@ButterySmooth30FPS I think many people do want smaller projects from Sony but perhaps not unreasonably they wanted a bit more than a 65 on Metacritic. That's nearer Redfall than Red Faction.
@clvr Fair enough. I was probably a bit overly defensive because you see the same tiresome comments in every gacha game thread from people that don't even play them. I mean (scrolls up):
"Gacha games are a cancer on the industry" or (I paraphrase) "I would rather die due to alcohol, drugs and gambling than play gacha games." It's ludicrous hyperbole. Plus you called my take "shallow". lol
But mentioning gambling is interesting, because gacha (in games) isn't gambling. In gambling typically you are not guaranteed to win anything. Whereas in most gacha games not only are you guaranteed to win but you are also guaranteed to get precisely the thing you want to get after X pulls in most cases. It might be sooner, but you always have that guarantee, hence you can plan and budget accordingly. Including, it must be noted, free credits as I don't spend at all anymore. This is very different to both typical gambling AND an improvement on typical loot boxes which like Pokemon / Magic / Sports cards that have absolutely no guarantees.
My point is in terms of gambling specifically many other games with loot boxes need to be addressed well before these games.
Can it still be prohibitively expensive? Sure if you feel you have to have everything. But as someone that is entirely F2P in these games now you also don't have to spend a penny and get most characters for free. You just can't have them all, same as in life.
Playing Returnal now and it's mostly glorious. But there are some really frustrating aspects. When RNG or a hard room ruins a run and you have to go back to the start losing hours of progress I almost want to give up. It takes far too long to get back to where you were, assuming you want to be reasonably powered to take on the fight. That's a HUGE negative I hope they remedy in Saros.
I hate the term "a round of layoffs" as though we are expecting another to cycle around soon. It's probably accurate but very depressing. Good luck to all involved.
@clvr Again this is nuanced. Yes it's true they use psychological tricks to inflate the feeling of accomplishment. But so does Slay the Spire, Vampire Survivors & Ball X Pit. Should they be legislated against too?
And so does advertising, so does marketing... of absolutely everything. That's the world we live in. Where we are constantly bombarded with fake information that you "have" to have this or that and you have to learn to make sound choices. Whether it's walking down the street, watching TV, reading a magazine etc. etc. you can't get away from ads. Would I prefer if all that went away? Honestly... Yes. But then we need to change our whole capitalist consumerist economy, as it would collapse and many people would be out of work. Good luck with that! / Viva la Revolucion! (delete as applicable)
Re: Games specifically a couple of things I would ban:
No more in game currencies to obfuscate the price of things (often with multiple currencies / conversions). Open & clear pricing.
No more DAILY login rewards or daily caps for progression. Weekly or better yet Monthly I have little issue with. But stop punishing players for not playing every single day, that's not healthy.
But this ISN'T limited to gacha games, even some "single player one and done games" as you put it have these elements. Assassin's Creed.
As for addiction. What is worse? My general addiction to gaming or my addiction to Genshin? This will of course be subjective. But I know when Breath of the Wild, or Skyrim came out I made a lot worse life choices - skipping work and social events, fobbing off friends to play those games - than I ever have with a gacha game. What is worse?
I am not saying gacha games aren't addictive, they absolutely are, but so is Tetris, so is Slay the Spire or Vampire Survivors. It was easier to stop playing the gacha games on any given day than those.
People are similarly obsessed with Warcraft, CoD, Fortnite or FIFA logging in every day to play. My point is If we are going to come down on one we need to come down on them all and not single out gacha.
Exclusives are important. But I think SOME games like Gran Turismo could make sense on SOME other platforms like Switch 2, as it will lead to more profits without cannibalising the PlayStation platform.
That doesn't mean I think it should be an open door for everything, absolutely not. Again exclusives are important, but it should be very carefully considered on a case by case basis.
Contrary to so many people thinking PlayStation is doing amazingly well due to "record profits" the truth, if you dig a little deeper, is that their profit margins, while slightly improved in FY 2024, are still pretty low despite those record profits and were very low in 2022 and 2023. Their business is still on a knife edge.
@nessisonett Drink, drugs, gacha, yes this can all lead to addiction in some people and ruin lives. But it can also lead to enjoyment if handled responsibly, which is the VAST majority of users.
Creating something purposefully addictive that is also designed to extract money from addicts is Biblically evil stuff.
Couldn't that be said for gaming in general? Games are made to be purposefully addictive (just one more go!) and cost you money, are all games 'biblically evil stuff'? Gaming addiction is a real thing that also ruins lives and ends some too early, it's not just gacha. Should gaming in general also be legislated like in China, maximum of 1 hour a day for kids (not that it's largely followed), or even banned? Or should this be a job for parents and individuals? And where do you stop? Going to the gym and being obsessed by physical appearance can also be unhealthy and leads to a lot of deaths if you do it too much. Learning moderation is key.
And yes I've had alcoholics in the family and friends who turned into drug addicts, some recovered, sadly more didn't. RIP. But do we want a nanny state dictating what we do with our time and money, or at some point do people have to make their own choices?
I'm not trying to be deliberately argumentative, but it's a delicate and nuanced topic that isn't as black and white as you make it sound. You could apply this to almost anything that anyone with addictive personality could fall foul of, which is virtually everything.
@Fiendish-Beaver Not sure how much better Fable and E-Day will be as Microsoft don't seem to put the full effort in all the time on the Pro (e.g. Avowed) but sometimes they do, at worst it's unlikely to be any worse than Series X.
@Fiendish-Beaver It depends on the game. In some it's automatically on, in others there is a toggle. You don't really have to think about it, generally the dev will have pre-selected what they think is the best option. (EDIT: I see our gaming brethren already answered)
But choice is good and occasionally there can be some visual artefacts or quirks using PSSR (especially earlier implementations, before devs got to grips with it) so a toggle is useful if you don't like it in that specific game. Personally I haven't turned it off.
Enjoy RE: Requiem seems to be getting great reviews and PS5 Pro upgrade looks great.
Looking forward to seeing what it can do. On the whole, despite a few stumbles out the gate, I've been more than happy with the PS5 Pro already so this is just a bonus.
Will be interesting to see if this has to be enabled by devs or if games will be updated automatically to use PSSR 2. There's pros and cons to each, but ideally having it on automatically with a toggle to turn it off in some cases would be the best option as many devs are unlikely to update their games.
Words mean next to nothing, I'm waiting to see ACTIONS.
That said a few quotes that I thought were interesting.
"We're going to keep meeting players where they are..."
We want to invest in reducing the artificial divide between different types of devices that they want to use with us. I think that's going to mean a lot more investment in breaking down the barriers, in helping developers build once and show up across different hardware experiences.
That sounds like multi-platform isn't going anywhere to me. But as she said they are in the phase of analysing everything and formulating a plan, everything can change.
Quite modest really. For 30fps anyway. My 10+ year old mid-range rig might just about even play it. (not that i'd want to play it like that). I wonder if it will be Steam Deck verified?
The 8-bit art looks fine in a tiny window on my computer but blow it up to a giant flat screen and it looks horrible. If I play this it will be on Steam Deck or PS Portal
Fingers crossed this has better progression and less map marker splurge than FH5 and that it brings something new to the table. I put hundreds of hours into earlier games but bounced off FH5 pretty hard, it's undeniably a well made game but it felt like a reskin, like i'd played it all before.
They boxed themselves into a corner. It was almost impossible to continue with the series characters after IV and Gat out of Hell, it just kept getting more and more ridiculous until you were a superhero US President fighting aliens in space! ...a long way from the promise of what Saint's Row originally was.
It needed SOME type or reset, they just chose the wrong type of reset. I'd love to see it, or something similar come back more true to original roots... hopefully with less purple dildos or millennial 'humour'!
Microsoft can be a top publisher across all consoles AND have some exclusives, they have enough studios, both can be true. Or maybe more timed exclusives.
While this is interesting and adds on top of many other hints. The fact it was cut also could suggest they were unsure if this is the way they wanted to go and wanted to keep their options open. This may have been the plan of the last game director, but the next one may have other ideas.
Just finished Yakuza 0. I enjoyed it but boy is it FAR too long. I only slightly touched the side content and still clocked up 68 hours. There's just too much that isn't very good. Less is more in my book, this is the opposite of that. (HLTB puts it at a dull 144 hours for completionists, and they usually underestimate by quite a bit imo, the gameplay isn't engaging enough for that.)
Yet I was drawn in by the characters, the story and the world. It's a very mixed bag but the humanity shown, despite them all being caricatures, shone through and ultimately made the game worthwhile. However I can't help thinking it would have been better at half the length, it's just so needlessly dragged out. I almost quit midgame.
Combat is fun for the first few chapters, but then becomes a drag, I groaned by midgame every time a mob in the world caught me and i'd have to go through the same rote combat and finishers for the umpteenth time. It gets worse as the game goes on as enemies get tankier and block more without much else changing to keep it fresh.
The business side missions were fun for about 10 minutes but are dragged out like a Far Cry game where after you finish one area you unlock another 4 that are basically the same boring busywork.
At least the sub-stories are quite fun, and thankfully short, often 5 minute vignettes that add flavour to the world. Some made me laugh, some were a bit sick, many were forgettable, but they all helped ground the world. I think I did 40 of 100.
Far too many minigames, literally dozens that each feel weak on their own. Again less is more.
Still overall I enjoyed it, the characters and world were that good and shone through the weaker aspects, plus it had a much better tempo at the end after a glacially slow start and middle and finished on a high. Cautiously recommended.
@get2sammyb Honestly her statement is so much word salad that can be interpreted however you want.
I have seen raging fanboys claiming that the "renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console" signifies a return to platform exclusives. I've seen others, including you, suggest the opposite.
The whole statement seems carefully crafted appease as many people as possible without saying much at all. Focus on games, console and not-AI slop would be three bullet points you would write to ease fans fears at a transition. She talks the talk, but will she walk the walk?
All in all the change of CEO seems so rushed, like something went down, if you had the time you surely wouldn't announce it like this - though perhaps don't attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence. I do wonder if this is another massive knee-jerk policy shift for Xbox. Everything feels more feasible than yesterday. Everything. Honestly I am bit worried. Gaming and Sony needs a stronger Xbox imo.
@CielloArc Sure Sony may nudge them towards a direction, fitting in with a larger game plan, but that is not the same as telling them what to do, the studios still have to be onboard with what they are making.
@Th3solution With Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond leaving Xbox seemingly in a hurry and being replaced by an AI CEO (no not that type), the Bluepoint story has already been superseded in the news cycle.
Microsoft couldn’t let Sony have more than a full day of bad news before saying “hold my beer”. lol
I’ve got a lot of respect for Phil Spencer, he picked the up Xbox off the floor and tried to make a good fight of it. Odds were always against him, but not through lack of trying. Honestly a bit worried about where Xbox will go under new leadership.
@OldGamer999 Not to mention other media taking people's attention away from games. E.g. The same guy did a State of OnlyFans 2025 report and concluded that only the NFL paid out more money to it's stars than OnlyFans which pipped the Premier League, MLB & NBA. Crumbs!
One thing to point out is that while PLAYERS are higher, revenues and profits aren't anywhere near PlayStation / Xbox because the demographic playing Robolox are mostly kids.
Still Roblox paid out $1.5bn to Roblox devs and last quarter that was $477 million up over 70% YoY. It's growing massively and will probably grow even faster with Gen-AI dev tools.
I was busy reading through this yesterday when the Bluepoint news came out. So many takeaways, but it's also not all the different from his state of videogames 2025 report, so it didn't shock as much.
Yet I'm still staggered by stats like:
around 40-45% of all playtime on PlayStation & Xbox is the top 5 games CoD, Fifa, Fornite, GTAV and NBA2K.
The next 5 games make this 50-55% of all playtime.
ALL the other games are competing for the other 45 - 50%
@wildcat_kickz On the one hand it is sad to see and it would be nice to see more games/studios/publishers fight for their games.
But I think the ODDS are that if you aren't big out the gate you will never be big. There are exceptions of course, but VERY few, and all the ones I can think of were when there weren't other live services around, that's not the case now.
With the high cost of maintaining live services if you don't make an impact Day 1 / Month 1 then it's HIGHLY unlikely you will ever turn that corner and it's often better to cut your losses than throw good money after bad. If I was in their position handing finances, as sad as it is, I would cut my losses and run.
There's another angle to this. Gamers. Gamers are brutal and if you incur online reputational damage turning the perception around is almost impossible. I REALLY hate this. But vocal gamers can seemingly kill a game before it's even come out. People might give it a small chance, but will be more critical, and unless it's completely revolutionary it's probably DOA when it just MIGHT have stood a chance had gamers been a bit more patient/forgiving. Sad times.
@IOI No. Most of Sony's live service games are either from new studios that they have bought or partnered with SPECIFICALLY for that purpose, or from studios with plenty of history in making multiplayer titles (Naughty Dog, Insomniac etc.).
As for the others: Studios will know Sony is more likely to green-light live services so they are more likely to pitch them, and they're more likely to get approved. But that's not the same as Sony assigning Studios specific games / game types.
Ultimately believe what you want to believe, but if Sony were telling studio heads what to do I think we would have heard about it more than once, Jason Schreier would have another exposé... instead... tumbleweeds.
@Shepherd_Tallon I said similar on another post. Gamers are understandably mad today, a lot of reactionary comments, but this will cool off with time. Still a damn shame about Bluepoint.
@Shepherd_Tallon For the record, thanks. But also I am speculating like everyone else. The reality is we know next to nothing about why this was done, but we don't like it, so we complain, which is fair enough, but doesn't mean we know jack.
I was MAD last night, unreasonably mad about Sony closing Bluepoint, I didn't like it. But I logged off and had a think about it. I'm still not happy this morning but I think I have a little more perspective.
Sony could’ve easily assigned a expected remaster o remake to Bluepoint and profit from it, quite literally easy money.
@IOI When are people going to realise Sony don't "assign" their studios projects. Studios pitch ideas to Sony and Sony green-lights them, or not. Bluepoint have repeatedly said they want to make their own games, not just remaster / remake others'.
The developers have to want to make the game, they have to be passionate about the project for many years or it will be awful.
@wildcat_kickz It's complicated. There's several things going on, i'm just going to concentrate on Sony, else this will be a dissertation.
No I don't think they've lost the plot of the long game, I think most vocal gamers don't even know what the long game is. Sony, Microsoft etc. are looking 10+ years ahead and trying to make sure that they still have a successful platform.
Most vocal gamers would have Sony just making single player games, which might do well for the next few years, we'd be happy right? But what happens when the costs for these become unprofitable; when the large live service games leave the platform to launch on their own either streamed on cloud or beamed from mobile to TV without a 30% MTX cut to Sony; or when government legislators reduce the cut stores can take to 10% - 15%... Sony's revenues and profits could tank overnight as a result of these sort of events. The Sony that most vocal gamers would have created to make games for themselves would likely fail. Hard decisions now.
I am not saying ALL these things will happen but Sony, and others, need to make sure they can weather these huge shifts IF they come to pass. That's why they have been diversifying, that's part of what their live service push is all about, putting their future in their own hands not at the mercy of others. Yes it makes it unpopular now.
It's Sony who are thinking long term, it's gamers who aren't. Gamers are thinking short term. I don't blame them, it's not their job, they are just saying what they want. But the two aren't the same thing. Despite Sony crowing about "record profits" the truth is there to see for those willing to look carefully, PlayStation is in a precarious place with their low profit margins, they're ok-ish now, but if even one of these events comes to pass it could tip them to the other side of it. And the rest of Sony isn't in very good shape to prop them up.
As a gamer who wants to play single player games I don't want Sony making all these live services, but as someone that wants PlayStation to still be around a decade from now still making single player games I can understand why they are trying to diversify and trying to get in on the live service act. It isn't simply greed as clueless people like to claim, it's potentially survival.
@Th3solution I agree they shouldn't make decisions based purely on a spreadsheet, and to be clear I think it's a HUGE mistake to close Bluepoint down, I was simply pointing out at a business I don't think they were very successful. But I 100% DON'T think Sony is only using a spreadsheet to make these decisions. Bear in mind that Sony has FAR more information that we do, comparatively we know nothing, that's important to remember. Gamers sometimes think we know it all, but we don't.
We don't know even the start of the whole story, we are all making assumptions based on maybe 5% of the evidence and speculating, lashing out because we are hurt by it. But in reality we are clueless.
I don't think making the fans mad for a few days is a major concern for Sony, nor should it be, if they feel it's the right business decision. Sadly part of big business is sometimes making unpopular calls.
Because we fans... we are fickle... we are mad today, true, but I think this will quickly be quickly forgotten by most, not all, but most. When gamers are playing Saros, or Kena, or Yotei Legends, or Marathon, or Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls, or Phantom Blade 0, or even Wolverine this year will they still be worrying about Bluepoint being closed? Perhaps a few, but for most it will pass. Today it's a fresh wound and gamers are saying irrational things, but give time that will pass.
Of course it isn't just ONE decision, all the decisions build up and that can change opinions over time. But I think Sony will weather this just fine, with a pretty strong 2026 line-up. That's just the way of things.
This is exactly in line with what I said the other day. As much as we may want the PS6 delayed a year or two prices are unlikely to come down in that timeframe and meanwhile the hardware just gets older. No easy decisions.
The worst generation in terms of output and player focused consideration Sony has ever had, yet it's most profitable... Let that sink and and understand your role in making that the reality.
@KundaliniRising333 This is pretty disingenuous. For virtually EVERY developer it's the worst generation in terms of output, games simply take a lot longer to make. This isn't a Sony issue, it's an industry issue. Player consideration is more subjective, that's more fair to argue, though I can't think of too many really anti-consumer decisions.
Yes they have record profits, but this is expected as that also have record investment. Don't be distracted by the bigger numbers, instead look at their profit margins which are not all that high just 8.9% last year and 6.8% the two years before compared to 13.5% in 2018 and 12.1% in 2019. They aren't doing as well as they are pretending to investors. "Record profits" is a bit of smokescreen, it's about showing confidence to investors.
To paraphrase if I spent £100 and made £120 back that would be a healthy 20% profit margin on profits of £20. But if I spent £300 and made £330 back that would be 'RECORD PROFITS' of £30 but my all important profit margin would be just 10% and my business may not be as strong. Furthermore if I gave you $100 million USD over 5 years I'd want a lot more back than a measly 6.8% return. That's the sticky situation Sony is in with investors, it's not simply "guided by greed".
@TrollOfWar It's a balancing act. You can have some loss leaders, and some games won't make a profit, but they have to be a net gain for the platform. Did Demon's souls with it's 1-2 million copies achieve that? Did it actually help sell many consoles? Debateable. I'd posit not a lot. Were there other mitigating factors, e.g. Did people sub to PS+ when it joined the service? These things complicate it.
I've always been curious how sustainable PlayStation first party studio games are?
Based on game sales alone most major Sony first party games seem to make a decent profit historically. That is backed up with info gleaned from things like the Insomniac leak. I am very confident on that. But those profits are shrinking as their games cost more and more to make.
For games that sold less well and smaller titles it's harder to know, and without full profit and loss statements we'll never know for sure. I suspect many are on the knife edge. Is that good enough when you have spend $XXX million?
But, unlike what Microsoft said publicly, I DO believe exclusives are important in selling people on your ecosystem. In fact I know it to be true for many of us. I never would have bought a Switch 2 if all their games were on PS5, but I was there day 1 for Nintendo games. I suspect many are in the same boat. Exclusives are still imperative.
There is an argument that could be made that Sony - who make most of their profit from third party games and MTX on PSN - could just about break even with their first party games and that would be enough, just use them to bring people to the console platform. But I don't think that rings true. One aspect they have to fear is that massive games like Fortnite, Roblox, COD outgrow their platform and just release as their own launchers on PC/mobile which would massively cut Sony's profits overnight. Or that regulators intervene and reduce their cut from 30% down to maybe 10% - 15%.
Sony, very sensibly, don't want all their eggs to be in one basket, they don't want to be dependant on everyone else's profits, or just make money from single player games which are becoming prohibitively expensive. Which is why they want to make a healthy profit on their own games, and ultimately, whether we like it or not, why they want their own successful live services. It does make some business sense for their long term future. That doesn't mean we have to like it.
Most reviews complained about things that I thought would be fixed later so I have waited. And it seems most of them have been fixed, seems like a smart time to jump in.
However I might have considered buying this on PS5 Pro, but it's a poor port, instead i'll play this on Game Pass, they lost a sale.
@get2sammyb Generally agree with most of your points, I was nodding along reading it, a well articulated piece. The two things I would push back on a little:
I’m sorry, but all of that rings hollow when PlayStation is simultaneously boasting about this being its most profitable generation ever.
We have to look at where Sony's profits are coming from - mostly PS+ services and third party games, especially MTX. Outside of that everything must be on knife edge for their first party. This is where I could see Sony potentially going multi-platform if things get worse.
If a studio of theirs isn't making money, or is losing money, do you just keep them going? Of course you can do this to an extent, you can have a few loss leaders, but not many. If the books don't balance, they don't balance, you don't usually offset with profits from elsewhere. One part a business can be failing while another is thriving. Still a shame this was their solution, surely there was a better way...
Additionally as a multinational business you HAVE to look strong to investors, so boasting about record revenues, as tasteless as it may be to us regardless of the situation, but even more so when you are laying off staff, is normal for that world. It's not a good look to us, especially now, but so much big business is about posturing.
That aside excellent piece, well articulated on a sad day.
@Shepherd_Tallon Someone will no doubt say something at some point, give their opinion, but whether we get to the truth of it is another matter. As a divorce lawyer would say there's three sides to every story, his side, her side and the truth.
@Fizza Naughty Dog WANTED to make TLOU 2 Factions they've said that themselves, but it grew outside what they could cope with. They also have a long history of making multiplayer games or modes from Crash Team Racing, to Jak X, Uncharted 2, 3, 4 and TLOU. most of Naughty Dog's games in the last 3 decades have multiplayer support, yet people act like they are only a single player studio and this is some huge shift when it isn't.
Insomniac too with Resistance 1, 2, 3, Ratchet Up Your Arsenal, Deadlocked, All for One, Full Frontal Assault, Sunset Overdrive, Fuse, Outernauts and more. Many of their games are all multiplayer titles too. Why is it that hard to imagine they might pitch a multiplayer version of one of their games? Especially if they know Sony is more likely to green light it.
As for cancellations, there are cancelled singles player projects happening in the background the whole time that we never know about, we just don't hear about them. The only reason we know about the Spider-Verse multiplayer game is due to the Insomniac leak (but where is single player Venom which was meant to launch by now?). Similar with Bluepoint's GoW which was leaked to a reporter, else we'd know nothing. TLOU2 Factions was different because they initially announced it was going to be part of TLOU2 before spinning it off into it's own larger game, which in hindsight was likely a mistake.
I'm not saying Sony didn't want live services, they did, and were more likely to green-light them, but they aren't going to force their devs to make something they don't as a studio want to do, that's never how you get good results either creatively or financially. This false narrative needs to go.
Most of the new live service games were by studios they bought, or partnered with, especially for this task not existing single player studios. They wanted both.
@Shepherd_Tallon I mostly agree. Though as a creative I do lament all the lay offs in the industry more personally. I can't just detach.
One thing I would say is that as fans we don't have all the information. I know it's a cliché to say, but that's because it's true, Sony will NOT have made this decision lightly, they will have their reasons for this decision. Not saying we would agree with them if we knew all the facts, but they clearly think this is the right decision.
It does make me wonder what we don't know. e.g.
Did they just not like the pitches that were being shown to them by Bluepoint - it's a MASSIVE decision to green-light a likely $50+ million USD, 5+ year new game like this, you have to be very confident it's going to make a profit at the end of it.
Did Sony really want them working on remasters and Bluepoint leadership didn't want this?
We don't know, but it does make me wonder. Either way a real shame as a gamer that enjoyed every single one of their games from Blast Factor to Demon's Souls remake. A sad day.
Comments 8,127
Re: Turns Out You Can Access God of War: Sons of Sparta's Locked-Off Co-Op Mode Early
@ButterySmooth30FPS I think many people do want smaller projects from Sony but perhaps not unreasonably they wanted a bit more than a 65 on Metacritic. That's nearer Redfall than Red Faction.
Re: Resident Evil Requiem 'Head and Shoulders' Ahead of All Consoles on PS5 Pro
That street scene in the rain reminds me of Watch Dogs fake trailer finally running.
Re: We're Really Getting Anime GTA on PS5 Before GTA 6
@clvr Fair enough. I was probably a bit overly defensive because you see the same tiresome comments in every gacha game thread from people that don't even play them. I mean (scrolls up):
"Gacha games are a cancer on the industry" or (I paraphrase) "I would rather die due to alcohol, drugs and gambling than play gacha games." It's ludicrous hyperbole. Plus you called my take "shallow". lol
But mentioning gambling is interesting, because gacha (in games) isn't gambling. In gambling typically you are not guaranteed to win anything. Whereas in most gacha games not only are you guaranteed to win but you are also guaranteed to get precisely the thing you want to get after X pulls in most cases. It might be sooner, but you always have that guarantee, hence you can plan and budget accordingly. Including, it must be noted, free credits as I don't spend at all anymore. This is very different to both typical gambling AND an improvement on typical loot boxes which like Pokemon / Magic / Sports cards that have absolutely no guarantees.
My point is in terms of gambling specifically many other games with loot boxes need to be addressed well before these games.
Can it still be prohibitively expensive? Sure if you feel you have to have everything. But as someone that is entirely F2P in these games now you also don't have to spend a penny and get most characters for free. You just can't have them all, same as in life.
Re: New Saros PS5 Gameplay Footage Is Brief But Cool as Heck
Playing Returnal now and it's mostly glorious. But there are some really frustrating aspects. When RNG or a hard room ruins a run and you have to go back to the start losing hours of progress I almost want to give up. It takes far too long to get back to where you were, assuming you want to be reasonably powered to take on the fight. That's a HUGE negative I hope they remedy in Saros.
Re: Skate Dev Suffers Layoffs to Better Support the Game's 'Long-Term Future'
I hate the term "a round of layoffs" as though we are expecting another to cycle around soon. It's probably accurate but very depressing. Good luck to all involved.
Re: We're Really Getting Anime GTA on PS5 Before GTA 6
@clvr Again this is nuanced. Yes it's true they use psychological tricks to inflate the feeling of accomplishment. But so does Slay the Spire, Vampire Survivors & Ball X Pit. Should they be legislated against too?
And so does advertising, so does marketing... of absolutely everything. That's the world we live in. Where we are constantly bombarded with fake information that you "have" to have this or that and you have to learn to make sound choices. Whether it's walking down the street, watching TV, reading a magazine etc. etc. you can't get away from ads. Would I prefer if all that went away? Honestly... Yes. But then we need to change our whole capitalist consumerist economy, as it would collapse and many people would be out of work. Good luck with that! / Viva la Revolucion! (delete as applicable)
Re: Games specifically a couple of things I would ban:
But this ISN'T limited to gacha games, even some "single player one and done games" as you put it have these elements. Assassin's Creed.
As for addiction. What is worse? My general addiction to gaming or my addiction to Genshin? This will of course be subjective. But I know when Breath of the Wild, or Skyrim came out I made a lot worse life choices - skipping work and social events, fobbing off friends to play those games - than I ever have with a gacha game. What is worse?
I am not saying gacha games aren't addictive, they absolutely are, but so is Tetris, so is Slay the Spire or Vampire Survivors. It was easier to stop playing the gacha games on any given day than those.
People are similarly obsessed with Warcraft, CoD, Fortnite or FIFA logging in every day to play. My point is If we are going to come down on one we need to come down on them all and not single out gacha.
Re: We're Really Getting Anime GTA on PS5 Before GTA 6
@clvr Please do!
(i'm sure it will be a fair and balanced take...)
Re: For Some Reason, Sony Apparently Got Gran Turismo 7 Running on Switch 2
Exclusives are important. But I think SOME games like Gran Turismo could make sense on SOME other platforms like Switch 2, as it will lead to more profits without cannibalising the PlayStation platform.
That doesn't mean I think it should be an open door for everything, absolutely not. Again exclusives are important, but it should be very carefully considered on a case by case basis.
Contrary to so many people thinking PlayStation is doing amazingly well due to "record profits" the truth, if you dig a little deeper, is that their profit margins, while slightly improved in FY 2024, are still pretty low despite those record profits and were very low in 2022 and 2023. Their business is still on a knife edge.
Re: We're Really Getting Anime GTA on PS5 Before GTA 6
@nessisonett Drink, drugs, gacha, yes this can all lead to addiction in some people and ruin lives. But it can also lead to enjoyment if handled responsibly, which is the VAST majority of users.
Couldn't that be said for gaming in general? Games are made to be purposefully addictive (just one more go!) and cost you money, are all games 'biblically evil stuff'? Gaming addiction is a real thing that also ruins lives and ends some too early, it's not just gacha. Should gaming in general also be legislated like in China, maximum of 1 hour a day for kids (not that it's largely followed), or even banned? Or should this be a job for parents and individuals? And where do you stop? Going to the gym and being obsessed by physical appearance can also be unhealthy and leads to a lot of deaths if you do it too much. Learning moderation is key.
And yes I've had alcoholics in the family and friends who turned into drug addicts, some recovered, sadly more didn't. RIP. But do we want a nanny state dictating what we do with our time and money, or at some point do people have to make their own choices?
I'm not trying to be deliberately argumentative, but it's a delicate and nuanced topic that isn't as black and white as you make it sound. You could apply this to almost anything that anyone with addictive personality could fall foul of, which is virtually everything.
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for March 2026 Announced
Nice mix of games. I'll forgive them a sports title as I quite like PGA. lol
Re: PS5 Pro Upgrade Details Spotted, as Sony Patents PSSR 2.0 Tech
@Fiendish-Beaver Not sure how much better Fable and E-Day will be as Microsoft don't seem to put the full effort in all the time on the Pro (e.g. Avowed) but sometimes they do, at worst it's unlikely to be any worse than Series X.
Re: PS5 Pro Upgrade Details Spotted, as Sony Patents PSSR 2.0 Tech
@Fiendish-Beaver It depends on the game. In some it's automatically on, in others there is a toggle. You don't really have to think about it, generally the dev will have pre-selected what they think is the best option. (EDIT: I see our gaming brethren already answered)
But choice is good and occasionally there can be some visual artefacts or quirks using PSSR (especially earlier implementations, before devs got to grips with it) so a toggle is useful if you don't like it in that specific game. Personally I haven't turned it off.
Enjoy RE: Requiem seems to be getting great reviews and PS5 Pro upgrade looks great.
Re: PS5 Pro Upgrade Details Spotted, as Sony Patents PSSR 2.0 Tech
Looking forward to seeing what it can do. On the whole, despite a few stumbles out the gate, I've been more than happy with the PS5 Pro already so this is just a bonus.
Will be interesting to see if this has to be enabled by devs or if games will be updated automatically to use PSSR 2. There's pros and cons to each, but ideally having it on automatically with a toggle to turn it off in some cases would be the best option as many devs are unlikely to update their games.
Re: 'The Plan's the Plan Until It's Not the Plan': Xbox All Over the Place on Future PS5 Ports
Words mean next to nothing, I'm waiting to see ACTIONS.
That said a few quotes that I thought were interesting.
That sounds like multi-platform isn't going anywhere to me. But as she said they are in the phase of analysing everything and formulating a plan, everything can change.
Re: This Is the Next PS5 Gacha That's Going to Eat Up All Your Time
How many are you juggling at the moment @get2sammyb? I'm down to 2 which still feels like quite a lot of playtime.
Re: PS Store Adds Another Layer of Transparency to PS5, PS4 Game Pricing
It’s an improvement but third party sites like PSPrices or DekuDeals do this and so much more.
Re: Here's How Beefy a PC You'll Need for Death Stranding 2
Quite modest really. For 30fps anyway. My 10+ year old mid-range rig might just about even play it. (not that i'd want to play it like that). I wonder if it will be Steam Deck verified?
Re: Marvel's Wolverine PS5 Release Date Announced
I look forward to seeing more. I don't really feel I know how the game flows. Some uninterrupted gameplay would solve that.
Re: 'No Second Chances': Marathon Cheaters Will Be Banned Forever, Bungie Says
All for this AS LONG AS there is a reasonable way to have it reviewed in good time if you are wrongly accused. Which does happen.
Re: Craving Classic Castlevania? Saint Slayer Hits PS5, PS4 This April
The 8-bit art looks fine in a tiny window on my computer but blow it up to a giant flat screen and it looks horrible. If I play this it will be on Steam Deck or PS Portal
Re: Going Platinum #13: Astro Bot Rescue Mission
I almost bought a PSVR1 on sale JUST for this game (and maybe a few others). Sadly I think it's one i'll never play.
Re: Forza Horizon 6's Renewed Focus on Progression Casts You as a Nobody in Japan
Fingers crossed this has better progression and less map marker splurge than FH5 and that it brings something new to the table. I put hundreds of hours into earlier games but bounced off FH5 pretty hard, it's undeniably a well made game but it felt like a reskin, like i'd played it all before.
Re: Sony Puts Must-Own PS5 Accessories on Sale in the US
"Must own" feels like misnomer.
Re: First PS Plus Essential Game for March 2026 Leaked Early
I don't usually like Sports games on these services but I wanted to play this, just not enough to buy. TPC Sawgrass it is.
Re: Saints Row Is 'Dead' Says Design Director After Prequel Pitch 'Ghosted' by Embracer Group
They boxed themselves into a corner. It was almost impossible to continue with the series characters after IV and Gat out of Hell, it just kept getting more and more ridiculous until you were a superhero US President fighting aliens in space! ...a long way from the promise of what Saint's Row originally was.
It needed SOME type or reset, they just chose the wrong type of reset. I'd love to see it, or something similar come back more true to original roots... hopefully with less purple dildos or millennial 'humour'!
Re: Incoming Xbox Boss Promises a 'Renewed Commitment to Console', and 'Hears' Fans on Skipping PS5
Microsoft can be a top publisher across all consoles AND have some exclusives, they have enough studios, both can be true. Or maybe more timed exclusives.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 621
@graymamba Seriously!!! You sicko! I though these were only there to weed out bots
Only kidding, huge achievement. Good luck finding your next fix.
Re: God of War's Next Main Game Looking Ever More Likely to Explore Egyptian Mythology
While this is interesting and adds on top of many other hints. The fact it was cut also could suggest they were unsure if this is the way they wanted to go and wanted to keep their options open. This may have been the plan of the last game director, but the next one may have other ideas.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 621
Just finished Yakuza 0. I enjoyed it but boy is it FAR too long. I only slightly touched the side content and still clocked up 68 hours. There's just too much that isn't very good. Less is more in my book, this is the opposite of that. (HLTB puts it at a dull 144 hours for completionists, and they usually underestimate by quite a bit imo, the gameplay isn't engaging enough for that.)
Yet I was drawn in by the characters, the story and the world. It's a very mixed bag but the humanity shown, despite them all being caricatures, shone through and ultimately made the game worthwhile. However I can't help thinking it would have been better at half the length, it's just so needlessly dragged out. I almost quit midgame.
Combat is fun for the first few chapters, but then becomes a drag, I groaned by midgame every time a mob in the world caught me and i'd have to go through the same rote combat and finishers for the umpteenth time. It gets worse as the game goes on as enemies get tankier and block more without much else changing to keep it fresh.
The business side missions were fun for about 10 minutes but are dragged out like a Far Cry game where after you finish one area you unlock another 4 that are basically the same boring busywork.
At least the sub-stories are quite fun, and thankfully short, often 5 minute vignettes that add flavour to the world. Some made me laugh, some were a bit sick, many were forgettable, but they all helped ground the world. I think I did 40 of 100.
Far too many minigames, literally dozens that each feel weak on their own. Again less is more.
Still overall I enjoyed it, the characters and world were that good and shone through the weaker aspects, plus it had a much better tempo at the end after a glacially slow start and middle and finished on a high. Cautiously recommended.
Thankfully Kiwami 1 & 2 seem much shorter.
Returnal next I think.
Re: Incoming Xbox Boss Promises a 'Renewed Commitment to Console', But Will Still Publish on PS5
@get2sammyb Honestly her statement is so much word salad that can be interpreted however you want.
I have seen raging fanboys claiming that the "renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console" signifies a return to platform exclusives. I've seen others, including you, suggest the opposite.
The whole statement seems carefully crafted appease as many people as possible without saying much at all. Focus on games, console and not-AI slop would be three bullet points you would write to ease fans fears at a transition. She talks the talk, but will she walk the walk?
All in all the change of CEO seems so rushed, like something went down, if you had the time you surely wouldn't announce it like this - though perhaps don't attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence. I do wonder if this is another massive knee-jerk policy shift for Xbox. Everything feels more feasible than yesterday. Everything. Honestly I am bit worried. Gaming and Sony needs a stronger Xbox imo.
Re: Sony's Left Bloodborne Fans More Frustrated Than Ever Following Bluepoint Shutdown
@CielloArc Sure Sony may nudge them towards a direction, fitting in with a larger game plan, but that is not the same as telling them what to do, the studios still have to be onboard with what they are making.
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
@Th3solution With Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond leaving Xbox seemingly in a hurry and being replaced by an AI CEO (no not that type), the Bluepoint story has already been superseded in the news cycle.
Re: Phil Spencer Stepping Down, Sarah Bond Leaving Microsoft in Huge Xbox Shake-Up
Microsoft couldn’t let Sony have more than a full day of bad news before saying “hold my beer”. lol
I’ve got a lot of respect for Phil Spencer, he picked the up Xbox off the floor and tried to make a good fight of it. Odds were always against him, but not through lack of trying. Honestly a bit worried about where Xbox will go under new leadership.
Re: Roblox Is Being Played More Than PlayStation and Steam Combined
@OldGamer999 Not to mention other media taking people's attention away from games. E.g. The same guy did a State of OnlyFans 2025 report and concluded that only the NFL paid out more money to it's stars than OnlyFans which pipped the Premier League, MLB & NBA. Crumbs!
Re: Roblox Is Being Played More Than PlayStation and Steam Combined
One thing to point out is that while PLAYERS are higher, revenues and profits aren't anywhere near PlayStation / Xbox because the demographic playing Robolox are mostly kids.
Still Roblox paid out $1.5bn to Roblox devs and last quarter that was $477 million up over 70% YoY. It's growing massively and will probably grow even faster with Gen-AI dev tools.
Re: Roblox Is Being Played More Than PlayStation and Steam Combined
I was busy reading through this yesterday when the Bluepoint news came out. So many takeaways, but it's also not all the different from his state of videogames 2025 report, so it didn't shock as much.
Yet I'm still staggered by stats like:
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
@wildcat_kickz On the one hand it is sad to see and it would be nice to see more games/studios/publishers fight for their games.
But I think the ODDS are that if you aren't big out the gate you will never be big. There are exceptions of course, but VERY few, and all the ones I can think of were when there weren't other live services around, that's not the case now.
With the high cost of maintaining live services if you don't make an impact Day 1 / Month 1 then it's HIGHLY unlikely you will ever turn that corner and it's often better to cut your losses than throw good money after bad. If I was in their position handing finances, as sad as it is, I would cut my losses and run.
There's another angle to this. Gamers. Gamers are brutal and if you incur online reputational damage turning the perception around is almost impossible. I REALLY hate this. But vocal gamers can seemingly kill a game before it's even come out. People might give it a small chance, but will be more critical, and unless it's completely revolutionary it's probably DOA when it just MIGHT have stood a chance had gamers been a bit more patient/forgiving. Sad times.
Re: Sony's Left Bloodborne Fans More Frustrated Than Ever Following Bluepoint Shutdown
@IOI No. Most of Sony's live service games are either from new studios that they have bought or partnered with SPECIFICALLY for that purpose, or from studios with plenty of history in making multiplayer titles (Naughty Dog, Insomniac etc.).
As for the others: Studios will know Sony is more likely to green-light live services so they are more likely to pitch them, and they're more likely to get approved. But that's not the same as Sony assigning Studios specific games / game types.
Ultimately believe what you want to believe, but if Sony were telling studio heads what to do I think we would have heard about it more than once, Jason Schreier would have another exposé... instead... tumbleweeds.
@Shepherd_Tallon I said similar on another post. Gamers are understandably mad today, a lot of reactionary comments, but this will cool off with time. Still a damn shame about Bluepoint.
Re: Sony's Left Bloodborne Fans More Frustrated Than Ever Following Bluepoint Shutdown
@SuperSilverback I'll live.
@Shepherd_Tallon For the record, thanks. But also I am speculating like everyone else. The reality is we know next to nothing about why this was done, but we don't like it, so we complain, which is fair enough, but doesn't mean we know jack.
I was MAD last night, unreasonably mad about Sony closing Bluepoint, I didn't like it. But I logged off and had a think about it. I'm still not happy this morning but I think I have a little more perspective.
Re: Sony's Left Bloodborne Fans More Frustrated Than Ever Following Bluepoint Shutdown
@IOI When are people going to realise Sony don't "assign" their studios projects. Studios pitch ideas to Sony and Sony green-lights them, or not. Bluepoint have repeatedly said they want to make their own games, not just remaster / remake others'.
The developers have to want to make the game, they have to be passionate about the project for many years or it will be awful.
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
@wildcat_kickz It's complicated. There's several things going on, i'm just going to concentrate on Sony, else this will be a dissertation.
No I don't think they've lost the plot of the long game, I think most vocal gamers don't even know what the long game is. Sony, Microsoft etc. are looking 10+ years ahead and trying to make sure that they still have a successful platform.
Most vocal gamers would have Sony just making single player games, which might do well for the next few years, we'd be happy right? But what happens when the costs for these become unprofitable; when the large live service games leave the platform to launch on their own either streamed on cloud or beamed from mobile to TV without a 30% MTX cut to Sony; or when government legislators reduce the cut stores can take to 10% - 15%... Sony's revenues and profits could tank overnight as a result of these sort of events. The Sony that most vocal gamers would have created to make games for themselves would likely fail. Hard decisions now.
I am not saying ALL these things will happen but Sony, and others, need to make sure they can weather these huge shifts IF they come to pass. That's why they have been diversifying, that's part of what their live service push is all about, putting their future in their own hands not at the mercy of others. Yes it makes it unpopular now.
It's Sony who are thinking long term, it's gamers who aren't. Gamers are thinking short term. I don't blame them, it's not their job, they are just saying what they want. But the two aren't the same thing. Despite Sony crowing about "record profits" the truth is there to see for those willing to look carefully, PlayStation is in a precarious place with their low profit margins, they're ok-ish now, but if even one of these events comes to pass it could tip them to the other side of it. And the rest of Sony isn't in very good shape to prop them up.
As a gamer who wants to play single player games I don't want Sony making all these live services, but as someone that wants PlayStation to still be around a decade from now still making single player games I can understand why they are trying to diversify and trying to get in on the live service act. It isn't simply greed as clueless people like to claim, it's potentially survival.
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
@Th3solution I agree they shouldn't make decisions based purely on a spreadsheet, and to be clear I think it's a HUGE mistake to close Bluepoint down, I was simply pointing out at a business I don't think they were very successful. But I 100% DON'T think Sony is only using a spreadsheet to make these decisions. Bear in mind that Sony has FAR more information that we do, comparatively we know nothing, that's important to remember. Gamers sometimes think we know it all, but we don't.
We don't know even the start of the whole story, we are all making assumptions based on maybe 5% of the evidence and speculating, lashing out because we are hurt by it. But in reality we are clueless.
I don't think making the fans mad for a few days is a major concern for Sony, nor should it be, if they feel it's the right business decision. Sadly part of big business is sometimes making unpopular calls.
Because we fans... we are fickle... we are mad today, true, but I think this will quickly be quickly forgotten by most, not all, but most. When gamers are playing Saros, or Kena, or Yotei Legends, or Marathon, or Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls, or Phantom Blade 0, or even Wolverine this year will they still be worrying about Bluepoint being closed? Perhaps a few, but for most it will pass. Today it's a fresh wound and gamers are saying irrational things, but give time that will pass.
Of course it isn't just ONE decision, all the decisions build up and that can change opinions over time. But I think Sony will weather this just fine, with a pretty strong 2026 line-up. That's just the way of things.
Re: Memory Crisis Threatening to Delay PS6 Could Last 'Another 10 Years'
This is exactly in line with what I said the other day. As much as we may want the PS6 delayed a year or two prices are unlikely to come down in that timeframe and meanwhile the hardware just gets older. No easy decisions.
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
@KundaliniRising333 This is pretty disingenuous. For virtually EVERY developer it's the worst generation in terms of output, games simply take a lot longer to make. This isn't a Sony issue, it's an industry issue. Player consideration is more subjective, that's more fair to argue, though I can't think of too many really anti-consumer decisions.
Yes they have record profits, but this is expected as that also have record investment. Don't be distracted by the bigger numbers, instead look at their profit margins which are not all that high just 8.9% last year and 6.8% the two years before compared to 13.5% in 2018 and 12.1% in 2019. They aren't doing as well as they are pretending to investors. "Record profits" is a bit of smokescreen, it's about showing confidence to investors.
To paraphrase if I spent £100 and made £120 back that would be a healthy 20% profit margin on profits of £20. But if I spent £300 and made £330 back that would be 'RECORD PROFITS' of £30 but my all important profit margin would be just 10% and my business may not be as strong. Furthermore if I gave you $100 million USD over 5 years I'd want a lot more back than a measly 6.8% return. That's the sticky situation Sony is in with investors, it's not simply "guided by greed".
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
@TrollOfWar It's a balancing act. You can have some loss leaders, and some games won't make a profit, but they have to be a net gain for the platform. Did Demon's souls with it's 1-2 million copies achieve that? Did it actually help sell many consoles? Debateable. I'd posit not a lot. Were there other mitigating factors, e.g. Did people sub to PS+ when it joined the service? These things complicate it.
Based on game sales alone most major Sony first party games seem to make a decent profit historically. That is backed up with info gleaned from things like the Insomniac leak. I am very confident on that. But those profits are shrinking as their games cost more and more to make.
For games that sold less well and smaller titles it's harder to know, and without full profit and loss statements we'll never know for sure. I suspect many are on the knife edge. Is that good enough when you have spend $XXX million?
But, unlike what Microsoft said publicly, I DO believe exclusives are important in selling people on your ecosystem. In fact I know it to be true for many of us. I never would have bought a Switch 2 if all their games were on PS5, but I was there day 1 for Nintendo games. I suspect many are in the same boat. Exclusives are still imperative.
There is an argument that could be made that Sony - who make most of their profit from third party games and MTX on PSN - could just about break even with their first party games and that would be enough, just use them to bring people to the console platform. But I don't think that rings true. One aspect they have to fear is that massive games like Fortnite, Roblox, COD outgrow their platform and just release as their own launchers on PC/mobile which would massively cut Sony's profits overnight. Or that regulators intervene and reduce their cut from 30% down to maybe 10% - 15%.
Sony, very sensibly, don't want all their eggs to be in one basket, they don't want to be dependant on everyone else's profits, or just make money from single player games which are becoming prohibitively expensive. Which is why they want to make a healthy profit on their own games, and ultimately, whether we like it or not, why they want their own successful live services. It does make some business sense for their long term future. That doesn't mean we have to like it.
Re: Avowed Dev Hopes RPG's Biggest Criticism Has Been Fixed for PS5 Launch
Most reviews complained about things that I thought would be fixed later so I have waited. And it seems most of them have been fixed, seems like a smart time to jump in.
However I might have considered buying this on PS5 Pro, but it's a poor port, instead i'll play this on Game Pass, they lost a sale.
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
@get2sammyb Generally agree with most of your points, I was nodding along reading it, a well articulated piece. The two things I would push back on a little:
We have to look at where Sony's profits are coming from - mostly PS+ services and third party games, especially MTX. Outside of that everything must be on knife edge for their first party. This is where I could see Sony potentially going multi-platform if things get worse.
If a studio of theirs isn't making money, or is losing money, do you just keep them going? Of course you can do this to an extent, you can have a few loss leaders, but not many. If the books don't balance, they don't balance, you don't usually offset with profits from elsewhere. One part a business can be failing while another is thriving. Still a shame this was their solution, surely there was a better way...
Additionally as a multinational business you HAVE to look strong to investors, so boasting about record revenues, as tasteless as it may be to us regardless of the situation, but even more so when you are laying off staff, is normal for that world. It's not a good look to us, especially now, but so much big business is about posturing.
That aside excellent piece, well articulated on a sad day.
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
@Shepherd_Tallon Someone will no doubt say something at some point, give their opinion, but whether we get to the truth of it is another matter. As a divorce lawyer would say there's three sides to every story, his side, her side and the truth.
Re: 'I'm Confident in the Direction We're Headed': Under-Fire PlayStation Boss Tries to Explain Baffling Bluepoint Closure
@Fizza Naughty Dog WANTED to make TLOU 2 Factions they've said that themselves, but it grew outside what they could cope with. They also have a long history of making multiplayer games or modes from Crash Team Racing, to Jak X, Uncharted 2, 3, 4 and TLOU. most of Naughty Dog's games in the last 3 decades have multiplayer support, yet people act like they are only a single player studio and this is some huge shift when it isn't.
Insomniac too with Resistance 1, 2, 3, Ratchet Up Your Arsenal, Deadlocked, All for One, Full Frontal Assault, Sunset Overdrive, Fuse, Outernauts and more. Many of their games are all multiplayer titles too. Why is it that hard to imagine they might pitch a multiplayer version of one of their games? Especially if they know Sony is more likely to green light it.
As for cancellations, there are cancelled singles player projects happening in the background the whole time that we never know about, we just don't hear about them. The only reason we know about the Spider-Verse multiplayer game is due to the Insomniac leak (but where is single player Venom which was meant to launch by now?). Similar with Bluepoint's GoW which was leaked to a reporter, else we'd know nothing. TLOU2 Factions was different because they initially announced it was going to be part of TLOU2 before spinning it off into it's own larger game, which in hindsight was likely a mistake.
I'm not saying Sony didn't want live services, they did, and were more likely to green-light them, but they aren't going to force their devs to make something they don't as a studio want to do, that's never how you get good results either creatively or financially. This false narrative needs to go.
Most of the new live service games were by studios they bought, or partnered with, especially for this task not existing single player studios. They wanted both.
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
@Shepherd_Tallon I mostly agree. Though as a creative I do lament all the lay offs in the industry more personally. I can't just detach.
One thing I would say is that as fans we don't have all the information. I know it's a cliché to say, but that's because it's true, Sony will NOT have made this decision lightly, they will have their reasons for this decision. Not saying we would agree with them if we knew all the facts, but they clearly think this is the right decision.
It does make me wonder what we don't know. e.g.
We don't know, but it does make me wonder. Either way a real shame as a gamer that enjoyed every single one of their games from Blast Factor to Demon's Souls remake. A sad day.