@PinderSchloss gameplay wise, the last of us 2 was excellent. it's unfortunate that the story and characters couldn't live up to the first game. i do believe that is the result of druckmann having too much power and control at the company — to the point where there is nobody there to say "no" to him. while working with straley on last of us 1, there was more collaboration and accountability of ideas which made for a far better game, at least with regards to the story and character arcs. druckmann's leash needs to be reigned in for the final entry but it doesn't look like that is happening anytime soon as he keeps getting promoted to higher levels of the company (his ego has grown as well). don't be surprised if he is head of sony studios one day
@PinderSchloss best game ever made huh? if you are referring to the last of us 2, you should probably keep that opinion to yourself
actually, the last of us 2 also underperformed sales wise. it only sold 10m copies or so. keep in mind the last of us 2 is one of if not sony's most expensive game ever made with a production budget of over $200m. compare those sales to god of war (2018) which sold over 20m copies with half the production budget mostlikely. even last of us 1, including remastered, sold over 20m copies. usually sequels outperform the first entry by quite a margin but not so much in this example. in case you weren't paying attention, the last of us 2 was a very divisive game in more ways than one, further tainting naughty dog's track record.
yes, naughty dog is in decline due to mismanagement issues, talent leaving the studio at a steady clip over the past 5 years or so and a heavy reliance on remasters. i don't know how anyone could defend them right now unless they were to surprise us with two or three games by the end of the ps5 cycle which is very unlikely. realistically, we are getting the last of us part 3 from them at that's it before the ps6 launches. so one proper game in the span of 8 years is a very real possibility.
here is a twist to expectations that would rub people the wrong way: what if the ps5 pro releases as a digital-only sku with no way of upgrading/adding the optical drive? that would be pretty insane but would align with sony's intentions of easing people off physical media heading into the ps6 generation. it would also help to keep the ps5 pro price down by $50USD or so. i'm having a hard time seeing the ps6 release with optical media unfortunately so this is their opportunity to condition people even further on the digital future we are being forced to accept.
@Lord_Malice you aren't missing out on too much to be honest. you can count on one hand the number of games that were designed specifically to take advantage of the ps5 hardware and its capabilities. catching up on the ps4 backlog was a good choice while waiting for the mid-gen upgrade.
the current state of a studio is usually a reflection of the management in place. i'm not just talking about upper managament such as jim ryan (who is obviously responsible on some level), but also the studio heads at naughty dog. it might be time that druckmann steps down as co-president. since he bacame vice president of the studio in 2018, the studio has been on a decline and mismanaged to a great extent as we are seeing more evidence of. realistically, naughty dog may only release a single game for the entirety of the ps5 generation which is telling. they should have pulled the chord on factions years ago if they were in over their head or at least scaled it down. how nobody saw this coming internally is anyone's guess.
@ChrisDeku true, but factions was in development for at least 5 years at this point. that is a hefty amount of resources, time and money being thrown into a pit for absolutely no return. the scale of this cancellation is far grander by comparison and quite an embarassment to be honest.
1-2 1st party single player games per year sounds about right for their expected output going forward. unless they already did a pivot from gaas, it is going to be a painful 5 years on playstation and sony is going to rely on 3rd party support to get them through it. there is the possibility that some gaas projects will be converted to single player games after jim's departure, but i won't hold my breath. i have no confidence towards their future plans and strategies as it stands because they have given us no reason to.
is this some sort of playstation exclusivity promotion or something? don't know why it would be posted on here otherwise, especially with all the hostility this game is receiving on the internet at large. wb will likely pull support for this game within 12 months, followed by the closure of rocksteady.
@Ken_Kaniff agreed, but we have to consider the finanial losses associated with all these cancellations. sony was throwing millions of dollars into a money pit which it will never get back — money that could have been used for the game development of other titles. remains to be seen just how bad things are going to get for sony over the next few years as more gaas projects get cancelled after years of development. just how much damage has jim ryan done to the playstation brand?
wow. just astonishing really. the level of mismanagement at sony must be off the charts for this to occur. something doesn't smell right, though. particularly this part of their explanation:
"Become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage."
why does it need to be one or the other? why not both? nd has two studios after all. once developement was completed on factions, couldn't nd hand off the rigns to another studio to manage future updates? wasn't bungie supposed to assist ps studios with its expertise? shouldn't nd have known this from the beginning? if so, why take on the project in the first place knowing that it preferred to focus on single player games? none of this adds up. ultimately, it sounds like 5 years of development time was wasted on this project and nd has nothing to show for it. i think we are only getting 1 nd game for the entirely of the ps5 generation at this rate and we all know that is going to be last of us 3.
as a playstation fan for many years, the current state of sony is very concerning. i expect to hear of similar cancellations for many of sony's gaas projects over the next couple years. of the eleven that are currently in development, i believe 5 more will be canned due to lack of vision and mismanagement. many of us on the forums have been calling sony out for its gaas strategy and it looks as though our concerns had merit.
sony, stick to what you are good at. single player, narrative driven games. cancel all of your gaas plans now and save yourself the financial loss. yes, many people are getting fatigued on sequels so let this be an opportunity to invest in some new IP with some new ideas before it is too late.
@thefourfoldroot1 as steamdeck has already proven, developers absolutely do not need to develop games specifically for the device. native pc releases generally scale down rather well to the steamdeck with little to no effort. that is the amazing thing with current day technology — you essentially have a medium performance computer in your pocket. when you factor in a 7" 720p screen as opposed to running games at 1080p/1440p/4k you are saving on significant performance requirements. i have no doubt that the vast majority of ps5's software lineup would run just fine on such a device only with some caveats to the resolution, framerate, loadtimes and texture quality which would be understandable of course. the entire ps4 library and below would run perfectly fine. so no, sony would not run into the same problem that they faced with the vita in requiring seperate development teams which i agree was a huge hinderance to its success at the time.
let's not overlook the simple fact that part of the intent behind the portal is to condition a new generation of gamers to accept streaming as their primary option of gaming. "you will stream and you will be happy".
@MrSec84 yes, but it is important to note that redfall was developed by arkane austin and not arkane lyon. lyon was responsible for dishonored 2 and dealthloop whereas austin worked on prey and apparently had some serious talent drain during redfall's development where close to 70% of the staff left the project. the game was destined to fail in its current state and yet microsoft forced it out the door.
@MrMagic true. i enjoyed both wolfenstein games but did not play the youngblood expansion since i heard a lot of negativity swirling around it. i'll cut them some slack since their track record is pretty solid otherwise (although they have only really worked on those two games being a newish studio).
@thefourfoldroot1 i am simply saying that far more people would gladly pay an extra $200 for a native device (that can also do streaming) as compared to the potential market for a streaming-only device. a native device would kill 2 birds with one stone — sony garners more sales and revenue and you please the interests of all gamers (the vast majority who prefer gaming natively and those who want to stream.). we're talking about tens of millions of units sold as compared to a couple million that the portal will likely achieve when it is all said and done. sorry, but i cannot fathom how the decision was made to alienate 90% of the core users in favour of a sreaming device and all of the faults that comes with it. it makes no sense.
@CharlieChooChoo clearly nothing will convince you that sony made a blunder here and released a half-baked toy. i am a long-time playstation fan but i can see when sony drops the ball. your blind loyalty to a corpration is concerning. it isn't too late to you know, think for yourself and come to your own conclusions. but until then, give sony your money in exchange for a cloud-gaming future that will work against you in every way imaginable.
@thefourfoldroot1 i still don't understand your point. swap the portal for a native device and you can have a PROPER handheld that serves all purposes and benefits everyone. what is the problem in that? the cost of the portal is already 50-60% of the cost of a native handheld. sony is cheating its loyal customers with this shallow cash grab device and people like you are supporting it for reasons unknown.
@CharlieChooChoo right. because 12 months ago, you were writing to santa asking for a sony streaming device? as if that thought ever crossed your mind and it was something you actually wanted? you sound like a blind loyalist that cannot think for yourself. lost in the FOMO trend huh?
@naruball that is true. but it is difficult to turn a blind eye to something that means a lot to me. the current state of playstation and AAA space at large is not exactly in a good place for a myriad of reasons. the last thing i wanted to see was a streaming handheld from sony that nobody asked for (literally, nobody asked for it and it came out of left field). can we at least agree that a native handheld would have served the majority of playstattion gamers better?
@Kalime78 absolutely. at heart, i am a "retro" gamer. over the past 3 years, the launch of the ps5 has pushed me further and further away from the AAA space as it is not catering to my interests. an endless stream of sequels and remakes is not doing it for me and certainly not enticing me to purchase a ps5. i will always be a playstation fan since the ps1/ps2/ps3/ps4 are among my favourite consoles of all time, but it is hard to be a fan in 2023 with the current landscape. ultimately, what i am trying to say is, if things fall of a cliff and we find outselves in a world of cloud gaming, i will simply carry on with my endless backlog of of "retro" and indi games to keep my hobby alive and well. i get emotional about this stuff because the gaming industry means a lot to me and i hope it can eventually self correct. Cheers!
@Kalime78 appreciate your reply. true, it was an emotional response from me. the way this article was written was clickbaity and misleading, as is the case with many topics and issues on this site. while it may be premature to gage the financial success or failure of the portal sales wise, it is also premature to assume that the portal is doing well based on "selling out" if the initial batch was severely limited which it likely was.
we have nothing to go on other than looking at this tech for what it is. if you had done a survey 6 months ago asking gamers what they would prefer from sony — a native handheld or a streaming device, i promise the skew towards the former would be overwhelming. this is a textbook example of telling us what we think we want and then manipulating us with sensationalized news articles in hopes of making something perceived better than it really is to create a false sense of demand. that is the FOMO effect and it appears that many people are victims to this tactic . it won't work on me. also, i will vote with my wallet as always and the portal is the last thing i would spend my money on since that would be telling sony: "yes, sign me up for a streaming-only future of gaming" which is a hellscape i do not want to be a part of. not sure how inevitable that future is if large portions of the united states and canada will likely never have optimized internet access. i have not tried the portal and don't need to because my sample size of reviews on the internet serves its purpose in understanding the product. experiences with the portal is a crapshoot and you never quite know how it will behave.
@thefourfoldroot1 i believe you missed some important information. first of all, sony is indeed documenting the portal as a console and not as an accessory. there's that. now, you mean to tell me that if the portal fails for sony, that will have no bearing on its future plans and the possibility of making a native handheld? the success of the steamdeck and switch will have no influence on sony's future plans? sony makes some foolish and misguided decisions but they don't operate entirely out of a vacuum. the portal is a failed experiment purely based on how inconsistently it performs in various use cases, good internet or not. a native handheld would have been infinitely better for sony and gamers alike. that much is clear. as i already stated in another post, part of this strategy is to ease and condition people into game streaming as a primary option — if that is a future you are fighting for, by all means jump on the train.
machine games is a very capable developer so this game has the potential to be quite good. shame playstation fans will miss out on this one but we can't win them all.
@gymratAmarillo sony doesn't need the portal to help sell ps5's though. ps5's were selling just fine on their own before the portal entered the scene so that idea doesn't really add up. gaming enthusiasts will want to play their games on native hardware and casual gamers will have no desire for a portal so who is it really for in the end? this is just part of an agenda to get more people conditioned to game streaming (which will be the next step once digital software becomes the norm and physical media is phased away for good). this is not something i am happy about and will refuse to support.
@get2sammyb absolutely not. but it is disingenuous to report on the portal in such a way that it gives people the idea that it is some sort of runaway success. if we don't know how many units were produced at launch, we have nothing to go on here — they could have sold out on 100k units for all we know. the tone of the article doesn't seem genuine.
@zhoont many people despise this device for obvious reasons. i don't need to go into detail since you likely already know. it would be for the best that it fails so that sony makes a proper handheld that people actually desire next time. learning that the portal sold out is completely meaningless yet many news outlets are sensationalizing that information to portray the launch as being a "success" of sorts. it is premature to believe this device is destined to be anything but a failure so let's not kid ourselves.
selling worse than the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch is NOT an accomplishment. how can anyone turn that into positive press? grasping at straws here. we also don't know how many units they manufactured so again, selling out means nothing unless you have the data. if sony chooses to hide the actual sales numbers going forward then we will know definitively that this hardware is a financial failure for sony.
@Sil_Am oh, i'm sure most have noticed this. xbox paid the big bucks to get exclusive marketing rights and access to the world trailer premiere at their conference. metaphor may even be a gamepass game as well. that is why all the promo footage shows the xbox controller UI. but the game is certainly hitting ps4/ps5. it would outright fail if it was restricted to just xbox and pc so never going to happen. scroll to the bottom of the atlus website and see for yourself.
brutal fate for a once talented studio. they hadn't put out a good game since 2005 (timesplitters future perfect) so this isn't exactly shocking news. fans of timesplitters hoped there might be a revival some day but that is out of the question now. not sure how many of the original devlopers were still working under embracer — my guess is not many. best bet is to regoup and form their own studio with backers funding a spiritual successor to timesplitters. the modern gaming landscape is cutthroat and survival of the fittest on a level we have never seen.
interesting twist to the formula. i noticed the action combat in the latest trailer and was wondering how it would work. perhaps the action combat will be reserved to fodder enemies on the world map (for quick XP grinding) while tougher enemies will open battle on a separate screen and be turm based...
@riceNpea indeed. the movies attract the most mainstream audiences imaginable and yet i don't often come across people who are true defenders and fans of the property. does a loyal following of avatar even exist? it's a good example of hype culture and media outlets trying to tell us what is good when it is really just big-budget mediocrity.
for a movie franchise that grosses billions of dollars, barely anyone is talking about this game. it is desperately trying to hold onto a 70 on metacritic. for good reason.
@KundaliniRising333 your critique is valid and welcome. many of us here are also expecting more than rebranded ideas and rehashed sequels. we are looking for innovation that pushes the medium and industry forward. we as gamers should be more ciritcal or else be treated to the mediocrity and complacency that has become a staple of the AAA industry for some time now (generally speaking). suffice to say, the last thing we need is an echochamber of opinions and ideas. the more diversity in the comments the better i say!
as for rise of the ronin... i don't have much to say about it other than we have seen it all before
@AverageGamer hard to say for sure, but bungie did seek financial assistance from sony for a reason. if they were sustainable and doing well for themselves, they would have remained independent afterall. let's just agree that they would be far worse off without sony than on their own.
@Stickleman you might be right, but why then did bungie partner with sony? it is clear that their finacials have been quite poor for a while now. after their departure from activision (who was paying most of their development costs prior) it is unknown just how dire things would have been for bungie without sony's support. if not outright shut down, perhaps bungie would be a fraction of its size and in true panic mode if they were independent of sony. let's just say they would be in trouble.
what was the alternative? bungie would have been shut down by now if not for sony keeping things afloat. if bungie cannot run its studio independently and show results, why the hell would sony not intervene? sony will not sit there and watch bungie flush its money down the toilet. this sounds quite hyperbolic. i don't think bungie would have partnered with sony in the first place if they were "fearful" of the possibility of control at some point down the line. if anything, sony is likely regretting its purchase at this point. bungie has clearly lost its way. it would be for the best that sony lays off 50% of the staff and replaces them with capable developers and those who can properly lead the teams. this will be a process that could take a few years before the studio is in a state capable of putting out quality content.
i don't get it. is sony charging an extra $50USD for some pins, cards and a patch? really? this price makes no sense. not that i was interested in purchasing the CE in the first place, but this might be one of the worst case examples i have ever seen.
the fact people are relieved about this says a whole lot about the first 3 years of this console cycle and "next gen gaming" huh? won't be surprised if rockstar is delaying gta vi into 2025 so that there is a larger install base to extract revenue from. chicken and egg situation, though, since gta vi would certainly push hardware sales in its own right. perhaps sony wants to release the ps5 pro day and date with gta vi as well?
great graphics that lived up to expectations. but the trailer itself leaves a lot to be desired. for such a long wait it would have benefitted from a longer cut showcasing multiple maps. also, too much twerking for my taste. 2025 release date sucked the excitement out of the air. my god... i did not expect that.
atlus has clearly lost the loyalty of its fanbase... at least those of us who have limits to our spending. nope, won't be burned by atlus again and will wait for the "complete" edition down the line. also, as much as i am looking forward to metaphor, i might apply the same logic there too. atlus could easily have avoided all the negativity had they allowed for an upgrade path for their vanilla releases... hopefully they will get the point when their sales take a hit.
that is why the only true method of media preservation is piracy. be it retro games, movies, anime, tv shows — archiving all your content on an external HDD that is immune to lisencing agreements and typical BS that comes with digital platforms will give you peace of mind. just a matter of time before the ps3 digital store shuts down for good. if you value psn's legacy titles, you will have no choice but to pirate the content. same applies to the wii and 3ds eshop. i purchased what i could to support the developers, but unless you are a millionaire, it will be impossible to buy it all. it isn't right that gaming history will have chunks completely erased and lost to time. sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands. even my ps3 and ps4 physical library requires patches which will one day be unobtainable via official means. again, there are people out there who are backing up this data on the internet for the day the servers go down.
@themightyant that's fair. i don't play online MP games so the online functionality isn't a perk that applies to me. the ps+ discounts is a nice feature. i just wish there were more sales that included ps+ discounts because strangely enough, i don't see them listed all that often.
on average, i would say that i am happy with 10-12 games per year. at the current msrp of $107CAD for the essential plan, that works out to $9-10 per game average which is decent but not great. with the old msrp of $80CAD, the average would work out to $7-8 per game which i considered much better value.
even if sony can continue to release 10-12 games on essential per year that appeal to me, the value just isn't there anymore unless i can get a steep discount on the subscription. the past few months of essential have been painful — outside of mafia 2, the last good game for me was dreams back in august. i.e. the games have clearly gotten worse since the price hike which is sad to see.
i am happy to see the poll results being what they are. nearly 50% of respondents are not looking forward to any of the games on offer. this means sony will see the complaints online and will continue to lose subscribers. that will force their hand to do better.
"good" 2023 essential releases included:
Axiom Verge 2
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Mafia: The Definitive Edition
OlliOlli World
Code Vein
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Trek to Yomi
Alan Wake Remastered
Endling – Extinction is Forever
Dreams
The Callisto Protocol
Mafia II: Definitive Edition
well what can i say? i obviously don't want sony to succeed on the mobile front... so i hope they fail and learn their lesson. put your resources where it matters. that means going all in on ps5 games and doing a 180 on mobile and gaas. simple as that.
this game haha... nobody seems to REALLY care about avatar yet it grosses billions of dollars at the box office each and every time. a strange property no doubt but certainly not something that will be remembered or deemed a classic in any sense. this game will bomb. based on the lack of marketing, ubisoft likely feels the same way. you don't release a game in december if you have high hopes for it.
stop remaking the resi games and don't even dare to remake the ones from the ps3 era and onwards. please, just stop. it is a waste of resources and i would be surprised if the demand is there. i guess i could live with code veronica remake, but how about coming up some new IP or at least remaking games in a different franchise? after remastering onimusha 1, it seems like the series was completely forgotten. dino crisis remake would be neat. what about breath of fire? haunting ground? capcom has become such a boring and predictable company. time to look outside of resident evil for a bit just for the sake of something new.
they are certainly not. bungie has no business in meddling with sony's internal studios. perhaps sony asked them to? but that was the wrong route as well. ultimately, sony made a big mistake in purchasing bungie. they will pay the price for it soon enough as that studio has clearly lost its way.
Comments 2,277
Re: Naughty Dog Has 'More Than One' Ambitious PS5 Single Player Game on the Way
@PinderSchloss gameplay wise, the last of us 2 was excellent. it's unfortunate that the story and characters couldn't live up to the first game. i do believe that is the result of druckmann having too much power and control at the company — to the point where there is nobody there to say "no" to him. while working with straley on last of us 1, there was more collaboration and accountability of ideas which made for a far better game, at least with regards to the story and character arcs. druckmann's leash needs to be reigned in for the final entry but it doesn't look like that is happening anytime soon as he keeps getting promoted to higher levels of the company (his ego has grown as well). don't be surprised if he is head of sony studios one day
Re: Naughty Dog Has 'More Than One' Ambitious PS5 Single Player Game on the Way
@PinderSchloss best game ever made huh? if you are referring to the last of us 2, you should probably keep that opinion to yourself
actually, the last of us 2 also underperformed sales wise. it only sold 10m copies or so. keep in mind the last of us 2 is one of if not sony's most expensive game ever made with a production budget of over $200m. compare those sales to god of war (2018) which sold over 20m copies with half the production budget mostlikely. even last of us 1, including remastered, sold over 20m copies. usually sequels outperform the first entry by quite a margin but not so much in this example. in case you weren't paying attention, the last of us 2 was a very divisive game in more ways than one, further tainting naughty dog's track record.
yes, naughty dog is in decline due to mismanagement issues, talent leaving the studio at a steady clip over the past 5 years or so and a heavy reliance on remasters. i don't know how anyone could defend them right now unless they were to surprise us with two or three games by the end of the ps5 cycle which is very unlikely. realistically, we are getting the last of us part 3 from them at that's it before the ps6 launches. so one proper game in the span of 8 years is a very real possibility.
Re: Rumour: PS5 Pro Targeting September 2024, Will Have Proprietary Upscaling Tech
here is a twist to expectations that would rub people the wrong way: what if the ps5 pro releases as a digital-only sku with no way of upgrading/adding the optical drive? that would be pretty insane but would align with sony's intentions of easing people off physical media heading into the ps6 generation. it would also help to keep the ps5 pro price down by $50USD or so. i'm having a hard time seeing the ps6 release with optical media unfortunately so this is their opportunity to condition people even further on the digital future we are being forced to accept.
Re: Rumour: PS5 Pro Targeting September 2024, Will Have Proprietary Upscaling Tech
@Lord_Malice you aren't missing out on too much to be honest. you can count on one hand the number of games that were designed specifically to take advantage of the ps5 hardware and its capabilities. catching up on the ps4 backlog was a good choice while waiting for the mid-gen upgrade.
Re: Rumour: PS5 Pro Targeting September 2024, Will Have Proprietary Upscaling Tech
more power but no games to take advantage of said power
Re: Naughty Dog Has 'More Than One' Ambitious PS5 Single Player Game on the Way
the current state of a studio is usually a reflection of the management in place. i'm not just talking about upper managament such as jim ryan (who is obviously responsible on some level), but also the studio heads at naughty dog. it might be time that druckmann steps down as co-president. since he bacame vice president of the studio in 2018, the studio has been on a decline and mismanaged to a great extent as we are seeing more evidence of. realistically, naughty dog may only release a single game for the entirety of the ps5 generation which is telling. they should have pulled the chord on factions years ago if they were in over their head or at least scaled it down. how nobody saw this coming internally is anyone's guess.
Re: Naughty Dog Has 'More Than One' Ambitious PS5 Single Player Game on the Way
@ChrisDeku true, but factions was in development for at least 5 years at this point. that is a hefty amount of resources, time and money being thrown into a pit for absolutely no return. the scale of this cancellation is far grander by comparison and quite an embarassment to be honest.
Re: The Last of Us Multiplayer Project Is Officially Cancelled
@Ken_Kaniff 100%.
1-2 1st party single player games per year sounds about right for their expected output going forward. unless they already did a pivot from gaas, it is going to be a painful 5 years on playstation and sony is going to rely on 3rd party support to get them through it. there is the possibility that some gaas projects will be converted to single player games after jim's departure, but i won't hold my breath. i have no confidence towards their future plans and strategies as it stands because they have given us no reason to.
Re: Pre-Order Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League on PS5 for Exclusive Rogue Outfits
is this some sort of playstation exclusivity promotion or something? don't know why it would be posted on here otherwise, especially with all the hostility this game is receiving on the internet at large. wb will likely pull support for this game within 12 months, followed by the closure of rocksteady.
Re: The Last of Us Multiplayer Project Is Officially Cancelled
@Ken_Kaniff agreed, but we have to consider the finanial losses associated with all these cancellations. sony was throwing millions of dollars into a money pit which it will never get back — money that could have been used for the game development of other titles. remains to be seen just how bad things are going to get for sony over the next few years as more gaas projects get cancelled after years of development. just how much damage has jim ryan done to the playstation brand?
Re: The Last of Us Multiplayer Project Is Officially Cancelled
wow. just astonishing really. the level of mismanagement at sony must be off the charts for this to occur. something doesn't smell right, though. particularly this part of their explanation:
"Become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage."
why does it need to be one or the other? why not both? nd has two studios after all. once developement was completed on factions, couldn't nd hand off the rigns to another studio to manage future updates? wasn't bungie supposed to assist ps studios with its expertise? shouldn't nd have known this from the beginning? if so, why take on the project in the first place knowing that it preferred to focus on single player games? none of this adds up. ultimately, it sounds like 5 years of development time was wasted on this project and nd has nothing to show for it. i think we are only getting 1 nd game for the entirely of the ps5 generation at this rate and we all know that is going to be last of us 3.
as a playstation fan for many years, the current state of sony is very concerning. i expect to hear of similar cancellations for many of sony's gaas projects over the next couple years. of the eleven that are currently in development, i believe 5 more will be canned due to lack of vision and mismanagement. many of us on the forums have been calling sony out for its gaas strategy and it looks as though our concerns had merit.
sony, stick to what you are good at. single player, narrative driven games. cancel all of your gaas plans now and save yourself the financial loss. yes, many people are getting fatigued on sequels so let this be an opportunity to invest in some new IP with some new ideas before it is too late.
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@thefourfoldroot1 as steamdeck has already proven, developers absolutely do not need to develop games specifically for the device. native pc releases generally scale down rather well to the steamdeck with little to no effort. that is the amazing thing with current day technology — you essentially have a medium performance computer in your pocket. when you factor in a 7" 720p screen as opposed to running games at 1080p/1440p/4k you are saving on significant performance requirements. i have no doubt that the vast majority of ps5's software lineup would run just fine on such a device only with some caveats to the resolution, framerate, loadtimes and texture quality which would be understandable of course. the entire ps4 library and below would run perfectly fine. so no, sony would not run into the same problem that they faced with the vita in requiring seperate development teams which i agree was a huge hinderance to its success at the time.
let's not overlook the simple fact that part of the intent behind the portal is to condition a new generation of gamers to accept streaming as their primary option of gaming. "you will stream and you will be happy".
Re: Disney Doesn't Think It Was 'Overly Exclusionary' to Cut Planned PS5 Version of Indiana Jones
@MrSec84 yes, but it is important to note that redfall was developed by arkane austin and not arkane lyon. lyon was responsible for dishonored 2 and dealthloop whereas austin worked on prey and apparently had some serious talent drain during redfall's development where close to 70% of the staff left the project. the game was destined to fail in its current state and yet microsoft forced it out the door.
Re: Disney Doesn't Think It Was 'Overly Exclusionary' to Cut Planned PS5 Version of Indiana Jones
@MrMagic true. i enjoyed both wolfenstein games but did not play the youngblood expansion since i heard a lot of negativity swirling around it. i'll cut them some slack since their track record is pretty solid otherwise (although they have only really worked on those two games being a newish studio).
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@thefourfoldroot1 i am simply saying that far more people would gladly pay an extra $200 for a native device (that can also do streaming) as compared to the potential market for a streaming-only device. a native device would kill 2 birds with one stone — sony garners more sales and revenue and you please the interests of all gamers (the vast majority who prefer gaming natively and those who want to stream.). we're talking about tens of millions of units sold as compared to a couple million that the portal will likely achieve when it is all said and done. sorry, but i cannot fathom how the decision was made to alienate 90% of the core users in favour of a sreaming device and all of the faults that comes with it. it makes no sense.
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@CharlieChooChoo clearly nothing will convince you that sony made a blunder here and released a half-baked toy. i am a long-time playstation fan but i can see when sony drops the ball. your blind loyalty to a corpration is concerning. it isn't too late to you know, think for yourself and come to your own conclusions. but until then, give sony your money in exchange for a cloud-gaming future that will work against you in every way imaginable.
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@thefourfoldroot1 i still don't understand your point. swap the portal for a native device and you can have a PROPER handheld that serves all purposes and benefits everyone. what is the problem in that? the cost of the portal is already 50-60% of the cost of a native handheld. sony is cheating its loyal customers with this shallow cash grab device and people like you are supporting it for reasons unknown.
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@CharlieChooChoo right. because 12 months ago, you were writing to santa asking for a sony streaming device? as if that thought ever crossed your mind and it was something you actually wanted? you sound like a blind loyalist that cannot think for yourself. lost in the FOMO trend huh?
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@naruball that is true. but it is difficult to turn a blind eye to something that means a lot to me. the current state of playstation and AAA space at large is not exactly in a good place for a myriad of reasons. the last thing i wanted to see was a streaming handheld from sony that nobody asked for (literally, nobody asked for it and it came out of left field). can we at least agree that a native handheld would have served the majority of playstattion gamers better?
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@Kalime78 absolutely. at heart, i am a "retro" gamer. over the past 3 years, the launch of the ps5 has pushed me further and further away from the AAA space as it is not catering to my interests. an endless stream of sequels and remakes is not doing it for me and certainly not enticing me to purchase a ps5. i will always be a playstation fan since the ps1/ps2/ps3/ps4 are among my favourite consoles of all time, but it is hard to be a fan in 2023 with the current landscape. ultimately, what i am trying to say is, if things fall of a cliff and we find outselves in a world of cloud gaming, i will simply carry on with my endless backlog of of "retro" and indi games to keep my hobby alive and well. i get emotional about this stuff because the gaming industry means a lot to me and i hope it can eventually self correct. Cheers!
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@Kalime78 appreciate your reply. true, it was an emotional response from me. the way this article was written was clickbaity and misleading, as is the case with many topics and issues on this site. while it may be premature to gage the financial success or failure of the portal sales wise, it is also premature to assume that the portal is doing well based on "selling out" if the initial batch was severely limited which it likely was.
we have nothing to go on other than looking at this tech for what it is. if you had done a survey 6 months ago asking gamers what they would prefer from sony — a native handheld or a streaming device, i promise the skew towards the former would be overwhelming. this is a textbook example of telling us what we think we want and then manipulating us with sensationalized news articles in hopes of making something perceived better than it really is to create a false sense of demand. that is the FOMO effect and it appears that many people are victims to this tactic . it won't work on me. also, i will vote with my wallet as always and the portal is the last thing i would spend my money on since that would be telling sony: "yes, sign me up for a streaming-only future of gaming" which is a hellscape i do not want to be a part of. not sure how inevitable that future is if large portions of the united states and canada will likely never have optimized internet access. i have not tried the portal and don't need to because my sample size of reviews on the internet serves its purpose in understanding the product. experiences with the portal is a crapshoot and you never quite know how it will behave.
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@thefourfoldroot1 i believe you missed some important information. first of all, sony is indeed documenting the portal as a console and not as an accessory. there's that. now, you mean to tell me that if the portal fails for sony, that will have no bearing on its future plans and the possibility of making a native handheld? the success of the steamdeck and switch will have no influence on sony's future plans? sony makes some foolish and misguided decisions but they don't operate entirely out of a vacuum. the portal is a failed experiment purely based on how inconsistently it performs in various use cases, good internet or not. a native handheld would have been infinitely better for sony and gamers alike. that much is clear. as i already stated in another post, part of this strategy is to ease and condition people into game streaming as a primary option — if that is a future you are fighting for, by all means jump on the train.
Re: Disney Doesn't Think It Was 'Overly Exclusionary' to Cut Planned PS5 Version of Indiana Jones
machine games is a very capable developer so this game has the potential to be quite good. shame playstation fans will miss out on this one but we can't win them all.
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@gymratAmarillo sony doesn't need the portal to help sell ps5's though. ps5's were selling just fine on their own before the portal entered the scene so that idea doesn't really add up. gaming enthusiasts will want to play their games on native hardware and casual gamers will have no desire for a portal so who is it really for in the end? this is just part of an agenda to get more people conditioned to game streaming (which will be the next step once digital software becomes the norm and physical media is phased away for good). this is not something i am happy about and will refuse to support.
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@get2sammyb absolutely not. but it is disingenuous to report on the portal in such a way that it gives people the idea that it is some sort of runaway success. if we don't know how many units were produced at launch, we have nothing to go on here — they could have sold out on 100k units for all we know. the tone of the article doesn't seem genuine.
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
@zhoont many people despise this device for obvious reasons. i don't need to go into detail since you likely already know. it would be for the best that it fails so that sony makes a proper handheld that people actually desire next time. learning that the portal sold out is completely meaningless yet many news outlets are sensationalizing that information to portray the launch as being a "success" of sorts. it is premature to believe this device is destined to be anything but a failure so let's not kid ourselves.
Re: PS Portal Was the USA's Fourth Best-Selling System in November
selling worse than the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch is NOT an accomplishment. how can anyone turn that into positive press? grasping at straws here. we also don't know how many units they manufactured so again, selling out means nothing unless you have the data. if sony chooses to hide the actual sales numbers going forward then we will know definitively that this hardware is a financial failure for sony.
Re: 19 Amazing Games Join PS Plus Extra, Premium Next Week
might want to check the definition of "amazing" in the old dictionary before making such a headline next time
Re: Metaphor: ReFantazio Combat Is a Mix of Action and Turn-Based
@Sil_Am oh, i'm sure most have noticed this. xbox paid the big bucks to get exclusive marketing rights and access to the world trailer premiere at their conference. metaphor may even be a gamepass game as well. that is why all the promo footage shows the xbox controller UI. but the game is certainly hitting ps4/ps5. it would outright fail if it was restricted to just xbox and pc so never going to happen. scroll to the bottom of the atlus website and see for yourself.
https://metaphor.atlus.com/
Re: Free Radical Closure Confirmed as Embracer Shuts Studio Ahead of Christmas
brutal fate for a once talented studio. they hadn't put out a good game since 2005 (timesplitters future perfect) so this isn't exactly shocking news. fans of timesplitters hoped there might be a revival some day but that is out of the question now. not sure how many of the original devlopers were still working under embracer — my guess is not many. best bet is to regoup and form their own studio with backers funding a spiritual successor to timesplitters. the modern gaming landscape is cutthroat and survival of the fittest on a level we have never seen.
Re: Metaphor: ReFantazio Combat Is a Mix of Action and Turn-Based
interesting twist to the formula. i noticed the action combat in the latest trailer and was wondering how it would work. perhaps the action combat will be reserved to fodder enemies on the world map (for quick XP grinding) while tougher enemies will open battle on a separate screen and be turm based...
Re: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (PS5) - A World We Don't Want To Leave
@riceNpea indeed. the movies attract the most mainstream audiences imaginable and yet i don't often come across people who are true defenders and fans of the property. does a loyal following of avatar even exist? it's a good example of hype culture and media outlets trying to tell us what is good when it is really just big-budget mediocrity.
Re: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (PS5) - A World We Don't Want To Leave
for a movie franchise that grosses billions of dollars, barely anyone is talking about this game. it is desperately trying to hold onto a 70 on metacritic. for good reason.
Re: PS5 Console Exclusive Rise of the Ronin Out in March 2024
@KundaliniRising333 your critique is valid and welcome. many of us here are also expecting more than rebranded ideas and rehashed sequels. we are looking for innovation that pushes the medium and industry forward. we as gamers should be more ciritcal or else be treated to the mediocrity and complacency that has become a staple of the AAA industry for some time now (generally speaking). suffice to say, the last thing we need is an echochamber of opinions and ideas. the more diversity in the comments the better i say!
as for rise of the ronin... i don't have much to say about it other than we have seen it all before
Re: Atlus Fans Will Want to Watch The Game Awards for an Update on PS5, PS4's Metaphor: ReFantazio
i'm fatigued on the persona series so this game cannot come soon enough. we needed this game 5 years ago in fact. bring it on!
Re: Lead Bungie Staff Fear 'Total Sony Takeover' After Layoffs, Delays
@AverageGamer hard to say for sure, but bungie did seek financial assistance from sony for a reason. if they were sustainable and doing well for themselves, they would have remained independent afterall. let's just agree that they would be far worse off without sony than on their own.
Re: Lead Bungie Staff Fear 'Total Sony Takeover' After Layoffs, Delays
@Stickleman you might be right, but why then did bungie partner with sony? it is clear that their finacials have been quite poor for a while now. after their departure from activision (who was paying most of their development costs prior) it is unknown just how dire things would have been for bungie without sony's support. if not outright shut down, perhaps bungie would be a fraction of its size and in true panic mode if they were independent of sony. let's just say they would be in trouble.
Re: Lead Bungie Staff Fear 'Total Sony Takeover' After Layoffs, Delays
what was the alternative? bungie would have been shut down by now if not for sony keeping things afloat. if bungie cannot run its studio independently and show results, why the hell would sony not intervene? sony will not sit there and watch bungie flush its money down the toilet. this sounds quite hyperbolic. i don't think bungie would have partnered with sony in the first place if they were "fearful" of the possibility of control at some point down the line. if anything, sony is likely regretting its purchase at this point. bungie has clearly lost its way. it would be for the best that sony lays off 50% of the staff and replaces them with capable developers and those who can properly lead the teams. this will be a process that could take a few years before the studio is in a state capable of putting out quality content.
Re: Where to Pre-Order The Last of Us 2 Remastered WLF Edition
i don't get it. is sony charging an extra $50USD for some pins, cards and a patch? really? this price makes no sense. not that i was interested in purchasing the CE in the first place, but this might be one of the worst case examples i have ever seen.
Re: GTA 6 Skips Last-Gen PS4 Version for PS5, Xbox Series X|S
the fact people are relieved about this says a whole lot about the first 3 years of this console cycle and "next gen gaming" huh? won't be surprised if rockstar is delaying gta vi into 2025 so that there is a larger install base to extract revenue from. chicken and egg situation, though, since gta vi would certainly push hardware sales in its own right. perhaps sony wants to release the ps5 pro day and date with gta vi as well?
Re: GTA 6 Trailer Out Now, 2025 Release Window Revealed
great graphics that lived up to expectations. but the trailer itself leaves a lot to be desired. for such a long wait it would have benefitted from a longer cut showcasing multiple maps. also, too much twerking for my taste. 2025 release date sucked the excitement out of the air. my god... i did not expect that.
Re: Crunchyroll Anime Finally Comes to PS Plus, Kind Of
select shows only? premium subs only? yea sony isn't even trying anymore.
Re: Persona 3 Reload's Updated Combat System Looks Ridiculously Cool in Gameplay Breakdown
atlus has clearly lost the loyalty of its fanbase... at least those of us who have limits to our spending. nope, won't be burned by atlus again and will wait for the "complete" edition down the line. also, as much as i am looking forward to metaphor, i might apply the same logic there too. atlus could easily have avoided all the negativity had they allowed for an upgrade path for their vanilla releases... hopefully they will get the point when their sales take a hit.
Re: PlayStation Users Set to Lose Hundreds of TV Shows They Paid For
that is why the only true method of media preservation is piracy. be it retro games, movies, anime, tv shows — archiving all your content on an external HDD that is immune to lisencing agreements and typical BS that comes with digital platforms will give you peace of mind. just a matter of time before the ps3 digital store shuts down for good. if you value psn's legacy titles, you will have no choice but to pirate the content. same applies to the wii and 3ds eshop. i purchased what i could to support the developers, but unless you are a millionaire, it will be impossible to buy it all. it isn't right that gaming history will have chunks completely erased and lost to time. sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands. even my ps3 and ps4 physical library requires patches which will one day be unobtainable via official means. again, there are people out there who are backing up this data on the internet for the day the servers go down.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for December 2023?
@themightyant that's fair. i don't play online MP games so the online functionality isn't a perk that applies to me. the ps+ discounts is a nice feature. i just wish there were more sales that included ps+ discounts because strangely enough, i don't see them listed all that often.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for December 2023?
on average, i would say that i am happy with 10-12 games per year. at the current msrp of $107CAD for the essential plan, that works out to $9-10 per game average which is decent but not great. with the old msrp of $80CAD, the average would work out to $7-8 per game which i considered much better value.
even if sony can continue to release 10-12 games on essential per year that appeal to me, the value just isn't there anymore unless i can get a steep discount on the subscription. the past few months of essential have been painful — outside of mafia 2, the last good game for me was dreams back in august. i.e. the games have clearly gotten worse since the price hike which is sad to see.
i am happy to see the poll results being what they are. nearly 50% of respondents are not looking forward to any of the games on offer. this means sony will see the complaints online and will continue to lose subscribers. that will force their hand to do better.
"good" 2023 essential releases included:
Axiom Verge 2
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Mafia: The Definitive Edition
OlliOlli World
Code Vein
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Trek to Yomi
Alan Wake Remastered
Endling – Extinction is Forever
Dreams
The Callisto Protocol
Mafia II: Definitive Edition
Re: Reaction: PlayStation's Finally Poised to Penetrate the Mobile Market in the Right Way
well what can i say? i obviously don't want sony to succeed on the mobile front... so i hope they fail and learn their lesson. put your resources where it matters. that means going all in on ps5 games and doing a 180 on mobile and gaas. simple as that.
Re: Video: Everything You Need To Know About Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
this game haha... nobody seems to REALLY care about avatar yet it grosses billions of dollars at the box office each and every time. a strange property no doubt but certainly not something that will be remembered or deemed a classic in any sense. this game will bomb. based on the lack of marketing, ubisoft likely feels the same way. you don't release a game in december if you have high hopes for it.
Re: More Resident Evil Remakes Are on the Way, Capcom Confirms
stop remaking the resi games and don't even dare to remake the ones from the ps3 era and onwards. please, just stop. it is a waste of resources and i would be surprised if the demand is there. i guess i could live with code veronica remake, but how about coming up some new IP or at least remaking games in a different franchise? after remastering onimusha 1, it seems like the series was completely forgotten. dino crisis remake would be neat. what about breath of fire? haunting ground? capcom has become such a boring and predictable company. time to look outside of resident evil for a bit just for the sake of something new.
Re: Talking Point: Is Bungie Really the Right Developer to Aid Sony's Live-Service Push?
they are certainly not. bungie has no business in meddling with sony's internal studios. perhaps sony asked them to? but that was the wrong route as well. ultimately, sony made a big mistake in purchasing bungie. they will pay the price for it soon enough as that studio has clearly lost its way.