@DiggleDog the rumor is that Silent Hill is a timed exclusivity deal. In other words: Sony paid to lock the game on PS for a limited time. Paying for multiple games likely was too expensive.
@LiamCroft I am not sure but think he said recently in a podcast that his latest info might point at previous sources being wrong (but I might be mixing things up.)
Either way: Sony could possibly have an exclusive marketing agreement, instead of “game exclusivity”.
@themightyant it’s a sensible to want this as a mini game in Hogwarts, as it’s to want the entirety of NBA2K as a mini-game inside of GTA, but people will be reasonable like that.
Sadly Sony won’t invest in making their own JRPGs so long they can simply buy exclusivities. Similar to how they no longer make FPS games, because they can buy marketing exclusivity for the largest one out there (for now.)
Side to that, anyone that thinks Nintendo is successful in Japan because of Sonys censorship policies, and are complaining about games that don’t make it to the west… ugh…
Nintendo is big in Japan because of portability, not because of sexual assault simulators.
My opinion: I want VR to succeed, but for it to happen a few things need to also happen:
Completely wireless experience: I don’t know how people that complain about wired controllers are so accepting of headsets having cables hanging off them.
Backwards compatibility: I don’t feel confident trying a VR platform if they will continue to make it not BC as they try new approaches every generation.
lower price point : I know the “tech is worth it” but when we have things like the Quest costing less and also being stand alone… sadly price won’t go down without iteration and iteration won’t happen if the product is not successful enough…
@NEStalgia well, the leak clip and rumors so far point are a remake that is more in line, gameplay and visuals, to Persona 5. I would call that a FF7 style remake. Likely the core story will be about the same.
As for exclusivity, when you get some users angry, you get many more users just jumping onto your platform. At this point, Xbox should not care about whom they upset with exclusivity dreams. It’s not like Sony or Nintendo ever cared.
As I said I doubt there will be exclusivity to Xbox, but would not be surprised if they had a 6 month window. I would be shocked if there was a year window.
But I am baffled about all the people already complaining about even just a marketing exclusivity, because legacy and what not. It’s ok for Sony to lock down third party exclusives, but not for Xbox?
And legacy, well, Final Fantasy used to be a 100% Nintendo exclusive until Sony came around. Things change.
At the end, if it’s Xbox exclusive, it will also be on PC.
I’ll take all the AC you can throw my way. I would not mind a return to the yearly release days, so long they don’t release unfinished games as they did with Unity.
That year should had been exclusively AC Rouge on all platforms.
In fact, I feel the time spent on all the Valhalla DLC should had instead been used for smaller stand alone releases.
Fewer unit sales but more profit at the end. Corporations profiting from excluding gamers seem to be the future of gaming.
Me? I could afford it but refuse to. I won’t pay $70 for any game at launch. I’ll happily wait for a deep discount. These days, for most gamers I just now wait for them to hit $30 on a sale. I got a large enough backlog to play.
I did get Tears of the Kingdom, but I pre-ordered that before the price was announced and they honored me the $60 price.
Bigots are so infuriating. I’m shocked we have not seen the usual suspects jump in these comments to complain about being called bigots “just for expressing a normal opinion” or what not… or maybe I just blocked them already and can’t see it…
@get2sammyb it’s tricky to know without actually seeing what is in writing, but technically what I describe above is, as far as the region legality cares, abiding by the deal, as it results in no deal within the region.
I highly doubt they signed a blanket global deal blockage clause simply given how they publicly stated they will go through even if the FTC does not approve, and that’s the home turf. To me this reads as they will do all they can legally do to get the deal through.
@get2sammyb As far as I understand it, they would not have to withdraw the entire business from the UK. They (specifically ABK) would have to spin off all UK operations into independent entities. Currently that consists of multiple publishing operations and a support studio for Sledgehammer.
ABK would then stop publishing in the UK directly and all UK publishing would be done via this entity. This entity would likely also hold all local trademarks (or whatever the equivalent of that is in the UK) and regional publishing rights for ABK IP.
Only at that point can the deal go forward without CMA approval (this entity would not be part of the deal.)
This independent entity would have to be structured in such a way that they are not controlled by the old-parent ABK, but likely would still be bound by the acquisition agreement should legal roadblocks be cleared.
MS would continue their appeal to determine if they can ever acquire these regional operations.
If never approved, this entity likely would continue to exist in its own, and make all regional publishing calls. MS adding ABK games into GamePass on the region would be subject of MS negotiating with the entity, for example.
Edit:
All through this process, existing parent Microsoft operations in the region would not be affected.
The logic behind all of this is that the UK only had control over acquisition of regional assets, if those are not part of the deal, there is little they can do about it.
Edit 2:
This is not a trivial/overnight process and I’m sure ABK neither MS would want to go there until they exhaust all legal options, although I heard from some experts that MS is likely to just push for this tactic as they wait for the appeal to clear. I just feel in my gut they would go there only after they see what their outlook is for that appeal, not before.
If they wanted to they could even get the Fifa license and be the new creators where near all revenue goes to them.
I could actually see Sony doing this. They already have a good sports studio with MLB The Show, but it’s very likely a FIFA license would be as restrictive as MLB (unable to make it exclusive.) Still would get the full share of first party sales, not just royalties, including all IAP and likely able to market it without mentioning Xbox. That could be a big win for Sony, even if not one the platform fans in this website would care much for.
@crazykcarter of course it won’t be their last acquisition, but I doubt they will aim for big guys anymore. I assure you Phil is annoyed he was locked down on this deal when Square decided to sell Edios, owning Tomb Rider and Deus Ex would had been a huge boom for them.
So, it’s likely any future acquisitions will be on the smaller side, although still big, in fear of a large deal preventing them from bidding on good opportunities.
@UltimateOtaku91 that’s a good point with Destiny. It has slowly become a WoW-like game with a base that won’t quit no mater how poorly they perceive being treated. I could see, in a future were CoD is removed from PlayStation, Sony would remove Destiny from Xbox.
@UltimateOtaku91 @XenonKnight MS will stop CoD from coming to PlayStation as fast as they stopped new Minecraft games from coming to PlayStation, so, not at all.
But I’ll give you this: they will stop making PS5 CoD games because in 10 years we will be all playing on a PS6.
@get2sammyb i think both extremes are hyperbolic: Sony being able to just make a CoD competitor in 10 years and Sony market position simply being devastated by lack of access to CoD.
Killzone and Resistance were both very failed attempts at making a “Halo killer”. They ended up making a name for themselves, but nowhere near their target. Making a CoD killer would be even harder. Let’s not get started with The Order.
I really feel PS is missing something needed to build up a strong FPS IP, although now they own Bungie so who knows what might come out of that.
But even if they were to lose access to CoD, something I doubt is going to happen, Sony has enough IPs and third party deals of their own to stay the top console in town, or at minimum a neck-to-neck competitor.
@Sil_Am for what it’s worth, Breath of the wild was not “make your own adventure”. It had plenty of guidance and direction, it just allowed players to ignore that direction and either do a lot more side content or take shortcuts and go perhaps directly to the final boss, so long one was good enough at the game to face them with next to no HP.
As far as I heard, Tears of the kingdom is even more story focused while still providing that same freedom, maybe much more freedom.
To me it sounds like EA feels PSVR2 sales are just not there yet for them to invest on that mode for PS5, and Sony didn’t pay them to develop it the way they done in the past with Capcom and Resident Evil.
@RonnieL saw it, don’t read it the way you read it, and you proven you don’t accept counter arguments so decided to just stop the conversation there and let you think whatever you want to think, since there is no point in continuing that exchange with you.
@BlueBeemer if it increased software revenue (and seeing 360 games still be in the top selling list tells me it did, games don’t get there only due to enthusiasts) then it was a significant addition worth the time and investment.
For what it’s worth, BC going all the way back to OG BC is one of the reasons I went Xbox first this generation. Yes, I’m an enthusiast that has all consoles, and this is anecdotal, but you can at least add a +1 for Xbox that would had not occurred without that backwards compatibility to those generations.
@BlueBeemer the console not selling well is unrelated to backwards compatibility being actually desired. It’s not a niche feature, but it came too late.
PS4 was already market dominant, BC alone at that point was not going to help. Had XBO launched with BC, it would had been drastically different, because many more would had been reluctant to make the jump to PS4. I’m one of the many X360 users that abandoned Xbox during the PS4|XBO gen, something that was way easier because lack of BC. Hell, I gave a huge chunk of my games away, something I did regret a bit when Xbox ended up adding BC, but what was done was done.
Xbox's Backwards Compatibility program only happened because Microsoft was trying to win gamers back but nobody cared even though they said they did
You might think people don’t care, but they do. Call of Duty Black Ops 360 games and GTA IV are constantly in the top selling list, and right now you can also see KOTOR2 and Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga there too. It might not be a Top 10 thing, but good games are good games regardless how old they be, and good games simply make money, again, even if not top 10 territory
@RonnieL A “3 game deal” does not change that the are all From software games all the way. No, Sony did not have a finger on designing them. Previewing the games is part of the whole exclusivity deal, everyone paying for exclusivity will hype up said game.
FFXVI and FF7 Rebirth are not even out and a known paid exclusive, not sure why you listed them there.
They are not porting Octopath Traveler 2 or Live a Live but port Diofield, FF Crisis Core, Star Ocean and Chrono Cross. At the end of the day, the list of not-ported is either too selective or too arbitrary to be simply “because we didn’t feel like it.”
@RonnieL did Sony design the game and then hired From Software to make it? Because if not, it sounds like “Sony paid for permanent exclusivity AND ownership of the IP”. They did the same for Dead Stranding and The Order 1886. They know they can’t get away with keeping the IP on most pre-existing IPs.
Edit: btw they are not the only ones. MS also did the same with Recore and Ori. Nintendo did it with Astral Chain. It happens all the time, new IP exclusives tend to be lifetime exclusives with IP ownership. A big exception might me Forespoken, and that was supposed to have a 2 year exclusivity, now it’s basically lifetime since that title is obviously dead and buried.
I will believe Square “choses” not to port the FF7R to Xbox the day they stop publishing all other games like FF Crisis Core to Xbox.
@wiiware square was very clear the first game was a comercial failure. MS paid 100 million to finance the game development. It was almost a Bayonetta 2 situaron, with the sole exception MS didn’t demand full exclusivity.
Also: I intentionally mentioned permanent third party exclusives too. Sony done it with games like FF7R, and MS used to do it too with games like Dead Rising 3.
Tricky. I think the original PS screen was the best, BUT I played so much more on my PS2, that my brain just likes it more, despite knowing its not the best.
Through most of the PS4 gen I had a dashboard theme that mimicked the PS2, because I loved the PS2 that much.
PS3 was bad. PS4 was worse. PS5... about a tie with PS3.
@wiiware they were sued over attempting to leverage their OS monopoly (that these days is no longer one since they are down to 29.4% of consumer OS usage) to make their browser dominant. That was greatly a Bill Gates policy though.
As for competir the “normal” way, let’s face it, no one here would like that either because it would translate to using that same amount of money to make 12-24 month platform exclusivity deals, maybe even lifetime deals. We all remember how the community reacted to Rise of the Tomb Rider 1 year exclusivity, and that was a game that would had not even been made had it not been for how much MS paid to have it made.
Serious question: how would you feel if MS was the one that money hatred Final Fantasy XVI, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania to keep them away from PlayStation for a year, or maybe even permanently?
What if they did that with GTAVI? If anyone has the deep pockets to do it, it’s MS. Under that light, I would much rather they own CoD, a game too big to make exclusive. It gives MS what they want (big title to put on game pass every year) and it ties up their wallet making it much harder for them to make crazy money hatting.
Many keep asking “why not do what everyone else does and make great games”, but even with their reputation, Sony relies heavily on third party exclusivity deals to be were they are.
Microsoft has a habit of inserting itself to some industry, monopolize it, and make the industry worse. From making dlc the norm on xbox live, pay for online play, then the latest 1st party games on subscription day one
I’m genuinely curious as to what industry MS has ever managed to establish a monopoly in. I’m sure you will bring windows so let’s get that out of the way since that’s basically what they got started with. So… what industry did MS ever inject themselves into and take over?
@IOI According to ABKs own list of locations Sledgehammer has offices in Guildford, UK; Toronto, Canada; Foster City, California and Melbourne, Australia. I have no clue what is the primary office, and how their teams are distributed across these 4 offices, but they have a UK operational base and that alone gives UK a say in the merger.
Edit: ABK could always just shut down that office, spinning it off into an independent operaron is not the only option, but I doubt that is something they want to do.
If the EU blocks, it’s game over, even if MS also decided to appeal that.
If it does not block I expect ABK to divest/spin-off all UK operations into an independent entity that won’t be part of the merger, removing all power the UK has to block the deal.
The appeal will continue only to decide if those operations (that include an important studio: Sledgehammer, as well as regional publishing offices) can be also acquired.
@themightyant I honestly think we reached a breaking point on what can be realistically done with graphics and budgets.
I’m more interested in what can be done with additional CPU horse power for AI and simulation. More characters on screen (animation of multiple entities is more of a CPU thing than a GPU thing), more destructive environments, more realistic NPC behaviors, more physics and destructible environments, etc.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner even if you assumed these users just stirred their PS4s on a glass case to never be played again, or set them on fire, that still leaves over 80 million PS4s out there.
But truth is: most people sell or trade in their PS4s, that in turn are sold to new users that will want PS4 games. Of course they won’t all buy the same games, but it’s a huge install base that won’t be easy to ignore.
Won’t be shocked if we see at least two more years of CoD on PS4.
@themightyant I expect next Gen’s cros-Gen period to be even longer than this, potentially the entire generation maybe. There might be some titles that are exclusive to the next Gen, but for the most part, expect almost everything to be a lot more flexible, especially on the Xbox front. MS is intentionally building their strategy around scalability.
@themightyant yea, if I recall Midnight Suns didn’t sell as expected, they didn’t have the budget to sink in a switch port. This game has the money to go through with the port, given its surprising sales numbers.
Goes to show that abandoning those 117 million PS4 consoles is still not a smart move. We might still see more cross-Gen support for a while longer, although this “release last Gen later” is likely to become the norm going forward.
So figured I would go down the rabbit hole to see how many games studios Sony has shut down, after reading somewhere that this is actually the fifth studio Sony has shut down since 2016 and figured I would post the list here:
@NEStalgia dont be shocked if MM suffers the same fate in the next few months, or within the year. Asobi is likely safe for now because Astro has become a bit of a mascot, but for how long?
@LiamCroft If my time spent playing other Bethesda games is anything to go by, I wont be playing anything but Starfield for several months, but I can see your point.
There still are some third party games that appeal me entering the service. I like that they tend to be telegraphed precisely because I get to plan ahead (still never catch up, though.) Right now need to finish still P4G, and start Benedict Fox, Wo Long and Homestead Arcana (not for everyone but it really calls to me.)
Did they ever add a "leaving soon" section to PSN Extra? If not, they really have to copy that. Something I find hilarious right now is that one of the titles in the "Leaving Soon" section of PC GamePass is a strategy game called "Before We Leave".
BTW, there is little announced so far that far ahead (September) other than Starfield, but this is a very good resource on everything "confirmed" for this year. I am hoping Replaced shows up before Starfield, that game looks amazing.
Serious exclusive bangers released day one onto gamepass would absolutely compel ps players to consider picking up an xbox or subscribe to gamepass IN ADDITION to playing the Sony console.
That is the point, though. Anyone buying an Xbox in addition to keeping their PlayStation isn't going to make Xbox consoles sell more than PS consoles, at most that will narrow the gap but will forever keep Xbox behind. This is especially true given that Xbox is giving their users to play their games on PC too, or even streaming them if that's good enough for the given player.
It is not impossible, in theory, for XBox consoles to overtake PS5 on some specific regions with some big bang titles, mostly western (Americas) countries, but it still is not very likely to occur this generation. In regions like EU, UK and Japan, I'm sure Xbox is expecting most of their business to be via PC.
Comments 1,678
Re: PS5 Exclusivity Over Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake Appears Uncertain
@DiggleDog the rumor is that Silent Hill is a timed exclusivity deal. In other words: Sony paid to lock the game on PS for a limited time. Paying for multiple games likely was too expensive.
Re: PS5 Exclusivity Over Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake Appears Uncertain
@LiamCroft I am not sure but think he said recently in a podcast that his latest info might point at previous sources being wrong (but I might be mixing things up.)
Either way: Sony could possibly have an exclusive marketing agreement, instead of “game exclusivity”.
Personally, the more platforms the better.
Re: Gameplay of Harry Potter Quidditch Game Leaks, And It Looks Promising
@themightyant it’s a sensible to want this as a mini game in Hogwarts, as it’s to want the entirety of NBA2K as a mini-game inside of GTA, but people will be reasonable like that.
Re: Jim Ryan: Japanese Market Still Very Important to Sony
Sadly Sony won’t invest in making their own JRPGs so long they can simply buy exclusivities. Similar to how they no longer make FPS games, because they can buy marketing exclusivity for the largest one out there (for now.)
Side to that, anyone that thinks Nintendo is successful in Japan because of Sonys censorship policies, and are complaining about games that don’t make it to the west… ugh…
Nintendo is big in Japan because of portability, not because of sexual assault simulators.
Re: Sony Says It's Too Early to Judge PSVR2's Popularity
My opinion: I want VR to succeed, but for it to happen a few things need to also happen:
Re: Sony Says It's Too Early to Judge PSVR2's Popularity
To me this screams sales are way way worse than they expected.
Re: Rumour: Persona 3 Remake Reveal May Be Coming Next Month
@NEStalgia well, the leak clip and rumors so far point are a remake that is more in line, gameplay and visuals, to Persona 5. I would call that a FF7 style remake. Likely the core story will be about the same.
As for exclusivity, when you get some users angry, you get many more users just jumping onto your platform. At this point, Xbox should not care about whom they upset with exclusivity dreams. It’s not like Sony or Nintendo ever cared.
Re: Rumour: Persona 3 Remake Reveal May Be Coming Next Month
As I said I doubt there will be exclusivity to Xbox, but would not be surprised if they had a 6 month window. I would be shocked if there was a year window.
But I am baffled about all the people already complaining about even just a marketing exclusivity, because legacy and what not. It’s ok for Sony to lock down third party exclusives, but not for Xbox?
And legacy, well, Final Fantasy used to be a 100% Nintendo exclusive until Sony came around. Things change.
At the end, if it’s Xbox exclusive, it will also be on PC.
Re: Rumour: Persona 3 Remake Reveal May Be Coming Next Month
@NEStalgia didn’t the FF7 classic remaster port hit consoles around the same time as the FF7 Remake was announced?
Also: good reason to port P3P to modern consoles, because you know the remake will be exclusive to a single console+PC?
I doubt it but also would not be shocked if Xbox pays for a 6 month exclusivity deal.
Re: Ubisoft Intends to Assign Even More Developers to Assassin's Creed Games
I’ll take all the AC you can throw my way. I would not mind a return to the yearly release days, so long they don’t release unfinished games as they did with Unity.
That year should had been exclusively AC Rouge on all platforms.
In fact, I feel the time spent on all the Valhalla DLC should had instead been used for smaller stand alone releases.
Re: SEGA Could Join Sony in Raising Its Game Prices to $70
Fewer unit sales but more profit at the end. Corporations profiting from excluding gamers seem to be the future of gaming.
Me? I could afford it but refuse to. I won’t pay $70 for any game at launch. I’ll happily wait for a deep discount. These days, for most gamers I just now wait for them to hit $30 on a sale. I got a large enough backlog to play.
I did get Tears of the Kingdom, but I pre-ordered that before the price was announced and they honored me the $60 price.
Re: Horizon Vocalist Receives Abuse Over the Use of Her Voice
Bigots are so infuriating. I’m shocked we have not seen the usual suspects jump in these comments to complain about being called bigots “just for expressing a normal opinion” or what not… or maybe I just blocked them already and can’t see it…
Re: UK's Regulator Responds to European Commission's Decision to Pass Xbox's Activision Buyout
@get2sammyb it’s tricky to know without actually seeing what is in writing, but technically what I describe above is, as far as the region legality cares, abiding by the deal, as it results in no deal within the region.
I highly doubt they signed a blanket global deal blockage clause simply given how they publicly stated they will go through even if the FTC does not approve, and that’s the home turf. To me this reads as they will do all they can legally do to get the deal through.
Re: UK's Regulator Responds to European Commission's Decision to Pass Xbox's Activision Buyout
@get2sammyb As far as I understand it, they would not have to withdraw the entire business from the UK. They (specifically ABK) would have to spin off all UK operations into independent entities. Currently that consists of multiple publishing operations and a support studio for Sledgehammer.
ABK would then stop publishing in the UK directly and all UK publishing would be done via this entity. This entity would likely also hold all local trademarks (or whatever the equivalent of that is in the UK) and regional publishing rights for ABK IP.
Only at that point can the deal go forward without CMA approval (this entity would not be part of the deal.)
This independent entity would have to be structured in such a way that they are not controlled by the old-parent ABK, but likely would still be bound by the acquisition agreement should legal roadblocks be cleared.
MS would continue their appeal to determine if they can ever acquire these regional operations.
If never approved, this entity likely would continue to exist in its own, and make all regional publishing calls. MS adding ABK games into GamePass on the region would be subject of MS negotiating with the entity, for example.
Edit:
All through this process, existing parent Microsoft operations in the region would not be affected.
The logic behind all of this is that the UK only had control over acquisition of regional assets, if those are not part of the deal, there is little they can do about it.
Edit 2:
This is not a trivial/overnight process and I’m sure ABK neither MS would want to go there until they exhaust all legal options, although I heard from some experts that MS is likely to just push for this tactic as they wait for the appeal to clear. I just feel in my gut they would go there only after they see what their outlook is for that appeal, not before.
Re: Microsoft's $69 Billion Activision Deal Approved by the EU Commission
@UltimateOtaku91
I could actually see Sony doing this. They already have a good sports studio with MLB The Show, but it’s very likely a FIFA license would be as restrictive as MLB (unable to make it exclusive.) Still would get the full share of first party sales, not just royalties, including all IAP and likely able to market it without mentioning Xbox. That could be a big win for Sony, even if not one the platform fans in this website would care much for.
Re: Microsoft's $69 Billion Activision Deal Approved by the EU Commission
@crazykcarter of course it won’t be their last acquisition, but I doubt they will aim for big guys anymore. I assure you Phil is annoyed he was locked down on this deal when Square decided to sell Edios, owning Tomb Rider and Deus Ex would had been a huge boom for them.
So, it’s likely any future acquisitions will be on the smaller side, although still big, in fear of a large deal preventing them from bidding on good opportunities.
Re: Microsoft's $69 Billion Activision Deal Approved by the EU Commission
@UltimateOtaku91 that’s a good point with Destiny. It has slowly become a WoW-like game with a base that won’t quit no mater how poorly they perceive being treated. I could see, in a future were CoD is removed from PlayStation, Sony would remove Destiny from Xbox.
Re: Microsoft's $69 Billion Activision Deal Approved by the EU Commission
@UltimateOtaku91 @XenonKnight MS will stop CoD from coming to PlayStation as fast as they stopped new Minecraft games from coming to PlayStation, so, not at all.
But I’ll give you this: they will stop making PS5 CoD games because in 10 years we will be all playing on a PS6.
Re: Microsoft's $69 Billion Activision Deal Approved by the EU Commission
@get2sammyb i think both extremes are hyperbolic: Sony being able to just make a CoD competitor in 10 years and Sony market position simply being devastated by lack of access to CoD.
Killzone and Resistance were both very failed attempts at making a “Halo killer”. They ended up making a name for themselves, but nowhere near their target. Making a CoD killer would be even harder. Let’s not get started with The Order.
I really feel PS is missing something needed to build up a strong FPS IP, although now they own Bungie so who knows what might come out of that.
But even if they were to lose access to CoD, something I doubt is going to happen, Sony has enough IPs and third party deals of their own to stay the top console in town, or at minimum a neck-to-neck competitor.
Re: Microsoft's $69 Billion Activision Deal Approved by the EU Commission
I am sure this comment section will be very constructive and friendly.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Nothing on PS5, PS4, Can Compete with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
@Sil_Am for what it’s worth, Breath of the wild was not “make your own adventure”. It had plenty of guidance and direction, it just allowed players to ignore that direction and either do a lot more side content or take shortcuts and go perhaps directly to the final boss, so long one was good enough at the game to face them with next to no HP.
As far as I heard, Tears of the kingdom is even more story focused while still providing that same freedom, maybe much more freedom.
Re: After Transformative Gran Turismo 7 Update, F1 23 Will Not Support PSVR2
To me it sounds like EA feels PSVR2 sales are just not there yet for them to invest on that mode for PS5, and Sony didn’t pay them to develop it the way they done in the past with Capcom and Resident Evil.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@RonnieL I didn't ignore it, but ignoring and blocking you, since you debate like a 5 year old.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@RonnieL saw it, don’t read it the way you read it, and you proven you don’t accept counter arguments so decided to just stop the conversation there and let you think whatever you want to think, since there is no point in continuing that exchange with you.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@BlueBeemer if it increased software revenue (and seeing 360 games still be in the top selling list tells me it did, games don’t get there only due to enthusiasts) then it was a significant addition worth the time and investment.
For what it’s worth, BC going all the way back to OG BC is one of the reasons I went Xbox first this generation. Yes, I’m an enthusiast that has all consoles, and this is anecdotal, but you can at least add a +1 for Xbox that would had not occurred without that backwards compatibility to those generations.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@BlueBeemer the console not selling well is unrelated to backwards compatibility being actually desired. It’s not a niche feature, but it came too late.
PS4 was already market dominant, BC alone at that point was not going to help. Had XBO launched with BC, it would had been drastically different, because many more would had been reluctant to make the jump to PS4. I’m one of the many X360 users that abandoned Xbox during the PS4|XBO gen, something that was way easier because lack of BC. Hell, I gave a huge chunk of my games away, something I did regret a bit when Xbox ended up adding BC, but what was done was done.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@RonnieL
Says the person that just stated “reading comment sections” and “many people I know”…
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@BlueBeemer
You might think people don’t care, but they do. Call of Duty Black Ops 360 games and GTA IV are constantly in the top selling list, and right now you can also see KOTOR2 and Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga there too. It might not be a Top 10 thing, but good games are good games regardless how old they be, and good games simply make money, again, even if not top 10 territory
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@RonnieL A “3 game deal” does not change that the are all From software games all the way. No, Sony did not have a finger on designing them. Previewing the games is part of the whole exclusivity deal, everyone paying for exclusivity will hype up said game.
FFXVI and FF7 Rebirth are not even out and a known paid exclusive, not sure why you listed them there.
They are not porting Octopath Traveler 2 or Live a Live but port Diofield, FF Crisis Core, Star Ocean and Chrono Cross. At the end of the day, the list of not-ported is either too selective or too arbitrary to be simply “because we didn’t feel like it.”
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@RonnieL did Sony design the game and then hired From Software to make it? Because if not, it sounds like “Sony paid for permanent exclusivity AND ownership of the IP”. They did the same for Dead Stranding and The Order 1886. They know they can’t get away with keeping the IP on most pre-existing IPs.
Edit: btw they are not the only ones. MS also did the same with Recore and Ori. Nintendo did it with Astral Chain. It happens all the time, new IP exclusives tend to be lifetime exclusives with IP ownership. A big exception might me Forespoken, and that was supposed to have a 2 year exclusivity, now it’s basically lifetime since that title is obviously dead and buried.
I will believe Square “choses” not to port the FF7R to Xbox the day they stop publishing all other games like FF Crisis Core to Xbox.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@wiiware square was very clear the first game was a comercial failure. MS paid 100 million to finance the game development. It was almost a Bayonetta 2 situaron, with the sole exception MS didn’t demand full exclusivity.
Also: I intentionally mentioned permanent third party exclusives too. Sony done it with games like FF7R, and MS used to do it too with games like Dead Rising 3.
Re: Poll: What's the Best PlayStation Startup Sequence?
Tricky. I think the original PS screen was the best, BUT I played so much more on my PS2, that my brain just likes it more, despite knowing its not the best.
Through most of the PS4 gen I had a dashboard theme that mimicked the PS2, because I loved the PS2 that much.
PS3 was bad.
PS4 was worse.
PS5... about a tie with PS3.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@wiiware they were sued over attempting to leverage their OS monopoly (that these days is no longer one since they are down to 29.4% of consumer OS usage) to make their browser dominant. That was greatly a Bill Gates policy though.
As for competir the “normal” way, let’s face it, no one here would like that either because it would translate to using that same amount of money to make 12-24 month platform exclusivity deals, maybe even lifetime deals. We all remember how the community reacted to Rise of the Tomb Rider 1 year exclusivity, and that was a game that would had not even been made had it not been for how much MS paid to have it made.
Serious question: how would you feel if MS was the one that money hatred Final Fantasy XVI, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania to keep them away from PlayStation for a year, or maybe even permanently?
What if they did that with GTAVI? If anyone has the deep pockets to do it, it’s MS. Under that light, I would much rather they own CoD, a game too big to make exclusive. It gives MS what they want (big title to put on game pass every year) and it ties up their wallet making it much harder for them to make crazy money hatting.
Many keep asking “why not do what everyone else does and make great games”, but even with their reputation, Sony relies heavily on third party exclusivity deals to be were they are.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@wiiware
I’m genuinely curious as to what industry MS has ever managed to establish a monopoly in. I’m sure you will bring windows so let’s get that out of the way since that’s basically what they got started with. So… what industry did MS ever inject themselves into and take over?
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@AverageGamer still there though, but at least that means it’s “easier” to divest of it. Just hope no one has to lose their jobs in any such process.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
@IOI According to ABKs own list of locations Sledgehammer has offices in Guildford, UK; Toronto, Canada; Foster City, California and Melbourne, Australia. I have no clue what is the primary office, and how their teams are distributed across these 4 offices, but they have a UK operational base and that alone gives UK a say in the merger.
Edit: ABK could always just shut down that office, spinning it off into an independent operaron is not the only option, but I doubt that is something they want to do.
Re: Sorry, But the Drama Over Xbox's Activision Buyout Ain't Over Yet
If the EU blocks, it’s game over, even if MS also decided to appeal that.
If it does not block I expect ABK to divest/spin-off all UK operations into an independent entity that won’t be part of the merger, removing all power the UK has to block the deal.
The appeal will continue only to decide if those operations (that include an important studio: Sledgehammer, as well as regional publishing offices) can be also acquired.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Hogwarts Legacy Soars Back to Number One Thanks to PS4 Launch
@themightyant I honestly think we reached a breaking point on what can be realistically done with graphics and budgets.
I’m more interested in what can be done with additional CPU horse power for AI and simulation. More characters on screen (animation of multiple entities is more of a CPU thing than a GPU thing), more destructive environments, more realistic NPC behaviors, more physics and destructible environments, etc.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Hogwarts Legacy Soars Back to Number One Thanks to PS4 Launch
@PsBoxSwitchOwner even if you assumed these users just stirred their PS4s on a glass case to never be played again, or set them on fire, that still leaves over 80 million PS4s out there.
But truth is: most people sell or trade in their PS4s, that in turn are sold to new users that will want PS4 games. Of course they won’t all buy the same games, but it’s a huge install base that won’t be easy to ignore.
Won’t be shocked if we see at least two more years of CoD on PS4.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Hogwarts Legacy Soars Back to Number One Thanks to PS4 Launch
@themightyant I expect next Gen’s cros-Gen period to be even longer than this, potentially the entire generation maybe. There might be some titles that are exclusive to the next Gen, but for the most part, expect almost everything to be a lot more flexible, especially on the Xbox front. MS is intentionally building their strategy around scalability.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Hogwarts Legacy Soars Back to Number One Thanks to PS4 Launch
@themightyant yea, if I recall Midnight Suns didn’t sell as expected, they didn’t have the budget to sink in a switch port. This game has the money to go through with the port, given its surprising sales numbers.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Hogwarts Legacy Soars Back to Number One Thanks to PS4 Launch
Goes to show that abandoning those 117 million PS4 consoles is still not a smart move. We might still see more cross-Gen support for a while longer, although this “release last Gen later” is likely to become the norm going forward.
Re: Concrete Genie Developer PixelOpus Is Shutting Down
So figured I would go down the rabbit hole to see how many games studios Sony has shut down, after reading somewhere that this is actually the fifth studio Sony has shut down since 2016 and figured I would post the list here:
I know a lot of people constantly ask "where is SOCOM/MotorStorm/Wipeout?" well... that's where.
Re: Concrete Genie Developer PixelOpus Is Shutting Down
@UltimateOtaku91
Actually, now that you bring that up... this might be them shutting down or downsizing future internal VR development plans.
Re: Concrete Genie Developer PixelOpus Is Shutting Down
@UltimateOtaku91
So, if a game does not break the top 20, the game nor the devs deserve to exist?
Re: Concrete Genie Developer PixelOpus Is Shutting Down
@NEStalgia dont be shocked if MM suffers the same fate in the next few months, or within the year. Asobi is likely safe for now because Astro has become a bit of a mascot, but for how long?
Re: Concrete Genie Developer PixelOpus Is Shutting Down
First Japan Studio, now this. Media Molecule likely next.
Re: Soapbox: PS Plus Might Be Gaming's Best Subscription Service Now
@LiamCroft If my time spent playing other Bethesda games is anything to go by, I wont be playing anything but Starfield for several months, but I can see your point.
There still are some third party games that appeal me entering the service. I like that they tend to be telegraphed precisely because I get to plan ahead (still never catch up, though.) Right now need to finish still P4G, and start Benedict Fox, Wo Long and Homestead Arcana (not for everyone but it really calls to me.)
Did they ever add a "leaving soon" section to PSN Extra? If not, they really have to copy that. Something I find hilarious right now is that one of the titles in the "Leaving Soon" section of PC GamePass is a strategy game called "Before We Leave".
BTW, there is little announced so far that far ahead (September) other than Starfield, but this is a very good resource on everything "confirmed" for this year. I am hoping Replaced shows up before Starfield, that game looks amazing.
Re: Soapbox: PS Plus Might Be Gaming's Best Subscription Service Now
@evan23
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Re: Soapbox: PS Plus Might Be Gaming's Best Subscription Service Now
@KundaliniRising333
That is the point, though. Anyone buying an Xbox in addition to keeping their PlayStation isn't going to make Xbox consoles sell more than PS consoles, at most that will narrow the gap but will forever keep Xbox behind. This is especially true given that Xbox is giving their users to play their games on PC too, or even streaming them if that's good enough for the given player.
It is not impossible, in theory, for XBox consoles to overtake PS5 on some specific regions with some big bang titles, mostly western (Americas) countries, but it still is not very likely to occur this generation. In regions like EU, UK and Japan, I'm sure Xbox is expecting most of their business to be via PC.