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Sony's just held a corporate strategy meeting in a bid to outline its plans for the company's future — but it's a separate interview with PlayStation Productions boss Asad Qizilbash that's really caught our eye. You may remember Qizilbash from a couple of PlayStation events that took place a few years back — a clearly charismatic speaker who's since gone on to lead the business' push into film and TV.
In the interview, Qizilbash is asked about what he thinks the future looks like for PlayStation and gaming in general — and his thoughts are actually quite eye-opening. Right off the bat, he says: "In terms of gaming's future, I envision games becoming more personalized due to advances in technology and AI, enabling customized experiences for each player."
Essentially, Qizilbash reckons that video games are going to become more and more about grabbing people emotionally, through enhancements to storytelling and design that tries to speak directly to the player.
"Technological advancements will enhance emotional depth in games by allowing characters to be much more emotive and expressive, fostering more evocative storytelling. That's going to help a whole generation of creators be able to just create so much more emotion in the stories," he predicts.
He continues: "The focus is going to shift from graphics or visuals to immersive narratives that resonate long after the controller is set down." Interesting.
Qizilbash also believes that we've turned a bit of a corner when it comes to adapting games into his line of work, across films and TV: "I truly believe some of the most imaginative worlds and creative stories are coming from video games. A sea change is coming where all the great creators are really leaning into video games, since many of them grew up playing games themselves."
We suppose it's hard to argue with that perspective when shows like The Last of Us have been such a huge success. But how does all of this eventually tie back into the gaming side of things?
It sounds like Qizilbash thinks that the two mediums are already intertwined, and it's only going to become harder to separate them: "I believe technology will democratize storytelling, making it more accessible and inexpensive for creators, and Sony is uniquely positioned to facilitate that. With the level of fidelity in video games now, there's an opportunity to repurpose assets from games for animation and live-action films, leveraging Sony's volumetric and virtual production capabilities."
He explains: "Gaming engines like Unreal are expanding beyond games and being used for virtual production, enabling creators to focus on storytelling rather than logistical constraints."
And then, as alluded, we get into the topic of artificial intelligence, or AI. Obviously this is part of a much bigger, ongoing conversation, but Qizilbash seems fairly positive about how AI can be used: "Advancements in AI will create more personalized experiences and meaningful stories for consumers. For instance, NPCs (Non Player Characters) in games could interact with players based on their actions, making it feel more personal."
He goes on: "This is important for the younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences, who are the first generations that grew up digitally and are looking for personalization across everything, as well as looking for experiences to have more meaning." Sony's clearly thinking about the needs of its future audience.
Okay, so some of the quotes are a little corporate and filled with a bunch of buzzwords, but it's still the kind of outlook that makes you stop and think. Again, Qizilbash is high up the chain of command at PlayStation these days, and so he'll be partly responsible for the company's direction over the coming years. And according to him, it's all about engaging stories that can be told across various media, potentially with AI doing some heavy lifting.
What do you make of these quotes? Feel free to raise an eyebrow or two in the comments section below.
[source sony.com]
Comments 53
Look at Baldur's Gate 3 its a good looking game and does do a lot visually but i wouldn't say its Hellblade 2 or Horizon FW visually speaking however its one of the best games of all time and has a great story with incredible writing and characters.
Looking at Hellblade 2 its quite interesting as visually its incredible but really that's all it has going for it. Combat, puzzles, themes and story were far better in the first game. Its pretty visuals mean nothing when everything else isn't good.
I’m all for this.. I think we’ve finally reached a level of realism with visuals to where developers can finally focus on the narrative of their game more.. am very optimistic about the next few years of gaming
Yes but just like in politics, the young green/labour voter usually grows up and become conservative so don’t go catering to them too much and lose you’re already solid audience
I mean I think studios have to move away from chasing the flashiest assets. However, continuing to improve emotional storytelling (great writing, animation) and personalizing experiences (programming multiple results to an interaction, or employing AI) likely aren't cheap either.
But he talks about reusing assets, so I think Sony is acknowledging games are taking too long to make and costing too much as a result.
YEEEEEEEES!! This is what I've wanted Sony to do, but I gave up on that dream since they said they only wanted to create "blockbuster" video games. Some of my favorite stories and experiences I have ever experienced in video games weren't photorealistic. Celeste, Persona 5, Nier: Automata, Journey, and The Legend of Zelda are some of my favorite games, but none of them had or even needed the budget Sony blockbuster games have. Hopefully, this also means shorter development times.
I've said this in another comment: stop enhancing graphics, allow hardware to catch up to the point where current extremely high end hardware becomes widely accessible mainstream.
Shift focus in games on other areas, because soon enough people won't be able to buy the necessary hardware to play new games at manageable FPS.
And there's no need to make games so damned big, 25-35h is quite enough, stop making 100h games.
Especially if they are mostly emptier or have more repetitive content than they should, just to fill that whole big space with something.
Devs and publishers complain constantly about the increased costs of making AAA games, but it's actually them that decide to push further and further with graphics and games sizes, even though more and more gamers wish for a return to normally sized games and more focus on quality content and story...
I hope this "eye opening" is for real, and they actually take the correct path for future games.
"Technological advancements will enhance emotional depth in games by allowing characters to be much more emotive and expressive, fostering more evocative storytelling."
Sony named their PS2 GPU the "emotion engine" and said basically exactly the same thing back then, 25 years ago in 2000, so nothing even remotely new for them. Though I'd understand if that's way too back for any of you to remember. 😂
This isn't from Sony directly, but they say Sony said it. They even say "AI". 😂
"According to Sony, the "Emotion Engine" achieves unsurpassed realism. Characters will laugh, cry, and become angry; for once, artificial intelligence may just be that, intelligent."
https://www.motortrend.com/features/0009-sstp-sony-playstation-2-128-bit-machine/
One more just b/c.
"Sony is also introducing its concept of "emotion synthesis,'' which will allow the system to simulate not just how the images look, but how the characters and objects in a game think, act, and behave."
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/sony-busts-out-with-playstation-2-news#close-modal
So yeah, been there, done that. 🤷♂️
The comments about AI don’t fill me with confidence. Gaming is a form of media, created by humans. AI generated media sidesteps all meaning, it’s not informed by human experience.
More bloat in the long run then but at the end of the day most people hold the button down to skip the cut scenes to speed run through it all.
It would be great if more creative/fun type of products with better physics (for example) are produced instead of these high end emotional cinematic storytelling games that we get today.
Hellblade 2 is a good example.
God knows what it will do to the games that get made.
But all call me old fashioned but I want the best graphics etc and best gameplay like Sony used to make for this generation.
Give me, uncharted, GOW, HFW, last of us, ghost of T, ratchet and clank etc. The list goes on, the reasons I had a PS3, PS4 and a PS5. Don’t change too much Sony.
Just make amazing looking games with amazing spot on gameplay and precise controls.
Don’t waste your time with half the stuff you think we want, just like you did with GAAS.
I’m currently playing whilst writing this Uncharted 4 PS5 enhanced version.
This is why I’m with PS5 get back to basics, that made you great in the first place.
There are a few reasons while you 5 million behind PS4 same time line in Europe.
One is, give us those games and the Sony advertising and PR like you used to.
All talk and ***** all to show for it.
Sums up the PS5 era imo.
The idea of finally moving beyond the graphics arms race that Gunpei Yokoi warned about almost 30 years ago that's bankrupting the industry sounds great, and is a good start, but then the rest of what he says gives an indication they've learned nothing.
"A sea change is coming where all the great creators are really leaning into video games, since many of them grew up playing games themselves."
Is this not the exact same speech we got in May 2013 at the infamous Xbox show from Stephen Speilberg and George Lucas before they introduced Quantum Break?
"Technology will democratize storytelling"
I thought the movable block printing press democratized storytelling a few hundred years ago once they got the ability to write books wrested away from the monks. And then the internet democratized distribution in the 1990's once they got the ability to write books wrested away from the publishers. Is there a particularly high cost barrier or matter of accessibility to bang out words onto a keyboard? Is there not yet an app for that? Do we need more technology to write words other than the AI technology that writes the words for us and kind of does the opposite of democratizing anything when 6 global companies' protogods generate all content?
It's always a bit creepy when large gaming corporations talk about "stories with meaning, deeper meaning, etc, etc, etc." It's video games, dude. You're supposed to play them. Stop talking to Druckman at the Sony Pictures backlot and talk to people that make fun games. I think you still have a few left your old boss didn't fire.
@NEStalgia
“ It's video games, dude. You're supposed to play them.”
You are spot on and well said.
AI NPCs interaction inside an RPG seems like great idea.
but they need to be separated from the main game to never impact the main story, at least for now.
also, I wanna see the day when they at the phase where can change the story direction in main game.
I'd rather they prioritize great gameplay first over visuals, then maybe storytelling. The graphics arms race is hurting the industry really with spiralling costs that can't be recouped leading to the layoffs we're seeing. Get back to basics and focus on gameplay first I reckon.
@NEStalgia I think the big difference between 2013 and now is the advent of A.I. I’m looking well in to the future here but when the public can live out their own entirely personalized dynamic experience crafted through prompts by A.I., I’d argue that storytelling will have been democratized. It pains me to think of mediums such as film becoming niche remnants of a bygone era.
Graphics and Story, shouldn't be more important than Gameplay in my opinion. I hope PlayStation Studios understands that the way how a Game plays, should be the focus.
Yup. I see the industry as a whole shifting away from more and more and more detailed graphics, it’s unsustainable and is a big driver of the type of toxic consolidation we have been seeing from larger game studios.
I am not a big fan of the idea of a story tailoring itself to my playthrough... I want to experience the same things other players are more than I want a unique experience. I do agree with the sentiment of many that we don't need better graphics. They could never release a game with better graphics than Forbidden West or TLOU 2 and I would be perfectly happy.
@Jimmer-jammer IDK that you can call the automation of storytelling a democratization. It's the literal removal of the act of telling a story, as humans are no longer needed to conceive or convey stories, once they're generated on the fly to the desires of the viewer by automatons.
In the brave new world creativity is automated, labor is irrelevant, and thinking is unnecessary. Maybe in a future where most humans have no purpose, PSVR3 will finally come out and we'll just live in a fake reality created just for each of us.
@Crono_Roughknight Agreed, Stellar Blade is a very good example of this
"to immersive narratives that resonate long after the controller is set down."
Please don't get even more pretentious, Sony...
Focus on fun GAMEPLAY.
Completely agree with this is. Insane demand for graphics are likely driving up develop time and cost. Yeah make it look nice but as long as it plays good with good story, some leeway can be had. Stellar blade looks really good but didnt have to be hyper realistic and like made for a mere fraction of a sony game. Why did ND last pf us 2 cost $220 million when Sucker Punch made Ghost for like 70-80 mil
@nessisonett Authenticity sells. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
You can create immersive worlds and tell fantastic stories without amazing graphics.
I still want 60fps though. So lower graphics for that and I’m happy.
@NEStalgia It might be the wrong word but I was thinking ‘democratized’ in the sense of rather than experiencing a linear, carefully crafted singular vision, one’s experience would be generated on the fly, completely reactive to their unique parameters and input, resulting in a far more personal adventure.
‘Democratized’ in the sense of the internet celebrity of the day casting dignity to the wind to have their followers subject them to whatever experience can be conjured up amongst the crowd in some dystopian version of a let’s play.
The human is still the catalyst of the story as nothing is generated without input, and anything that is generated is meaningless eithout an audience to receive it.
In broad strokes this all sounds pretty positive, even if I think there should always be room for both: the big-budget blockbuster eye candy AND the lower-key and lower-budgeted releases that hit different on a different level. But as soon as the term AI is added into the verbal mix, it does give me pause. Obviously AI is going to streamline certain workflows, just in the same way new programming languages and game engines have done in the past, but AI can’t (imo) ever replicate an artist’s (or studio’s) singular vision, nor yet create or curate content that feels either tailor-made or truly original. Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing, as by virtue of the term it means we often remember what resonated and overlook what didn’t gel, but it was still very human heights and very human flaws that made those games that so many of us hold up as masterpieces; and a user-focused AI future of algorithm-driven content might make all games manageable but not memorable.
Interesting and uncertain times for gaming and other creative mediums for sure.
I want good games
Please! let's stop the focus on cutting edge graphics & sound without anything else (hi Hellblade 2 😒). I'll take Switch graphics if that means I will be having fun instead of playing a wannabe movie that the game director wished he was making instead.
If they want to make movies then they should charge as much as it costs to go to a theater, not $70.
The part about games gripping the player emotionally and being remembered years after playing is such a big thing. There's a lot of games that got me emotionally and still stick in my brain.
@Jimmer-jammer wait Internet celebrities have dignity??
You could be right. I'm not sure if democratized story telling is the right phrase if he meant procedurally generated emergent narrative. That's the most horrifying reality for gaming you described there. Otoh then he'd be contradicting his original statements on strong narratives.. more likely it's empty buzzword filled corporate "we're not behind the curve" lip service to "everyone needs everything to be AI yesterday"
"We will focus on story and boring gameplay" cool thanks. I get the visuals, but story, what about other things. Make the worlds/level design/gameplay/moveset/anything else more 'fun' first. I may focus on story for tv shows but then again I do also the cinematography/animation too.
Ray tracing for mechanics sure but just puddles/glass building and cupboards with glass no thanks. Lighting/shadow mechanics though I'd be interested.
Even give me some Under The Skin arcade/party fun or other mechanics than story. It has not much story yet it's music is catchy and stealing coins/disguising is fun and it's cellshaded/holds up well yet Capcom does nothing with it. Some fun games are sent out to die yet are more memorable to me than most stories. Because of their game design. Even PN03 for it's different aiming style then what the future was after that game came out and besides it's rushed development. It's mechanics I still remember even if the level design was copy paste in most of it and the main character's animations/design even if barely any voice acting at all just text and gameplay.
To me locations and the mechanics gameplay wise stick out to me more than dialogue does. I don't always care for quotes either. I'd rather play a puzzle game with no story even to just have fun challenging myself with the levels or mechanics.
I mean I'm enjoying Another Code for the puzzles the story is fine but if I care more for Steam World Heist 2 because of the gameplay and the story/dialogue/characters/world are just as charming as the first then yeah why not but still gameplay first. What else do I care about this year Indie 3D platformers with hack n slash elements then the usual 90s 5th gen repetition I keep seeing and passing by because the 5th gen of that era the gems ignored are more exciting to me than the Indies making Mario/Banjo/Spyro/Crash/Sonic clones all the time and their goals/levels or movesets are just so boring.
When I find Indie puzzle games more fun then many other Indies even, some are fair but some not as much (nostalgia Platformer/Racing, or repetitive setting shooters because no one cared for a fantasy one like Aveum/Atomic Heart besides the issues yes so we see stagnation of mechanics and settings making so many games set in wars that are repetitive.
I get more out of Battlefield 2 Modern Combat's swap mechanic around the whole map or Driver San Fransisco jumping cars from driver to driver then I care about most other things in those games because the mechanics are so cool and never get boring the rest is just a bonus if the gameplay is so good).
Or a racing game without a story if the locations/physics, progression of 'modes' not 'repeating the same basic modes for generations now' and the cars are fun to drive, not realistic, but fun. No tire model calculations garbage I don't care. No dream cars they can be anything hot hatch I couldn't care less about lifestyle/cost or if they won Le Man for said years. Fun. Though recreating moments in history is fun sometimes.
When some enemy AI is so boring I'd like to see more focus on say a robot that learns, unlearns it's own moves and copies other enemies or the player so further than just a Dark Link/equivalent enemy.
We don't need AI we need "AI" I mean if Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 & 2 can have umbrellas during rain trigger or other little details we don't need AI we need just different models of characters and colours/other possibilities of states of characters injured or other things going on. The gun bench in Last of Us was fair and the animations there were ok. Why not more like that just some realistic or some just charming details that are gameified. Why not.
We don't need AI this and that just creative little details in games or smarter staff trained well than taking too long to make things or other problems. We sometimes see them but I find some are in particular areas we don't see, others other spins on skill trees or other stuff and others just don't feel like it enough and lack that little detail flare I'd like to see in games again.
Or say in shooters more interesting animations then the set positions. I want to see THAT or just better gameplay ideas not the most simplest and overdone desigh that's so wow we walk, we talk, we do dialogue moments, eh quests, go to places and they may be ok mountains/jungles or wherever or boring city recreations when I didn't sign up for a holiday destination or a journey of an ok story at best that makes me just want the tropes to get going.
Not 'be emotional on command and have these other things in the game to break it up' because I just ignore the dialogue and messages/moments and just play or I just don't care for the gameplay enough and want to move on/not play because the structure of the writing doesn't make me cry, smile or be on the edge of my seat it makes me bored out of my mind I get the messages move on games/movies/tv shows I am already sick of your formats try harder. Put a better spin on them or find someone else who can write them more interestingly.
Or just stop copying movies and actually do better. Some games are inspired by movies and they still work as games, not 'look how blatant our movie/tv show attempts are because we REALLY want to be a movie' wow I really needed games to be that way. XD
Clearly when the inspiration on a lower scale for story influence it was better than the high scale look at us movie experiences we do see. The subtly didn't ruin the games back years ago.
A creative twist to the world/concept is enough to make me interested, pushing a message/story down my throat won't make me interested. I signed up for a video game playground to play in to be 'FUN'.
When Diofield Chronciles had up to chapter 4 fair ideas, then the second half is the most boring story/repetitive gameplay that doesn't change and the level design isn't enough. Yeah I appreciated Valkyria Chronicles more and more why because the classes, the levels have a unique goals and it's always challenging me. Diofield is repetitive as ever. Gameplay over story if the gameplay goes no where after it's last idea in Chapter 4 yet the same oh wow kill them, get the chest, do it in a time limit. Yeah and I had more interesting goals in the other, bomb parachutes to certain vehicles, bosses, verticality to deal with, other objects/restrictions of characters. So many differences each mission. Grinding takes time but even still.
If I find things like Inside Out (whether I cared for the dialogue/drama or not the concept was still intriguing the whole way through) or other Pixar films or Aardman or some older ads that aren't dull and aren't as simple a Youtuber (not a knock against them but just saying comparable to that quality in a Youtube skit) can make it because of the camera tricks or the skit like but more serious dialogue and doesn't need a big actor to do it/the message sticks out too much then why not make them more compelling and less corporate (PG Tips Tea ads, then and now)
(rather than the boring wow it's a family with problems and some creature they are on when the creature was more exciting then the boring family drama Disney Interactive, when a kid would care about the creature, when I care about the creature more than your boring dialogue/bringing up the message at least 3 times and whatever breaks of other things to talk about it's a boring movie I have no interest in hearing about it over and over.
Your not Pixar, even if Elemental was 'ok and again it's world was more compelling then the characters for me' but the things they did in the worlds were kind of cool in an animation sense even if the story itself was passable but I still didn't care for it).
Or say the Doctor Who Silence in the Library episodes or others are interesting to me because of the concepts at play, enough is going on, I'm not bored, I'm constantly thinking about the concepts of the world and the dialogue. Not a easy to understand story and whatever messaging in God of War 2018+ or others there is a reason why the tension, the pacing, the location, the spun up ideas are compelling not some boring family drama and action every so often I couldn't care less about.
Horizon's story was interesting but the gameplay bored me to death. I got into Infamous Second Son because of the side content, the main story was passable but the missions were so basic and not fun I almost didn't want to beat the game and just drop it after the side content was more fun, more playground like more fitting of the character to me as well then the story action were. Besides that I find well 1 had dynamic elements and good and bad points on a more dull level of game design in Second Son really annoyed me.
No need for super humans/animals just interactivity or goals that are FUN. Fun movesets, fun level design. I mean FOamstars I had ideas for foam, they repeat 2 modes from other multiplayer games in a slightly different way. Yet a sufrboard mix of modes, foam building contest, reverse maze to clean up the foam, traps, chemical mixing and more is more exciting then wow a business model and boring gameplay ideas, YAY! Something many Square 'published' smaller titles I had issues with as well Diofield or their remakes. Yet Valkyrie Elysium I enjoyed beacuse it had just enough fair ideas to it besides it's formula and more refined then other Soleil titles.
I mean Ratchet felt like Tools of Destruction from 2007 (and had many of it's levels remade and made more dull then the OG being more fun of level design and things to do in them) with scripted rifts (Blizar was a good level but that was it) and a God of War mentor style story because fans are older and they are talking to their alternate dimension forms that never meet/learned what they did and we need to feel emotion. Uh no pass. I don't need the crude humour of the OG era I am fine not seeing that but even the Future saga prior titles had better stories and even then the gameplay was better.
Crack in Time has moons with challenges/other things to do, the ship level select of the sectors, the arena, the new modding system that's better then the Raritanium of Tools, Nexus and 2016 they keep pushing onto us, like come on (too much for them to develop I assume and laziness, that's why the Buzz Blades are still in the games, 2007 to 2021 like seriously they are that lazy to come up with a new disk blade gun/other weapon of it's type, lazy, Combuster sure but at least they made new pistols later).
It's funny how the big game for PS3 it was and the one that actually put the series on a different direction is praised for it's story and probably many by it's gameplay yet Rift Apart goes backwards and 'subtly' pulls from that game while taking from everything else. Yet Tools of Destruction takes from 2 & 3 but also has fair new additions but does it better in 2007 then Rift Apart did in 2021. Design differences matter and what they take from.
Gran Turismo 7 is just hilarious of what they think car clubs are like, and is level gating of GT5 but worse and Forza Motorsport 6 roulette system. Besides it's own ok but confusing track select for events I found that confusing at first. I got more satisfaction from Tokyo Extreme Racer series and mechanics wise great design to witness of talking to other characters that way or Sega GT sponsors or the car builder/Pure ATV builder.
We have Vision GT but no car builder. Why? Also B Spec gone, great...... or whatever GT Sophy even was I still don't know it confuses me. Also the dealership cutscene then PGR2 having a dealership you want to walk around just for the sake of it besides quicker menus and it had Geometry Wars versions from PGR2-4 then well to other platforms afterwards. XD
I mean give me just more gameplay focused games please. There is enough IPs and story writing but if the gameplay is boring why should I bother. When third parties offer ok ideas but boring movesets or boring modes. The last thing I want is a story and the most boring movesets ever let alone setpieces.
If the gameplay is good I care for the story, if the gameplay is boring I'm not going to pay any attention to the story/world I am if the gameplay/level design and the goals for them pick up or not if they don't why should I bother.
Spec Ops The Line has it's moments of fair gameplay but it's story telling yes I played it for that but it's cut setpieces or the dynamic moments made me really enjoy it compared to scripted games of today.
I do play visual novels but even if I don't find them immersive as the dialogue is just so not convincing so how other people do they must be desperate. XD I find the dialogue charming at least but to laugh at usually besides the odd ones with good mechanics like Love Plus/Quintuplets of stats and day to day goals, like some others with interactivity elements to them detective or dialogue minigames or something.
@NEStalgia I’m just having a bit of fun hypothesizing gaming’s horrific future 😂 For me, when it comes to the arts, A.I. is a scourge, and when I start playing these scenarios out to the fullest extent, I fully share your cynicism as to where A.I. is taking things.
I personally welcome this approach. Ray tracing, reflection in the puddle are overhyped by a very small minority of PC players.
Thank god please stop prioritize graphics
Nice stories are all well and good, but gameplay is still king.
I'm happy with PS3 graphics, as long as I like the gameplay and artstyle.
Story advancements have come a long way. So to focus on story advancements over other aspects of a game is questionable. It seems like Western video games are ironically becoming less "game" Hellblade 2 is an excellent example of this. Instead of building on top of the gameplay element's of Hellblade 1 it totally strip's back the gameplay element's. Hellblade 2 suceeds at being a visual showcase but totally misses the point about being a video game.
That sounds interesting to me but the gaming community doesn’t like change. So many or the same stories are told over and over. Any attempt to change or update stories or characters and it’s deemed to be pandering, woke or “censorship “. So I expect there to be both a lot of “backlash” and potential for more mainstream avenues such as mobile gaming and tv/movie/animation media. Sorta like comics. Comics have come a long way in storytelling but they use other media to placate the masses.
AI story telling sounds fun to mess around with but replacing hand written work sounds like a dystopian nightmare. I've played Deus Ex I know where this goes
And yet, Hogwarts Legacy sells like hot cakes.
The game was great fun. But the main storyline was probably the weakest part of that game overall.
Or should that be “sells like chocolate frogs”?
But then again, the games that I play most are things like Uncharted, Horizon, Red Dead 2.
So yes, I enjoy getting involved and invested in a deep and engaging plot, as it keeps me playing, wanting to see what happens next.
@Jimmer-jammer Lol, it really is a dreary thought experiment. Though if we get psvr3 out of it might be ok. Even if we're forced to live inside it as the world around us is torn down and replaced with Midgaresque server towers to run Fortnite assistants on....
@DennisReynolds depends on the game though take the dark pictures games and until dawn that supermassive make also no gameplay other then pressing one button every now and then
I've been gaming for more than 20 years since the very first days of Sega Mega drive and at this age Im much more into gameplay aspects such as better physics and AI than graphics. That's why Astrobot has probably been my besy PS5 game so far. I wish these companies focused on deeper and more enjoyable gameplay mechanics than just looks.
I'm just here for good games and experiences. Ultimately I don't care HOW they come about. But i'm always interested in new ideas.
Guess i'm in the minority but as getting older (30s) i only really care about the story in games now, i think a good story can carry a game. but I've always liked slower paced RPGs to be honest. think its crazy young people skipping cut scenes in a game though! way to ruin the experience
Yeah I'm trying to think about the last Sony game where I actually sat back and thought about what had happened it was probably actually the Last of Us Part 1, since then in my opinion most of the exclusive have been great visual pieces but I've found them to be quite boring story wise and gameplay has been a mixed bag with God of war being fun but Spiderman 2 and Ghost of Tsushima feeling like Ubisoft gameplay
But outside of Sony we have been seeing a lot more narrative games reaching great heights with Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, Baulders gate 3 and many other Indie/AA studios, it will be nice to get some really good stories in Sony games again
Graphics are more than good enough, really it should be about getting games working right on release so they don't require giant patches over and over, more variety of games (so more games, shorter ones, made by auteurs with vision not by committee and trying to please everyone leading to bland samey titles), no requirement for always on Internet for single player titles.
Gameplay is the thing that survives as the graphics date with age, especially if the graphics have a unique art style, that's why Super Mario World still places high in best ever games lists over 3 decades after it's release and Wind Waker although a little misunderstood at the time looks gorgeous and unique now.
My main issue is that mainstream gaming seems to have peaked around the 2000-2010 mark and has mostly been too focused on visual spectacle and units sold since, rather than making something unique and special that people play for years to come. I love regularly going back to PS2/PS3 era gaming when stuff just worked, gameplay came in many flavours and there were great titles coming out regularly. Looks a lot different in 2024 when all people seem to be doing is saying "roll on 2025" because between Microsoft thoroughly and repeatedly s**ting the bed and Sony having very little going on, only Nintendo seem to be doing well, with the Switch sequel on the horizon and some of the last big games coming out for the current one fairly regularly.
Future for Sony... but it's what Nintendo has been doing for years. Ah but gameplay more than "narrative".
@DennisReynolds I definitely prefer just about everything on hellblade 2 over the first game
Using AI to Personalise video games sounds like a great way to push microtransactions and targeted adds 🤷
@Jimmer-jammer I love my stories with cool characters i dont need it to be catered to me. What is the idea the a first person snoozefest with character with no personality because its you no thanks.
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