Depending on what games they are, this could lead to a "snake eating itself" situation:
Game comes out only on PlayStation
Game doesn't generate enough revenue to satisfy Sony
Game gets ported to PC for additional revenue
Revenue gets reinvested into new game development
Repeat cycle
This will encourage many people to switch to PC and cut PlayStation out of the cycle entirely. Game sales on PlayStation will drop and Sony will have no choice but to continue releasing on PC with quick turnaround to recoup lost PlayStation sales or eat heavy costs. The cycle will continue indefinitely and the need for PlayStation hardware will go away for many people, especially the enthusiast crowd who care about graphics and performance.
All of sudden PlayStation consoles seem like bad value when PC will get all Xbox exclusives in addition to PlayStation games, with no online paywalls and the ease of piracy (which let's be real, is prominent but people love to pretend it's insignificant). PlayStation will only be one step ahead of total redundancy that is Xbox.
This also undermines PS5's backwards compatibility and boost mode which are no longer attractive selling points for those that skipped PS4.
Not until it's £30 or less. To me £50 is asking too much for 3 games from 2 gens ago that have only been slightly touched up when there are new exciting games worth saving out for.
I don't think he's talking about bringing HL: Alyx or any other Valve game to PS5/PSVR but instead probably making another attempt at a "console Steam box".
Newell has been outspoken about his dislike for Sony and PlayStation over the years and never fails to take jabs at them given the opportunity; just look at this recent interview where without hesitation picks Xbox over PS5:
No head of a game studio would outright pick one platform over the other if they intended to create and sell games for both of them but the fact that he doesn't even mention a single positive unique feature about PS5 speaks volumes.
And let's not forget Valve's tepid support for PlayStation over the years; leaving EA to make a woeful port of The Orange Box while they handled the Xbox 360 version themselves and completely skipping both Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 on PS3 for no given reason. It took up until 2010 for him to realise he's losing sales on a growing PS3 playerbase that he came back grovelling on Sony's E3 stage to announce Portal 2 on PS3.
I haven't bought an OPM UK magazine since the beginning of the PS2 generation but had practically every issue up until PS2 launched. It's funny how I used to hold their reviews in high regard but looking back they really had some awful reviews that were complete outliers to the general consensus: giving 9/10 to Star Wars Episode 1 (later discovering the reviewer was bribed with a trip to Skywalker Ranch), 10/10 to EVERY PS1 Tomb Raider (massive bias towards UK devs) and worst of all, only giving 7/10 to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night which basically doomed the game into obscurity in the UK.
I think this pretty much confirms that Crash, Spyro and maybe Tony Hawk are all going to be on hiatus again and we probably won't get any new entires for a long time now (if at all).
Game looks fantastic and will undoubtably become PS5's biggest true exclusive. Hopefully it's a massive success and will convince Sony to drop cross-gen for major upcoming titles so we can get more games that showcase the PS5's strengths like this.
Reading reports from people who are currently playing the game that it's punishingly hard. This game is going to anger and annoy a lot of people; those unfamiliar with roguelikes/roguelites are in for a rude awakening.
I predict there will be a lot of people buying it under the impression that it's a cool looking sci-fi third-person shooter. Then as soon as they discover that it's actually a roguelite (dying sets you back to the beginning and levels are procedurally generated) the regret will kick in esp with the £70 price.
My biggest concern about this gen is starting to come true:
The stock shortage is just going to prolong cross-gen games for a lot longer. This really sucks for those of us who want true current generation games that actually make use of the new hardware and now we'll probably be waiting at least 2 more years until devs transition fully to only making current gen games.
@Floki All I meant is the Series S will be the lowest common denominator for this gen and all multiplat games will be using it as the base system to develop from. This simply means only a few devs will go above and beyond to make DualSense features intrinsic to gameplay when the majority will ignore it or provide a half-baked approach, just like the touchpad on PS4.
@sikthvash I think you're underestimating how much of a leap in power it has been this gen, but I can understand why since so far only Demon's Souls showcased it while everything else has been hindered by being cross-gen.
The thing about PC is so far there haven't been any true multiplatform generation exclusives i.e. only on PS5 and Xbox Series. The reason low and medium spec PCs can run current games is because they're still being designed for PS4 and Xbox One as base platforms. It'll be interesting to see what happens in a few years time when (if?) multiplat devs move solely to PS5 and Xbox Series and how PC ports will be affected and whether it'll force PC owners to upgrade and get NVMe SSDs with approximate console speeds or be left behind.
The reason I'm bitter about Series S is because currently it's getting an easy ride playing games designed for PS4 and Xbox One but when true next gen only games start arriving, Microsoft will be forcibly making devs scale back their ambitions to accommodate the Series S. This is also unprecedented because no generation has ever launched with 2 models of the same platform with such a big power difference. The way I see it, MS will either have to abandon Series S like they did with Kinect and anger a lot of people or they will forcibly keep the bar low for all multiplatform devs while PS5, PC and Series X owners suffer the consequences.
Developers at id, Remedy, Infinity Ward, 4A Games have spoken about how the Series S will hold back multiplatform development.
Do you really think games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart could even work on a Series S? Multiplatform devs have to completely compromise their design and vision to make games even work on a Series S. Games like Rift Apart that utilise the hardware for instantaneous loading could never be made by multiplatform devs as long as Series S parity is enforced. It'll only be Sony and their 3rd party exclusives that'll be able to make full use of the hardware.
Like you said there is very little difference between PS5 and Series X, so yes, PS5 wouldn't compromise development for Series X, but Series S (and last gen) certainly will.
Tell me, why Halo Infinite was delayed again? Why was the reception to its reveal so unanimously negative? Could it be weaker platforms holding it back?
@thefourfoldroot The weak Xbox Series S will hold back all multiplatform games for the entire generation by forcing content parity across all systems. The only way games will fully utilise hardware is if Sony continues securing console and timed exclusives which will give devs an incentive to make the most of all the features.
This game deserves to flop on PlayStation, it's the only way Sony will get the message that their longtime supporters deserve equal if not better treatment.
The least they could have done is added some exclusive content or modes to the PS versions but I presume they were blindsided by the Game Pass deal and it was too late.
It's also no coincidence that the game currently sits on a yellow Metascore; the first time in the franchise's 15 year history. If ever there was evidence that an annual exclusive going multiplatform would harm quality, this is it!
This game would have been on my radar had it not been announced as a roguelike/roguelite; a genre I absolutely cannot enjoy despite giving a chance to multiple games: Hades, Dead Cells, Rogue Legacy, Binding of Isaac, Spelunky and disliking all of them.
Both Jeff Ross and John Garvin the game director and creative director/writer have left Bend. Who would even lead development of the sequel when the two key personnel are gone?
It seems very unlikely to me that this series will get a real sequel; maybe they can make a spin-off multiplayer game using the already made world and assets.
@Divergent95 Sure but you have to understand that in general social media there's a lot more PC and Xbox people who are part of the conversation rejoicing about this news and using this a crutch to diminish the necessity and value of PS hardware. But if you look at PS specific sites and communities, the vast majority dislike the direction Sony are heading in and are also questioning the need to even buy PS hardware if exclusives will go elsewhere anyway.
@Divergent95 According to SteamSpy, HZD has to date sold between 1 million - 2 million on Steam after being on sale for almost 9 months, which frankly seems very weak for a game of that calibre. Not forgetting the 30/70 split with Steam on the sale price.
Jim Ryan in his GQ interview said "there was no massive adverse reaction" to the HZD port so they'll continue. I'm thinking... did you even look at your own PS Blog comments or PS community sites like here? Even the polls show that PS fans are overwhelmingly against this.
It's good to see PlayStation fans making their voices heard when it comes to these PC ports, unlike Xbox fans who just succumbed to Microsoft's PC day-and-date strategy and couldn't even challenge them to remove Xbox Live Gold for free to play games until just recently.
Funny how there's hysteria that Sony could in future shut down a simple time sync server while there's no concern whatsoever that Steam and Epic won't at some point way in the future shut their servers too, there's no contingency talks about that!
I recently played through the Jak Collection on PS3 and only really found the first game enjoyable. Jak II and 3 were a complete shift in genre and tone and I didn't enjoy them at all. They became poor GTA clones and all the platforming and tropical charm of the first game was replaced with shooting and driving in dull apocalyptic environments.
If they do revisit this series I hope it's like the first game and not the sequels.
If this gets us closer to Virtua Fighter 6, I'll gladly take it.
Also Sega, please revive Shinobi, OutRun, Sega Rally and Virtua Tennis while you're at it or at least farm them out to other devs like Streets of Rage 4.
@thefourfoldroot I get that but all of Microsoft's purchases benefit their ecosystem and owners with added features and exclusives only for their platform, how does investing in eSports leagues and tournaments benefit PlayStation users in any way?
I'm not saying Sony needs to do exactly as Microsoft and buy big established companies; they clearly don't have the money for that. But they should at least take a grassroots approach to build new internal studios and poach talent just like Microsoft's The Initiative did when they started up.
Microsoft is buying entire publishers and studios and eyeing apps like Discord, all of which they can and will lock down to their platform.
Meanwhile Sony is investing in fighting game tournaments and eSports leagues where the games being played are and will remain multiplatform anyway! So how exactly does this benefit PS owners?
Again just like buying EVO, this is just a vanity purchase that serves nothing to PlayStation owners. All this does is marginally increase PS brand awareness which to me seems like such a low priority when there's far more pressing issues that need to be addressed.
Up to now I had given both Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst the benefit of doubt that they were doing what was best for PlayStation and their customers, but to recap:
£70 for all first party games
"We believe in generations" then announcing Horizon Forbidden West, Miles Morales, Sackboy are all cross-gen while refusing to state whether the new God of War also is (spoiler: it probably is)
The closure of PS3, PSP and Vita online stores while their competitor doubles down on committing to backwards compatibility
The promise of more PS4 ports to PC causing hesitation in people to invest in PS5 if to find that only a few years later they come to PC with more bells and whistles than the PS5 version while also being cheaper and no online multiplayer costs attached (even piratable)
The ridiculous form factor of the PS5 console itself; no consideration for most people's entertainment unit setups
The half-baked PS5 UI with missing basic features not carried over from PS4 like folders and deleting games from library as well as missing 1440p, Quick Resume, Auto HDR and VRR support that their competitor offers
Poor DualSense quality control with reported drift issues starting to become widespread
The downsizing and closures of their Japanese and European first party studios paired with the exodus of talented veterans
Wasting money on vanity purchases like buying EVO, a move that offers nothing to PlayStation owners
Resting on their laurels regarding acquiring studios when their competitor is on a buying streak: Bethesda (id, Arkane, Tango, MachineGames), Ninja Theory, Obsidian, Double Fine, inXile, Compulsion; all former multiplatform studios forever gone from PlayStation
Finally this, Microsoft getting to one up Sony by announcing Sony's own game on their Game Pass service while PlayStation chumps have to pay full price on day one
This is such a colossal screw up by Sony for PlayStation owners and all but confirms to me that Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst are so out of their depth compared to their predecessors and have been literally coasting on the success of PS4 into this generation.
I have conflicted feelings towards Media Molecule.
On one hand, their games all get high scores and accolades and the studio is often lauded by industry peers (including Hideo Kojima) as having an incredible and whimsical creative culture, so it's good to see Sony continue to nurture it.
However all their games have focused all too much on creation and sharing rather than playing and consequently their games have suffered from poorly implemented gameplay and bland design, leaving their community to provide the interesting content.
I know Sony and others see them as a prestigious studio but aside from the first LBP (mainly due to hype) their games have not sold well and have little appeal to the wide gaming audience.
I feel a studio as talented as MM is being wasted serving a niche community when all this time they could have been making traditional high quality AAA gameplay-centric games alongside their sister studios at Sony.
I was pretty disappointed after watching alpha gameplay footage. It seems like a carbon copy of Left 4 Dead, both in gameplay and visuals with the addition of "cards" that affect stats; a system that seems rife for monetisation and balance breaking.
This would have been acceptable if it released in the early 2010s but now we're over a decade apart from Left 4 Dead 2 and it's disappointing how little the visuals and gameplay have improved from that 2009 game. The game even recycles a lot of animations from Left 4 Dead (e.g. using a medpack) that just look dated today.
I watched some streams of this and it looked so chaotic and awful. Capcom needs to stop trying to make competitive Resident Evil multiplayer a thing and add some more content into the RE single player; new characters, scenarios, unlocks etc. The past few RE games can be completed well within 4 hours with little else to do afterwards.
I have no interest in Bethesda games aside from DOOM but the silver lining of this move is that it should incentivise Sony to double down on PlayStation exclusives and keep them on their platform, lest they want to see their playerbase erode away to Xbox and PC especially.
I don't understand why Sony doesn't leverage the power and backwards compatibility of PS5 to enhance their exclusives instead of focusing on porting games to PC.
They're completely undermining PS5's backwards compatibility by making these PC ports. The backwards compatibility alone would have breathed new life into PS4 game sales, especially for those who missed out on PS4 exclusives because they were too snobbish to play them on PS4 frame rates and resolutions. That way they would still get 100% of sales revenue (on PS Store) and retain players on their ecosystem instead of splitting it 70/30 with Valve or 88/12 with Epic for one-time purchases.
Imagine if Guerrilla had spent time optimising Horizon for PS5 instead of wasting months patching the PC Port. That would have enticed so many more people to get a PS5 coupled with the sequel announcement.
Instead these PC ports are just going to condition them to hold out for a few years to get the game delivered to them on a silver platter. And with confirmation that Horizon Forbidden West is being developed for both PS4 and PS5 (another awful decision), it practically guarantees that it will come to PC too (since the game by design can't take advantage of PS5's bespoke hardware), so no need for a PS5!
I've said that I don't mind their C-tier games going to PC, but if prestigious exclusives start getting ports, people's desire to own PlayStation hardware will plummet and will ultimately have a knock on effect on 1st party game development. For example, designing games to work for lower end PCs to maximise sales and ignoring the bespoke strengths of PlayStation hardware (SSD etc) or including MTX for continual revenue from otherwise one-time sales on platforms not their own; Steam, Epic etc.
@3MonthBeef I don't think that applies to Switch, which can be played using a normal controller on a TV without any forced motion controls or touch mechanics.
What I mean by directly compete with Nintendo is that they should have focused on luring Nintendo fans by making games that would appeal to the same audience. They delivered a perfect response to Mario with Astro Bot but it remained locked to PSVR so the vast majority never got to experience it.
To me Japan Studio seemed to design games around gimmicks foregoing traditional game design, effectively coming across as extended tech demos.
Just look at some of the titles they made: Ape Escape, Fantavision, The Eye of Judgement, LocoRoco, Puppeteer, Gravity Rush, Knack.
All of them feature unusual controls or game mechanics, which is why I think they failed to appeal to a lot of people who just want normal playing games.
What they should have done was to directly compete with Nintendo's output by making games towards a younger audience that also retains gameplay appeal to adults. This still remains a gap in Sony's studios and Japan Studio was the ideal candidate to fill it.
They finally got a real winner with Astro Bot, but it took them way too long to get there. I'm glad that team's the focus now though and they become the prime 3D platformer developer for Sony.
You know who the real losers are? The PS4 owners who upgraded to PS4 Pro believing that was the only option for playing Sony exclusives at optimal settings.
Sony promoted the PS4 Pro as the optimal platform to play games at better frame rates and resolutions and was inferred to be the only way to get these upgrades for exclusives.
And with this news of more PS4 titles to come to PC, they effectively made the PS4 Pro redundant to the "pro" crowd they were targeting in the first place.
I wouldn't blame burned PS4 Pro owners now becoming reluctant to take the plunge into PS5 after being betrayed once already.
Also, I find it quite hypocritical that Sony wastes money securing 3rd party exclusives while they themselves are going 3rd party with these PC ports and MLB the Show on Xbox.
The age of true 3rd party exclusives is over, it will never be like the PS2 era again, there's too much money left on the table for 3rd parties to be locked to one platform. Sony should be focusing on their 1st party studios making exclusive games instead of wasting money on stupid things like first access to RE:Village teaser demos.
That Avenger's Spider-Man exclusive was a massive dud; wonder how much was wasted on that which could have gone into 1st party studios.
It was hilarious seeing Final Fantasy XVI being announced as "1 year timed exclusive" Sony basically signalling their viewers that you can totally skip PS5 if you can hold out 1 year and get a better performing version on another platform, which will probably have better ray tracing abilities etc.
"Only on PlayStation" becomes "Also on PlayStation" and not even "Best on PlayStation" either because the modular nature of PC allows it to always remain on top by brute forcing performance.
Quite a slap in the face to PS fans who bought consoles on the promise of being the only way to play these exclusives then later to find that these versions are/will be inferior in every way to their PC ports while being cheaper with no PS Plus multiplayer requirements.
Horizon, Death Stranding and Detroit still run at 30 fps on PS5 while their PC counterparts are 60 fps and there's no sign that these games will be patched to run at 60 fps either, at least for free with Guerrilla's resources being shared on patching the shoddy PC port and developing the sequel.
Personally, I'm okay with Sony's C-tier exclusives like Days Gone, The Order: 1886, Knack, Concrete Genie and underperforming games like Dreams and Gravity Rush getting a new lease on life on PC to generate some revenue to put back into big budget development for PS5.
But if games from Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Polyphony and Santa Monica end up on PC (highly sought after critically acclaimed games), I would see no reason to ever trust Sony to treat their hardware owners right and will just permanently move to PC where I know I will get the highest quality visuals and performance from these games.
Also, the gap between PS4 and PC release is shortening, from Horizon being 3 years to Days Gone not even being 2 full years. It's inevitable it'll gradually shorten even more until it's day and date.
It's sad to see but I think at this rate Sony will go in the way of Sega and just become a multiplatform publisher, meanwhile PS consoles will still be bought by the casual FIFA, Fortnite, CoD crowd, sales from the hardcore fanbase will dry up as they migrate to PC to enjoy the best experience with no restrictions.
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Re: PlayStation Studios' Creator Page Is Live on Steam, And Teasing More PC Ports
Depending on what games they are, this could lead to a "snake eating itself" situation:
This will encourage many people to switch to PC and cut PlayStation out of the cycle entirely. Game sales on PlayStation will drop and Sony will have no choice but to continue releasing on PC with quick turnaround to recoup lost PlayStation sales or eat heavy costs. The cycle will continue indefinitely and the need for PlayStation hardware will go away for many people, especially the enthusiast crowd who care about graphics and performance.
All of sudden PlayStation consoles seem like bad value when PC will get all Xbox exclusives in addition to PlayStation games, with no online paywalls and the ease of piracy (which let's be real, is prominent but people love to pretend it's insignificant). PlayStation will only be one step ahead of total redundancy that is Xbox.
This also undermines PS5's backwards compatibility and boost mode which are no longer attractive selling points for those that skipped PS4.
Re: Poll: Did You Buy Mass Effect Legendary Edition?
Not until it's £30 or less. To me £50 is asking too much for 3 games from 2 gens ago that have only been slightly touched up when there are new exciting games worth saving out for.
Re: Valve Boss Gabe Newell Hints PS5, PS4 Projects Could Be Announced This Year
I don't think he's talking about bringing HL: Alyx or any other Valve game to PS5/PSVR but instead probably making another attempt at a "console Steam box".
Newell has been outspoken about his dislike for Sony and PlayStation over the years and never fails to take jabs at them given the opportunity; just look at this recent interview where without hesitation picks Xbox over PS5:
https://youtu.be/BVjPUExAqaY?t=190
No head of a game studio would outright pick one platform over the other if they intended to create and sell games for both of them but the fact that he doesn't even mention a single positive unique feature about PS5 speaks volumes.
And let's not forget Valve's tepid support for PlayStation over the years; leaving EA to make a woeful port of The Orange Box while they handled the Xbox 360 version themselves and completely skipping both Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 on PS3 for no given reason. It took up until 2010 for him to realise he's losing sales on a growing PS3 playerbase that he came back grovelling on Sony's E3 stage to announce Portal 2 on PS3.
Re: Sony Invests in Discord, Full Integration Coming to PS5, PS4 Next Year
As a strictly single player, non-social console user this news does nothing for me but I'm happy for those that find it beneficial for them.
Re: Official PlayStation Magazine UK Canned, PLAY Branding Resurrected
I haven't bought an OPM UK magazine since the beginning of the PS2 generation but had practically every issue up until PS2 launched. It's funny how I used to hold their reviews in high regard but looking back they really had some awful reviews that were complete outliers to the general consensus: giving 9/10 to Star Wars Episode 1 (later discovering the reviewer was bribed with a trip to Skywalker Ranch), 10/10 to EVERY PS1 Tomb Raider (massive bias towards UK devs) and worst of all, only giving 7/10 to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night which basically doomed the game into obscurity in the UK.
Re: Crash Bandicoot 4 Dev Enlisted for Call of Duty, Er, Duty
I think this pretty much confirms that Crash, Spyro and maybe Tony Hawk are all going to be on hiatus again and we probably won't get any new entires for a long time now (if at all).
Re: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Gameplay Trailer Looks Simply Sublime
Game looks fantastic and will undoubtably become PS5's biggest true exclusive. Hopefully it's a massive success and will convince Sony to drop cross-gen for major upcoming titles so we can get more games that showcase the PS5's strengths like this.
Re: Poll: Will You Be Buying Returnal?
Reading reports from people who are currently playing the game that it's punishingly hard. This game is going to anger and annoy a lot of people; those unfamiliar with roguelikes/roguelites are in for a rude awakening.
Re: Poll: Will You Be Buying Returnal?
I predict there will be a lot of people buying it under the impression that it's a cool looking sci-fi third-person shooter. Then as soon as they discover that it's actually a roguelite (dying sets you back to the beginning and levels are procedurally generated) the regret will kick in esp with the £70 price.
Re: This PS5 Ad Isn't Going to Make Stock Any Easier to Find
My biggest concern about this gen is starting to come true:
The stock shortage is just going to prolong cross-gen games for a lot longer. This really sucks for those of us who want true current generation games that actually make use of the new hardware and now we'll probably be waiting at least 2 more years until devs transition fully to only making current gen games.
Re: Resident Evil Village Has Gyro Aiming on PS5, But It's Busted
@sikthvash The guy you linked is a notorious Xbox fanboy that constantly spreads FUD about PlayStation and it's been proven false:
https://twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/1384874257558163458
Re: Resident Evil Village Has Gyro Aiming on PS5, But It's Busted
@Floki All I meant is the Series S will be the lowest common denominator for this gen and all multiplat games will be using it as the base system to develop from. This simply means only a few devs will go above and beyond to make DualSense features intrinsic to gameplay when the majority will ignore it or provide a half-baked approach, just like the touchpad on PS4.
Re: Resident Evil Village Has Gyro Aiming on PS5, But It's Busted
@sikthvash I think you're underestimating how much of a leap in power it has been this gen, but I can understand why since so far only Demon's Souls showcased it while everything else has been hindered by being cross-gen.
The thing about PC is so far there haven't been any true multiplatform generation exclusives i.e. only on PS5 and Xbox Series. The reason low and medium spec PCs can run current games is because they're still being designed for PS4 and Xbox One as base platforms. It'll be interesting to see what happens in a few years time when (if?) multiplat devs move solely to PS5 and Xbox Series and how PC ports will be affected and whether it'll force PC owners to upgrade and get NVMe SSDs with approximate console speeds or be left behind.
The reason I'm bitter about Series S is because currently it's getting an easy ride playing games designed for PS4 and Xbox One but when true next gen only games start arriving, Microsoft will be forcibly making devs scale back their ambitions to accommodate the Series S. This is also unprecedented because no generation has ever launched with 2 models of the same platform with such a big power difference. The way I see it, MS will either have to abandon Series S like they did with Kinect and anger a lot of people or they will forcibly keep the bar low for all multiplatform devs while PS5, PC and Series X owners suffer the consequences.
Re: Resident Evil Village Has Gyro Aiming on PS5, But It's Busted
@sikthvash I suggest you read these:
https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/xbox-series-s-could-bottleneck-some-next-gen-games-developers-suggest/
https://wccftech.com/xbox-series-s-ram-not-an-issue-but-gpu-performance-presents-challenges-for-future-titles-4a-games/
Developers at id, Remedy, Infinity Ward, 4A Games have spoken about how the Series S will hold back multiplatform development.
Do you really think games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart could even work on a Series S? Multiplatform devs have to completely compromise their design and vision to make games even work on a Series S. Games like Rift Apart that utilise the hardware for instantaneous loading could never be made by multiplatform devs as long as Series S parity is enforced. It'll only be Sony and their 3rd party exclusives that'll be able to make full use of the hardware.
Like you said there is very little difference between PS5 and Series X, so yes, PS5 wouldn't compromise development for Series X, but Series S (and last gen) certainly will.
Tell me, why Halo Infinite was delayed again? Why was the reception to its reveal so unanimously negative? Could it be weaker platforms holding it back?
Re: Resident Evil Village Has Gyro Aiming on PS5, But It's Busted
@thefourfoldroot The weak Xbox Series S will hold back all multiplatform games for the entire generation by forcing content parity across all systems. The only way games will fully utilise hardware is if Sony continues securing console and timed exclusives which will give devs an incentive to make the most of all the features.
Re: Out Today: MLB The Show 21 Launches at Full Price on PS5, PS4
This game deserves to flop on PlayStation, it's the only way Sony will get the message that their longtime supporters deserve equal if not better treatment.
The least they could have done is added some exclusive content or modes to the PS versions but I presume they were blindsided by the Game Pass deal and it was too late.
It's also no coincidence that the game currently sits on a yellow Metascore; the first time in the franchise's 15 year history. If ever there was evidence that an annual exclusive going multiplatform would harm quality, this is it!
Re: Returnal's Latest Dev Diary Discusses Enemies and Bosses, Shows New Gameplay
This game would have been on my radar had it not been announced as a roguelike/roguelite; a genre I absolutely cannot enjoy despite giving a chance to multiple games: Hades, Dead Cells, Rogue Legacy, Binding of Isaac, Spelunky and disliking all of them.
Re: Over 15,000 People Have Signed a Petition for Days Gone 2
Both Jeff Ross and John Garvin the game director and creative director/writer have left Bend. Who would even lead development of the sequel when the two key personnel are gone?
It seems very unlikely to me that this series will get a real sequel; maybe they can make a spin-off multiplayer game using the already made world and assets.
Re: Days Gone Is Still a Stunner in PC Features Trailer
@Divergent95 Sure but you have to understand that in general social media there's a lot more PC and Xbox people who are part of the conversation rejoicing about this news and using this a crutch to diminish the necessity and value of PS hardware. But if you look at PS specific sites and communities, the vast majority dislike the direction Sony are heading in and are also questioning the need to even buy PS hardware if exclusives will go elsewhere anyway.
Re: Days Gone Is Still a Stunner in PC Features Trailer
@Divergent95 According to SteamSpy, HZD has to date sold between 1 million - 2 million on Steam after being on sale for almost 9 months, which frankly seems very weak for a game of that calibre. Not forgetting the 30/70 split with Steam on the sale price.
Jim Ryan in his GQ interview said "there was no massive adverse reaction" to the HZD port so they'll continue. I'm thinking... did you even look at your own PS Blog comments or PS community sites like here? Even the polls show that PS fans are overwhelmingly against this.
Re: Days Gone Is Still a Stunner in PC Features Trailer
It's good to see PlayStation fans making their voices heard when it comes to these PC ports, unlike Xbox fans who just succumbed to Microsoft's PC day-and-date strategy and couldn't even challenge them to remove Xbox Live Gold for free to play games until just recently.
Re: Horizon Forbidden West's Aloy Set for Fortnite Cameo
Cool, a multiplatform character appears on a multiplatform game!
Re: PS4 Clock Battery Problem Proven, But Don't Panic Right Now
Funny how there's hysteria that Sony could in future shut down a simple time sync server while there's no concern whatsoever that Steam and Epic won't at some point way in the future shut their servers too, there's no contingency talks about that!
Re: Naughty Dog Wishes It Was Working on New Jak & Daxter Game
I recently played through the Jak Collection on PS3 and only really found the first game enjoyable. Jak II and 3 were a complete shift in genre and tone and I didn't enjoy them at all. They became poor GTA clones and all the platforming and tropical charm of the first game was replaced with shooting and driving in dull apocalyptic environments.
If they do revisit this series I hope it's like the first game and not the sequels.
Re: Kojima Reportedly in Talks with Xbox as PS5’s Abandoned Prompts Conspiracy Theories
It's way too strange that an unknown indie company that has zero games developed is suddenly making a photo realistic looking AAA PS5 exclusive.
There's no way an indie developer would make a PS5 exclusive when practically every 3rd party exclusive also has a PC release announced alongside.
I'm sure there's more to this than what the blog post is letting on...
Re: Virtua Fighter 5 Could Be Making a Comeback on PS4
If this gets us closer to Virtua Fighter 6, I'll gladly take it.
Also Sega, please revive Shinobi, OutRun, Sega Rally and Virtua Tennis while you're at it or at least farm them out to other devs like Streets of Rage 4.
Re: Sony Strengthens eSports Drive by Making PS5 Official Console of NBA 2K League
@thefourfoldroot I get that but all of Microsoft's purchases benefit their ecosystem and owners with added features and exclusives only for their platform, how does investing in eSports leagues and tournaments benefit PlayStation users in any way?
I'm not saying Sony needs to do exactly as Microsoft and buy big established companies; they clearly don't have the money for that. But they should at least take a grassroots approach to build new internal studios and poach talent just like Microsoft's The Initiative did when they started up.
Re: Sony Strengthens eSports Drive by Making PS5 Official Console of NBA 2K League
Microsoft is buying entire publishers and studios and eyeing apps like Discord, all of which they can and will lock down to their platform.
Meanwhile Sony is investing in fighting game tournaments and eSports leagues where the games being played are and will remain multiplatform anyway! So how exactly does this benefit PS owners?
Re: Sony Strengthens eSports Drive by Making PS5 Official Console of NBA 2K League
Again just like buying EVO, this is just a vanity purchase that serves nothing to PlayStation owners. All this does is marginally increase PS brand awareness which to me seems like such a low priority when there's far more pressing issues that need to be addressed.
Re: Sony Game MLB The Show 21 Will Be Free with Game Pass on Xbox, Full-Price on PS5, PS4
Up to now I had given both Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst the benefit of doubt that they were doing what was best for PlayStation and their customers, but to recap:
Re: Sony Game MLB The Show 21 Will Be Free with Game Pass on Xbox, Full-Price on PS5, PS4
Can't wait for the inevitable twist of the knife if comparisons show the Xbox Series X version performing better than the PS5 version.
What an absolute blunder for your home platform and playerbase if this happens.
Re: Sony Game MLB The Show 21 Will Be Free on Xbox, Full Price on PS5, PS4
This is such a colossal screw up by Sony for PlayStation owners and all but confirms to me that Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst are so out of their depth compared to their predecessors and have been literally coasting on the success of PS4 into this generation.
Re: Random: WipEout PS1 Intro Remake Is a Total Knockout
Fun fact, WipEout is the only Sony IP that has appeared on every PlayStation hardware:
PS1: WipEout, 2097, 3
PS2: Fusion
PSP: Pure, Pulse
PS3: HD, Fury
PSV: 2048
PS4: Omega
PSVR: VR
Will this continue for PS5...?
Re: Sony to Continue Investing in Dreams Developer Media Molecule
I have conflicted feelings towards Media Molecule.
On one hand, their games all get high scores and accolades and the studio is often lauded by industry peers (including Hideo Kojima) as having an incredible and whimsical creative culture, so it's good to see Sony continue to nurture it.
However all their games have focused all too much on creation and sharing rather than playing and consequently their games have suffered from poorly implemented gameplay and bland design, leaving their community to provide the interesting content.
I know Sony and others see them as a prestigious studio but aside from the first LBP (mainly due to hype) their games have not sold well and have little appeal to the wide gaming audience.
I feel a studio as talented as MM is being wasted serving a niche community when all this time they could have been making traditional high quality AAA gameplay-centric games alongside their sister studios at Sony.
Re: Back 4 Blood Delays Zombie Killing Action to October
I was pretty disappointed after watching alpha gameplay footage. It seems like a carbon copy of Left 4 Dead, both in gameplay and visuals with the addition of "cards" that affect stats; a system that seems rife for monetisation and balance breaking.
This would have been acceptable if it released in the early 2010s but now we're over a decade apart from Left 4 Dead 2 and it's disappointing how little the visuals and gameplay have improved from that 2009 game. The game even recycles a lot of animations from Left 4 Dead (e.g. using a medpack) that just look dated today.
Re: Resident Evil Re:Verse Grabs Open Beta on PS4 Next Month
I watched some streams of this and it looked so chaotic and awful. Capcom needs to stop trying to make competitive Resident Evil multiplayer a thing and add some more content into the RE single player; new characters, scenarios, unlocks etc. The past few RE games can be completed well within 4 hours with little else to do afterwards.
Re: Future Bethesda Games Will Ship 'Where Game Pass Exists'
I have no interest in Bethesda games aside from DOOM but the silver lining of this move is that it should incentivise Sony to double down on PlayStation exclusives and keep them on their platform, lest they want to see their playerbase erode away to Xbox and PC especially.
Re: Bogus Leak Dupes Web with Purported PS4 to PC Ports
I don't understand why Sony doesn't leverage the power and backwards compatibility of PS5 to enhance their exclusives instead of focusing on porting games to PC.
They're completely undermining PS5's backwards compatibility by making these PC ports. The backwards compatibility alone would have breathed new life into PS4 game sales, especially for those who missed out on PS4 exclusives because they were too snobbish to play them on PS4 frame rates and resolutions. That way they would still get 100% of sales revenue (on PS Store) and retain players on their ecosystem instead of splitting it 70/30 with Valve or 88/12 with Epic for one-time purchases.
Imagine if Guerrilla had spent time optimising Horizon for PS5 instead of wasting months patching the PC Port. That would have enticed so many more people to get a PS5 coupled with the sequel announcement.
Instead these PC ports are just going to condition them to hold out for a few years to get the game delivered to them on a silver platter. And with confirmation that Horizon Forbidden West is being developed for both PS4 and PS5 (another awful decision), it practically guarantees that it will come to PC too (since the game by design can't take advantage of PS5's bespoke hardware), so no need for a PS5!
I've said that I don't mind their C-tier games going to PC, but if prestigious exclusives start getting ports, people's desire to own PlayStation hardware will plummet and will ultimately have a knock on effect on 1st party game development. For example, designing games to work for lower end PCs to maximise sales and ignoring the bespoke strengths of PlayStation hardware (SSD etc) or including MTX for continual revenue from otherwise one-time sales on platforms not their own; Steam, Epic etc.
Re: Sony Officially Confirms Re-Organisation of Japan Studio
@3MonthBeef I don't think that applies to Switch, which can be played using a normal controller on a TV without any forced motion controls or touch mechanics.
What I mean by directly compete with Nintendo is that they should have focused on luring Nintendo fans by making games that would appeal to the same audience. They delivered a perfect response to Mario with Astro Bot but it remained locked to PSVR so the vast majority never got to experience it.
Re: Sony Officially Confirms Re-Organisation of Japan Studio
To me Japan Studio seemed to design games around gimmicks foregoing traditional game design, effectively coming across as extended tech demos.
Just look at some of the titles they made: Ape Escape, Fantavision, The Eye of Judgement, LocoRoco, Puppeteer, Gravity Rush, Knack.
All of them feature unusual controls or game mechanics, which is why I think they failed to appeal to a lot of people who just want normal playing games.
What they should have done was to directly compete with Nintendo's output by making games towards a younger audience that also retains gameplay appeal to adults. This still remains a gap in Sony's studios and Japan Studio was the ideal candidate to fill it.
They finally got a real winner with Astro Bot, but it took them way too long to get there. I'm glad that team's the focus now though and they become the prime 3D platformer developer for Sony.
Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About PS4 Exclusives Being Ported to PC?
You know who the real losers are? The PS4 owners who upgraded to PS4 Pro believing that was the only option for playing Sony exclusives at optimal settings.
Sony promoted the PS4 Pro as the optimal platform to play games at better frame rates and resolutions and was inferred to be the only way to get these upgrades for exclusives.
And with this news of more PS4 titles to come to PC, they effectively made the PS4 Pro redundant to the "pro" crowd they were targeting in the first place.
I wouldn't blame burned PS4 Pro owners now becoming reluctant to take the plunge into PS5 after being betrayed once already.
Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About PS4 Exclusives Being Ported to PC?
Also, I find it quite hypocritical that Sony wastes money securing 3rd party exclusives while they themselves are going 3rd party with these PC ports and MLB the Show on Xbox.
The age of true 3rd party exclusives is over, it will never be like the PS2 era again, there's too much money left on the table for 3rd parties to be locked to one platform. Sony should be focusing on their 1st party studios making exclusive games instead of wasting money on stupid things like first access to RE:Village teaser demos.
That Avenger's Spider-Man exclusive was a massive dud; wonder how much was wasted on that which could have gone into 1st party studios.
It was hilarious seeing Final Fantasy XVI being announced as "1 year timed exclusive" Sony basically signalling their viewers that you can totally skip PS5 if you can hold out 1 year and get a better performing version on another platform, which will probably have better ray tracing abilities etc.
Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About PS4 Exclusives Being Ported to PC?
"Only on PlayStation" becomes "Also on PlayStation" and not even "Best on PlayStation" either because the modular nature of PC allows it to always remain on top by brute forcing performance.
Quite a slap in the face to PS fans who bought consoles on the promise of being the only way to play these exclusives then later to find that these versions are/will be inferior in every way to their PC ports while being cheaper with no PS Plus multiplayer requirements.
Horizon, Death Stranding and Detroit still run at 30 fps on PS5 while their PC counterparts are 60 fps and there's no sign that these games will be patched to run at 60 fps either, at least for free with Guerrilla's resources being shared on patching the shoddy PC port and developing the sequel.
Personally, I'm okay with Sony's C-tier exclusives like Days Gone, The Order: 1886, Knack, Concrete Genie and underperforming games like Dreams and Gravity Rush getting a new lease on life on PC to generate some revenue to put back into big budget development for PS5.
But if games from Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Polyphony and Santa Monica end up on PC (highly sought after critically acclaimed games), I would see no reason to ever trust Sony to treat their hardware owners right and will just permanently move to PC where I know I will get the highest quality visuals and performance from these games.
Also, the gap between PS4 and PC release is shortening, from Horizon being 3 years to Days Gone not even being 2 full years. It's inevitable it'll gradually shorten even more until it's day and date.
It's sad to see but I think at this rate Sony will go in the way of Sega and just become a multiplatform publisher, meanwhile PS consoles will still be bought by the casual FIFA, Fortnite, CoD crowd, sales from the hardcore fanbase will dry up as they migrate to PC to enjoy the best experience with no restrictions.