@trev666 I think far more likely than cross-gen it will release exclusively on PS5 initially and then they will sell a remastered version on PS6 just as they did for TLOU and TLOU2
@Rich33 hard disagree. Sony shouldn’t mandate what devs do like this. If developers want to spend their whole frame budget making a game look stunning at 30fps that’s their creative choice.
The VAST majority don’t and have a 60fps mode, but we shouldn’t remove creative choices.
PS5 was a worthwhile upgrade from day 1. The SSD is such a revelation, can’t go back. And as it plays all but a handful of PS4 games better there’s little reason not to upgrade if you can afford it.
Someone mentioned there are still some 30fps games on PS5… yes that’s technically true but it’s a handful of games amongst over a thousand. The VAST majority have a 60fps option, better graphics, faster load times and more.
@Flaming_Kaiser point me to a live service that isn’t time consuming? Sadly it comes with the territory. But compared to similar gacha games this is much better.
Whether it’s a waste of time is subjective. You could argue the same about all games, especially endless games (multiplayer, sports, Minecraft etc) if you wanted to.
I honestly never got past the intro at a friends house so don't know what the whole game is like, but it left an AWFUL first impression.
Why?
There is an amazing, for the time, opening CGI cut scene that involves Vincent bouncing around the screen, back flipping while taking out a helicopter, he is shown to be one of the most agile characters and a great marksman. That's the promise given.
But then the gameplay starts and you have some of the jankiest and worst feeling gunplay i've played. After that this super-agile backflipping character has to press X to climb a ladder slower than a granny. Why not just jump up the ladder, or slide up it effortlessly like we saw a minute ago? The enemy AI is also clueless. All in all it just felt awful and the contrast between cinematics and gameplay was some of the worst ever. Maybe it was good after that, but I didn't want to know.
@Rich33 You can have a game "ready for launch", but it just isn't very good, something just isn't clicking.
Sands of Time is a rightly beloved classic and I think if they were going to release it then it needed to be great, not GTA Remaster Trilogy levels of mid to bad, a butchering a classic. Although a part of me also just wonders how good/bad it was of course and I'm sure many would have enjoyed it regardless.
Morbid curiosity combined with the fact we were told it was about to release by leaker Tom Henderson means we want answers. We feel blue balled.
But in reality when do we EVER hear more than this about a cancellation. Sadly as @Titntin just stated as I was typing (thanks for the timely assist. lol) this is normal.
@Stragen8 Yes, their cut is higher on Digital, and they cut out the second hand market. Plus retailers usually fight over who offers the lowest price on big games, so it's a stealth price increase for physical gamers.
@Americansamurai1 A lot of people said the PS5 was entering a dead market and here it is selling like hotcakes practically keeping up with the PS4 despite the higher cost and 2 years of supply constraint. While people may not want a new console NOW, after just 5 years, they may do in 2+ years (most don't buy Day/Year 1).
@Rich33 POTENTIALLY yes... but unlikely I feel. If they have that much headroom in the first place why wasn't the chip clocked faster to begin with. They usually have some tolerance to cover for difference in chips - much like you can overclock CPUs or GPUs to a different extent depending on the lottery of which you get. Some you can overclock more than others. But as a retail product you can't do this.
@Americansamurai1 @Dan12836666 On paper I agree with you and I can understand why some might want the console delayed.
But it's not quite that simple. Sony and AMD have already spent billions developing the next console chip, it isn't likely to be redesigned, so every year they delay it the technology gets older and relatively less performant for the time. If they release 2-3 years later by the end of next gen we will be gaming on decade old tech.
That all said... as a PS5 Pro owner I'm more than happy to wait a little while, only further improves the investment.
I'm not surprised, it's not a very strong IP, it doesn't have a clear focus other than a pretty rote anti-establishment, anti-big-tech base. Nothing particularly stands out, there aren't many specific characters or settings that are particularly memorable. The gameplay could be in any of their games, it doesn't really matter.
It's a shame as the promise of that original bull-shot trailer was strong, but it never fully delivered on that vision.
Wuthering Waves has been consistently good. One thing I really like about it is it's not THAT time consuming compared to some of the worst offenders (it's still a time sink). E.g. the latest main story quest just took a few hours. Skippable text in meaningless side content - stop yapping and just let me play - is also a boon.
The reality is since they bought Zenimax and ABK they have outgrown exclusives, they simply can't support all those studios anymore, and make a decent profit, on just Xbox and PC users.
Seemingly they were hoping that people would flock to Xbox and Game Pass because of these deals but that just hasn't happened, therefore they are making the best of their situation and going multi-platform. It's the most sensible choice in their position.
This was one I never finished. I was fighting a boss (I think on a plane) that I THOUGHT was the end boss, but there was some gimmick to killing him I had missed so I unloaded all my best ammo into him, wasting it all, and then he turned out not to be the final boss and I was in some creepy place with spider like things with no decent ammo on my one save. (This was in the days were memory cards were expensive, to me anyway, and slots in short supply!)
Great game. But I remember one or two of these being a bit of a chore, especially going round the city looking for random encounters which were only ever one of a handful of different scenarios. There's only so often stopping a truck with a QTE in the exact same way is still fun, especially if you have to do it multiple times at the end.
They mostly fixed this in the sequel which remained fun to the last.
Or, perhaps, it speaks to Sony wanting to push digital because it benefits them a lot more.
FWIW I support a separate disc drive, but I HOPE they will also sell a model with the drive included, even if you have to install it yourself from a separate box, to prevent scalping and stock issues like there was with the PS5 drive. That was a major issue for consumers.
I am looking at the numbers and stores carrying less and less copies cause they don’t sell like they used to.
While physical sales ARE down, they aren't as down as many think. E.g. At the start of the generation Q4 2020, the digital ratio was 79% digital / 21% physical. In the last report Q2 FY2025 it was 72% digital / 28% physical (page 12). Yes this changes drastically quarter to quarter, so comparing individual quarters isn't that helpful, but looking wider it isn't actually changing all that quickly overall. e.g. The non-scientific (we have incomplete data) average of each quarter since the PS5 launched is 70% / 30%. The point is physical is still much bigger than people think, yes still smaller than it used to be, but not by much on PlayStation.
I agree RETAIL stores are shrinking their Physical stock but this is more of a sign that they aren't selling well at retail, because they are overpriced versus the competition like Amazon, (+ Smyths & Currys in the UK). Why would I go to Game and pay full £70 RRP when i could get it for £55 on one of the online stores AND have it delivered to my door? No we won't see lines around the corner but that's in part because retail specifically SUCKS for buying games so of course it's not selling there, plus there's other choices, like digital.
I don't see this as "holier than thou" just a logical, well reasoned and impassioned plea for people not to simply think physical is dead already, when it isn't.
But as we see in the numbers digital sales continue to grow as physical continues to shrink.
@HonestHick This is true... but they also obfuscate the numbers making it APPEAR that physical is much smaller than it actually is. E.g. Daniel Ahmad stated the sales data showed 24% of all unit sales in FY2024 were physical, that despite the fact many games ONLY launch digitally, despite many PS5s only being digital.
The Insomniac leak showed us between 2020 and 2022 65% of Sony First party sales were physical (including games like Death Stranding they consider first party) only 35% digital. It appears for expensive AAA games more people bought physical. I'm sure that number is lower now, but the point is physical isn't the small struggling thing Sony in particular like to paint it as. It's in Sony's best interests to make everyone think this and switch to digital as they make more money and, crucially, have more control over pricing / sales. I prefer competition and CHOICE.
Go into any retail shop and you see less and less physical media it’s in games section outside of Nintendo.
I suppose this varies country to country, region to region and person to person... but do many people ACTUALLY buy physical games at retail where deals are in my experience usually REALLY bad or do they buy online via Amazon etc.? This is more a sign of RETAIL being really weak, not necessarily physical games.
GameStop is, and always has been, a joke.
TLDR: I guess my key point is physical is still bigger than these companies want us to think they are. I am not saying physical isn't shrinking, it absolutely is, but not as much as they try and show. They hide the fair metrics and show things like digital vs physical REVENUE where 100% of the digital game's sale is included as it's on THEIR store (before they share 70% of the money on 3rd party games), but only include their share of a physical sale (which is at another retail store), which on third party games might only be a small percentage. It's not a fair comparison. e.g. 100% of one compared to just 10% - 15% of the other, not a fair fight. They are deliberately misleading us. Don't believe them.
P.S. Of course if you prefer Digital that's cool, fwiw I buy far more games digitally in sales, but CHOICE and competition is good.
@Shwing To answer your question why can't they do whatever they want on their own ecosystem is a little harder. But in short it's because they are too powerful and it's virtually impossible for other companies to compete, it's not a fair market, so SOMEONE had to keep them honest. That's where anti-trust and other legislation comes in.
To give an overly simple example in a fair market if I was selling lemonade for £5 but the kid next door was selling it for £2.50 he would likely sell a lot more and, as long as he's still profitable, would probably have the more successful business. In order to compete I might have to bring my prices down (Again it's more complicated, I might sell "PREMIUM 100% from lemons lemonade" to distinguish my product, but lets not overcomplicate it with marketing!!!). In short competition is good and keeps companies more honest, ultimately it's usually good for the consumer.
But with these giant corporations it ISN'T a fair market. For starters it is prohibitively expensive to try and compete. Lets look at Steam v Epic Store. Epic has had to spend BILLIONS just to TRY and build a store to compete with Steam. Rather than charging Steam's 30% to developers they were willing to charge 12% (and 0% in some cases initially) in order to try and entice publishers. On the other side in order to entice gamers to use the new store they have given out thousands of pounds of FREE games to every gamer, no subscription necessary. Despite all this they can't really get a decent foothold in that market. The reality is people are entrenched in the Steam ecosysystem, it doesn't really allow for fair competition.
Again it's more complicated than this, I am simplifying, there are many reasons why people prefer Steam to Epic, but it gives a good idea how virtually impossible it is to create competition and a fair market.
As a result of the Epic Store, and governments circling, Steam has lowered their rates to a tiered system between 20% and 30%. Not the best, but better. Competition is good for the consumer and smaller businesses selling on these store.
While it's difficult to take sides in one massive multinational corporation versus another massive multinational corporation in the case of Apple v Epic, or Steam v Epic - not least it's not like Epic is being entirely altruistic, they set to gain themselves - there's no doubt in my mind that consumers AND small businesses would be better off if some of these changes happened. While it absolutely isn't David vs Goliath, there would be benefits for the little guys too if Epic won.
I hope that helps a little, it turned into a dissertation! But as I said it's a massive and complex topic that I barely scratched the surface of. There's so many layers of nuance. Good luck!
@Shwing As I said it's complicated, and I don't really want to spend too long writing a dissertation. Also FYI I might have a few things a little wrong, this isn't my area of expertise, but it's a loose primer.
But in theory YES games could be cheaper. Lets say Sony historically only ever charged a 15% fee for games, would they be $70 as they are now or still be $60? Would it take longer for them to be $80?
The more clear and obvious example is microtransactions and the case that bought a lot of this to the public's attention, Apple v Epic. At the time Epic was pissed off because for every vbuck (Fortnite currency) they were selling on Apple iOS devices they were being charged a 30% fee. That meant they had to charge more to make the same money to pay their artists, dev costs, brand deals for skins etc... and yes make a profit. Consumers were largely paying for it (though it's more complicated than that). So Epic decided to sell these cheaper directly via their own store - 1,000 vbucks for $7.99 not $9.99 on iOS, that's a direct 20% saving for consumers IF Apple didn't have a monopoly on all sales on iOS. Apple immediately blocked Fortnite (losing Epic billions in future sales) as this was against Apple's Terms of Service.
But it's not just about consumers, it's also about protecting other businesses from these multi-national giants. If I made an app on the web and had a $10 a month subscription fee, to make the same money on iOS I would have to sell it for $13 to make the same profit which I probably won't do because we have priced according to what people will pay, instead the business will probably have to swallow much of that cost. The same goes for some stores on the app store. Have you ever wondered why you couldn't for years buy an Audible book directly from the app? It's because Apple wanted a cut of every sale. They allow SOME specific apps not to charge, or perhaps there is a much smaller fee, but imagine if every Amazon purchase through the iOS Amazon app Apple took 30%. They have too much power.
As a result of Epic v Apple and governmental pressure Apple have had to lower their rates and are MEANT to be allowing external stores, but they are dragging their heels. It's still in court or being discussed in many countries legal systems, change is very slow and in the meantime Apple and Co. will stall as long as possible and do the bare minimum without stronger legislation because they continue to grow fat and rich off it, making it even harder to compete.
@UltimateOtaku91 In theory yes they could be cheaper. But In reality almost certainly not In many cases. It would likely just be used as a stealth price increase. But we might see some cheaper prices and lower sales.
But considering developers are the ones being shuttered left right and centre, that one failure can now lead to studio closure because margins are so small is that such a bad thing if studios take a larger cut for their works and less goes to multinational platform holders?
@Shwing It's very complicated and not immediately obvious (that's how they get away with it), but in short anti-trust law. Anti-consumer practises that mean WE consumers end up paying more.
Because of the size and power of these multi-national companies it effectively makes it impossible for anyone else to get a foothold in an entrenched market where they do everything they can to stifle new competition or changes to the status quo. It's not a fair market.
Antitrust law aims to protect us from this, protect us from them charging whatever they want and taking the piss. But big-business still has too much power imo. There's meant to be legal protections in place to stop this happening too much, to prevent monopolies, and when there are two, or more, giants ruling a segment of the market to stop them colluding to artificially keep prices high, rather than actually competing with each other to benefit consumers. E.g. Visa / Mastercard, iOS / Android. But in reality these businesses have too much power and often DO take the piss.
@UltimateOtaku91 Nintendo make most of their money from their own games on their own store, so it wouldn't affect them as much.
Valve already has a tiered rate of between 20% - 30% depending on how much a game sells, so they are partly getting ahead of this. Additionally Gabe Newell runs Steam like a benevolent dictatorship and has frequently advocated pro-consumer rights (which a reduction of store tariffs can be seen as), so who knows, he might even support this. Either way in the console space this would affect Sony most.
Governments have already been addressing it for mobile phone app stores e.g. in the UK the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) stated that Apple have been abusing their dominant position by overcharging (up to 30%) on App Store purchases between 2015 and 2024 and that this should be no more than 17.5% for app sales and 10% on in app purchases.
While it will take time, gaming could well be next. And Sony dropping to 17.5% for sales and especially 10% for MTX, where the largest chunk of their revenue, and even larger chunk of their PROFIT comes from would significantly upset their golden goose. That's all potentially years away, but it is something to keep an eye on.
@UltimateOtaku91 The thing I would say is IF government's decide to crack down on console gaming store's 30% cut then PlayStation will see their revenue and profits slashed massively overnight as they make the vast majority of their money from 3rd party games and MTX on their platforms.
Whereas Microsoft now make most of their money as a publisher would only see their revenue's and profits increase through making more on everyone else's stores.
To be clear I am not saying I want that to happen, but it does show how finely balanced these things are, and one major governmental decision could quickly change these companies outlooks. It's even possible Microsoft might start lobbying in the USA to try and get ahead of this.
Been very happy with PS5 Pro and the value has only increased as other costs have gone up.
49% of PS5 hardware sales in 2025 did not include a physical media drive.
This doesn't tell tell the whole story as you can still add a drive later. The PS5 Pro doesn't even have an out of the box disc drive model, so they are all marked as digital sales, even if you wanted a physical one.
So in fact at least 51% DID have a drive + an unspecified percentage would have bought them later. So physical PS5 sales are still well over half the market. Good to see.
Impressive, especially since it was a cheaper AAA game.
@PuppetMaster I'd hope this might shut up the "go woke, go broke" chuds who keep insisting it failed... but I wouldn't count on it. Sadly they only listen to voices within their little echo chamber.
I only got mine end of last year but I've been super impressed. 99% of the time I forget I am streaming either locally from PS5 or via the cloud, but every now and again it breaks up a little and I am reminded, only to be impressed with how convincing it is as a a native device.
Obviously your mileage will vary based on your internet infrastructure, but it even worked at my old man's and he has pretty slow standard BT broadband, it broke up a little more often, but was still playable.
As someone who used to build e-commerce sites and payment platforms, bugs like this gave me sleepless nights. While I feel sorry for the players, they will get a refund, I don't even want to consider what the poor sods who are responsible are going through, likely getting dumped on from on high, while knowing their job is likely gone. Stuff of nightmares.
@Questionable_Duck This is true. Although a part of the reason 3DS didn't sell as well was because Nintendo didn't stop making DS's until 2020, 3 years after the Switch released! In fact it was the same year they stop making the 3DS too. They were eating their own tail with the DS/3DS.
Another thing that held the 3DS back is there were concerns that the 3D effect could be harmful to eyes, especially children's, and that stopped adoption in their target market. I believe this was unfounded, or at least never proven, but it didn't stop it making mainline news all over the world and harming that console's sales. It's what led them to Nintendo scrambling and eventually releasing the 2DS a few years later, removing the key selling point of the console.
But I disagree "Nintendo lost a lot of players" due to the 3DS, the historic data i've seen doesn't really show that, it's just that many they were playing on DS not 3DS (similar to Sony with PS4) and it's a key reason DS sold 154 million units. Wii U is a different story.
But it was a masterstroke to combine the handheld and tv with the Switch, that combined with how hungry people were for a decent Nintendo console - many having skipped both 3DS and Wii U - meant it sold like a rocket out the game. Great for Nintendo and gamers.
@tselliot yes a few people have had thousands of dollars / pounds taken from their accounts, yes they will get a refund, but can you imagine!, absolute disaster for the developer and for the specific devs in charge of that element. They removed PayPal as a payment method within hours, but feel the damage was done. Shocker.
As for kicking the habit, I think they are designed cynically to appeal to certain players who will find it hard to quit them, I’m one of those it seems. But I agree getting engrossed in another good game is the best way to quit the daily habit. And cold turkey, delete the games from all devices. It’s a mental addiction at the end of the day.
@graymamba It's precisely because i've played so many of these games and realise how much of a time sink they are that I am not dipping in this time. No matter how good it looks. Last year I played less than half as many games as previous years, despite actually putting in more hours, purely down to gacha games.
I am not saying the game is bad, it's probably really great in places, but there is a real opportunity cost in playing them. If people KNEW going in that it might take 1000+ hours of their lives they might go in with more caution. Since I've ditched 2 of these games in the last 3 months i've played many more games including several GOTY candidates on my backlog, that is a better use of my time. ymmv
TLDR: If I wasn't playing any other live service games I might consider it... but probably not as they are cynically designed to keep you addicted and playing. Quitting, once entrenched, was harder than tobacco imo. (See what @Titntin said)
EDIT: Also there's been a Day 1 bug where it's clearing out some people's PayPal accounts. Probably the worst day 1 disaster i've seen in one of these games.
Frankly I think they have spent a lot of money on studios in places like Singapore, Pune, Chenai that have not produced games, or good games. Their aim to get lower cost development seems to have backfired and they are paying more in the long run, they were better used as support studios. Buy cheap, buy twice.
@Oram77 Personally I disagree, there was almost nothing they could have said that would stop the dogpiling, sometimes the best thing you can do is stay silent. Get the game into people's hands, whether a full release or a beta, and then let the game do the talking, that's the only thing that will shut most of the toxic online chatter up.
@Old-Red that’s not really true at all. You don’t have to dodge or parry every attack to beat bosses first try.
If you are struggling the first time you watch their attack, try and DODGE (not parry) the attack so that you can start to learn the timing, you’ll probably get hit a few times. Once you are comfortable dodging an attack you can start trying to parry that attacks. Usually I found each boss has 3-4 attacks and 2-3 I could learn to parry quickly but 1-2 were harder and I would keep dodging instead. It’s about picking your moments to do each, using the tools at your disposal effectively.
It is an achievement reflective of how beloved the game is by so many. Though as you said there are more GOTY awards than ever. I could spin up a free website with a domain in less than an hour and make my own list count if I wanted.
@trev666 Agreed. Except I haven't played Double Exposure which seemed like unnecessary fan service, as does this. I probably won't play this either tbh, LiS ended perfectly.
Comments 7,783
Re: 'These Guys Are Top of the Line': Actor Tony Dalton Talks Up Naughty Dog and Intergalactic
@trev666 I think far more likely than cross-gen it will release exclusively on PS5 initially and then they will sell a remastered version on PS6 just as they did for TLOU and TLOU2
Re: Sony's Sending Messages to PS4 Players Encouraging Them to Upgrade to PS5
@Rich33 hard disagree. Sony shouldn’t mandate what devs do like this. If developers want to spend their whole frame budget making a game look stunning at 30fps that’s their creative choice.
The VAST majority don’t and have a 60fps mode, but we shouldn’t remove creative choices.
Re: Sony's Sending Messages to PS4 Players Encouraging Them to Upgrade to PS5
PS5 was a worthwhile upgrade from day 1. The SSD is such a revelation, can’t go back. And as it plays all but a handful of PS4 games better there’s little reason not to upgrade if you can afford it.
Someone mentioned there are still some 30fps games on PS5… yes that’s technically true but it’s a handful of games amongst over a thousand. The VAST majority have a 60fps option, better graphics, faster load times and more.
Re: In a Sea of PS5 Gacha Games, Wuthering Waves Brings Another Big Update Next Month
@Flaming_Kaiser point me to a live service that isn’t time consuming? Sadly it comes with the territory. But compared to similar gacha games this is much better.
Whether it’s a waste of time is subjective. You could argue the same about all games, especially endless games (multiplayer, sports, Minecraft etc) if you wanted to.
Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
Re: Arguably the Worst Final Fantasy Game on PlayStation Turns 20 Years Old
I honestly never got past the intro at a friends house so don't know what the whole game is like, but it left an AWFUL first impression.
Why?
There is an amazing, for the time, opening CGI cut scene that involves Vincent bouncing around the screen, back flipping while taking out a helicopter, he is shown to be one of the most agile characters and a great marksman. That's the promise given.
But then the gameplay starts and you have some of the jankiest and worst feeling gunplay i've played. After that this super-agile backflipping character has to press X to climb a ladder slower than a granny. Why not just jump up the ladder, or slide up it effortlessly like we saw a minute ago? The enemy AI is also clueless. All in all it just felt awful and the contrast between cinematics and gameplay was some of the worst ever. Maybe it was good after that, but I didn't want to know.
Re: 'Everything Had Been Going Smoothly': Prince of Persia PS5 Remake Actress Found Out About Cancellation from Family
@Rich33 You can have a game "ready for launch", but it just isn't very good, something just isn't clicking.
Sands of Time is a rightly beloved classic and I think if they were going to release it then it needed to be great, not GTA Remaster Trilogy levels of mid to bad, a butchering a classic. Although a part of me also just wonders how good/bad it was of course and I'm sure many would have enjoyed it regardless.
Morbid curiosity combined with the fact we were told it was about to release by leaker Tom Henderson means we want answers. We feel blue balled.
But in reality when do we EVER hear more than this about a cancellation. Sadly as @Titntin just stated as I was typing (thanks for the timely assist. lol) this is normal.
Re: 'Everything Had Been Going Smoothly': Prince of Persia PS5 Remake Actress Found Out About Cancellation from Family
@Rich33 you don’t write off so many years go development at the 11th hour unless fixing it is going to cost a lot more time and money.
The timing is unfortunate as they are restructuring, but they said the game didn’t hit a high enough quality bar, not much more to say imo.
Re: Rumour: GTA 6 Might Not Launch Physically at First to Avoid Leaks
@Stragen8 Yes, their cut is higher on Digital, and they cut out the second hand market. Plus retailers usually fight over who offers the lowest price on big games, so it's a stealth price increase for physical gamers.
Re: Rumour: GTA 6 Might Not Launch Physically at First to Avoid Leaks
Then i'll wait. I'm not going to be bullied into paying exorbitant digital prices AND losing my rights (to sell, lend etc.) when I don't have to.
Re: Sony Set to Delay PS6 Release Date, Claims Financial Report
@Americansamurai1 For years running up to PS5 people were saying "we don't need next gen yet we just had PS4 Pro and Xbox One X".
Re: Comedy TV Classics Inspire Fable PS5 with Interview Cutscenes
@Weebleman Don't know what you're on about Sanch! We've already got Dean Learner here.
Re: Sony Set to Delay PS6 Release Date, Claims Financial Report
@Americansamurai1 A lot of people said the PS5 was entering a dead market and here it is selling like hotcakes practically keeping up with the PS4 despite the higher cost and 2 years of supply constraint. While people may not want a new console NOW, after just 5 years, they may do in 2+ years (most don't buy Day/Year 1).
@Rich33 POTENTIALLY yes... but unlikely I feel. If they have that much headroom in the first place why wasn't the chip clocked faster to begin with. They usually have some tolerance to cover for difference in chips - much like you can overclock CPUs or GPUs to a different extent depending on the lottery of which you get. Some you can overclock more than others. But as a retail product you can't do this.
Re: Sony Set to Delay PS6 Release Date, Claims Financial Report
@Americansamurai1 @Dan12836666 On paper I agree with you and I can understand why some might want the console delayed.
But it's not quite that simple. Sony and AMD have already spent billions developing the next console chip, it isn't likely to be redesigned, so every year they delay it the technology gets older and relatively less performant for the time. If they release 2-3 years later by the end of next gen we will be gaming on decade old tech.
That all said... as a PS5 Pro owner I'm more than happy to wait a little while, only further improves the investment.
Re: Ubisoft May Have Put Watch Dogs Down for Good
I'm not surprised, it's not a very strong IP, it doesn't have a clear focus other than a pretty rote anti-establishment, anti-big-tech base. Nothing particularly stands out, there aren't many specific characters or settings that are particularly memorable. The gameplay could be in any of their games, it doesn't really matter.
It's a shame as the promise of that original bull-shot trailer was strong, but it never fully delivered on that vision.
Re: In a Sea of PS5 Gacha Games, Wuthering Waves Brings Another Big Update Next Month
Wuthering Waves has been consistently good. One thing I really like about it is it's not THAT time consuming compared to some of the worst offenders (it's still a time sink). E.g. the latest main story quest just took a few hours. Skippable text in meaningless side content - stop yapping and just let me play - is also a boon.
Re: Classic Assassin's Creed Games Could Get 60FPS PS5 Upgrades Next
@Nakatomi_Uk They've been doing this for years though, it isn't new. Though yes they may have a bit more time right now!
Re: Xbox Will Try to Deliver PS5 Ports on Launch Day More Consistently
The reality is since they bought Zenimax and ABK they have outgrown exclusives, they simply can't support all those studios anymore, and make a decent profit, on just Xbox and PC users.
Seemingly they were hoping that people would flock to Xbox and Game Pass because of these deals but that just hasn't happened, therefore they are making the best of their situation and going multi-platform. It's the most sensible choice in their position.
Re: All Signs Point to Resident Evil: Code Veronica PS5 Remake in 2027
This was one I never finished. I was fighting a boss (I think on a plane) that I THOUGHT was the end boss, but there was some gimmick to killing him I had missed so I unloaded all my best ammo into him, wasting it all, and then he turned out not to be the final boss and I was in some creepy place with spider like things with no decent ammo on my one save. (This was in the days were memory cards were expensive, to me anyway, and slots in short supply!)
Re: Mysterious New Dragon Ball Game AGE 1000 Announced
Honestly not digging the new character design at all. Even the great Toriyama can miss.
Re: Classic Assassin's Creed Games Could Get 60FPS PS5 Upgrades Next
For all the other criticisms of Ubisoft I LOVE how supportive they are of many of their older games. Credit where it's due. Thanks
Re: Going Platinum #9: Marvel's Spider-Man
Great game. But I remember one or two of these being a bit of a chore, especially going round the city looking for random encounters which were only ever one of a handful of different scenarios. There's only so often stopping a truck with a QTE in the exact same way is still fun, especially if you have to do it multiple times at the end.
They mostly fixed this in the sequel which remained fun to the last.
Re: Dec 2025 USA Sales: Industry Rebounds from One of the Worst Months on Record
@Shwing no worries dude. Have a good day, hopefully with some gaming.
Re: Despite Its Price, PS5 Pro Enjoyed a Very Respectable 2025 in USA
Or, perhaps, it speaks to Sony wanting to push digital because it benefits them a lot more.
FWIW I support a separate disc drive, but I HOPE they will also sell a model with the drive included, even if you have to install it yourself from a separate box, to prevent scalping and stock issues like there was with the PS5 drive. That was a major issue for consumers.
While physical sales ARE down, they aren't as down as many think. E.g. At the start of the generation Q4 2020, the digital ratio was 79% digital / 21% physical. In the last report Q2 FY2025 it was 72% digital / 28% physical (page 12). Yes this changes drastically quarter to quarter, so comparing individual quarters isn't that helpful, but looking wider it isn't actually changing all that quickly overall. e.g. The non-scientific (we have incomplete data) average of each quarter since the PS5 launched is 70% / 30%. The point is physical is still much bigger than people think, yes still smaller than it used to be, but not by much on PlayStation.
I agree RETAIL stores are shrinking their Physical stock but this is more of a sign that they aren't selling well at retail, because they are overpriced versus the competition like Amazon, (+ Smyths & Currys in the UK). Why would I go to Game and pay full £70 RRP when i could get it for £55 on one of the online stores AND have it delivered to my door? No we won't see lines around the corner but that's in part because retail specifically SUCKS for buying games so of course it's not selling there, plus there's other choices, like digital.
I don't see this as "holier than thou" just a logical, well reasoned and impassioned plea for people not to simply think physical is dead already, when it isn't.
Re: Despite Its Price, PS5 Pro Enjoyed a Very Respectable 2025 in USA
@HonestHick This is true... but they also obfuscate the numbers making it APPEAR that physical is much smaller than it actually is. E.g. Daniel Ahmad stated the sales data showed 24% of all unit sales in FY2024 were physical, that despite the fact many games ONLY launch digitally, despite many PS5s only being digital.
The Insomniac leak showed us between 2020 and 2022 65% of Sony First party sales were physical (including games like Death Stranding they consider first party) only 35% digital. It appears for expensive AAA games more people bought physical. I'm sure that number is lower now, but the point is physical isn't the small struggling thing Sony in particular like to paint it as. It's in Sony's best interests to make everyone think this and switch to digital as they make more money and, crucially, have more control over pricing / sales. I prefer competition and CHOICE.
I suppose this varies country to country, region to region and person to person... but do many people ACTUALLY buy physical games at retail where deals are in my experience usually REALLY bad or do they buy online via Amazon etc.? This is more a sign of RETAIL being really weak, not necessarily physical games.
GameStop is, and always has been, a joke.
TLDR: I guess my key point is physical is still bigger than these companies want us to think they are. I am not saying physical isn't shrinking, it absolutely is, but not as much as they try and show. They hide the fair metrics and show things like digital vs physical REVENUE where 100% of the digital game's sale is included as it's on THEIR store (before they share 70% of the money on 3rd party games), but only include their share of a physical sale (which is at another retail store), which on third party games might only be a small percentage. It's not a fair comparison. e.g. 100% of one compared to just 10% - 15% of the other, not a fair fight. They are deliberately misleading us. Don't believe them.
P.S. Of course if you prefer Digital that's cool, fwiw I buy far more games digitally in sales, but CHOICE and competition is good.
Re: Dec 2025 USA Sales: Industry Rebounds from One of the Worst Months on Record
@Shwing To answer your question why can't they do whatever they want on their own ecosystem is a little harder. But in short it's because they are too powerful and it's virtually impossible for other companies to compete, it's not a fair market, so SOMEONE had to keep them honest. That's where anti-trust and other legislation comes in.
To give an overly simple example in a fair market if I was selling lemonade for £5 but the kid next door was selling it for £2.50 he would likely sell a lot more and, as long as he's still profitable, would probably have the more successful business. In order to compete I might have to bring my prices down (Again it's more complicated, I might sell "PREMIUM 100% from lemons lemonade" to distinguish my product, but lets not overcomplicate it with marketing!!!). In short competition is good and keeps companies more honest, ultimately it's usually good for the consumer.
But with these giant corporations it ISN'T a fair market. For starters it is prohibitively expensive to try and compete. Lets look at Steam v Epic Store. Epic has had to spend BILLIONS just to TRY and build a store to compete with Steam. Rather than charging Steam's 30% to developers they were willing to charge 12% (and 0% in some cases initially) in order to try and entice publishers. On the other side in order to entice gamers to use the new store they have given out thousands of pounds of FREE games to every gamer, no subscription necessary. Despite all this they can't really get a decent foothold in that market. The reality is people are entrenched in the Steam ecosysystem, it doesn't really allow for fair competition.
Again it's more complicated than this, I am simplifying, there are many reasons why people prefer Steam to Epic, but it gives a good idea how virtually impossible it is to create competition and a fair market.
As a result of the Epic Store, and governments circling, Steam has lowered their rates to a tiered system between 20% and 30%. Not the best, but better. Competition is good for the consumer and smaller businesses selling on these store.
While it's difficult to take sides in one massive multinational corporation versus another massive multinational corporation in the case of Apple v Epic, or Steam v Epic - not least it's not like Epic is being entirely altruistic, they set to gain themselves - there's no doubt in my mind that consumers AND small businesses would be better off if some of these changes happened. While it absolutely isn't David vs Goliath, there would be benefits for the little guys too if Epic won.
I hope that helps a little, it turned into a dissertation! But as I said it's a massive and complex topic that I barely scratched the surface of. There's so many layers of nuance. Good luck!
Re: Dec 2025 USA Sales: Industry Rebounds from One of the Worst Months on Record
@Shwing As I said it's complicated, and I don't really want to spend too long writing a dissertation. Also FYI I might have a few things a little wrong, this isn't my area of expertise, but it's a loose primer.
But in theory YES games could be cheaper. Lets say Sony historically only ever charged a 15% fee for games, would they be $70 as they are now or still be $60? Would it take longer for them to be $80?
The more clear and obvious example is microtransactions and the case that bought a lot of this to the public's attention, Apple v Epic. At the time Epic was pissed off because for every vbuck (Fortnite currency) they were selling on Apple iOS devices they were being charged a 30% fee. That meant they had to charge more to make the same money to pay their artists, dev costs, brand deals for skins etc... and yes make a profit. Consumers were largely paying for it (though it's more complicated than that). So Epic decided to sell these cheaper directly via their own store - 1,000 vbucks for $7.99 not $9.99 on iOS, that's a direct 20% saving for consumers IF Apple didn't have a monopoly on all sales on iOS. Apple immediately blocked Fortnite (losing Epic billions in future sales) as this was against Apple's Terms of Service.
But it's not just about consumers, it's also about protecting other businesses from these multi-national giants. If I made an app on the web and had a $10 a month subscription fee, to make the same money on iOS I would have to sell it for $13 to make the same profit which I probably won't do because we have priced according to what people will pay, instead the business will probably have to swallow much of that cost. The same goes for some stores on the app store. Have you ever wondered why you couldn't for years buy an Audible book directly from the app? It's because Apple wanted a cut of every sale. They allow SOME specific apps not to charge, or perhaps there is a much smaller fee, but imagine if every Amazon purchase through the iOS Amazon app Apple took 30%. They have too much power.
As a result of Epic v Apple and governmental pressure Apple have had to lower their rates and are MEANT to be allowing external stores, but they are dragging their heels. It's still in court or being discussed in many countries legal systems, change is very slow and in the meantime Apple and Co. will stall as long as possible and do the bare minimum without stronger legislation because they continue to grow fat and rich off it, making it even harder to compete.
(TBC)
Re: Highguard Finally Breaks Silence, Watch the Launch Showcase Next Week
Sad to see people seemingly WANTING a game to fail. Hope this does well for them, but it's a tough market.
Re: Dec 2025 USA Sales: Industry Rebounds from One of the Worst Months on Record
@UltimateOtaku91 In theory yes they could be cheaper. But In reality almost certainly not In many cases. It would likely just be used as a stealth price increase. But we might see some cheaper prices and lower sales.
But considering developers are the ones being shuttered left right and centre, that one failure can now lead to studio closure because margins are so small is that such a bad thing if studios take a larger cut for their works and less goes to multinational platform holders?
Re: Dec 2025 USA Sales: Industry Rebounds from One of the Worst Months on Record
@Shwing It's very complicated and not immediately obvious (that's how they get away with it), but in short anti-trust law. Anti-consumer practises that mean WE consumers end up paying more.
Because of the size and power of these multi-national companies it effectively makes it impossible for anyone else to get a foothold in an entrenched market where they do everything they can to stifle new competition or changes to the status quo. It's not a fair market.
Antitrust law aims to protect us from this, protect us from them charging whatever they want and taking the piss. But big-business still has too much power imo. There's meant to be legal protections in place to stop this happening too much, to prevent monopolies, and when there are two, or more, giants ruling a segment of the market to stop them colluding to artificially keep prices high, rather than actually competing with each other to benefit consumers. E.g. Visa / Mastercard, iOS / Android. But in reality these businesses have too much power and often DO take the piss.
You can go down a whole rabbit hole on this, but here's an article about Apple's appeal to CAT's ruling.
Re: Yakuza Fan Concerns Come to a Head Over Dodgy Kiwami 3 Graphics
While it's just one example it's a damning one, it looks horrendous.
And you said they are delisting the original PS4 Yakuza 3... hmmm.
Re: Dec 2025 USA Sales: Industry Rebounds from One of the Worst Months on Record
@UltimateOtaku91 Nintendo make most of their money from their own games on their own store, so it wouldn't affect them as much.
Valve already has a tiered rate of between 20% - 30% depending on how much a game sells, so they are partly getting ahead of this. Additionally Gabe Newell runs Steam like a benevolent dictatorship and has frequently advocated pro-consumer rights (which a reduction of store tariffs can be seen as), so who knows, he might even support this. Either way in the console space this would affect Sony most.
Governments have already been addressing it for mobile phone app stores e.g. in the UK the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) stated that Apple have been abusing their dominant position by overcharging (up to 30%) on App Store purchases between 2015 and 2024 and that this should be no more than 17.5% for app sales and 10% on in app purchases.
While it will take time, gaming could well be next. And Sony dropping to 17.5% for sales and especially 10% for MTX, where the largest chunk of their revenue, and even larger chunk of their PROFIT comes from would significantly upset their golden goose. That's all potentially years away, but it is something to keep an eye on.
Re: Dec 2025 USA Sales: Industry Rebounds from One of the Worst Months on Record
@UltimateOtaku91 The thing I would say is IF government's decide to crack down on console gaming store's 30% cut then PlayStation will see their revenue and profits slashed massively overnight as they make the vast majority of their money from 3rd party games and MTX on their platforms.
Whereas Microsoft now make most of their money as a publisher would only see their revenue's and profits increase through making more on everyone else's stores.
To be clear I am not saying I want that to happen, but it does show how finely balanced these things are, and one major governmental decision could quickly change these companies outlooks. It's even possible Microsoft might start lobbying in the USA to try and get ahead of this.
Re: Despite Its Price, PS5 Pro Enjoyed a Very Respectable 2025 in USA
Been very happy with PS5 Pro and the value has only increased as other costs have gone up.
This doesn't tell tell the whole story as you can still add a drive later. The PS5 Pro doesn't even have an out of the box disc drive model, so they are all marked as digital sales, even if you wanted a physical one.
So in fact at least 51% DID have a drive + an unspecified percentage would have bought them later. So physical PS5 sales are still well over half the market. Good to see.
Re: In a Sea of Live Service, Ghost of Yotei Was the Third Best-Selling PS5 Game of 2025 in the US
Impressive, especially since it was a cheaper AAA game.
@PuppetMaster I'd hope this might shut up the "go woke, go broke" chuds who keep insisting it failed... but I wouldn't count on it. Sadly they only listen to voices within their little echo chamber.
Re: PS Portal Peaks in USA with Highest PS5 Console Attach Rate Yet
I only got mine end of last year but I've been super impressed. 99% of the time I forget I am streaming either locally from PS5 or via the cloud, but every now and again it breaks up a little and I am reminded, only to be impressed with how convincing it is as a a native device.
Obviously your mileage will vary based on your internet infrastructure, but it even worked at my old man's and he has pretty slow standard BT broadband, it broke up a little more often, but was still playable.
Re: Gacha Arknights: Endfield Launched with Arguably the Worst Bug in Video Game History
As someone who used to build e-commerce sites and payment platforms, bugs like this gave me sleepless nights. While I feel sorry for the players, they will get a refund, I don't even want to consider what the poor sods who are responsible are going through, likely getting dumped on from on high, while knowing their job is likely gone. Stuff of nightmares.
Re: Japanese PS5 Sales Continue to Improve Following Launch of Cheaper Model
@Questionable_Duck This is true. Although a part of the reason 3DS didn't sell as well was because Nintendo didn't stop making DS's until 2020, 3 years after the Switch released! In fact it was the same year they stop making the 3DS too. They were eating their own tail with the DS/3DS.
Another thing that held the 3DS back is there were concerns that the 3D effect could be harmful to eyes, especially children's, and that stopped adoption in their target market. I believe this was unfounded, or at least never proven, but it didn't stop it making mainline news all over the world and harming that console's sales. It's what led them to Nintendo scrambling and eventually releasing the 2DS a few years later, removing the key selling point of the console.
But I disagree "Nintendo lost a lot of players" due to the 3DS, the historic data i've seen doesn't really show that, it's just that many they were playing on DS not 3DS (similar to Sony with PS4) and it's a key reason DS sold 154 million units. Wii U is a different story.
But it was a masterstroke to combine the handheld and tv with the Switch, that combined with how hungry people were for a decent Nintendo console - many having skipped both 3DS and Wii U - meant it sold like a rocket out the game. Great for Nintendo and gamers.
Re: Highly Anticipated Gacha RPG Arknights: Endfield Has Arrived on PS5
@tselliot yes a few people have had thousands of dollars / pounds taken from their accounts, yes they will get a refund, but can you imagine!, absolute disaster for the developer and for the specific devs in charge of that element. They removed PayPal as a payment method within hours, but feel the damage was done. Shocker.
As for kicking the habit, I think they are designed cynically to appeal to certain players who will find it hard to quit them, I’m one of those it seems. But I agree getting engrossed in another good game is the best way to quit the daily habit. And cold turkey, delete the games from all devices. It’s a mental addiction at the end of the day.
Re: New Super Lucky's Tale's Name Starting to Lose Meaning with PS5 Re-Release
Fun game. They don't really make 'em like this very often anymore.
Re: Highly Anticipated Gacha RPG Arknights: Endfield Has Arrived on PS5
@graymamba It's precisely because i've played so many of these games and realise how much of a time sink they are that I am not dipping in this time. No matter how good it looks. Last year I played less than half as many games as previous years, despite actually putting in more hours, purely down to gacha games.
I am not saying the game is bad, it's probably really great in places, but there is a real opportunity cost in playing them. If people KNEW going in that it might take 1000+ hours of their lives they might go in with more caution. Since I've ditched 2 of these games in the last 3 months i've played many more games including several GOTY candidates on my backlog, that is a better use of my time. ymmv
TLDR: If I wasn't playing any other live service games I might consider it... but probably not as they are cynically designed to keep you addicted and playing. Quitting, once entrenched, was harder than tobacco imo. (See what @Titntin said)
Re: Highly Anticipated Gacha RPG Arknights: Endfield Has Arrived on PS5
Nopety nope nope
EDIT: Also there's been a Day 1 bug where it's clearing out some people's PayPal accounts. Probably the worst day 1 disaster i've seen in one of these games.
Re: Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Remake Reportedly Delayed by Up to a Year
How long until this is ALSO cancelled?
Frankly I think they have spent a lot of money on studios in places like Singapore, Pune, Chenai that have not produced games, or good games. Their aim to get lower cost development seems to have backfired and they are paying more in the long run, they were better used as support studios. Buy cheap, buy twice.
Re: Game Awards Closer Highguard Lives! PS5 Trophy List Live Now
@Oram77 Personally I disagree, there was almost nothing they could have said that would stop the dogpiling, sometimes the best thing you can do is stay silent. Get the game into people's hands, whether a full release or a beta, and then let the game do the talking, that's the only thing that will shut most of the toxic online chatter up.
Re: Amazon Adds Yet Another Cast Member to Its God of War TV Series
@FredBiletnikoff Eh? Seems like a pretty normal grounded guy to me. And a fantastic actor.
Re: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Now Has the Most Game of the Year Awards Ever
@Old-Red that’s not really true at all. You don’t have to dodge or parry every attack to beat bosses first try.
If you are struggling the first time you watch their attack, try and DODGE (not parry) the attack so that you can start to learn the timing, you’ll probably get hit a few times. Once you are comfortable dodging an attack you can start trying to parry that attacks. Usually I found each boss has 3-4 attacks and 2-3 I could learn to parry quickly but 1-2 were harder and I would keep dodging instead. It’s about picking your moments to do each, using the tools at your disposal effectively.
Re: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Now Has the Most Game of the Year Awards Ever
It is an achievement reflective of how beloved the game is by so many. Though as you said there are more GOTY awards than ever. I could spin up a free website with a domain in less than an hour and make my own list count if I wanted.
Re: Amazon Adds Yet Another Cast Member to Its God of War TV Series
@nessisonett like David Tennant marrying his on screen daughter! (Again sounds weirder than it is)
Re: Prince of Persia Remake and 5 Other Games Cancelled by Ubisoft
What an absolute ***** show. Though I do respect them for not putting out a half assed Sands of Time remake.
Re: Crimson Desert Goes Gold, Ambitious PS5 Open Worlder Locks in March Release Date
I suspect this won't live up to some of the unrealistic expectations. But if it's a decent game in it's own right that's enough.
Re: Life Is Strange: Reunion Revives One of Gaming's Iconic Relationships on PS5
@trev666 Agreed. Except I haven't played Double Exposure which seemed like unnecessary fan service, as does this. I probably won't play this either tbh, LiS ended perfectly.