@LogicStrikesAgain yeah I agree with most of what you say. I think most fans’ frustration is borne out of the fact that it’s not only a diversion in type of game (single player vs live service) but also in style: the more grounded, gritty or realistic games of the PS4 gen (GOW 2018, Ghost of Tsushima, Days Gone, Uncharted 4, TLOU2) vs the overly colourful and cartoony style of the live service games (Concord, Fairgame$, Marathon, Gummy Bears). That’s why I’ve always thought that Factions not releasing was a massive blunder because it would have been an ideal way to ‘ease’ Sony’s single player audience into a live service title after which they’d perhaps be more open to try out other live service stuff
@LogicStrikesAgain there is definitely a double standard when it comes to Sony and live service games vs. other companies. But that's only logical: over the years Sony has cultivated an audience that wants single player games with a good narrative. That is what they've always done in the past, that is what they've shown to be extremely good at, and that is why they've drawn the type of customers to their ecosystem that expects these kinds of experiences from them. When they're getting something else (live service), of course there's going to be more disappointment than a Tencent announcing a Gacha game because that is what is expected from them.
In short, Sony has set the standard for their games themselves and it's only normal their fans are expecting them to adhere to it
Hermen is a disaster, he has to go. Almost everything he touches turns to *****. He is on the record for having played Concord for years before release and wanted to buy the studio based off of that game. He was heavily involved in the Bungie acquisition too. Fairgame$ is his baby too, and if the initial reaction is any indication of the success of that game, like it was for Concord, it's going to be a major flop. It's supposedly releasing this year, and there is zero hype. Lego Horizon is another astronomical failure in terms of sales, yet Hermen keeps pushing his own franchise onto us as if he created the next Harry Potter. Also, literally every interview he does is full of the most empty generic corporate word salad, I have never even seen a glimpse of a vision towards gaming and the future of PlayStation from him.
Yes, the PS5 is a major success, but it is mostly carried by work from the people who built up the brand and the studios before him. He is destroying PlayStation from within and it'll always take a few years before mismanagement like this is reflected in actual results. What we're seeing now is the beginning of that. Get him out, before it's too late
@UltimateOtaku91 Fairgame$ and Concord suffer from the same symptom: cringy, wannabe marvel dialogue that was outdated years ago, an overly colourful setting for which the market is saturated and very poor character design. I think if Sony would have made a gritty, mature live service shooter that’s badass instead of ‘quirky’ it would have fared a lot better
@PuppetMaster I think you replied to the wrong person, I assume you are replying to me.
Yeah I understand that you weren’t talking about me specifically I was just trying to make the point that people complaining about shooters being too gritty/realistic is not the entire gaming community and that there are (quite a lot of) people who enjoyed that too.
Personally, I am of the opinion that most of the people who choose PS a as a platform have done so because they like more ‘mature’ (and often realistic) experiences like TLOU, Uncharted, GOW, GoT, DS etc. I am one of those people, and I really expected that when PlayStation made the push into live service it would be a smaller step for their playerbase to have live service games fall into that segment as well. That’s why I think Factions not releasing is such a gigantic miss. Simultaneously, I very much understand that Overwatch, Fortnite etc are absolute cash cows and Sony wants some of that money too. But I would have preferred a little more balance I guess, and looking at the like/dislike ratio on YouTube for Concord/Fairgames I think many people have the same feeling. Sony needs to make sure they don’t alienate their original fanbase with this live service effort.
Those dead franchises you mention are exactly the ones I’d have liked to see revived but yeah maybe the demand is not there.
@PuppetMaster I know I can play those games. But most of them are mediocre - that's why I want those games from Sony, because Sony has a high quality standard.
Your second point would have been valid if it was me complaining about gritty experiences at that time. But I wasn't, I liked those games.
What annoys me about Concord, and Fairgames too for that matter, is that every shooter nowadays seems to go for this colourful/cartoons aesthetic, accompanied with 'funny' characters with a lot of Marvel/Disney inspired 'quirky' Gen-Z dialogue. Surely there are people who like that, but I'm not one of them.
Where are the gritty, grounded, realistic experiences? Is there really no audience for that anymore?
Couldn’t agree more with the article. It’s not about specifically this state of play, it’s just that ever since the PS5 released I can’t remember even one Showcase or SoP which made me really hyped. I really do enjoy my PS5, it’s a great piece of hardware, but all I play on it are 3rd party titles or (remasters of) PS4 games. For the first time since owning a PlayStation I’m starting to feel I’m just not part of the audience they want to target anymore
It is very obvious that Playstation 1st party is in a bad state right now and anyone denying it is just unwilling to accept the truth.
When SM2 releases, GOWR release is almost a year ago. There is nothing yet announced for after SM2, so it's safe to say that the rate at which PS is releasing 1st party games is about 1 per year going forward. That is, mildly said, not enough
The last showcase was a total disaster and the most worrying thing about it is that Sony actually thought it was a banger. It shows they are completeley out of touch with the fanbase. Mind you, on YouTube Concord and Fairgame$ have 5 dislikes for every like which is pretty insane. The GAAS push is a fail before it even started. We are right now in the middle of a revival of single player games while the viability and sustainability of GAAS is becoming more and more questionable and what does the #1 brand for single player games do? Put all their eggs in the GAAS basket. It's unbelievable
Our Head of first party, Hermen Hulst, has gone completely MIA since the showcase. Before that he was a regular tweeter and frequently gave updates. Since the showcase? No interviews, no updates, no tweets, nothing. Complete silence. You can say about Phil Spencer whatever you want, but at least the guy communicates with the fans and takes responsibilty when Xbox is going through a rough patch. Hulst does the exact opposite, he just goes missing
The two most important creative people within PS first party, Cory Barlog and Neil Druckmann, are spending/wasting their time on tv shows rather than on games
We are constantly told that the big studios in Playstation have 'multiple teams' allowing them to work on multiple games simultaneously but the only studio who have anything to show for it is Insomniac.
Sony spent $3.6bn on Bungie, a developer under heavy criticism because they're ***** up Destiny. Sony also made the bizarre decision of having Bungie review a NAUGHTY DOG game, it's like having Messi at your club then buying Harry Maguire for him to give Messi training. Imagine what that 3.6bn could have been spent on, that's about 15-20 AAA games right there
There are barely any PS5 exclusives out yet. What we've got thus far is cross-gen, remakes and iterative sequels. Playstation has taken the route of milking their existing IP and 'playing it safe' instead of trying new things, with new IP, taking risks, etc. In the short-term their current strategy will do well financially, in the long-term it will turn Sony in a slightly better version of Ubisoft
Seriously guys, we need to question leadership more because this is slowly turning into a lost generation.
All I see nowadays on PS sites and the PS5 reddit is PS owners raving about the fantastic sales of the PS5. Have we all become Sony stockholders or something? Why is it so incredibly important to people how well their console is selling? Is it giving them some validation that they made the right purchase? It boggles my mind.
The PS5's success is due to one thing and that is the reputation and the brand strength Playstation has built up in previous generations, most notably the PS4 generation.
When it comes to games thus far in this generation, it is hard to not be disappointed. We are three years into this gen and all we've had are remakes and iterative sequels. Currently, of the top 15 highest rated PS5 games on Metacritic, only one (!) is a Sony first party game. For a company that markets itself as delivering the highest quality single player experiences from its first party studios, that is absolutely shameful. If the latest Showcase, which was an absolute disaster, is anything to go by, that is not going to change anytime soon either. Yet all I read on PS5 sites and PS5 reddit and PS5 Twitter is people high fiving each other about the PS5 sales. We need to hold Sony to a higher standard and start asking questions about the leadership of Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst.
@KaijuKaiser we can argue endlessly about semantics - such as that the creativity and optionality that TOTK provides is on a completely different level than Fortnite, which is btw a completely different type of game, or that BG3 offers choices on a completely different level than anything that has ever been done before, but I still stand behind my point: these games push the industry forward, whether you’ll call it an evolution or a revolution is up to you, and that is a big contrast with all the ‘1.5 sequels’ that Sony has been putting out as of late
Elden Ring redefined the open world concept by being the first to give us true exploration: no map markers, no quest markers, no navigation, the only way to progress is to explore
TOTK introduced mechanics such as fusion and building that have never been done in an action game before
BG3 offers players unprecedented choice and outcome variety
If you don't think any of these games are innovative, I don't know what to tell you
It's being proven time and again that when you try do something NEW, when you try to actually INNOVATE, when you take RISK, and provide players with an experience that they have not been able to get in any other game before, that the game will turn out to be a massive success and get univeral praise from players.
@Tlotoxl why though. that doesn't make any sense. You are not getting it 'for free' you're paying a monthly subscription fee. which is a lot more expensive than just buying COD if that's the only game you play
@Sil_Am that is correct but Nintendo actually innovates, both with their games and with their platforms. I’d love to see a new GoW and TLOU but what I wouldn’t like to see is a sequel that barely changed anything compared to its predecessor, which is what GOWR and HFW (and likely SM2 too) are
@Cjam36 couldn’t have said it better. The current threats for PlayStation’s future are internal. This leadership is trying to turn PlayStation into a money milking machine and its apparent from everything: its GaaS push, its focus on milking existing IPs through sequels and remakes, its excessive handholding in their recent major games, etc.
I don’t think we have to be extremely worried about this. What we should worry about however, is the direction current leadership is taking PlayStation in and the current state of first party studios.
@CKFilms yeah you're right. but if it releases in a good state it could very well be the game of the gen imo. So many systems, so much depth. Sony unfortunately doesn't own a studio that is able to produce something like this
@CKFilms yeah except that - in my opinion - that Xbox exclusive game is extremely ambitious and looked like it might define the generation whereas the PlayStation exclusive game looked like it’s predecessor with a few tweaks and upgrades
@PsBoxSwitchOwner who cares about sales. SM2 may sell 50 million copies, if it's not a great game I'm not interested. Starfield looks like it will actually be something truly next gen, I have not seen that same energy from Sony
@Sil_Am it kinda has to. They see their 2 main competitors putting out games that are pushing the boundaries / elevating the industry, while Sony is still busy with remakes, cross-gen and sequels that don't do anything new compared to their predecessor. Sony is becoming a money milking machine
I think I'm gonna have to buy a Series X for Starfield.
I was quite impressed by how ambitious that game seems to be, the amount of systems, options, worlds etc. is mind-boggling. It has character building and upgrading, spaceship building and upgrading, base building and upgrading, normal combat, space combat, docking, etc. etc. Like they just kept on going showing stuff you can do.
Obviously we all need to await how everything fits together and if it actually plays well but this game seems to be willing to push the envelope, to elevate the industry to new heights, just as Nintendo did with TOTK. Games that invent new systems, allow players to be truly creative, etc.
And what do we get? A lot of remakes, cross-gen and sequels that barely change from their predecessor (HFW, GOWR, and likely SM2). Sony seems to be the only one who are just milking their franchises and 'playing it safe' rather than trying to push the industry to new levels. The whole GaaS push is obviously a money-milking effort too. I think the direction Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst are taking Sony into is quite concerning
@KaijuKaiser ND would never make a Redfall we both know that. I think it got delayed (and likely cancelled) for the wrong reasons: not because of lack of quality, but because it doesn't keep players engaged long enough.
@KaijuKaiser no and it's good that they cancel stuff they don't like. But when a project from (IMO) Sony's best and most valuable studio, who I think never in their history made a bad game, gets cancelled because it didn't get the "Bungie approval", and the (IMO) garbage looking cringefest that is Fairgame$ DOES get the green light I think that's concerning
@AdamNovice that's true but he is responsible for Sony's studios. Games from Naughty Dog are instrumental for the success of a PS generation and that studio just wasted 4 years on remakes and a failed multiplayer project. The guy who is the head of PS studios is responsible for that.
@KaijuKaiser they're cancelling a game from Sony's best studio & one of their most beloved IPs because it's not addictive enough. Meanwhile they're happy to release some generic Ubisoft-type Overwatch wannabe like Fairgame$ which apparently passed the 'addictivity approval' from Bungie. I'd say that's pretty concerning
@RBMango except that Fairgame$ apparently did get Bungie's approval lmao. Sony has a top tier brand image, known for delivering the highest quality single player experience, and is quickly wasting that to turn into a Ubisoft-type money milking machine. Really sad to see honestly.
Imagine that this got 'scaled down' (will get cancelled obviously) and Fairgame$ got greenlit lmao. Hermen Hulst needs to go. Between all the remakes, the cross-gen, the lack of original IP, the failure of Deviation, likely failure of Fairgame$, and most importantly having Sony's best studio waste 4 years on remakes and a failed multiplayer project, it's pretty obvious he is mismanaging PlayStation first party studios
@NEStalgia Agreed. Playstation's current commercial and financial success is just riding the wave of the PS4 era. The PS5 era has basically given us 3 things: 1) Remasters & remakes (Demon's Souls, TLOU1, Uncharted LOT) 2) Sequels that were good games but didn't do anything new compared to its predecessor (HFW, GOWR, and probably SM2) 3) Cross-gen
And to top it off we're given a *****-ton of live-service crap. It's not just Jim Ryan though, it's about time Hermen Hulst starts proving himself too. We are starting to see the results of his policies and decisions and between Deviation and Haven it's not looking very good
I don't really mind a couple of live service games if it doesn't go at the expense of good single player experiences.
What I do mind is what was shown to us on Wednesday. It should be pretty obvious that PS fans want something like SOCOM, Resistance or Killzone when it comes to FPS. In other words, games with either a realistic/grounded or gritty setting. Yet what we're getting is a futuristic/sci-fi theme mixed with a colourful/cartoony Overwatch-inspired aesthetic topped up with some cringe anti-capitalist dialogue. I feel like I've seen this type of game ten times already and I didn't like it even the first time
@Americansamurai1 yup Hermen Hulst definitely needs to be scrutinised more. Deviation was his pick, turned out to be a failure. It's very early but given the horrible teaser and reaction to it Haven doesn't seem to be a great pick either. Whether the 3.6bn for Bungie was justified remains to be seen but I'm doubtful.
Comments 35
Re: Sony's New First-Party Studio Working on Lighthearted Team-Based Action Game for PS5
@LogicStrikesAgain yeah I agree with most of what you say. I think most fans’ frustration is borne out of the fact that it’s not only a diversion in type of game (single player vs live service) but also in style: the more grounded, gritty or realistic games of the PS4 gen (GOW 2018, Ghost of Tsushima, Days Gone, Uncharted 4, TLOU2) vs the overly colourful and cartoony style of the live service games (Concord, Fairgame$, Marathon, Gummy Bears). That’s why I’ve always thought that Factions not releasing was a massive blunder because it would have been an ideal way to ‘ease’ Sony’s single player audience into a live service title after which they’d perhaps be more open to try out other live service stuff
Re: Sony's New First-Party Studio Working on Lighthearted Team-Based Action Game for PS5
@LogicStrikesAgain there is definitely a double standard when it comes to Sony and live service games vs. other companies. But that's only logical: over the years Sony has cultivated an audience that wants single player games with a good narrative. That is what they've always done in the past, that is what they've shown to be extremely good at, and that is why they've drawn the type of customers to their ecosystem that expects these kinds of experiences from them. When they're getting something else (live service), of course there's going to be more disappointment than a Tencent announcing a Gacha game because that is what is expected from them.
In short, Sony has set the standard for their games themselves and it's only normal their fans are expecting them to adhere to it
Re: Reaction: Sony's Live Service Push Has Been a Disaster of Utterly Insane Proportions
Hermen is a disaster, he has to go. Almost everything he touches turns to *****. He is on the record for having played Concord for years before release and wanted to buy the studio based off of that game. He was heavily involved in the Bungie acquisition too. Fairgame$ is his baby too, and if the initial reaction is any indication of the success of that game, like it was for Concord, it's going to be a major flop. It's supposedly releasing this year, and there is zero hype. Lego Horizon is another astronomical failure in terms of sales, yet Hermen keeps pushing his own franchise onto us as if he created the next Harry Potter. Also, literally every interview he does is full of the most empty generic corporate word salad, I have never even seen a glimpse of a vision towards gaming and the future of PlayStation from him.
Yes, the PS5 is a major success, but it is mostly carried by work from the people who built up the brand and the studios before him. He is destroying PlayStation from within and it'll always take a few years before mismanagement like this is reflected in actual results. What we're seeing now is the beginning of that. Get him out, before it's too late
Re: PS5, PC FPS Concord's Poor Player Numbers Have Predictably Gone Viral
@UltimateOtaku91 Fairgame$ and Concord suffer from the same symptom: cringy, wannabe marvel dialogue that was outdated years ago, an overly colourful setting for which the market is saturated and very poor character design. I think if Sony would have made a gritty, mature live service shooter that’s badass instead of ‘quirky’ it would have fared a lot better
Re: Poll: Are You Playing Concord?
When are people going to start asking questions about Hermen Hulst?
Why is this guy not facing any scrutiny yet?
Re: Preview: Elden Ring Promises a DLC Masterclass in Shadow of the Erdtree
Absolutely can’t wait for this. Almost finished my low-level challenge run, I’m ready to go!
Re: Big New PS5, PC Shooter Concord Has an Uphill Battle Ahead of It
@PuppetMaster I think you replied to the wrong person, I assume you are replying to me.
Yeah I understand that you weren’t talking about me specifically I was just trying to make the point that people complaining about shooters being too gritty/realistic is not the entire gaming community and that there are (quite a lot of) people who enjoyed that too.
Personally, I am of the opinion that most of the people who choose PS a as a platform have done so because they like more ‘mature’ (and often realistic) experiences like TLOU, Uncharted, GOW, GoT, DS etc. I am one of those people, and I really expected that when PlayStation made the push into live service it would be a smaller step for their playerbase to have live service games fall into that segment as well. That’s why I think Factions not releasing is such a gigantic miss. Simultaneously, I very much understand that Overwatch, Fortnite etc are absolute cash cows and Sony wants some of that money too. But I would have preferred a little more balance I guess, and looking at the like/dislike ratio on YouTube for Concord/Fairgames I think many people have the same feeling. Sony needs to make sure they don’t alienate their original fanbase with this live service effort.
Those dead franchises you mention are exactly the ones I’d have liked to see revived but yeah maybe the demand is not there.
Re: Big New PS5, PC Shooter Concord Has an Uphill Battle Ahead of It
@PuppetMaster I know I can play those games. But most of them are mediocre - that's why I want those games from Sony, because Sony has a high quality standard.
Your second point would have been valid if it was me complaining about gritty experiences at that time. But I wasn't, I liked those games.
Re: Big New PS5, PC Shooter Concord Has an Uphill Battle Ahead of It
What annoys me about Concord, and Fairgames too for that matter, is that every shooter nowadays seems to go for this colourful/cartoons aesthetic, accompanied with 'funny' characters with a lot of Marvel/Disney inspired 'quirky' Gen-Z dialogue. Surely there are people who like that, but I'm not one of them.
Where are the gritty, grounded, realistic experiences? Is there really no audience for that anymore?
Re: Reaction: PS5 Livestreams Are No Longer Speaking to the Fans Who Built the Brand
Couldn’t agree more with the article. It’s not about specifically this state of play, it’s just that ever since the PS5 released I can’t remember even one Showcase or SoP which made me really hyped. I really do enjoy my PS5, it’s a great piece of hardware, but all I play on it are 3rd party titles or (remasters of) PS4 games. For the first time since owning a PlayStation I’m starting to feel I’m just not part of the audience they want to target anymore
Re: State of Play Livestream Revealed for Thursday, a Focus on Indie and Third-Party Games
It is very obvious that Playstation 1st party is in a bad state right now and anyone denying it is just unwilling to accept the truth.
Seriously guys, we need to question leadership more because this is slowly turning into a lost generation.
Re: PS5 Sales Surge a Frankly Flabbergasting 244% in Europe
@zekepliskin you are definitely right.
All I see nowadays on PS sites and the PS5 reddit is PS owners raving about the fantastic sales of the PS5. Have we all become Sony stockholders or something? Why is it so incredibly important to people how well their console is selling? Is it giving them some validation that they made the right purchase? It boggles my mind.
The PS5's success is due to one thing and that is the reputation and the brand strength Playstation has built up in previous generations, most notably the PS4 generation.
When it comes to games thus far in this generation, it is hard to not be disappointed. We are three years into this gen and all we've had are remakes and iterative sequels. Currently, of the top 15 highest rated PS5 games on Metacritic, only one (!) is a Sony first party game. For a company that markets itself as delivering the highest quality single player experiences from its first party studios, that is absolutely shameful. If the latest Showcase, which was an absolute disaster, is anything to go by, that is not going to change anytime soon either. Yet all I read on PS5 sites and PS5 reddit and PS5 Twitter is people high fiving each other about the PS5 sales. We need to hold Sony to a higher standard and start asking questions about the leadership of Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Pre-Orders Skyrocket on PS5 Following PC Launch
@KaijuKaiser we can argue endlessly about semantics - such as that the creativity and optionality that TOTK provides is on a completely different level than Fortnite, which is btw a completely different type of game, or that BG3 offers choices on a completely different level than anything that has ever been done before, but I still stand behind my point: these games push the industry forward, whether you’ll call it an evolution or a revolution is up to you, and that is a big contrast with all the ‘1.5 sequels’ that Sony has been putting out as of late
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Pre-Orders Skyrocket on PS5 Following PC Launch
@saffeqwe
If you don't think any of these games are innovative, I don't know what to tell you
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Pre-Orders Skyrocket on PS5 Following PC Launch
Elden Ring. TOTK. Now Baldur's Gate 3.
It's being proven time and again that when you try do something NEW, when you try to actually INNOVATE, when you take RISK, and provide players with an experience that they have not been able to get in any other game before, that the game will turn out to be a massive success and get univeral praise from players.
I hope Sony takes notes.
Re: Reaction: What Happens to PlayStation if Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard?
@Tlotoxl why though. that doesn't make any sense. You are not getting it 'for free' you're paying a monthly subscription fee. which is a lot more expensive than just buying COD if that's the only game you play
Re: Reaction: What Happens to PlayStation if Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard?
@Sil_Am that is correct but Nintendo actually innovates, both with their games and with their platforms. I’d love to see a new GoW and TLOU but what I wouldn’t like to see is a sequel that barely changed anything compared to its predecessor, which is what GOWR and HFW (and likely SM2 too) are
Re: Reaction: What Happens to PlayStation if Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard?
@Cjam36 couldn’t have said it better. The current threats for PlayStation’s future are internal. This leadership is trying to turn PlayStation into a money milking machine and its apparent from everything: its GaaS push, its focus on milking existing IPs through sequels and remakes, its excessive handholding in their recent major games, etc.
Re: Reaction: What Happens to PlayStation if Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard?
I don’t think we have to be extremely worried about this. What we should worry about however, is the direction current leadership is taking PlayStation in and the current state of first party studios.
Re: Reaction: Solid Xbox Showcase Should Give Sony Some Incentive to Stop Being So Damn Cloak and Daggers About PS5, PS4
@CKFilms yeah you're right. but if it releases in a good state it could very well be the game of the gen imo. So many systems, so much depth. Sony unfortunately doesn't own a studio that is able to produce something like this
Re: Reaction: Solid Xbox Showcase Should Give Sony Some Incentive to Stop Being So Damn Cloak and Daggers About PS5, PS4
@CKFilms yeah except that - in my opinion - that Xbox exclusive game is extremely ambitious and looked like it might define the generation whereas the PlayStation exclusive game looked like it’s predecessor with a few tweaks and upgrades
Re: Reaction: Solid Xbox Showcase Should Give Sony Some Incentive to Stop Being So Damn Cloak and Daggers About PS5, PS4
@SV22 uhm well I don’t know how much games you play but Xbox game pass is not for free?
Re: Reaction: Solid Xbox Showcase Should Give Sony Some Incentive to Stop Being So Damn Cloak and Daggers About PS5, PS4
@PsBoxSwitchOwner who cares about sales. SM2 may sell 50 million copies, if it's not a great game I'm not interested. Starfield looks like it will actually be something truly next gen, I have not seen that same energy from Sony
Re: Reaction: Solid Xbox Showcase Should Give Sony Some Incentive to Stop Being So Damn Cloak and Daggers About PS5, PS4
@Sil_Am it kinda has to. They see their 2 main competitors putting out games that are pushing the boundaries / elevating the industry, while Sony is still busy with remakes, cross-gen and sequels that don't do anything new compared to their predecessor. Sony is becoming a money milking machine
Re: Reaction: Solid Xbox Showcase Should Give Sony Some Incentive to Stop Being So Damn Cloak and Daggers About PS5, PS4
I think I'm gonna have to buy a Series X for Starfield.
I was quite impressed by how ambitious that game seems to be, the amount of systems, options, worlds etc. is mind-boggling. It has character building and upgrading, spaceship building and upgrading, base building and upgrading, normal combat, space combat, docking, etc. etc. Like they just kept on going showing stuff you can do.
Obviously we all need to await how everything fits together and if it actually plays well but this game seems to be willing to push the envelope, to elevate the industry to new heights, just as Nintendo did with TOTK. Games that invent new systems, allow players to be truly creative, etc.
And what do we get? A lot of remakes, cross-gen and sequels that barely change from their predecessor (HFW, GOWR, and likely SM2). Sony seems to be the only one who are just milking their franchises and 'playing it safe' rather than trying to push the industry to new levels. The whole GaaS push is obviously a money-milking effort too. I think the direction Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst are taking Sony into is quite concerning
Re: Sony Significantly Scales Back Development of The Last of Us Multiplayer for PS5, Says Report
@KaijuKaiser ND would never make a Redfall we both know that. I think it got delayed (and likely cancelled) for the wrong reasons: not because of lack of quality, but because it doesn't keep players engaged long enough.
Re: Sony Significantly Scales Back Development of The Last of Us Multiplayer for PS5, Says Report
@KaijuKaiser no and it's good that they cancel stuff they don't like. But when a project from (IMO) Sony's best and most valuable studio, who I think never in their history made a bad game, gets cancelled because it didn't get the "Bungie approval", and the (IMO) garbage looking cringefest that is Fairgame$ DOES get the green light I think that's concerning
Re: Sony Significantly Scales Back Development of The Last of Us Multiplayer for PS5, Says Report
@AdamNovice that's true but he is responsible for Sony's studios. Games from Naughty Dog are instrumental for the success of a PS generation and that studio just wasted 4 years on remakes and a failed multiplayer project. The guy who is the head of PS studios is responsible for that.
Re: Sony Significantly Scales Back Development of The Last of Us Multiplayer for PS5, Says Report
@KaijuKaiser they're cancelling a game from Sony's best studio & one of their most beloved IPs because it's not addictive enough. Meanwhile they're happy to release some generic Ubisoft-type Overwatch wannabe like Fairgame$ which apparently passed the 'addictivity approval' from Bungie. I'd say that's pretty concerning
Re: Sony Significantly Scales Back Development of The Last of Us Multiplayer for PS5, Says Report
@RBMango except that Fairgame$ apparently did get Bungie's approval lmao. Sony has a top tier brand image, known for delivering the highest quality single player experience, and is quickly wasting that to turn into a Ubisoft-type money milking machine. Really sad to see honestly.
Re: Sony Significantly Scales Back Development of The Last of Us Multiplayer for PS5, Says Report
Imagine that this got 'scaled down' (will get cancelled obviously) and Fairgame$ got greenlit lmao. Hermen Hulst needs to go. Between all the remakes, the cross-gen, the lack of original IP, the failure of Deviation, likely failure of Fairgame$, and most importantly having Sony's best studio waste 4 years on remakes and a failed multiplayer project, it's pretty obvious he is mismanaging PlayStation first party studios
Re: PS5's Remote Play Portable Will Allegedly Launch in November
I will buy it, I will love it and I think I deserve it
Re: Fairgame$ May Be Sony's Most Tone Deaf PS5, PC Title to Date
@NEStalgia Agreed. Playstation's current commercial and financial success is just riding the wave of the PS4 era. The PS5 era has basically given us 3 things:
1) Remasters & remakes (Demon's Souls, TLOU1, Uncharted LOT)
2) Sequels that were good games but didn't do anything new compared to its predecessor (HFW, GOWR, and probably SM2)
3) Cross-gen
And to top it off we're given a *****-ton of live-service crap. It's not just Jim Ryan though, it's about time Hermen Hulst starts proving himself too. We are starting to see the results of his policies and decisions and between Deviation and Haven it's not looking very good
Re: Reaction: Sony's PS5, PC Live Service Strategy Won't Work If It's All Samey Shooters
I don't really mind a couple of live service games if it doesn't go at the expense of good single player experiences.
What I do mind is what was shown to us on Wednesday. It should be pretty obvious that PS fans want something like SOCOM, Resistance or Killzone when it comes to FPS. In other words, games with either a realistic/grounded or gritty setting. Yet what we're getting is a futuristic/sci-fi theme mixed with a colourful/cartoony Overwatch-inspired aesthetic topped up with some cringe anti-capitalist dialogue. I feel like I've seen this type of game ten times already and I didn't like it even the first time
Re: Reaction: Sony's PS5, PC Live Service Strategy Won't Work If It's All Samey Shooters
@Americansamurai1 yup Hermen Hulst definitely needs to be scrutinised more. Deviation was his pick, turned out to be a failure. It's very early but given the horrible teaser and reaction to it Haven doesn't seem to be a great pick either. Whether the 3.6bn for Bungie was justified remains to be seen but I'm doubtful.