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.
Comments 409
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.