I would love to see something like Monster Hunter: World, within the Horizon universe, as a service. With more of an MMO/social hub over world and a faster release schedule, a la something like Sea of Thieves when they did monthly updates.
I’m excited to see where this goes, but my guard will be up. Huge potentials outside of just some copycat games. I think we will get both if they’re developing that many. I think an MMO or survival crafter or some other genre is just as likely as some sort of competitive shooter thing. I also think a fighting game is a real potential given their interest in EVO and the FGC.
I think this is a fair take given what we know, but I think it’s what we don’t know that might have been the deciding factor. What does Bungie have up their sleeve? How far back has this partnership been brewing? That would make it more of a gamble than an overpayment.
Very curious to see what the first fruits of this partnership will be. I was a massive Halo/Halo 2 fan, but my interest in Destiny couldn’t be any less. Still, an intriguing development.
@frankmcma I think ps+ can be both of those things, which is kind of troubling IMO. If that high subscriber base eventually gets PO’d over a gulf in value or seeks better value elsewhere, that’s big damage potential.
An expected move but the number seems a bit high. I just hope there’s actual variety and not just a dozen Sony-branded battle royales. Such a fickle market, I guess that’s one way of making sure one sticks around long term.
I feel like this game is a really tough sell in 2022 for anyone who isn’t already a fan, and I doubt 30 mins of additional footage is going to change that.
Make it free with Plus. Nintendo Switch Online benefits greatly from things like Tetris 99, Mario 35, Pac-Man 99, etc etc. PS+ desperately needs value adds IMO.
Sony acting like they have no competition and it’s just insane to me. I really don’t think Sony has THAT kind of brand loyalty where they can just shed the platform agnostic players who just want their latest yearly titles at the best price and most convenient. Nintendo can play those kinds of games but I just don’t think Sony can maintain that long term. Don’t get me wrong, Sony are riding REALLY high from a very strong market position in the previous gen, and it’ll take a long time to see the full effects. But there is slow and steady/incremental damage happening here, anyone who’s been paying attention will know this. It just seems like Jim Ryan is legit asleep at the wheel sometimes. As a big industry nerd, very interesting to see it play out, at least.
I know they probably negotiate these deals months and months and months in advance, so the read I get here is Sony has a hard time pivoting or reacting, or doesn’t see the need to. Both scenarios are troubling to me, frankly.
The pressure on this game to succeed must be absolutely immense right now. Sony needs a killer app right now above all else, proof they can weather the storm on the strength and QUALITY (see: all the broken AAA releases in last two years) of their IPs. That’s a lot of eyes on Aloy.
Reevaluating their value proposals for this gen could go a long way. 90$ CAD titles, lacklustre ps+ monthly games, the price of plus and now, I think they took the wrong approach by sort of positioning themselves as this premium product (remember the all the diamonds in the branding?). The industry around them is quickly making that look ridiculous now, IMHO. It’s not just Microsoft. Epic gives away SO many good games a year for the price of simply signing up, Steam sales are impressive and frequent, etc.
This is really cool but I think it’s also a reason why Dreams never took off like a Minecraft or a Roblox. The ceiling is too high, it makes for an imposing room. People look at anything made in a Roblox and they feel… I can do that! Even if they can’t. This, this is like… looking at an Unreal Engine tech demo or something. “I can do that” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.
The chatter on here is really focused on Sony vs Microsoft, when really the other company hoovering up the industry is Tencent. I think a Tencent buyout of EA is much more likely than a Sony one because of the multi platform nature of the sports franchises.
What they are choosing to highlight on their socials has me real worried, ngl. Was “big” their only goal? How many resources during development were devoted to simply “big”?
The headset IS a huge barrier for a ton of people, I doubt VR will ever get the buy in that flat gaming has because of it. Not until they are as unobtrusive as a pair of reading glasses.
They put so little effort into this, it was a guaranteed success regardless of what bad press they had to have known was going to happen. Hollywood pulls the same trick over and over again with its own notions of “built-in audience”. An equally big problem to the peak capitalistic behaviours of AAA developers we are seeing more and more of, is the willingness of people to accept absolute horse droppings on all fronts because of their devotion to brands, fandom in general, nostalgia, etc. It takes two to tango.
Crazy days ahead! Does Sony stay the course? Sit idly by? Go to all out war? I’ve been following the machinations of this industry intensely since 1991, worked as a dev for a time, and this is up there with some of the bigger seismic shifts. It’s difficult to even parse the possibilities of how this plays out. Looking forward to Sammy’s continued coverage on this topic. It just got real!
I expect we will see regulation on micro-transaction heavy/gatcha mobile business models at some point. These are bubble numbers. Too addictive, too successful at separating people from their money. It’s just Slots 2.0, only somehow more pathetic because at least you can win some money at a casino. It’s sad to see and I want no part of it. Big loss of respect for anyone doubling down in this space, Sony and Nintendo included.
Let me download every title on whatever their PS Now replacement is and I would be onboard day one. I understand the challenges, but it is what needs to happen IMO. It would be a way to SIGNIFICANTLY increasing the value of PS Now without having to take a huge hit in added overhead.
“hopeful fans in a bit of a frenzy” describes half of what you read on the internet nowadays, and “it all seems like a bit of a reach” describes the other half.
Please don’t let it be grindy, please don’t let it be grindy. When I see him using the term “max out”, it makes me really worried they have somehow padded the progression systems with an absolutely EPIC grind just to be able to write that tweet.
@get2sammyb agreed, I think “creative” is going to be the right play here. I don’t think they can or need to compete 1 to 1 with Game Pass, just… something. Something, rather than nothing, will go a long way. I know the current offering isn’t exactly nothing, but it might as well be the way the optics have been playing out.
I am going to guess it’s at least as expensive as a no disc ps5. Very interesting, though. It’s a bigger leap than I expected. Price is going to be a serious issue though, unless they start selling them below cost.
You will have completed multiple full runs if you manage to finish Act 3. While sure, it’s the real ending, it’s still like beating the game multiple times. I am sure there are people who beat the final boss the first time and were like cool, and moved on.
I wonder what the barrier is to lower latency in panels of this size? 10ms is better than most current TV sets, but there have been gaming monitors on the market for a while now with 1ms response times, with some newer panels achieving <1ms response times.
Come on, guys. Get with the program, this is just smart business. You offer what your competitor doesn’t. You want convenience, generosity and good value for your dollar? Go with the other guys. That’s just not how we do things here.
The full report is interesting, sounds like they’ve been going after any business, big or small, for anything remotely resembling one of their trademarks. Like, a company called ‘Starrock’, give me a break! Meanwhile, they’ve released perhaps the most insulting release of 2021, which is REALLY saying something. How much in legal fees, I wonder?
One of the best co-op shooters I’ve ever played. It even has a really great workaround for solo play too, although the best experience is getting all 4 roles on a dig.
From the playbook for making money as a game studio in 2021: 1.) sell people on a nostalgic remake to distract from the fact you got nothing new to show, and likely won’t for years 2.) invest bare minimum, knowing nostalgia sells almost as good as sex 3.) counter outrage with heartfelt apologies and day one patches to let the people think you care 4.) praise the dark lord for your continued successes
Comments 579
Re: Talking Point: What PS5, PS4 Live Service Games from Sony Do You Want?
I would love to see something like Monster Hunter: World, within the Horizon universe, as a service. With more of an MMO/social hub over world and a faster release schedule, a la something like Sea of Thieves when they did monthly updates.
Re: Soapbox: Sony Is Making More Live Service Games for PS5, PS4, And I'm Excited
I’m excited to see where this goes, but my guard will be up. Huge potentials outside of just some copycat games. I think we will get both if they’re developing that many. I think an MMO or survival crafter or some other genre is just as likely as some sort of competitive shooter thing. I also think a fighting game is a real potential given their interest in EVO and the FGC.
Re: Sony 'Vastly Overpaid' in 'Desperation' for Bungie, Says Outspoken Analyst Michael Pachter
I think this is a fair take given what we know, but I think it’s what we don’t know that might have been the deciding factor. What does Bungie have up their sleeve? How far back has this partnership been brewing? That would make it more of a gamble than an overpayment.
Re: Poll: What Are Your Thoughts on Sony's Buyout of Bungie?
Very curious to see what the first fruits of this partnership will be. I was a massive Halo/Halo 2 fan, but my interest in Destiny couldn’t be any less. Still, an intriguing development.
Re: PS Plus Reaches Record Number of Subscribers on PS5, PS4
@frankmcma I think ps+ can be both of those things, which is kind of troubling IMO. If that high subscriber base eventually gets PO’d over a gulf in value or seeks better value elsewhere, that’s big damage potential.
Re: Sony Plans to Launch 10 PS5, PS4 Live Service Games by March 2026
An expected move but the number seems a bit high. I just hope there’s actual variety and not just a dozen Sony-branded battle royales. Such a fickle market, I guess that’s one way of making sure one sticks around long term.
Re: Battlefield 2042 Delays First Season on PS5, PS4 to Add Key Features, Like a Refined Scoreboard
I wish game companies didn’t see goodwill and community as something to be exploited.
Re: Random: This Is How PlayStation Consoles Would Look if They Rendered Themselves
Basically no difference between ps4 and ps5 haha, quality troll post.
Re: New and Existing Bungie Games Will Not Become PS5, PS4 Exclusives
I wouldn’t trust the pr immediately following announcements of this magnitude
Re: Sony Buys Ex-Halo, Destiny Developer Bungie for $3.6 Billion
Love a good twist!
Re: Abandoned Dev's YouTube Hacked, PS5 Pre-Orders Are a Hoax
How convenient, just as everyone stopped talking about them.
Re: State of Play Announced, Featuring 30 Minutes of Gran Turismo 7 PS5 Gameplay
I feel like this game is a really tough sell in 2022 for anyone who isn’t already a fan, and I doubt 30 mins of additional footage is going to change that.
Re: Hands On: They Made Destruction AllStars on PS5 Good
Make it free with Plus. Nintendo Switch Online benefits greatly from things like Tetris 99, Mario 35, Pac-Man 99, etc etc. PS+ desperately needs value adds IMO.
Re: Sony's PS Plus, PS Now Cross-Gen Bullsh*t Continues
Sony acting like they have no competition and it’s just insane to me. I really don’t think Sony has THAT kind of brand loyalty where they can just shed the platform agnostic players who just want their latest yearly titles at the best price and most convenient. Nintendo can play those kinds of games but I just don’t think Sony can maintain that long term. Don’t get me wrong, Sony are riding REALLY high from a very strong market position in the previous gen, and it’ll take a long time to see the full effects. But there is slow and steady/incremental damage happening here, anyone who’s been paying attention will know this. It just seems like Jim Ryan is legit asleep at the wheel sometimes. As a big industry nerd, very interesting to see it play out, at least.
Re: PS5's PSVR2 Will Seemingly Have a Cutting-Edge Display
If this thing is cheaper than the console itself, it’ll be a bloody miracle.
Re: PS Plus February 2022 PS5, PS4 Games Announced
I know they probably negotiate these deals months and months and months in advance, so the read I get here is Sony has a hard time pivoting or reacting, or doesn’t see the need to. Both scenarios are troubling to me, frankly.
Re: Horizon Forbidden West Will Have Strong Moral Choices Leading to an Impactful Ending on PS5, PS4
The pressure on this game to succeed must be absolutely immense right now. Sony needs a killer app right now above all else, proof they can weather the storm on the strength and QUALITY (see: all the broken AAA releases in last two years) of their IPs. That’s a lot of eyes on Aloy.
Re: Sony Partner Deviation Games Expands with New Canadian Studio
Nice! So much tech investment happening in Canada these days. You just love to see it.
Re: Analyst Expects PS5 to Seriously Outperform Xbox This Year
Microsoft’s threat to Sony isn’t exactly the Xbox Series X/S.
Re: Poll: Does Sony Need to Take Action After Microsoft's Activision Buyout?
Reevaluating their value proposals for this gen could go a long way. 90$ CAD titles, lacklustre ps+ monthly games, the price of plus and now, I think they took the wrong approach by sort of positioning themselves as this premium product (remember the all the diamonds in the branding?). The industry around them is quickly making that look ridiculous now, IMHO. It’s not just Microsoft. Epic gives away SO many good games a year for the price of simply signing up, Steam sales are impressive and frequent, etc.
Re: This Dreams Recreation of Returnal's Archonact Is Staggering
This is really cool but I think it’s also a reason why Dreams never took off like a Minecraft or a Roblox. The ceiling is too high, it makes for an imposing room. People look at anything made in a Roblox and they feel… I can do that! Even if they can’t. This, this is like… looking at an Unreal Engine tech demo or something. “I can do that” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.
Re: EA Is the Next Major Publisher Tipped for a Takeover
The chatter on here is really focused on Sony vs Microsoft, when really the other company hoovering up the industry is Tencent. I think a Tencent buyout of EA is much more likely than a Sony one because of the multi platform nature of the sports franchises.
Re: Dying Light 2 Has Found More Really Big Numbers to Boast About
What they are choosing to highlight on their socials has me real worried, ngl. Was “big” their only goal? How many resources during development were devoted to simply “big”?
Re: PlayStation Creator Ken Kutaragi Not a Fan of VR Headsets or Metaverse
The headset IS a huge barrier for a ton of people, I doubt VR will ever get the buy in that flat gaming has because of it. Not until they are as unobtrusive as a pair of reading glasses.
Re: GTA Trilogy Has Done 'Just Great', Exec Says 'Glitch Was Resolved'
They put so little effort into this, it was a guaranteed success regardless of what bad press they had to have known was going to happen. Hollywood pulls the same trick over and over again with its own notions of “built-in audience”. An equally big problem to the peak capitalistic behaviours of AAA developers we are seeing more and more of, is the willingness of people to accept absolute horse droppings on all fronts because of their devotion to brands, fandom in general, nostalgia, etc. It takes two to tango.
Re: Reaction: Activision Blizzard Buyout Is Devastating for PS5, PS4
Crazy days ahead! Does Sony stay the course? Sit idly by? Go to all out war? I’ve been following the machinations of this industry intensely since 1991, worked as a dev for a time, and this is up there with some of the bigger seismic shifts. It’s difficult to even parse the possibilities of how this plays out. Looking forward to Sammy’s continued coverage on this topic. It just got real!
Re: Microsoft Buys Call of Duty Publisher Activision Blizzard
I’m speechless, folks. Literally floored by this announcement.
Re: This Is Why PlayStation Wants to Make Smartphone Games
I expect we will see regulation on micro-transaction heavy/gatcha mobile business models at some point. These are bubble numbers. Too addictive, too successful at separating people from their money. It’s just Slots 2.0, only somehow more pathetic because at least you can win some money at a casino. It’s sad to see and I want no part of it. Big loss of respect for anyone doubling down in this space, Sony and Nintendo included.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Realistically Expect from PS5, PS4's Game Pass Inspired PS Plus Reboot?
Let me download every title on whatever their PS Now replacement is and I would be onboard day one. I understand the challenges, but it is what needs to happen IMO. It would be a way to SIGNIFICANTLY increasing the value of PS Now without having to take a huge hit in added overhead.
Re: Updated PlayStation Patent Has Fans in Backwards Compatibility Frenzy, But It's a Reach
“hopeful fans in a bit of a frenzy” describes half of what you read on the internet nowadays, and “it all seems like a bit of a reach” describes the other half.
Re: GDC Reveals Its GOTY 2021 Nominees, Voted for by Game Developers
I dunno, seems like the same bs everywhere else is putting out.
Re: Dying Light 2 Takes 500 Hours to 'Fully Complete', Official Twitter Has to Clarify
Please don’t let it be grindy, please don’t let it be grindy. When I see him using the term “max out”, it makes me really worried they have somehow padded the progression systems with an absolutely EPIC grind just to be able to write that tweet.
Re: Deep Rock Galactic (PS5) - There's Gold in Them There Hostile Alien Caves
I had a great time with this on PC, hopefully they iron out those network issues. Great active official Discord too with lots of dev updates.
Re: Red Dead Online's Paltry PS4 Updates Continue to Frustrate Fans
They’ll put horses, revolvers and dusters in GTA Online before they put any more work into RDR Online.
Re: No Plans for Ubisoft+ on PS5, PS4 At This Time, Rainbow Six Extraction Full-Price on PlayStation
@get2sammyb agreed, I think “creative” is going to be the right play here. I don’t think they can or need to compete 1 to 1 with Game Pass, just… something. Something, rather than nothing, will go a long way. I know the current offering isn’t exactly nothing, but it might as well be the way the optics have been playing out.
Re: PS5's New PSVR Headset Officially Named PlayStation VR2, Full Specs Revealed
I am going to guess it’s at least as expensive as a no disc ps5. Very interesting, though. It’s a bigger leap than I expected. Price is going to be a serious issue though, unless they start selling them below cost.
Re: Not Everyone Had the Fortitude to Finish Returnal on PS5
You will have completed multiple full runs if you manage to finish Act 3. While sure, it’s the real ending, it’s still like beating the game multiple times. I am sure there are people who beat the final boss the first time and were like cool, and moved on.
Re: Destruction AllStars January Update Will Make Key Changes to Gameplay, Presentation
This game should be made free to play with a plus sub a la Tetris 99 on Switch, especially now that there is an actual player base.
Re: Sony Is Releasing Official PS5 Console Covers in 2022
Sony is just having a laugh with pricing this gen, it’s just whale hunting at this point. By all means, do what makes you happy, but this is so silly.
Re: Poll: What Is Your PS5, PS4 Game of the Year 2021?
I would have voted Returnal 5 times if I could.
Re: Abandoned Prologue Chapter Coming Early 2022, More Info 'Shortly'
I’m like 99% sure this is just some elaborate grift of their investors.
Re: Sony Showcases Prototype 4K OLED Microdisplay for Virtual Reality
I wonder what the barrier is to lower latency in panels of this size? 10ms is better than most current TV sets, but there have been gaming monitors on the market for a while now with 1ms response times, with some newer panels achieving <1ms response times.
Re: PS Now's GTA 3 Is Available to Stream Only
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Re: PS Plus Blocks Free Mortal Shell PS5 Upgrade
Come on, guys. Get with the program, this is just smart business. You offer what your competitor doesn’t. You want convenience, generosity and good value for your dollar? Go with the other guys. That’s just not how we do things here.
Re: Publisher Take-Two Forces It Takes Two Dev Hazelight to Abandon Title Trademark
The full report is interesting, sounds like they’ve been going after any business, big or small, for anything remotely resembling one of their trademarks. Like, a company called ‘Starrock’, give me a break! Meanwhile, they’ve released perhaps the most insulting release of 2021, which is REALLY saying something. How much in legal fees, I wonder?
Re: Godfall's PS Plus Version Is All Endgame Content, No Story Campaign
lol wait wut? Speechless.
Re: Acclaimed Co-Op Shooter Deep Rock Galactic Digs Down to PS5, PS4 in January
One of the best co-op shooters I’ve ever played. It even has a really great workaround for solo play too, although the best experience is getting all 4 roles on a dig.
Re: Spider-Man Gameplay Shared in New Marvel's Avengers Hands On
It just doesn’t look very good.
Re: GTA Trilogy Patch 1.02 Fixes Huge List of Bugs on PS5, PS4
From the playbook for making money as a game studio in 2021: 1.) sell people on a nostalgic remake to distract from the fact you got nothing new to show, and likely won’t for years 2.) invest bare minimum, knowing nostalgia sells almost as good as sex 3.) counter outrage with heartfelt apologies and day one patches to let the people think you care 4.) praise the dark lord for your continued successes
Re: Rockstar Apologises for the State of GTA Trilogy on PS5, PS4
You could fix every. single. bug and these would still be an embarrassing stain on Rockstar’s portfolio.