ED_209

PS5 being "only" a 800k units behind the PS4, being a console that:

• Was released in the middle of a pandemic.
• Barely had stock in the first two years.
• Haven't received a price cut yet.
• Has received a price increase.

Is quite a feat.

They should find a way to give some PS Stars coins to those whose videos are actually uploaded into this feature.

It's an cool feature, probably not for many. But I used to get the plat. on the first A Plague Tale and on Miles Morales.

@Jacko11 - Oh sure hahaha. I didn't mean to be rude, it just seems to be something very logical nowadays.

Now lets hope that Paramount deal doesn't go through and Sony uses that money to secure that no other studio (no matter the department) needs to be closed, RIGHT? 🥴

@Jacko11 - It would be kinda strange if it wouldn't in the current landscape. They not confirming any platforms already said much at the reveal.

@get2sammyb - If they offer rewards for linking accounts, they better offer the same rewards for PS Plus users, because it would be awful to not offer the same or even more to those who actually pay your damn subscription to play your game.

Oh, and another thing. I would like to see if Sony would take the knee if people started a campaign asking them to allow PS5 save files backups to USB drives without the need to have PS Plus.

Or they really just obey the requests from the PC folks? How about starting that, @get2sammyb ?

I'm really curious to see how they'll handle Ghost Of Tsushima on PC now. I'm pretty sure Sony will make it VERY obvious that the game requires a PSN account for the multiplayer mode (I'm talking about non-skippable splash screens, posts on Social Media and so on) and they probably won't sell the game in some countries because of that.

Will that be enough to please the "public" on PC or will the game get review bombed anyway?

How long it will take until we see PlayStation games getting review bombed on Steam when/if a big Sony game is announced and confirmed to not arrive on PC Day 1?

@B0udoir - This practice is not new. Portal 2 required an Steam account for cross-play on PS3 back in 2011. The audience was just different back then.

@FullMetalWesker - In terms of development, the PSN requirement was probably for cross-play. There's a reason on why every company that offers cross-play these days requires an third party account.

But Sony's real reason behind this must be to have more monthly active users with PSN accounts (I don't know exactly why this is an important number, but shareholders seem to care a lot about it - Microsoft, Netflix, etc. always report the number of monthly users)

@KundaliniRising333 - The cross-play system on Helldivers is terrible. You need to use random codes generated by the game to invite someone from another platform, the PSN thing would probably solve that by allowing people add others by using nicknames, just as every other game that has cross-play these days.

Anyway, Sony's relationship with Arrowhead probably died after this whole ***** show. Arrowhead released the game knowing that the PSN requirement would exist and is now acting like it didn't' know anything. Arrowhead community managers acting like any other fanboy on Discord will not help their talks with Sony going forward.

I don't think it will make much of a difference in the games division simply because Sony barely has enough studios to handle the IPs they have now. I don't think we'll see Naughty Dog stop working with its own IPs to work with one from Paramount.

Why exactly is this on Sony and not Bethesda? There have been publishers that offered upgrades to the most basic Plus plans and others didn't, why should Sony have any decision on this?

The Fallout 4 Upgrade is exactly the same on both platforms: Those who pay for the Game Catalog (Game Pass/Plus Extra) on their platform and those who purchased the game can receive the upgrade. That's it.

What we will probably see with him in command since he's addicted to company growth:

• Sony releasing more multi-platform games (Sony will definitely try to release some of their single player games Day 1 on PC, and probably release some live service games on Xbox and Nintendo as well)
• More live service games (Sony needs to have an recurring revenue throughout the year)
• Games being produced faster (probably resulting in smaller 8~12h games)

Can't even imagine how Sony would be pissed if GTA 6 releases close to the rumored next-gen Xbox console instead PS5 Pro.

By the way, Sony allowed the Dreams project to be rebooted TWICE before MM finally settled on what they wanted to do, and the game still flopped. They will probably return to the "basics" with their next game, because it is quite possible that they will be closed if it's not a relative success.

What exactly has Hermen Hulst been doing (besides licking Kojima's balls, of course)? Wouldn't it be his job to supervise all PlayStation Studio projects, giving deadlines, goals and objectives to which studio from time to time? Or does he really let each studio run wild without any sort of control while he travels and surfs around?

Making smaller/shorter games may not be as good a solution as everyone says. How many people bought their PlayStations to play Gravity Rush or Concrete Genie? I know there will be people arguing that these are smaller games to fill the calendar, but isn't that exactly what Sony is doing with indie/third party games? What's the point of Sony having four Gravity Rushes a year if they simply don't sell to the point where they make sense to exist? Lost Legacy and Miles Morales worked because they're part of huge IPs and I doubt these games would take less than 4 years to make nowadays. Hellblade 2, which will be a "smaller" 8~12 hour game, is taking more than 5 years to be made.

I'm very curious to see how Sony will react to this "bad phase". There is no shortage of options:

• Increase the price of games to 80, 90 or even 100 dollars.
• Focus even more on live service and microtransactions.
• Invest in cheaper markets (Finland, Sweden, Canada, etc.) and reduce their attention to studios like Naughty Dog, Insomniac and Santa Monica, which must be extremely expensive to maintain because they are located in California.
• Pull a Nintendo and stop focusing on cutting-edge graphics and technologies.
• Focus on PC with every game being released there on Day 1.
• Give up on the console market and simply become a publisher.

Thanks Nobuo (which is the title of brilliant song that the band Periphery made in honor of him. Highly recommended for anyone who likes heavy stuff)

Disney: I'm not sure who it helps by House Of Dragon not being on Disney Plus

Microsoft confirming everything at once was nothing more than a wet dream for many people.

Microsoft will NEVER confirm that it will release everything for all platforms, even if that is what will happen. No one would be so stupid to announce this with a clear face with the possibility of the company's shares falling dramatically as a result.

By the way, Sony also signed a deal to make V Rising (appeared on the last State Of Play) exclusive as well. The devs even call Sony an "partner" on their PR statement.

@ReignMan_27 - Lots of people would do the same. Which makes me curious to see how much they would lost in subscriptions, purchases on their own store and so on.

Sony will probably start to release games on PC Day 1 as well.

@BlaizeV - Don't know if releasing games that don't sell well is a good way to fill the gaps.

In case anyone hasn't read between the lines: Addressing high costs = Major layoffs coming.

Also, they pretty much confirming that we won't have any "major" title within the next 14 months is kinda sad to read. I just hope they finally announce the games that everyone wants to know about (Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, Santa Monica, etc.) later this year.

It's hard to blame anyone in this case. Nobody expected the game to do these numbers.

Microsoft has some great games, not so great to the point of making me choose their platform instead PlayStation, but I would definitely buy Halo, Gears, Forza Horizon, Killer Instinct and so on if they were released for PS5.

Well, as I was chatting with some friends, the Xbox brand as a console will never be as strong as PlayStation or Nintendo in some parts of the world (damn, PlayStation is actually synonymous of video games in some European countries). If Microsoft's goal is to truly take Tencent's place as the largest company in terms of revenue in the industry, the only way for them to achieve this will be to release their games on more platforms.

I don't know if it's something for people who play on PlayStation (I'm included in this) to celebrate as if it were the end of the competition. If the strategy works for MS, I am absolutely sure that Sony will follow as they claim that their strategy is lagging behind compared to MS's.

I like exclusive content and would like to see even more, even on platforms I don't play/have no interest in. This industry would be aweful if all platforms had the same content.

• People: "Sony doesn't announce game in advance anymore"
• Sony: "Here's a PS6 game."

No confirmed release date on this, by the way. They just mention the Remastered date on the video, but it doesn't seem to be the date for the doc. itself.

The event will be very predictable, both the content (Helldivers 2, Suicide Squad, Pacific Drive, FFVIIR, Rise Of The Ronin and more two or three indies) and the reactions ("that wasn't what I was expecting, where are the big games?!")

I mean, this is 110% focused on the Asian market, so developing this for the PS5 might not be a priority.

Other larger franchises have already had exclusive games for these markets (COD, N4S and so on). Maybe this is their initial plan.

@Porco - Well, with gaming budgets reaching unbelievable levels (Spider-Man 2 was close to 400 million), it's no surprise that we're seeing fewer and fewer new IPs as the risk of them not working out is much greater.

It will be very interesting to see how Sony will act in the next 10 years. Hulst has already said that creating new IPs is one of PS Studios' strengths, but I believe that any mistake could cost an entire studio (I believe that Bend, London and Media Molecule are on a knife's edge with their next games).

I'm also very curious to see how Sony will try to act with these crazy budgets. Maybe the alternative really is to bring the 8~15 hour games back, but that alone will bring up the discussion that: "No one should pay more than 30 bucks for a game that only lasts that long" despite these type of games probably cost more than full fledged PS3 and early PS4 games nowdays.

Well, it looks like the whole plot of Wolverine has leaked. I guess the game will be delayed a year or two just because of that (if not, it should)

The whole roadmap for their next decade has leaked as well. Some BIG projects planned there.

Sucks for the studio and everyone who works there, but at least it's one of those leaks that ends up generating a huge hype, just like the GTA 6 one.

– "Sony Studios only does movie-like games"
– Sony Studios actually produce games/modes where the focus is on gameplay
– "Who asked for that? That's not what I want"

I mean, Sony didn't had enough content for their own big showcase this year. It was kind of predictable that they wouldn't show anything major at the TGA.

Either way, it seems pretty clear that 2024 will be even weaker than 2023 in terms of first party games coming from Sony. Concord should be their big game for the end of the year, which is strange since we only got a CG trailer for that one.

At least in terms of announcements for 2025/2026, they will have enough content to generate some hype again (Bluepoint, Naughty Dog, Cory Barlog's game, Sucker Punch, Asobi, Wolverine, Death Stranding 2, London Studio, Bend and so on should have stuff ready to be shown by mid 2024).

Maybe it has more to do with all these companies hiring like crazy during the pandemic and now they realize the growth wasn't that big to maintain the profit they wanted.

Jaffe's news is that Connie Booth (legendary first party producer at SIE - has worked at Sony since Crash) is leaving Sony.

He just doesn't know if it's for her own reasons (retirement) or if there was some bad blood. Apparently Angie Smets (ex-Guerrilla) will take her position. He made an drama because he doesn't like Guerrilla nor their games (he also thinks Hermen Hulst is the one who will be appointed as SIE CEO).

And to think that four months ago everyone was sure that Sony was ruined and that the Xbox would sell like water in the desert after showcases.

Good luck to whoever takes over and tries to please the "hardcore community" while trying to keep the company growing (One thing goes completely against the other, by the way).

Eric Lempel (current head global marketing, sales and business operations – used to be the PS Plus guy back in the PS3 days) is probably the person they'll chose to take the role. I don't know if he will be very popular with the hardcore audience since he doesn't wear gamer shirts out there.

Sony's silence regarding its games is very clear, they are simply not ready to be revealed. Even Naughty Dog has already stated that announcing a game 3 or 4 years in advance is not a good thing for the studio developing it. The problem is that Sony doesn't have enough studios to be able to announce and "shortly" release games on a regular basis. Unless they buy a good number of studios (or publishers), we will continue to have years in which they announce and release many games, and others in which they will practically do nothing.

Pretty sure Sony will focus even more outside the PlayStation platform going forward as they want even more money. Expect PS games to release Day 1 on PC and PS Plus may arrive on PC in the next 3 or 4 years.

Lots of people celebrating that Jim Ryan is going to leave, but who's said someone "worse" than him won't take over?

We can only hope that Sony has no Andrew Wilson to take the role.

This is rumored to arrive on Plus (don't know what tier) at Day 1. Lets see if they confirm it.

It would be nice to see him back at Santa Monica, but hard to believe that would happen after his game got canceled there after three years of production.

Not fully related, but probably most of those live service games (would bet that it will start with Helldivers 2) will arrive on PS Plus and Sony will justify the price increase to them.

Most people were guessing that these games would be F2P, but it seems to be more profitable for Sony to simply raise the price of Plus, add these games there and hope everyone spends with microtransactions - While the game will paid on PC but won't require any kind of subscription.

Acquiring the entire company was probably cheaper in the long term than licencing that planar magnetic tech.

Curious to see if they helped develop PS Link as well.

Well, Holland already stated he wanted to make a 'darker version' of Jak & Daxter and the director of the Uncharted movie said he was working on a Jak & Daxter movie for Sony.

Doesn't seem to be a joke.

Not totally related, but Neill Blomkamp pretty much confirmed he's working a Wipeout movie as well.

Kinda funny that Tom Henderson, the person who first talked about this new model never mentioned that it was supposed to be the 'Slim' model, but now people are outraged because supposedly someone promised a Slim model.

Here's what he said on that fist leak, by the way:

"Sources have implied that although the new detachable disc drive is portable, it will not ruin the aesthetics of the console and will attach to it without looking external, presumably meaning the new PlayStation 5 will look similar to the existing model."