Problem is that Microsoft seems to want to be there first.

I barely remember that. Nice find, Robert.

2 solid games, 1 as a collection and a VR game. Anyone who complains is a real dumbbell.

I'm in the minority on this one; I'm too 'stuck' in the old mindset of 'new console won't play old games' from Sony. The fuel for that is if I want to play PS4 games and own a PS4, why am I rushing out to buy some very expensive hardware to continue to play the games I already have?

@GamingFan4Lyf Quality over quantity. Seems like Netflix took a page from CDPR's playbook.

It makes sense since CDPR is trying to take advantage of 130+ consoles already in people's homes. The PS5 and XBSX will be pricey for many right out of the gate, so this is a good move.

This leak ranges too wildly to take with salt.

I can wait to be honest. There are so many quality and meaty games this generation that I'm not going to be a day-one PS5 owner.

Here’s a fun timeline:

Microsoft announces at The Game Awards.
Sony announces at CES.
Both dual for supremacy at E3.
Holiday 2020 is the happiest consumer console bloodbath in recent memory.

Silly question - do you think this release will have English subtitles? If so, PS4 is region free, so it might be worth importing to the US if it's possible.

When it rains, it's a biblical kind for Bioware.

• Release a half-baked game under awful conditions
• Have it commercially sell really well (#7 in most sales of 2019)
• Completely bomb with fans at launch
• Go dark with an attempt to fix the game with an expansion, fail again
• Re-open old wounds with skins that are 8x the average for a skin DLC from Bioware's glory days.

Whomever is shot-calling at Bioware really doesn't have the pulse of the video game community nowadays.

Source - #7 in 2019: https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/17/september-2019-npd-nba-2k20-and-borderlands-3-top-the-charts/

@LieutenantFatman Yup. Right off the 2nd circle of development hell directly into the 3rd or 4th.

A new CoD game broke the previous CoD game's sale records? I'm not surprised; that cash cow just got bigger and yielded more milk.

Little late, eh? 2 days until Halloween seems a bit too late to be posting these.

@FullbringIchigo It's hard to say if PS5 will come anywhere near those numbers. Microsoft and Stadia are trying to make subscription based and non-console based gaming a thing, so to some, the console itself won't be a factor in a few months/years. PS4 took advantage of XB1's abassmal launch and ran away with the generation. I doubt it'll reach the PS2 numbers since a) PS2 was the cheapest DVD player around back in the day and b) the PS4s in homes now will likely be re-sold as used when the PS5 launches (no more 'fresh' PS4 sales for Sony). However, if the rumor of a $150 PS4 is true, this may cause a spike this holiday season to get that number pretty close.

Sources:
$150 PS4 - https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/10/rumour_ps4_will_be_less_than_usd150_this_black_friday

@vhsodre The way I understand it is like this - Sony offers a developer 'X' amount of money to put their game on PSN+. If the dev agrees, knowing that for a full month, their game has 'subscription access for the life of the subscription', they get the money.

Take the Nov 2019 games for example - Nioh is a 2 1/2 year old game that did really well at launch. 88% on Metacritic and sol over 2.5 million copies. Why Nioh is getting put on PSN+ is probably for a bump for the Nioh 2 beta on 1 Nov or March 2020 release date. Outlast 2 took advantage of Outlast 1's crazy success after being released on PSN+, albeit being received more poorly on Metacritic. Again, a 2 1/2 year old game being given a bump for the marketplace to return to. The article I sourced is actually ammo for my theory on games going to PSN+.

"According to Morin, trading what it could have made in sales revenue for a flat fee was, "definitely one of the most difficult decisions we had to make".... Psyonix would reap huge rewards by launching Rocket League in the same way almost 18 months later, but here again Red Barrels had laid the groundwork.

"Our plan was to start a franchise, and we knew we needed as many people as possible to be aware of that franchise," Morin says. "We also knew we had DLC in the pipeline, so it would increase the number of potential buyers for the DLC.

"It was a gamble... We didn't have a marketing budget, so it was our way to do marketing without having to spend money."

"Looking back, there is little doubt that it was the right move... Some of that was simply fortunate timing, Morin admits, but other aspects were a carefully calculated risk - a risk that paid off handsomely."

Sources:
Nioh Metacritic - https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/nioh
Nioh Sales - https://www.destructoid.com/koei-tecmo-is-still-encouraged-by-nioh-s-sales-two-years-after-launch-it-just-hit-2-5-million-worldwide-541667.phtml
Nioh 2 beta - https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/15/20866868/nioh-2-open-beta-dates-ps4-release-dates-2020
Outlast 2 Metacritic - https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/outlast-2
Outlast 2 15 million sold - https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-05-14-from-zero-to-15-million-the-story-of-outlast

Solid lineup to me. Waiting for someone to whine about Outlast II.

@Turismo4GT Probably won't hurt them at all. Think about how "Powers" in the PS4 era and "The Tester" in the PS3 era was released. I have no doubt that PS Productions would be released the same way.

If you'd had teenage me, the one that was a console war fan boy, I'd die on the hill that exclusives stay exclusive forever and ever and that's the bottom line cause Stone Cold said so.

Now that I'm in my 30s, have a better understanding of how video game sales and businesses work, I'd be all for DS making it's way to PC after a long delay.

I think about how Destiny kept getting exclusive content for a year before it was released for Xbox; Sony probably paid Bundie a chunk of money and said 'make this, that, and the other thing a timed exclusive' and Bungie agreed to it. Sony has an exclusive, and Bungie makes money, and Xbox has to wait it out - that's a business decision.

Why not? Sony has taken cues from Microsoft before (some good examples here: https://www.thegamer.com/playstation-xbox-copied-same-things/).

Ultimately, it's up to the consumer - 56% of those polled said 'no' and want to continue buying hardware the same old way, nothing wrong with that. If the other 44% want to take up the other option, more power to them.

"It’s all about locking the customer into the company’s ecosystem" - absolutely agree with the author - my only thought on it is that since Sony has dominated this generation and digital sales have finally surpassed physical sales (https://www.pocket-lint.com/games/news/playstation/148825-sony-ps4-digital-sales), that those that jumped ship from Xbox 360 to the PS4 are probably already locked into the Sony ecosystem since that's likely where they bought their digital games from.

@vhsodre Those games you mentioned all released as great AAA games and didn't need the crutch that is PSN+. You're missing my point here - AAA games will have the marketing push and the quality to 'stand on it's own' in the marketplace - DD and other AA studios sometimes need PSN+ to get themselves that exposure, for better or worse.

Baby steps first, MM. Release the game for the console you told everyone is was going to be an exclusive on first, then think larger.