IOI

Second? 😪

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a flop by any means and the game itself is just perfect, but I really did hope this to become a runaway success for Sony so that we might get more of these smaller scale but such fun games, it’s looking we’re just not in that scenario…

Best platformer we’ve EVER got from PlayStation, easily a 10/10.

@LogicStrikesAgain For us vivid PS users which this game is basically tailored for of course not, today I’m getting the platinum and it’s my second favorite game of the year (after FFVII Rebirth).

But it’s clear we’re not representative of the entire market, taking a look at gaming outlets or media surrounding gaming almost no one is talking about Astro Bot anymore, Sony really made a huge mistake unveiling the PS5 Pro with such a big controversy due to pricing, it basically stole all thunder Astro was getting.

It’s not looking good for Astro Bot, you can already see how the hype is nearly gone after just a week (PS5 Pro certainly didn’t help), and the sales in both Japan and UK have been disappointing…

This is what I feared to be honest, PS audience have never been too excited about platformers, I really thought that Astro’s demo on PS5 would sell the full game to millions of people and so far it just didn’t happen.

And it’s only going to get much worse next generation if Microsoft keeps fumbling their way out of the console market, I’ve been saying it for years now, the best years we got from PlayStation were when there was fierce competition with Xbox during the PS3 generation, it’s impossible to not see how complacent Sony has become since that time.

@themightyant So you also couldn’t come up with a better term huh? lol

At least we can agree that we are not responsible for Sony’s financial situation so they shouldn’t try to milk their customers to get out of a problem they got themselves into.

@Mikey856 You didn’t read all the benefits you’d get into switching to PC, and again, knowing all this I still haven’t switched cause I like my consoles.

However statements such as “my phone can do anything there pc can do why buy a pc?” is not even worth a serious response. Go back to school.

@themightyant Ok, then which term would you use to describe Sony’s current decisions toward customers?

And Sony’s abysmal profit margins are respectfully not our fault in the slightest, it’s due to their failed live service strategy spending billions in Bungie, Firewalk, Concord and all that, plus the out of control budgets such as Spider-Man 2 which had no business costing more than 300 million dollars, they should make big changes to their budget strategies but customers are not responsible for this and shouldn’t be the one who pay for Sony’s own failures.

@themightyant Literal definition: “Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit”.

Applied to Sony:
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of Sony’s market leadership and brand loyalty, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit by setting prices however high they want to increase their profit margins.

Want me to use another term or is it clear enough?

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Lmao you really can’t accept a single criticism to a beloved brand?

Sony is the only one releasing a €800 console with no disc-drive, the only ones increasing the price of the controllers, the only ones increasing 30% their subscription service, the only ones remaking a game for the third time, the only ones selling an overpriced disc drive and many accessories even a freaking stand that should be in the box.

But whatever, keep excusing them for free, I’m sure PS6 will all be cheaper if you keep defending their abusive prices.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Are you seriously asking this?

• A $700 USD / €800 EUR console with no disc-drive and even no stand.
• A $5 price increase on the already expensive DualSense 4 years after release.
• A $50 price increase in the standard PS5 2 years after launch instead of dropping it
• A 30% price increase on PS+ resulting in having to spend $80 yearly at the bare minimum just to be able to play online or have cloud saves.
• $80 or €100 for a Blu-ray Disc drive which is needed for PS5 Pro.
• Selling a $30 stand that was literally included in the box at the beginning of this generation.
• Pushing game prices to $70 along with every publisher that followed.
• Remastering or even remaking games that are not even 5 years old or were already remastered or remade previously and selling it full price.

You want me to stop or do I need to continue?

And before you try to excuse it with “yes but X publisher also did this” just compare Sony’s own decisions throughout the PS4 generation to what they’re currently doing, just look back at the PS4 Pro reveal, they slashed the price down to introduce the better console at the previous price, whereas now they’ve increased the standard console price 2 years after launch and now announced an almost twice as expensive “Pro” version, you really can’t see how Sony became abusive?

@Mikey856 That’s a poor argument, yes you can spend twice as much building a PC than a PS5 Pro but there’s no comparison between all the things you can do with a PC instead of a console, but just gaming-wise you get access to multiple storefronts and waaaaay more and cheaper games, much better performance than any console with true DLSS, not having to pay at least $80 yearly for online, backwards compatibility isn’t locked with remasters and remakes, upgradability as down the road you can replace your CPU, GPU or whatever you want with a better one, and you’re not getting milked buying accessories that should be included in the box.

I’ve always been a console guy, have all 3 of them because despite all the great things I said I still don’t have a PC as I just prefer to play on consoles, but if next-generation consoles are around $1000 as the PS5 Pro already is I’m definitely not sticking around as Microsoft is fumbling their way out the console market, allowing Sony to be as abusive as they want.

@ButterySmooth30FPS It wasn’t a boost, those games were patched to take advantage of PS5.

So the normal PS5 which is already miles better than PS4 can’t boost the games’ performance but the PS5 Pro can?

This is a scam.

Eventually on a VERY good sale I might, but I wouldn’t pay more than $500 for the console itself as I must also take into account the cost of the stand and the disc drive as both would be necessary for my setup.

If I just can’t get it for that price I’ll happily wait for the PS6.

Sony really did it. A $700 console with no disc drive and no stand, meaning that if you want to replace your existing fat PS5 you will end up spending more than $800 ON A CONSOLE!

And tbh, I didn’t even notice that big of a difference in everything they showed.

@Zenos The fact it’s real doesn’t mean it’s “needed” lol

@MBalz_EsHari We wish we got remasters and remakes from games from 15 years ago, instead we’re getting them from 3-5 years old games.

@dardel $699 plus an $80 disc drive sold separately was the latest rumor 💀

More Astro Bot less Concord please…

In the first hours I’d have said around an 8 but after finishing it and doing most side quests it’s a 7/10 for me, story falls apart, everything becomes too superficial but I still had around 20 hours of fun.

Already completed the first set of worlds!

@JB_Whiting That’d be the logic step forward but it won’t be enough, the brand ‘Concord’ is already stained, the game itself with its characters is unappealing compared to basically every other hero shooter, they have to make BIG changes and not only F2P.

This is literally unheard of, the worst a game has EVER bombed.

I think it was a good decision to refund everyone but I really don’t know how they can salvage this.

I’ve honestly never seen a disaster this dire, there’s no other path other than change the entire business model and make it free to play, and I actually don’t want that but otherwise it’ll always remain dead, however even being F2P it’ll have to compete with Overwatch, Valorant, soon Marvel’s Rivals and tbh Concord isn’t nearly as appealing as any of those games just by the visuals and characters alone.

@Yaycandy N64, GameCube and Wii U would like a word about that lol

Personally I will always prefer a console, I don’t like all the tinkering needed for PC Gaming but I recognize that right now it’s looking like the ultimate platform to bet for.

Consoles need to drop some BS, like having to pay to play online or having cloud saves, but they still have a big enough market at least for PlayStation and Nintendo, I mean in 2025 the record for the most sold console in history will be broken by Nintendo Switch even tho people have been saying consoles are dead since a decade ago.

@UltimateOtaku91 I won’t celebrate it but the truth is that Sony should’ve never bought them, I’m not sure what they can do with them now as they only bought them for multiplayer/live service games but I hope they don’t immediately write them off.

I think they did everything wrong with the game, from the business model, character designs, reveal process and even the gameplay reveal and beta testing was done way too late, testing should’ve started at least 6 months before launch and that would’ve give them time to adjust the slow gameplay or come up with better character designs to at least try to turn it around, but beginning the testing barely a month before launch with no chance to change anything while public perception is already bad was yet another mistake, but all those mistakes are on them, not the players, and why the game has failed so badly, not because of some hate campaign or harsh comments on Push Square.

I hope that Astro Bot sells more than 2.5 million copies in the first week so Sony realizes there’s a 100000x times more interest in a good single-player game (that doesn’t even have to be AAA blockbuster) than a live-service BS.

This is the biggest failure ever put out by PlayStation Studios and maybe the whole industry as the cost of buying the 100+ staffs studio and developing this game costed around 200-300 million, and I will keep asking until the end of time what the heck did Sony see in the game to even buy the studio, and the game itself isn’t even that bad, just unappealing and irrelevant in the current market.

My hype is already through the roof and I honestly want to get surprised while playing so I will avoid everything that comes out in these days, we’re only one week away!

@jrt87 Agreed, the entire game is like this, there’s some AMAZING moments, some of the most epic in gaming history, but also the other half of the game is just full of dull fetch quests, overall I’d say this is an 8/10 as I did have a good time.

I can almost bet it will come to PS+ once it gets announced for Xbox (rumored to happen as soon as next month).

Come on guys, no point in denying it but Sony doesn’t need any “defense” for doing this, it ain’t the first or tenth time Sony has done an exclusivity deal for a great game (it’d be the third one just this year).

It’s literally just business as usual.

@BolkaRover It’s just an opinion, I never said that “anyone shouldn’t enjoy it”, if they had given Hogwarts Legacy I’d be like “damn what a good perk I’m missing”, but we’ve gone months now without that feeling, you get mad over people having opinions?

PLEASE BUY THE GAME.

If this somehow ends up being a flop it’s a given they’d shut down Team Asobi, but if it exceeds expectations we’ll see Sony investing more in these type of games instead of live services and blockbusters, which imo is exactly what they need.

Yeah I can almost bet the pricing structure will be $599, only digital edition but the disc drive that’s already being sold separately for the PS5 Slim will be compatible with it, so if you want the Pro with the Disc Drive you have to pay around $700 with taxes 💀

The Quidditch game looks terrible tbh, MLB is MLB and Little Nightmares 2 is fine but dirty cheap nowadays.

Another month I don’t regret for a minute not being subbed anymore.

If we get an State of Play instead of a Showcase this year my disappointment will be unmeasurable…

I’m just speculating but for me that’d mean the games we are all waiting for (Ghost of Tsushima 2, Naughty Dog’s or Santa Monica’s next game) are much further out and not coming in 2025.

@somnambulance It’s bafflingly bad, even some streamers were questioning if the Steam numbers were actually accurate but the lengthy matchmaking gives away those are the real numbers.

DOA would’ve been Redfall numbers at 6,000 peak, but the fact that it couldn’t even get close to 1,000 means the game isn’t even ‘born’ to be dead…

We know it was going to be bad but the peak was just 10% of Redfall’s peak!? 💀

It’s pretty telling that everything will eventually come, is there really a point to keep asking or even demanding to know which games will be ported?

It’s like demanding a release date when the studio still isn’t ready to share it but still knowing the game is coming.

So they literally saw Overwatch in 2016 and decided to do the same thing…

@GeeEssEff Just look at the first years of the PS3 generation, the console itself and everything surrounding it was insanely expensive for the time, they focused the console on everything besides the games and because of that it was so hard to develop for that there was some time the PS3 didn’t have banger exclusives when both Xbox 360 and Wii did.

Nowadays it’s not so good either, so far this generation they raised the price of the console in every market except the US (which MS did follow), they pushed the standard price of games to $70 (and everyone followed), they began to charge devs to allow cross play but backed off soon after, raised the price of PS+ by nearly 30% and imo they’ve been rather complacent in first-party games’ output.

Besides, it’s just a rule in any industry, more competition is ALWAYS better for all users.

Wait, so good games sell consoles!?
Someone should say that to Microsoft lmao

Xbox is imploding in such a bad way, it’s great that PS5 users will eventually get all Xbox games but in a few years Sony’s console will be the only way to play many games besides PC and we all know how abusive Sony can get when they have no competition.

The future of the whole gaming industry is looking pretty bleak to be honest…

I didn’t even watch it to know it was terrible…

Time to watch the trailers without 2 hours of ads in between.

Returnal is still the best PS5 game hands down, gameplay is so brutal but addictive, I got the platinum and it’s one of those games where I think I ended up learning how to play better lol.

Valhalla has no right to be as long as it is, specially when 90% of quests follow the exact same structure, go talk to someone, head to other location, investigate some boring sh*t, go to another location and fight or be stealthy, head back to the first character, done and repeat.

In my case my PS5 has been mostly turned off since I finished FFVII Rebirth back in March and decided to do a NG+ of Spider-Man 2 on April, since then I’ve only occasionally turned it on to updates and try the Concord beta (lol).

Looking forward to Astro Bot and Epic Mickey next month, afterwards it looks dry again but we’re sooo due for a showcase in September/October…

This is legit the best gaming news in the whole year, this almost guarantees a sequel which I hope becomes such a success that MS will be in ridicule for almost axing both the studio and the IP.

I’m gonna buy the first game on PS5 and eventually the sequel too. Would be funny if they decide to skip Xbox out of spite lol

@BlaizeV I play it and I’ve only ever bought one season pass and I regain it each season to buy the next one, tho I’ve skipped a few seasons I wasn’t feeling like playing or was busy with other games.

And tbh I couldn’t care less about skins, never bought one directly and Fortnite isn’t as predatory as Overwatch or CoD with MTX, in its core it’s still a fun game.