Max_the_German

„Acclaimed PS5 Platformer Astro Bot Really Couldn't Be Selling Any Better“

This is a false statement. It sales numbers are not limited by physical copies, so of course it could sell better. In theory, but also in practice.

Why has this game not yet shifted 5 million copies, i.e. Super Mario territory? I didn’t buy it yet, because I know that it’s high price will reduce in a not too far future by a significant amount. Zelda Echoes of Wisdom meanwhile: day one.

@beardybot THAT‘s why the Metaverse is such a joke.

Mark Zuckerberg became father in 2015, 2017 and 2023. And even his days only have 24 hours. So how can this man run Meta, play Civ VI in high intensity and have a fulfilling family life?

I have a phobia („suffering“ would be too drastic), and I know the best cure is cognitive behaviour therapy.

So, make this game a cure and flood it with spiders!

@Samsteez We talk about Sony in the year of the Lord and Savior 2024. Expectation management helps to remain a happy man.

This permanent talking in GoW was the main reason for me to skip Ragnarök.

@Czar_Khastik You’re a man of principles, I like that.

Maybe because Xbox is primarily a thing in the US, while PS has appeal worldwide?

@Medic_alert Yes, I‘ll rather stuck in the past.

A typical non-article.

That‘s a fair move from SE (meanwhile H:ZD pricing…).

@nomither6 Fully agree! People complain about not having Switch themes, but its UI is clear and quick, and the ads in the „unlock screen“ are both effective and non-annoying.

Not always, but in general:
Sony cares about what it wants.
Nintendo cares about what its customers want.

Sony will realise that PC gamers won’t accept PSN. PSN and platforms are under Japanese lead, so there‘s hope for reasonable thinking and action.

It‘s a thin line between art and nonsense.

Let‘s see how it will turn out. I‘m still not convinced that the PS5 Pro will be a success:

At this point, everyone with high interest in a PS5 has got one, and many not before 2022 due to Covid manufacturing problems.

So the Pro is mainly an upgrade at a very high price, not like the PS4 Pro, which was the first PS4 for many people, at a reasonable price.

And the delay of AC:S might sound good, but it’s no guarantee for a high degree of polish. It depends on the working culture and qualities of heads: If they are poor, then the devs are pushed to integrate new stuff which was skipped before, because „you have plenty of time now“. And the original goal, to polish the game with the existing content, gets lost.

I don’t believe in a good working culture at these Ubi studios.

@Czar_Khastik I always look for your comments, you make my day.

@NeonMullet Thanks, haven’t heard of Max Mustard, has decent reviews on Quest 3, I’m definitely interested.

Hitman looks like a lot of silly fun, with it’s sandbox mechanics and wild objects you can interact with.

PSVR2 is kept alive by third parties, therefore my support for Metro, Midnight Walk and Hitman. And Ghost 2 looks brilliant! Where can I get permission for four checks?

Great, a 30 min State of Play with 25 min of already available games.

If you add the rumored remasters of HZD, DG and SR1+2, then what are the real new gaming experiences here?

Great message that the AA games market is not only alive but thriving. I hope that some companies will disarm and move from AAA to AA.

@themightyant Being skeptical is fine. But 400m is definitely possible!

If you outsource a big chunk, with the basis still being a mess after several years, and the boss says that in 18 months it has to be the best product Sony has ever made, then these outsourcing studios could demand EVERY price, and they most certainly did.
These external studio owners are rich people now!

@UltimateOtaku91 Helldivers 2 didn’t fail because it is a consistent product with a soul, and it is a tiny bit edgy.

Concord meanwhile is a streamlined copycat, which never received a soul, because of the „toxic positivity“ and because several studios worked on it in parallel, with limited coordination, so that the single pieces don’t form a coherent whole.

People love Sony games for being the perfect blend of very high production value, artistic expression, and sheer fun. And what of this deliveres Concord?

But will Hermen Hulst renounce his yearly bonus?

Dear Sony, just release you games day and date on PC and PS5, with the risk that people will prefer playing it on their next Xbox (which is assumed to be some kind of PC). Or skip PC at all.

You current tactic is neither fish nor fowl.

Where are those „Hotly anticipated games at Sony's booth“?

Where is the Bloodborne tv show when you need it?

The length and bloat of this game seem to be the real peoblems. People want to fight hordes after 13 hours in the game, not 30 hours.

So, what this game really needs is a „non-director’s cut“. This, DualSense support and slightly improved graphics (higher LoD, higher resolution, better texture filtering), and people will buy it full price!

The prices will create the biggest ***** in PS history, and the prices on eBay even more.

@IceClimbersMain 1200 looks more likely to me.

@MrPeanutbutterz I couldn‘t tell BY THE PRICE. My question is: Are PS Plus discounts generally better than standard discounts? My thesis: They aren‘t. A game for originally e.g. 40 £ would be 24 £ with PS Plus discount after 12 months, then 40 £ back again, then 24 £ without PS Plus two months later etc.
And I ask myself: What benefits does a publisher have if choosing the PS Plus discount model compared to the standard discount model?

@ChrisDeku I know

@dskatter You‘re right, I was in a bad mood and used this as a channel.

What I wanted to say: I couldn’t tell you by the prices which offers require PS Plus and which won’t. Do the publishers get a bigger share of the price from Sony when it is a PS Plus exclusive offer? Or why do they do this?

These (for me) unremarkable offers in combination with unremarkable monthly „free“ games and the ability to play non-F2F games online make it harder and harder to justify the rising PS Plus subscription price.

And what will I do when my PS Plus subscription expires on Chrismas? I will buy and enjoy my physical games as I did before.

The difference is tremendous, but mainly because SE did a bad job with the original version.

FF7R in performance mode has a similar (typically higher) resolution and the same framerate as Returnal (which is fixed 1080p60). Both are UE4 games, based on late, mature versions of the UE4 SDK.

But why does Returnal look so much sharper and better than FF7R on base PS5?

@PaperAlien And even that wouldn’t be true, with a PC version releasing in the presumably same time window.

@Frmknst This „base PS5 not yet fully utilized“ is just wrong, and you know it. There are plenty of games (also from Sony, e.g. SM2) which uses the CPU and the memory system effectively and get a lot out of the boxes, while other games like BMW are certainly showing the system‘s limits.

Please stop telling this story. It sounds nice, but it just isn’t true.

The comparisons with the PS3 launch model are a bit flawed:

You could watch Blurays for the first time, and you haven’t had a cheaper PS3 you wanted to replace. Now, almost everyone interested in PS5 has already got one, the base model was not cheap either, and most people usually have little use for two consoles of the same system (guys with holiday cottages like this EA guy aside).

And while I get the price based on the high manufacturing costs: Making the PS5 Pro was a mistake!

@Gaia093 I guess they want to get rid of the term „Showcase“ entirely and replace it with the catchier „State of Play“ for all regular video formats.
„Showcase“ is so unspecific, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an „Tesla Showcase“ or an „Xiaomi Showcase“, and even Nintendo uses it for its „Partner Showcase“.
And calling it all „State of Play“ allows for positive surprises (and disappointments).

This is one of those games which come every three to five years and REALLY feel like a 10.

@BrettAwesome ??? I know that the CPU will be the limit. And with „will NOT notice“ I meant that they will not notice that it’s fake 60 fps, they will deem it for real 60 fps.

My backlog is too long to buy at full price.

GTA 6 will probably get a 60 fps mode with FSR3 frame generation, the same 60 fps mode as Black Myth: Wukong has. And most players will NOT notice.

Meaningful additions. I’m still hoping for an improved volume control for DualSense-attached headphones (R1/L1 to increase/decrease while holding the mute button). And a better Remote Play quality would also be nice.

Game Pass was the reason why we got the PS Plus Collection. The PS5 is my first PlayStation, so I‘ve benefited a lot. Thank you, Microsoft!

@The_Wailing_Doom Yes, great prospect for Sony: digital-only (with PS6) means no share for retailers and higher average game prices, and direct hardware sales help them both with higher profits and less dependency on retailers, see Apple. And other premium hardware companies (Dyson) will follow.
The end of classical electronics retailers?

For me it‘s not about the price, but the lack of a version with an already installed disk drive. When I buy a premium machine, I don‘t want to buy and attach a disk drive, and other people are maybe not even capable of performing that.

Ergo: I don’t want to be a Pro to get a real Pro-version of the PS5 Pro.

I will buy it. But my backlog is just too big to pay full-price when on Black Friday I will get it 25% off (at least I hope so).
And to be clear: I do it that way because Sony allows me so. If they would adopt the Nintendo model of almost no discount in the first two years, then it would be day one for me.

I don’t know what will bore me more: this or the Apple presentation.

„Small game“. I‘ve started DG and found it pretty tedious. Then I read that the real fun starts when you can battle these giant hordes this game is famous for, after 30 hours or so.
Well, you have probably achieved Platinum in Astro in less then 30 hours. But it is fun from the first to the last second. If a long playtime is what Garvin sees as a requirement for a great game, I get why SIE didn’t allow development for DG2.