viktorcode

Things like discounts and inability to resell digital games are controlled by the publishers. Sony cannot radically change that without their approval. Good luck telling Capcom that now their games can be freely resold digitally!

I also disagree with the point that it is bad that the store lacks social features. And, while PlayStation Stars was good to have, the way it was implemented wasn't any good. The reason is this: the store should be simple to navigate, simple to search, and, the most important one, simple to buy games in.

This topic is heavily politicised in China, so I highly doubt that “every plant and every brick silently recounts the undeniable historical facts” in this game. But I don't care as long as it is fun to play.

@ChikaBambus Game on a disk is leasing the same way as a digital game because of the DRM they share. If a game is revoked (which has never happened, but technically it might) then the console will simply refuse to launch the game as counterfeit. The only way to avoid this is to keep the console offline.

Add to this the fact that you can back up a digital game on external drive, and you will be left only with the ability to share and resale games on disks as the only benefit specific to physical media.

I bought it on day one to scratch that nostalgia itch. I played it on PC many years ago. And oh boy, the remake made me happy. There are some mechanical changes compared to the original, but the gunplay screams "bungie" still. Yeah, I would be happy if Bungie were making games like that. Without online component. Polish things that make a game great for single player and then add online.

Pretty funny that some people commenting here simply do not believe in the official numbers by a public company that are necessitated to be correct by the law, because those numbers contradict their take on the market which is usually calculated from sample of 1.

@Balaam_ Buying game on disk gives you the same "leasing" rights. The only additional right for physical is resale.

Visually, it looks like an amateur project. The creatures and environment are done in different styles. UI looks like it is from another game entirely.

@Boxmonkey Conspiracy theories machine doesn't stop either 😂

@Bizzy You'll only be able to play a revoked game if the console is offline. Doesn't matter where the game comes from: disk or install copy.

And that is why, children, you shouldn't ever go to Twitter

I just can't shake off the feeling it will be a poor game. Not a financial flop, but underwhelming, especially with the backdrop from the competition.

Bethesda was going the wrong path for years, and recent layoffs didn't help either

How often does a studio creative director who still has his job criticise the studio owner right after layoffs? Never. At best, his words can be read as half-truth. On the other hand, there are words coming from many people who have been fired and others who claim to have inside info, which boils down to "very knowledgeable people from engineering were let go".

The topic of "lost institutional knowledge" comes up again and again. Hugo does not contradict this, saying numbers are enough to make a game. To me it seems like an attempt to shift the narrative of "studio lost unique knowledge" to "studio lost some number of employees". I do not believe for a single second that id Software consists of easily replaceable people.

"I'm not on social media, so that helps"
Undervalued life advice

Physical deluxe editions will not disappear. You still can sell tangible things with activation code.

As long as you don't go to comments section, this drama has no bearings on your gaming reality.

@ShogunRok A survey works by sampling data from a representative slice of population. PushSquare visitors are not those, it is a biased group who generally agrees with the site position, otherwise it is unlikely for them to visit the site and participate in the poll. That is why it was correctly pointed out that you cannot extrapolate your visitors over the whole population of PlayStation users.

@MrMeeeseeeks by the way, Sony exited their TV business. Now the brand belongs to TCL, so even if you want to buy a new Sony TV you can't because there's none

@nomither6 I haven't stopped using the internet, so I know what's there in Windows world. Also, sometimes I ask my friends things like if a thing that was giving me pain many years ago finally got fixed or not.

I've been a PC gamer for many years until I bought a PS4 in 2014. Nothing has changed. Windows is no better. Also, PC gaming world is inherently diskless, so I question the stated motivation of people who started considering Windows gaming because Sony will stop physical media sales.

@wildcat_kickz The memorial is not just too much, it is wrong and dangerous. Some people kill themselves when they lose job they had for many years. This is just tone deaf, putting protest over the people's well-being. They should stop doing that if they care.

For whatever reason I cannot fathom Xbox is gutting their most valuable studios to the point those affected can no longer produce anything, even on the level of DLC. Allegedly, engine team at id Software was laid off, along with bunch of VFX artists with extremely rare skill sets. Bethesda's most anticipated game is under question now thanks to layoffs.

It seems, that the leadership simply put all the employees at Xbox in a spreadsheet, sorted by salary, and then simply deleted the top 3200 lines to make savings. It can't be that stupid, can it?

@Mr-Cage Current higher numbers are inevitable due to over-hiring in the COVID years. Look at Bungie head count: this is insanity! Aside from that, there would have been layoffs anyway, and anyone who worked on games knows that job security there is not and never was a thing. It is a hit-driven business, which is very unreliable.

But as I said: people spend more on games. Some companies get more money than ever before.

Storm in a teacup.

Gamepass koolaid is still on the menu

@Mr-Cage There's no oversaturation on the market. There isn't such thing as "too many studios". The game market grew 9% last year, people are spending on games more than ever before. The layoffs are due to braindead decisions of top executives: unsustainable acquisitions which will never pay off, gamepass cannibalising sales so Xbox might get bigger market share, and inability to put more money into innovation rather than into old tired remake of a remake of a game which was popular in the last century.

They still can sell physical scratch cards in boxes, with game redeem code.

First Halo has a special place in my heart: it has created the modern FPS genre. However, I will wait for reviews. I don't want it to be another remake where they will kill the mood and pacing of the original.

It seems many people here do not realise the basic fact that Sony controls physical media the same way as they control digital. Nobody can produce a game for PlayStation on a disk without Sony's approval.

In terms of control not having physical media changes nothing.

@ThomasHL The courts will not force Sony to open console for other stores. In the US there already was a similar precedent with Nintendo. Nintendo won, cementing platform owners’ right to control their platform.

@DoTheRoar How's physical media support on PC? Many windows game releases on disks? And unless you are going to buy everything on GoG, Steam can revoke your games or lock your account with a snap of Gabe's fingers. Not saying they will do it, but they have the same digital control, as Sony.

I don't care about reputation on social media. So far PlayStation was the best gaming platform for me, which while being not perfect gives me more than any other. So I'm staying. I don't care what people on Twitter are saying and never did.

@Actionhank89 Nobody cancels games they believe have a decent chance of making money. It is always "this is not gonna make any, let's cut the losses now and move on".

Sometimes mistakes happen, but this is the exception, not the rule.

I want to point out that those numbers are insane for game industry. 400 people is such a huge money sink that you have to have a hit after hit just to stay afloat

@LemanRusk I have a strong feeling key people left Bungie right after the Destiny 1 release. Otherwise I cannot explain the absolute destruction of everything that was working in the design that followed.

Bungie went from "how to invent a new genre designing Destiny 1" to "how to let your greed destroy all remnants of fun in Destiny 2".

Despite being hated by critics Destiny 1 kept solid player counts up until Destiny 2 was released. The second game was universally loved by the same critics who panned the first game, and it became a wasteland one month after release. And Bungie slowly began process of repair by bringing back stuff from Destiny 1: maps, weapons, less grindy balance. But the core of the second game - freemium-like power progression putting skill below grind - was the death sentence. Bungie could not fix that, and in the long run it created more problems.

To me the high point was when the top "talent" behind this sh*t show, Luke Smith and co, was fired by Sony.

@Crimson_Ridley Management was fired by Sony quite a while ago

@Boxmonkey Videogames market grew 9% last year. It is far from "crash".

@lacerz Can't fix stupid, I'm afraid other games do not require PlayStation+

@darylb24 Common sense said it was MS choice. No other offline game I ever heard of requires PlayStation+

This must be the stupidest business decision I've read about in a long while. I don't think the new CEO does a good job of turning Xbox around

@tameshiyaku If Microsoft wouldn't buy Ninja Theory starting their studio shopping spree, Sony wouldn't have to buy Bungie at all.

I believe those are physical sales? Then it is not directly comparable to Nintendo.

@Marquez It will not stop at prototype phase. The moment gen AI slop will be swallowed up by the audience with no complaints the floodgates will open.

@ElectricWizard Marketing department may be tiny, but the marketing costs can be huge, taking up substantial piece of a game development cost pie.

"our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time."

Finally, the true cost of Game Pass starts to take shape

@shoeses people who make proprietary game engines are not unnecessary jobs. I guess Ubisoft now will have to stick to 3rd party engines like Unreal and Unity, and deal with limitations and inefficiencies that cone with that transition

That could be a Microsoft exclusive, you know.

@Americansamurai1 I think it is not the fact of AI assistance that puts people off. Or that, at the very least, is not the main factor. Low technical quality of the result (so-called slop) and the inevitable difference between generated assets and their real in-game representation is what makes people mad.

I have a bold prediction for Xbox next. It will have copilot.

I heard of the leaks, but I ignored them. All I knew from the fact of leaks on GoW that it was a game about Kratos' wife.

That didn't spoil the awe I had from the reveal trailer.