Grumblevolcano

@Player_1_Ready It could be they pull a Mass Effect Wii U and only put the 3rd game on Xbox.

Maybe the uncapped framerate is because of the PS5 Pro's existence with PS5 and Series X|S suffering a less stable experience as a result like what happened around the time of XB1X and PS4 Pro?

@Flaming_Kaiser The point was that the PS5 remasters of PS Studios PS4 games keep coming even though PS4 games can be played on PS5 via backwards compatibility so Sony may have added the feature for optics rather than because they truly wanted it added.

@Porco I don't think Sony actually values PS4 backwards compatibility on PS5, rather that it was like a checkbox in a list of things that had to be done to convince people to upgrade from PS4 to PS5 instead of just sticking with PS4 and/or moving to a competing platform.

@Ralizah Sony's current strategy seems to be:

• Games that originated on PS4 get PS5/PC remasters
• Games that originated on PS3 either get a PS5 remake (even if a PS4 remaster exists) or is added to PS+ Premium streaming
• PS1/PSP get added to native PS+ Premium catalog
• PS2/PS Vita is very much who knows

Given Stellar Blade releases April 26th, we're probably going to get a May PS Showcase like last year.

So given the "aggressive PC strategy" we're probably seeing a return to the August 2022 - March 2023 setup where a PS Studios game releases on PC approximately every month. Something like:

• February - Helldivers 2
• March - HFW
• May - GoT
• June - TLoU 2
• July - GT7
• August - Demon's Souls
• September - Until Dawn
• October - Concord
• November - GoW Ragnarok

@j2c @get2sammyb I think PC is probably what gives the impression, without the PC releases the lineup is:

• 2017 - Horizon Zero Dawn, HZD Frozen Wilds DLC
• 2022 - Horizon Forbidden West
• 2023 - Horizon Call of the Mountain, HFW Burning Shores DLC

That's far from flooding the market but when you add in the PC releases, you get:

• 2017 - Horizon Zero Dawn, HZD Frozen Wilds DLC
• 2020 - HZD PC
• 2022 - Horizon Forbidden West
• 2023 - Horizon Call of the Mountain, HFW Burning Shores DLC
• 2024 - HFW PC

Which is Horizon almost every year from 2020 onwards.

I’d guess they’d launch PSVR2 support for PC with a GT7 PC port as people talk about how amazing that game is in VR.

@Friendly I think if these were all the games for this calendar year, they'd have spread them out more to improve sales. Releasing them during a just over 2 month period gives the impression that more are coming in the 2nd half of the calendar year (Microsoft's fiscal year ends on June 30th).

@JPEGMakima Pentiment and Grounded were announced in today's Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase so Microsoft had to wait for that to have aired before announcing the 4 games.

@Fiendish-Beaver Turns out Sea of Thieves is April 30th:

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/02/21/new-platforms-new-players-xbox-games-switch-playstation/

All 4 are coming to PS5 meanwhile Pentiment + Grounded are also PS4.

Pentiment - February 22nd
Hi-Fi Rush - March 18th
Grounded - April 16th

I'd guess that Sea of Thieves is coming in May then. Given the very short gap between the releases, it feels like all those crazy rumours about Starfield, Indiana Jones, Gears, Halo, etc. coming to PS5 from a few weeks ago are probably all true with last week's Xbox podcast just being short term damage control over the Xbox community's reaction.

Interesting, in the context of Sony's comments about April 2024 - March 2025 I wonder if perhaps this year ends up being PS5's Splatoon moment.

For context, Nintendo 1st party lineup slowed down in 2015 regarding big existing IP as Nintendo started focusing on creating a very strong lineup for the Switch but that gave smaller and new IP the chance to grow. The new IP Splatoon (released May 2015) benefited the most from that approach and is currently one of Nintendo's biggest franchises.

Seems like the big Europe price drop reported earlier on has now come to the UK:
PS5 (disc) - £369.99
PS5 Slim (disc) - £409.99/£419.99 (depends on the retailer)

@MrGawain Maybe the power gap is rather minimal kind of like the power gap between Wii U and Switch. Wii's gigantic success resulted in PS Move and Kinect and the Switch is even bigger than the Wii so maybe PS6 is essentially a hybrid PS5.

Moving away from power focus given that it's not helping the release schedule.

Think we can safely say from this that Outer Worlds 2 is coming to PS5.

I wonder if they consider ports/remasters/remakes as "new major existing franchise titles". So like would TLoU 2 Remastered count as one?

If not, it could be that the big PS5 Fall 2024 release is something like a PS5 remaster for Horizon Zero Dawn or GoW (2018).

@Rob_230 I worry about the reverse happening, that the power of the PS4 (Switch successor would likely be around the same power as PS4) convinces Nintendo to use the Sony's more recent approach to software with the Switch's successor.

@Kienda The main points that I've seen debated in the context of feeling alienated are:

• Why own a Series X|S when you can have a PS5 to play both PS exclusives and Xbox exclusives?
• In the outcome where Xbox multiplatform drives people to PS5, it may be that 3rd party support gets worse and eventually people lose their digital libraries

This is uncharted territory so it's very much understandable to be concerned. For me, at the moment I'm just happy that I'll be able to play stuff like Hi-Fi Rush on Switch (I could've gotten it for Series X last year but Switch lineup was so packed that I couldn't justify getting it on Xbox).

@S1ayeR74 I think the initial batch will be only games that can run on both PS5 and Switch. Then after Switch's successor is revealed, we start to see more power intensive games be announced for PS5/Switch 2.

I think the initial lineup will be announced in a Nintendo Direct and then the more general multiplatform strategy is revealed in the podcast.

@REALAIS Maybe 2K gets the FIFA license?

Interesting, Gears is now being rumoured for PS.

I'd guess new IP in 2025/2026 and then TLoU 3 in June 2028 before the PS6 comes out.

Sounds believable as Nathan Drake Collection was never ported to PS5/PC. Given the nature of Jim Ryan's Playstation, the only reason Nathan Drake Collection wouldn't be ported to PS5/PC is because the individual games get remade for PS5/PC instead.

Starting to look like the Activision acquisition was an exit strategy for Xbox hardware. Either an intentional strategy from the start or a side effect of the past 2 years.

@Th3solution I think the announcement timing is because of the Snake Eater remake releasing this year. Making it very clear to everyone that the spirit of Kojima era MGS will live on in PHYSINT.

Very good SoP, most excited for Sonic X Shadow Generations by far though in general the pacing was well done, had a rather nice balance of games and Sony seems to have learned that shadow drops are very important for Direct style presentations.

In related news, about a week ago Rock Band 4 became £7.99/$9.99 on the PSN store. There's not the usual discount signs which suggests it's the new permanent price for the game:

https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP8802-CUSA02901_00-RB4GAMERIVALSBDL

I'm going to predict around 6 games are PSVR2. While September only had 2 PSVR2 games (Ghostbusters and RE4 VR mode), that State of Play was only for already announced games. The February 2023 State of Play and May 2023 showcase which didn't have that restriction, had 6 games each for PSVR2.

• February - Foglands, Synapse, Journey to Foundation, Before Your Eyes, Humanity, RE4 VR mode
• May - FNaF Help Wanted 2, RE4 VR mode, Arizona Sunshine 2, Crossfire Sierra Squad, Synapse, Beat Saber Queen DLC

It would be cool if true, one of my favourite Sonic games and also it's nice seeing more games from 7th gen rescued. Mentioning Shadow makes me wonder if they may be adding in the 3DS exclusive content. The PS3/360/PC and 3DS had almost completely different stage and boss lists of which 3DS SA2 content was Shadow focused.

An extended look at Stellar Blade makes me think it's releasing in April/May. Sony's extended looks at games during State of Play in the past have been for games releasing within a few months later (e.g. Rise of the Ronin, Suicide Squad before the State of Play reception delayed it, Deathloop).

Sony confirmed State of Play for January 31st with extended looks at Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade:

https://blog.playstation.com/2024/01/29/state-of-play-returns-this-wednesday-2/

@MaccaMUFC Regarding the time period Sony's PC ports have been from so far, the big ones left pre-Ragnarok that seem likely to be ported are:

• Ghost of Tsushima
• Gran Turismo 7
• Demon's Souls remake

Though there's plenty of others that could happen if that Until Dawn rumour is true.

So it looks like if a game is on PS4 and the franchise it's a part of gets a movie or TV show, there'll be a PS5/PC remaster. The rumoured HZD remaster comes with the Horizon TV show, a GoW (2018) remaster comes with the GoW TV show, a Gravity Rush remaster comes with the Gravity Rush movie, etc.

I wish Sony would make use of their PS1-3 gold mine instead of games that are already on PS5 via backwards compatibility though if you must focus on PS4, at least do Bloodborne.

Kojima did tease that Death Stranding 2 would be in the next State of Play:

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/09/rumour-state-of-play-incoming-death-stranding-2-dev-photo-seems-to-suggest-showcase

Regarding the timing, I think Sony's going to do State of Play the same day as Nintendo Direct again and Direct seems extremely likely for next week or the week after.

@ztpayne7 Madcatz did the initial batch of RB4 instruments in 2015. It changed over to PDP in 2016 because Madcatz went out of business in early 2016.

@ztpayne7 @somnambulance PDP (the company that made Rock Band 4 instruments in 2016 alongside the release of the Rivals expansion) teased news about new guitars this month. The purpose of those guitars will no doubt be for Fortnite Festival but it's possible that they work with RB4.

Interesting how all 3 major February PS live service launch trailers dropped on the same day (Suicide Squad, Foamstars, Helldivers 2). Makes me wonder if they're getting live service out of the way to focus on single player in the next State of Play.

It'll be interesting to see how well TLoU 2 Remastered does over the coming weeks.

Rocksmith+ showcases perfectly the future of gaming if they get their wish. You can't play anything without a subscription, subscription price hikes, the return of region locking and content is removed without warning at any time.

It does feel like Nintendo's the last line of defence for physical gaming. Hopefully they stick very strongly with physical for Switch 2.

@Shad361 To be fair, Ghost of Tsushima never had debates about when console exclusivity would end because it's a Sony 1st party game. At most regarding other platforms you'll see a PC port in the coming years though with Jim Ryan leaving Sony in March, even that isn't guaranteed.

Meanwhile FFVII Remake has had a long journey of "Will it come to Xbox and Switch Pro/2 once the timed exclusivity ends?". There are people who would rather wait for a game to come to their platform of choice if there's a chance of that happening.

I think this is going to be the year we see the extent to which Jim Ryan focused on live service. If live service was in addition to the usual single player experiences, we'll likely see a very strong single player focused showcase sometime this year with 2025/2026 being very strong for PS Studios.

On the other hand, if Jim Ryan basically forced all the studios to work on live service instead of the usual single player experiences then I think Sony will be very quiet this year and any showcase would be like last year's one.

@Jacko11 @Tecinthebrain Nintendo and Sony's goals for mobile were different. Nintendo were using mobile to convince more people to buy Switch hardware and software. For example play Mario Kart Tour, see that MK8 Deluxe is a much better game so buy a Switch + MK8 Deluxe. So Nintendo were successful with their mobile strategy as Switch is currently the 3rd best selling console for total sales (only behind PS2 and DS) and Switch software sales are also extremely high.

Nintendo's big challenge now is converting Switch purchases into purchases for the Switch's successor. Mobile isn't important here.

Sony's strategy however is that their single player epics aren't profitable so they rely heavily on 3rd party live service microtransactions (we know this because of the FTC trial). As a result they tried to get their own source especially with Microsoft being allowed to buy up so many publishers but Sony's strategy backfired as the live service bubble has mostly popped outside of the juggernauts.

Less focus on live service, Nixxes pivot to remastering PS1-3 games for PS5 instead of porting PS4/PS5 games to PC (their Tomb Raider console ports were fantastic) and if PS5 Pro exists there ends up being a big showcase that leans more towards PS Studios to back the system up.

@danzoEX When either governments get involved or the live service juggernauts like Fortnite die. The combination of governments regulating loot boxes and the gigantic success of Fortnite is the reason why loot boxes got replaced by battle passes.

I have a feeling this State of Play will have a sizeable live service segment and air before Suicide Squad releases:

• Suicide Squad - February 2nd (Sony has the marketing)
• Helldivers 2 - February 8th (PS Studios)
• Skull & Bones - February 16th (Ubisoft seem to commonly appear in these PS events)
• Foamstars - Early 2024 (Appeared in both May PS Showcase and September SoP)
• Concord - 2024 (PS Studios and the only game in Sony's PS5 2024 hype video which doesn't have gameplay)
• Destiny 2 Final Shape DLC - June 4th 2024 (PS Studios)

While there will no doubt be single player games like FFVII Rebirth and Rise of the Ronin, it feels like Sony may use this State of Play while Jim Ryan is still there to get the live service stuff out of the way. Then do a showcase in Spring/Summer that's single player focused when Jim Ryan has been replaced.

@XenonKnight However Amy Hood at the FTC trial and the Xbox leaks in September does make it seem like Microsoft's patience is running out with Xbox not being profitable enough.

@CielloArc Yeah, PSVR2 announcement at CES 2022 and then they announced the GT7 update for PSVR2 announcement at CES 2023.