@Nickolaidas yeah sure, but it's up to people what they DO with their life. There is no one way of "getting a life", but there are more important questions about decisions we make in life. You chose to defend a multi-billion dollar corporation over a game you don't even care about, yet others need to get a life, my good man, question what actions you are doing with your life first. Unless EA are paying you, or you care somehow about the product why would you do that? Genuinely interested in your motivations, because I often find people like you unfathomable. I get people who cling to ideologies, but people who seemingly defend corporations when they've no skin in the game? It's a fascinating psychological phenomenon that baffles me. Why did you do it?
@themightyant well I'm glad I can give voice to your thoughts. It's nice when you realise you aren't the only person on planet earth thinking these ways. Generally I've not had an issue with the "remaster" trend. Sure there are some bizarre examples where I don't think there's a curation or second chance argument, but the likes of Shadow of the Colossus, or indeed the Crash Trilogy do have value as a form of live curation. In an industry that discards it's past so easily and readily, without generally pushing forward as much as it claims to, I've actually found the remaster trend on the whole to be mostly acceptable, and at times welcome and gratifying. Giving old games access to newer audiences, especially seminal or niche games is laudable. I'd rather PoP 2008 be given another shot at success than a copy and paste Far Cry.
@Nickolaidas so because there are other issues in the world people can't be annoyed at this? Really. You're resorting to that non-argument. Methinks you aren't defending it further because if that's all you've got then it's not much of a defense. Also, for the record, if I'd bought a car, and it's satnav 3 weeks later started advertising me Monster Energy drinks would that be OK? Changing the way a product functions and is presented post launch is not acceptable unless it is to fix a faulty product. Period. If you ever find yourself in the position of defending shady business practices of a multi-billion dollar corporation ask yourself this simple question... why? I've worked for an EA Studio, and as an employer they're actually pretty good, but their shady business practices aren't really defensible from a consumer, or even business perspective. Their products make more than enough money without these dodgy practices, this is pure greed, and turning paying customers into products for other corporations. People who accept this stuff, and even praise it do need to re-asses their life choices. Have a great day.
@shyhh that's not how the contracts work between AMD and their customers, Sony and Microsoft. Sony and Microsoft use AMDs, IP and R&D teams to configure custom APUs. They then have these manufactured at TSMC, which has a fixed cost that might move due to yields and volume runs, but is not moveable on price due to market conditions. TSMC aren't going to drop fabrication prices due to Nvidia releasing the RTX 3000 series GPUs. Neither will the sunk R&D costs with AMD reduce, they exist and have been paid already. AMD will have to respond to Nvidia with their Navi GPUs, but given they've always beaten Nvidia on price I fully expect them to offer the cheaper range of GPUs again... but that has little bearing on their deals with Sony and Microsoft, these aren't off the shelf GPUs, not even fully off the shelf Compute Units. Those APU costs are mostly fixed, with manufacturing costs being the only real wiggle room on pricing of component. I do hope both have negotiated reduced IP payments over time with AMD this time around for IP licensing agreements.
@Nickolaidas make future DLC free... hahahaha, stop it you're killing me here. So which part of EA do you work for? Seriously though, if it's such a great addition to the atmosphere of the game why weren't they there at launch? Maybe because when you've paid for a product you don't want to be buying adverts as well. This is typical EA, finding new ways of making money out of its customers, in this instance they are treating you, the gamer as the product being sold, and you're paying them the privilege of being the product.
@thebakerswife and @naruball the games industry is quite unlike any other. The products, games, are so much more reliant on the technology that runs them. This does result in quite often games existing before the technology allows them too (things not quite being there to support the full vision). There's also the fact that the medium of games moves faster than any other industry, and this quite often leads to new ideas or some products being shelved before their time, rather than being further explored. There are so many good games and mechanics that have sacrificed on the alter of big budget franchises, and PoP 2008 was one of them. The free flow fighting was a year too early as Batman Arkham Asylum proved. The free flowing quick twitch wall-running and general parkour might have been a decade too early. People playing platformers at the time wanted slow methodical platforming, where you could plan your routes. PoP 2008 wanted you to start off in a direction and respond as you traversed its world. For these two reasons alone I think the concept deserves another shot. Would I prefer it to be a full new game taking those ideas further? Yeah, mainly because with these SSDs sitting in the consoles the possibilities for streaming larger "runs" and levels on the fly could take the concept in a very exciting direction... but fundamentally, I think Ubisoft gave up on the 2008 rebooted PoP way, way too early.
@TVRFLY considering they're supposedly already flying stockpiles of consoles into the US for launch (both Microsoft and Sony) I think it might be a bit late for that. lol.
@AdamNovice within the industry there's been talk of the big 5 Sony have for launch window for over a year now. Platform holders collude with publishers all the time so as to not tread on each others toes. There's also joint marketing deals. So my bet is that on or very close to launch Sony intend to have 3 games. Maybe it's 2 on day 1 and then a launch before Christmas. Or maybe 3 games day 1 and a launch before Christmas. However, given one of the studios I've done freelance work with has said they've slotted their game in after the Christmas rush and before Easter to fit in with Sony's plans, I am expecting a big Easter launch from Sony... and everything coming from Guerilla Games tells me Horizon Forbidden West is much closer to being finished than people think. They were employing "finishers" and outsourcing loose ends spring this year, that suggests s product that's entering the final push in my experience. It might slip due to Covid-19, but at this point in time I'd assume it won't slip past 2021, and you can quote me on that.
My bet has been since before the reveal that Sony wanted GT7, Demon's Souls and Ratchet and Clank at launch. Mostly because I didn't expect Spider-Man Miles Morales to be so close to finished, but hey, Insomniac are one large God damn studio now. They are currently working on 4 projects if rumours are to be believed, including R&C and SM:MM. My point being I do think Sony will front load the launch, because that's what all the noises coming out of them have suggested for two years now. Sony have way more games to come as well, including deals that many believe have been struck for third party / second party exclusives.
@redphyre indeed, there's also the system RAM bottlenecks in PC gaming, having to dump everything in system RAM then to GPU RAM is a pain. Consoles with their single pool of RAM, even if the speeds differ (thanks again Microsoft) is always preferable. It's why often better spec'ed PCs with more TFLOPs get out performed by consoles, even with their anaemic CPUs. I happen to be eying the RTX 3080 and potentially a Zen 3 CPU upgrade for my PC. Doing that will cost significantly more than buying both the XSX and PS5, and even more ironically with the I/O, RAM and storage bottlenecks within PCs I fully expect many games to just run better on consoles. Actually hoping the consoles drive the adoption and optimisation for m.2 SSDs in PC gaming.
@JohnnyShoulder if I get Demon's Souls and Ratchet & Clank in the first couple of months I'll be fine. The question is how do Sony drive the fastest adoption rate of a gaming system in history? Certainly not by not releasing games. I actually think the spread of games Sony Studios have shown so far suggest Sony actually are looking to plug niche gaps, with a few blockbuster titles thrown in there to mix things up. For me if the games shown by Sony at the reveal event come across the first 12 months it's already their strongest launch in history, but there's acknowledgement within the industry that they have more to come.
@AdamNovice again, I have to disagree with you. Sony have generally vacated the Christmas sales period because of two reasons:
1) They didn't think they could compete with big franchises in that space.
and
2) They didn't want to compete in that sales space and potentially annoy third parties.
The sales figures for GT Sport, LBP3, Death Stranding probably had more to do with them as products.
Spider-Man launched September right? But got it's biggest sales of the year in October / November that year. I'm not arguing that Sony don't favour Summer and Easter launches, historically this generation they have, just pointing out that if their financial report plan they say they want nearly 10 games in the first year after launch and then between 4 and 5 a year going forward. They're not going to launch all those at the same time obviously. However, if they really do want the fastest adoption rate ever, then yeah front loading with 3 to 4 games over holiday and then Trickling others out over the year makes sense to me. At launch on average gamers buy 4 to 5 games in the first two to three months, why wouldn't Sony want to be 2 or 3 of them? I do happen to think Sony will have 5 to 6 games out in the first 4 months.
@Anguspuss I actually had a few of these things at a work place once, where they had a technical team that just tried out weird controllers. They also built weird controllers. I have no idea why they existed in the studio they did, or what they achieved, but they were all big tea drinkers so we got on really well. I personally owned the mouse for certain RTS / strategy games on PS1. Not sure I owned any of the others.
@GilbertXI you see, and that just speaks to my point, if Sony do want the fastest conversion / adoption rates ever they're going to need to cater to a lot of wide and varied tastes. Destruction Allstars, as much as it might not be for me, or indeed a game Sony would have commissioned at the start or middle of the PS4 generation, it shows they feel the need to broaden what they do. Hell, Returnal probably slots into that category too. So I'm actually looking forward to the shocks that'll come from Sony this generation.
@SilkySmile89 actually there's even less cross over between PC gamers and early console adopters, PC gamers tend to pick up consoles when there are exclusives they want. Bizarrely this generation there's far more Xbox / PC gamers, there seems to be a migration of Xbox gamers who have migrated to PC. Also the point about a graphics card not dictating the price of a console stands. Consoles are sold on the razorblade principle, GPUs aren't , both Nvidia and their partners will seek to make money out of there sale. Plus a GPU doesn't have a CPU, PSU etc. etc. etc. Sony and Microsoft will set the price of their consoles according to component / shipping costs, and how big a hit they're willing to take until the costs come down, they'll aim to price it to sell.
@GilbertXI I'm talking about it as well, it's one of the games from the reveal event I want to know most about. I want to see more on most of them, but Horizon Forbidden West, Returnal, and Demon's Souls are the games I want to see more of.
@SilkySmile89 the metrics would disagree with you over the Console / PC crossover space. Most PS4 owners don't have a gaming rig / desk top PC actually. I know Ubisoft research suggested roughly 11 to 14% of PS4 owners had a gaming PC. I also don't think the price of a graphics card determines the cost of a console. I don't think you'll be too wide of the mark at $499's, though not for the reasons you mentioned. Having said that the rumours of the XSX being $599's won't go away there's a few competitions that have outed that price.
We're also potentially looking at a global launch, and there's considerable difference between regions and what games they like. So having a broad range of games at launch will be beneficial. Sony's first parties and the XDev program look like they can fill those gaps, so why shouldn't they? Especially if they think they can shift 5m units by the close of holiday 2020?
@AdamNovice no it's not. Thankfully speaking to and listening to Sony reps they aren't thinking like you. Spider-Man Miles Morales is a 15 hour game max apparently. It's not a full AAA release. It also won't appeal to everyone. We get it, you've got a stiffy for Miles Morales, but not everyone does. Sony's own metrics tell them this. Also why should SIE leave all the holiday sales to third parties? Have you considered the fact people spent money on CoD at the launch of the PS4 because the launch line-up from Sony wasn't great? If viewing metrics are anything to go by then Demon's Souls, GT7 and Ratchet & Clank are the games that have generated the most interest.
@AdamNovice you are aware Sony Interactive Entertainment release games to make money as well, right? There's a damn good reason SIE want to increase not only the amount of games they release per year, but also per studio over the life cycle of the PS5... Profits.
I really hope this game comes out close to launch. Housemarque have always delivered, even during the Amiga days. Not many do twitch shooters as well as Housemarque, and I'm really looking forward to what they can do with Returnal. I have high hopes for this game, could be a cult classic in the making.
Given they said they were working on it from a technical development perspective I was expecting this. It's nice that it's a free upgrade though... Take note 505 Games and Remedy, this is how it should be done.
@Constable_What in that thread on GaaS, you know the one, I made the point that sports games are perfect for the GaaS model, even subscription fees make sense for sports games, I just don't think the annual release and bloated Micro-transactions model holds up much longer, there's a crash coming, I can feel it in my bones.
@Constable_What oh you poor naïve fool you... lol. I'm joking, but if course people will buy Madden 21, and 22...
EA Sports have had declining sales for years, hence the excessive sweating of current customers with Micro-transactions. My hope is that it'll eventually implode, because the more publishers get away with this the worse it'll get for other games in the industry. I wish people could just develop a full game, and release it for a fair price. I think there's a place for subscription based games, and live service based games, a just wish we could be fair and honest about it.
Alex Evans is straight up one of the nicest guys you could possibly wish to meet and work with. An exceedingly talented guy with a genuine love of games, and not just making them. I'm pretty sure whatever he decides to turn his talents towards he'll be successful. Wish him all the best.
@JJ2 nothing, but you'll have the pleasure of playing some awesome games at the end of the year. I'm sticking my neck out and predicting Ratchet & Clank, Demon's Souls and GT7 at launch, and Spider-Man Miles Morales as the pre-Christmas December stocking filler. I'm then being bolder and predicting Horizon Forbidden West will be the Easter / Spring blockbuster Sony has historically liked launching. Not sure what the Summer blockbuster is, or their holiday 2021 line-up, but I'm pretty sure we've not seen them yet.
@Athrum I'm pretty confident Horizon Forbidden West will be out before the end of 2021, I also expect it by the end of summer at the latest, but wouldn't be too surprised if it slipped to Holiday 2021. I have faith in my friends at Guerilla, they know what they're doing and I'm pretty sure they're about to enter the final stretches on this game. The one I'd be most concerned about is GT7, because Kazunori Yamauchi does not run a tight ship and quite frankly I'm still amazed he's at Polyphony Digital.
@Octane maybe, but there's been talk of the "The Big 5" for the first 6 months for quite some time, and I think that list is the big 5. There is talk of a summer blockbuster too, so maybe that's what Horizon Forbidden West is for. Also expecting some holiday 2021 games that haven't been announced yet.
@nessisonett that would actually be my advice to you, find yourself a mid level studio, somewhere like Lucid if you're in the UK, small, good group of creatives at the top who've all lived through that corporate hell, and seem to be happy just providing their staff with work and ticking over, and who might every now and then get support from a publisher to do a pet project. I wouldn't want to put anyone off from joining the industry, because at times it can be supremely rewarding, just do your research on studios. If you ever want some advice just at me in the forum's and I'll try my best to help... actually Sony London Studios isn't a bad shout for an internship. They used to have a pretty good program a few years back.
@Kefka2589 it is an interesting one, because engagement with Gears 5 was literally at the franchise average, so it didn't increase engagement there, and you'd have to assume it didn't generate the sorts of revenue from Game Pass as it would say a full release, well, we don't have to guess, we can see from the financial results. Something has to give, that's just the way it is, short-term I say enjoy it while it lasts, long-term I don't think it remains in its current form unless there is a significant downgrade in content or massive price hike.
@nessisonett and you think Environment Artist 42 or Network Programmer 5 has any say in this stuff. Plus it will have an impact on the kinds of games we can design. The business environment always does, and for that reason alone, as a creative, Game Pass in its current form concerns me.
On a different tack are you looking to pursue a career in the industry?
@Kefka2589 Game Pass having lost $2.8bn so far is pretty significant. That's not including the loss Microsoft first party games have made as a result of being on Game Pass. Current estimate on that depending on who you talk to have Microsoft taking a $4bn loss or close to it on Game Pass. They talk about their 10m subscribers, but from Live data we think as an industry Microsoft and Xbox as brand's have roughly 15m diehard fans, which shouldn't be sniffed at, but you'd have to assume the majority of those 10m subscribers come from this pool. The real test will be how many more subscribers they can add, but the bigger the subscriber numbers, the bigger the fees developers and publishers will request, and that's the crux of the Game Pass model, in its current configuration it doesn't work long term.
@nessisonett I'm also a developer, who sees things like Game Pass as a threat to my livelihood, because you can bet your bottom dollar shareholders won't want a reduced cut, nope that'll come from crappier working conditions for people like me, and probably even less secure working contracts, but hey, as long as you guys get your games right? Except the games you'll be getting will eventually be the sort of experiences you'd have expected to be free to play.
As to WB Games won't sell or can't sell, take your pick, and my guess is no one was in the market for an over valued games publisher without any of its own IP.
@nessisonett I have to say going forward given the astronomical losses Microsoft are making on Game Pass (the business model really doesn't stack up) something will have to give. When you hear Halo Infinite has already cost Microsoft $500m, it doesn't take a genius to figure out there's no way to recoup that development budget via game pass as it currently is, and that will shift developers to developing heavily monetized / GaaS products. I think it's inevitable. That or the production values drop way, way down. Something has to give. So ultimately either Microsoft's games become cheap cash grabs, or egregious money sinks, I personally think that Game Pass will become a subscription service to play what used to be considered free to play games, with the odd worthwhile indie thrown in. The business model could be worthwhile if they weren't putting new games day and date release on the service, with quality games going forward that just isn't sustainable, and Microsoft's financial reports makes that abundantly clear. Were there games going to the service 18 to 24 months after launch, maybe it'd become a more sustainable option for business and developers, as it is I just can't see Microsoft share holders accepting billions and billions of dollars down the drain for very little market penetration and zero return.
@Menchi interesting, in my circles we call them shill boys. When I look at gaming as a sector / industry I think doing the marketing and PR must be a cinch. The amount of people who are so invested in the brand's and games that they will literally go do guerilla marketing campaigns for them is phenomenal. Throw in a generally complicit and compliant games media that on the whole just regurgitates press releases verbatim without any critical thought applied, and you probably have one of the most lopsided marketing environments going.
@Kidfried I very rarely get involved in these sorts of discussions, and when I do it is mostly to clear up technical misunderstandings about both consoles. Some of the rampant drivel I've heard spouted about both has made me want to gouge my own eyes out with a rusty spoon.
@JJ2 yeah console wars... thanks Sega of America for inventing that nonsense. All this "my plastic box I've pledged my allegiance to is more floppy" rubbish does my head in... mostly because neither Microsoft or Sony are paying these tools to be PR representatives. How deranged must you be to literally do free labour for multi-billion dollar corporations?
@Kefka2589 if they are going to use air freight for initial batches then they have to factor in potential quarantines for things coming from China that the mentalist in the White House might decide will help him get a few more votes. The logistics of a global console launch during a pandemic must be a nightmare. There's just so much "not normal" about 2020 that I wouldn't be surprised to see a limited launch in one territory, followed by staggered launches elsewhere, even if they do have stockpiles in warehouses. Getting them into people's hands right now seems harder than making the things.
This whole waiting to see who announces price first thing is nonsense. They know how much these things cost and how much of a hit they are willing / able to take. Given both have pretty much revealed what they are shoving inside these boxes they almost certainly know each others wiggle room. Xbox and Game Pass have lost Microsoft billions and billions. Share holders are already asking questions about when the division is going to be profitable. Sony likewise have shareholders to think about, if Sony or Microsoft launch at a price point the other can't match, quite frankly it makes no difference waiting, and even if they don't, it makes no difference waiting. Both by now will have locked in prices, they know they're going to have to air ship the initial batches and swallow that cost. They aren't waiting to undercut their competitors, they're waiting because I think neither truly know if they can commit to a full global launch in 2020.
Can I get an advert to tell me when the next advert is please? There's a saying and I think it's very applicable to Sony right now s*** or get off the pot.
@nessisonett actually it's not about brute force. Emulating PS1 and PS2 games on software is more than possible, the issue is doing so in a way that covers the literally thousands of games released on both systems, supporting PAL and NTSC in ways that don't encourage piracy for a cost effective price, and that wouldn't lumber Sony's engineers with a never ending seriously of tasks to make game compatible with the emulator. The PS2 and PS1 did both have slightly quirky hardware and many games from those eras coded to the metal so to speak. Talk to the people who run these emulators on PC and they'll co firm getting certain games running at all is a nightmare, but getting them running in a stable way is also another nightmare. It's a Monmouth undertaking with very little pay off either for gamers or Sony.
@Makina no it is. It doesn't have concurrent development you drama queen. It's sole development pipeline is PS5 and concentration on PS5 for all products they develop. If 2 to 3 years later a technical team then converts that over to PC that isn't multi-platform development, that's a conversion team doing a port, trying to get a PS5 or PS4 product optimized for PC. It is not a concurrent day and date release. Please stop embarrassing yourself.
Comments 834
Re: Outrage as EA Shoves Real World Ads Into UFC 4 After Review Period Is Over
@Nickolaidas yeah sure, but it's up to people what they DO with their life. There is no one way of "getting a life", but there are more important questions about decisions we make in life. You chose to defend a multi-billion dollar corporation over a game you don't even care about, yet others need to get a life, my good man, question what actions you are doing with your life first. Unless EA are paying you, or you care somehow about the product why would you do that? Genuinely interested in your motivations, because I often find people like you unfathomable. I get people who cling to ideologies, but people who seemingly defend corporations when they've no skin in the game? It's a fascinating psychological phenomenon that baffles me. Why did you do it?
Re: Rumour: Prince of Persia Remake Planned for Ubisoft Livestream
@themightyant well I'm glad I can give voice to your thoughts. It's nice when you realise you aren't the only person on planet earth thinking these ways. Generally I've not had an issue with the "remaster" trend. Sure there are some bizarre examples where I don't think there's a curation or second chance argument, but the likes of Shadow of the Colossus, or indeed the Crash Trilogy do have value as a form of live curation. In an industry that discards it's past so easily and readily, without generally pushing forward as much as it claims to, I've actually found the remaster trend on the whole to be mostly acceptable, and at times welcome and gratifying. Giving old games access to newer audiences, especially seminal or niche games is laudable. I'd rather PoP 2008 be given another shot at success than a copy and paste Far Cry.
Re: Outrage as EA Shoves Real World Ads Into UFC 4 After Review Period Is Over
@Nickolaidas so because there are other issues in the world people can't be annoyed at this? Really. You're resorting to that non-argument. Methinks you aren't defending it further because if that's all you've got then it's not much of a defense. Also, for the record, if I'd bought a car, and it's satnav 3 weeks later started advertising me Monster Energy drinks would that be OK? Changing the way a product functions and is presented post launch is not acceptable unless it is to fix a faulty product. Period. If you ever find yourself in the position of defending shady business practices of a multi-billion dollar corporation ask yourself this simple question... why? I've worked for an EA Studio, and as an employer they're actually pretty good, but their shady business practices aren't really defensible from a consumer, or even business perspective. Their products make more than enough money without these dodgy practices, this is pure greed, and turning paying customers into products for other corporations. People who accept this stuff, and even praise it do need to re-asses their life choices. Have a great day.
Re: PlayStation Launches New PS5 Game Pages on Official Website
@shyhh that's not how the contracts work between AMD and their customers, Sony and Microsoft. Sony and Microsoft use AMDs, IP and R&D teams to configure custom APUs. They then have these manufactured at TSMC, which has a fixed cost that might move due to yields and volume runs, but is not moveable on price due to market conditions. TSMC aren't going to drop fabrication prices due to Nvidia releasing the RTX 3000 series GPUs. Neither will the sunk R&D costs with AMD reduce, they exist and have been paid already. AMD will have to respond to Nvidia with their Navi GPUs, but given they've always beaten Nvidia on price I fully expect them to offer the cheaper range of GPUs again... but that has little bearing on their deals with Sony and Microsoft, these aren't off the shelf GPUs, not even fully off the shelf Compute Units. Those APU costs are mostly fixed, with manufacturing costs being the only real wiggle room on pricing of component. I do hope both have negotiated reduced IP payments over time with AMD this time around for IP licensing agreements.
Re: Outrage as EA Shoves Real World Ads Into UFC 4 After Review Period Is Over
@Nickolaidas make future DLC free... hahahaha, stop it you're killing me here. So which part of EA do you work for? Seriously though, if it's such a great addition to the atmosphere of the game why weren't they there at launch? Maybe because when you've paid for a product you don't want to be buying adverts as well. This is typical EA, finding new ways of making money out of its customers, in this instance they are treating you, the gamer as the product being sold, and you're paying them the privilege of being the product.
Re: Rumour: Prince of Persia Remake Planned for Ubisoft Livestream
@thebakerswife and @naruball the games industry is quite unlike any other. The products, games, are so much more reliant on the technology that runs them. This does result in quite often games existing before the technology allows them too (things not quite being there to support the full vision). There's also the fact that the medium of games moves faster than any other industry, and this quite often leads to new ideas or some products being shelved before their time, rather than being further explored. There are so many good games and mechanics that have sacrificed on the alter of big budget franchises, and PoP 2008 was one of them. The free flow fighting was a year too early as Batman Arkham Asylum proved. The free flowing quick twitch wall-running and general parkour might have been a decade too early. People playing platformers at the time wanted slow methodical platforming, where you could plan your routes. PoP 2008 wanted you to start off in a direction and respond as you traversed its world. For these two reasons alone I think the concept deserves another shot. Would I prefer it to be a full new game taking those ideas further? Yeah, mainly because with these SSDs sitting in the consoles the possibilities for streaming larger "runs" and levels on the fly could take the concept in a very exciting direction... but fundamentally, I think Ubisoft gave up on the 2008 rebooted PoP way, way too early.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Returnal Looks to Be Targeting a 2021 Release Date
@TVRFLY considering they're supposedly already flying stockpiles of consoles into the US for launch (both Microsoft and Sony) I think it might be a bit late for that. lol.
@AdamNovice within the industry there's been talk of the big 5 Sony have for launch window for over a year now. Platform holders collude with publishers all the time so as to not tread on each others toes. There's also joint marketing deals. So my bet is that on or very close to launch Sony intend to have 3 games. Maybe it's 2 on day 1 and then a launch before Christmas. Or maybe 3 games day 1 and a launch before Christmas. However, given one of the studios I've done freelance work with has said they've slotted their game in after the Christmas rush and before Easter to fit in with Sony's plans, I am expecting a big Easter launch from Sony... and everything coming from Guerilla Games tells me Horizon Forbidden West is much closer to being finished than people think. They were employing "finishers" and outsourcing loose ends spring this year, that suggests s product that's entering the final push in my experience. It might slip due to Covid-19, but at this point in time I'd assume it won't slip past 2021, and you can quote me on that.
My bet has been since before the reveal that Sony wanted GT7, Demon's Souls and Ratchet and Clank at launch. Mostly because I didn't expect Spider-Man Miles Morales to be so close to finished, but hey, Insomniac are one large God damn studio now. They are currently working on 4 projects if rumours are to be believed, including R&C and SM:MM. My point being I do think Sony will front load the launch, because that's what all the noises coming out of them have suggested for two years now. Sony have way more games to come as well, including deals that many believe have been struck for third party / second party exclusives.
Re: PlayStation Launches New PS5 Game Pages on Official Website
@redphyre indeed, there's also the system RAM bottlenecks in PC gaming, having to dump everything in system RAM then to GPU RAM is a pain. Consoles with their single pool of RAM, even if the speeds differ (thanks again Microsoft) is always preferable. It's why often better spec'ed PCs with more TFLOPs get out performed by consoles, even with their anaemic CPUs. I happen to be eying the RTX 3080 and potentially a Zen 3 CPU upgrade for my PC. Doing that will cost significantly more than buying both the XSX and PS5, and even more ironically with the I/O, RAM and storage bottlenecks within PCs I fully expect many games to just run better on consoles. Actually hoping the consoles drive the adoption and optimisation for m.2 SSDs in PC gaming.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Returnal Looks to Be Targeting a 2021 Release Date
@JohnnyShoulder if I get Demon's Souls and Ratchet & Clank in the first couple of months I'll be fine. The question is how do Sony drive the fastest adoption rate of a gaming system in history? Certainly not by not releasing games. I actually think the spread of games Sony Studios have shown so far suggest Sony actually are looking to plug niche gaps, with a few blockbuster titles thrown in there to mix things up. For me if the games shown by Sony at the reveal event come across the first 12 months it's already their strongest launch in history, but there's acknowledgement within the industry that they have more to come.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Returnal Looks to Be Targeting a 2021 Release Date
@AdamNovice again, I have to disagree with you. Sony have generally vacated the Christmas sales period because of two reasons:
1) They didn't think they could compete with big franchises in that space.
and
2) They didn't want to compete in that sales space and potentially annoy third parties.
The sales figures for GT Sport, LBP3, Death Stranding probably had more to do with them as products.
Spider-Man launched September right? But got it's biggest sales of the year in October / November that year. I'm not arguing that Sony don't favour Summer and Easter launches, historically this generation they have, just pointing out that if their financial report plan they say they want nearly 10 games in the first year after launch and then between 4 and 5 a year going forward. They're not going to launch all those at the same time obviously. However, if they really do want the fastest adoption rate ever, then yeah front loading with 3 to 4 games over holiday and then Trickling others out over the year makes sense to me. At launch on average gamers buy 4 to 5 games in the first two to three months, why wouldn't Sony want to be 2 or 3 of them? I do happen to think Sony will have 5 to 6 games out in the first 4 months.
Re: Can You Name These PlayStation Peripherals?
@Anguspuss I actually had a few of these things at a work place once, where they had a technical team that just tried out weird controllers. They also built weird controllers. I have no idea why they existed in the studio they did, or what they achieved, but they were all big tea drinkers so we got on really well. I personally owned the mouse for certain RTS / strategy games on PS1. Not sure I owned any of the others.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Returnal Looks to Be Targeting a 2021 Release Date
@GilbertXI you see, and that just speaks to my point, if Sony do want the fastest conversion / adoption rates ever they're going to need to cater to a lot of wide and varied tastes. Destruction Allstars, as much as it might not be for me, or indeed a game Sony would have commissioned at the start or middle of the PS4 generation, it shows they feel the need to broaden what they do. Hell, Returnal probably slots into that category too. So I'm actually looking forward to the shocks that'll come from Sony this generation.
Re: PlayStation Launches New PS5 Game Pages on Official Website
@SilkySmile89 actually there's even less cross over between PC gamers and early console adopters, PC gamers tend to pick up consoles when there are exclusives they want. Bizarrely this generation there's far more Xbox / PC gamers, there seems to be a migration of Xbox gamers who have migrated to PC. Also the point about a graphics card not dictating the price of a console stands. Consoles are sold on the razorblade principle, GPUs aren't , both Nvidia and their partners will seek to make money out of there sale. Plus a GPU doesn't have a CPU, PSU etc. etc. etc. Sony and Microsoft will set the price of their consoles according to component / shipping costs, and how big a hit they're willing to take until the costs come down, they'll aim to price it to sell.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Returnal Looks to Be Targeting a 2021 Release Date
@GilbertXI I'm talking about it as well, it's one of the games from the reveal event I want to know most about. I want to see more on most of them, but Horizon Forbidden West, Returnal, and Demon's Souls are the games I want to see more of.
Re: PlayStation Launches New PS5 Game Pages on Official Website
@SilkySmile89 the metrics would disagree with you over the Console / PC crossover space. Most PS4 owners don't have a gaming rig / desk top PC actually. I know Ubisoft research suggested roughly 11 to 14% of PS4 owners had a gaming PC. I also don't think the price of a graphics card determines the cost of a console. I don't think you'll be too wide of the mark at $499's, though not for the reasons you mentioned. Having said that the rumours of the XSX being $599's won't go away there's a few competitions that have outed that price.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Returnal Looks to Be Targeting a 2021 Release Date
We're also potentially looking at a global launch, and there's considerable difference between regions and what games they like. So having a broad range of games at launch will be beneficial. Sony's first parties and the XDev program look like they can fill those gaps, so why shouldn't they? Especially if they think they can shift 5m units by the close of holiday 2020?
Re: PS5 Exclusive Returnal Looks to Be Targeting a 2021 Release Date
@AdamNovice no it's not. Thankfully speaking to and listening to Sony reps they aren't thinking like you. Spider-Man Miles Morales is a 15 hour game max apparently. It's not a full AAA release. It also won't appeal to everyone. We get it, you've got a stiffy for Miles Morales, but not everyone does. Sony's own metrics tell them this. Also why should SIE leave all the holiday sales to third parties? Have you considered the fact people spent money on CoD at the launch of the PS4 because the launch line-up from Sony wasn't great? If viewing metrics are anything to go by then Demon's Souls, GT7 and Ratchet & Clank are the games that have generated the most interest.
Re: Can You Name These PlayStation Peripherals?
13 out of 15 got the Samurai Sword thing and the stepping thing wrong. I really need to get out more, or get a new hobby.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Returnal Looks to Be Targeting a 2021 Release Date
@AdamNovice you are aware Sony Interactive Entertainment release games to make money as well, right? There's a damn good reason SIE want to increase not only the amount of games they release per year, but also per studio over the life cycle of the PS5... Profits.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Returnal Looks to Be Targeting a 2021 Release Date
I really hope this game comes out close to launch. Housemarque have always delivered, even during the Amiga days. Not many do twitch shooters as well as Housemarque, and I'm really looking forward to what they can do with Returnal. I have high hopes for this game, could be a cult classic in the making.
Re: Poll: Did You Buy Marvel's Avengers?
@__jamiie so did Google.
Re: The Witcher 3 Announced for PS5, Free Upgrade for PS4 Owners
Given they said they were working on it from a technical development perspective I was expecting this. It's nice that it's a free upgrade though... Take note 505 Games and Remedy, this is how it should be done.
Re: Rumour: Immortals Fenyx Rising Flies to PS5, PS4 on 2nd December
Not a fan of the new art directions, or the damn awful name. My interest in this game has gone from being mildly interested... to not giving a damn.
Re: Madden NFL 21 Has the Worst User Score in Metacritic History
@Constable_What in that thread on GaaS, you know the one, I made the point that sports games are perfect for the GaaS model, even subscription fees make sense for sports games, I just don't think the annual release and bloated Micro-transactions model holds up much longer, there's a crash coming, I can feel it in my bones.
Re: Madden NFL 21 Has the Worst User Score in Metacritic History
@Constable_What oh you poor naïve fool you... lol. I'm joking, but if course people will buy Madden 21, and 22...
EA Sports have had declining sales for years, hence the excessive sweating of current customers with Micro-transactions. My hope is that it'll eventually implode, because the more publishers get away with this the worse it'll get for other games in the industry. I wish people could just develop a full game, and release it for a fair price. I think there's a place for subscription based games, and live service based games, a just wish we could be fair and honest about it.
Re: Media Molecule Co-Founder Alex Evans to Take a Break from Game Development
Alex Evans is straight up one of the nicest guys you could possibly wish to meet and work with. An exceedingly talented guy with a genuine love of games, and not just making them. I'm pretty sure whatever he decides to turn his talents towards he'll be successful. Wish him all the best.
Re: Fans Think Demon's Souls PS5 Is Close to Release
@JJ2 nothing, but you'll have the pleasure of playing some awesome games at the end of the year. I'm sticking my neck out and predicting Ratchet & Clank, Demon's Souls and GT7 at launch, and Spider-Man Miles Morales as the pre-Christmas December stocking filler. I'm then being bolder and predicting Horizon Forbidden West will be the Easter / Spring blockbuster Sony has historically liked launching. Not sure what the Summer blockbuster is, or their holiday 2021 line-up, but I'm pretty sure we've not seen them yet.
Re: Fans Think Demon's Souls PS5 Is Close to Release
@Athrum I'm pretty confident Horizon Forbidden West will be out before the end of 2021, I also expect it by the end of summer at the latest, but wouldn't be too surprised if it slipped to Holiday 2021. I have faith in my friends at Guerilla, they know what they're doing and I'm pretty sure they're about to enter the final stretches on this game. The one I'd be most concerned about is GT7, because Kazunori Yamauchi does not run a tight ship and quite frankly I'm still amazed he's at Polyphony Digital.
Re: Fans Think Demon's Souls PS5 Is Close to Release
@Octane maybe, but there's been talk of the "The Big 5" for the first 6 months for quite some time, and I think that list is the big 5. There is talk of a summer blockbuster too, so maybe that's what Horizon Forbidden West is for. Also expecting some holiday 2021 games that haven't been announced yet.
Re: Fans Think Demon's Souls PS5 Is Close to Release
The big 5 for Sony Studios are:
Spider-Man Miles Morales
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Gran Turismo 7
Horizon Forbidden West
Demon's Souls
I fully expect all of them within the first 6 months of the PS5 launch.
Re: For Real This Time, AT&T Won't Be Selling Warner Bros Games
@nessisonett look at studios in Europe before the US. Some good places in Sweden.
Re: For Real This Time, AT&T Won't Be Selling Warner Bros Games
@nessisonett that would actually be my advice to you, find yourself a mid level studio, somewhere like Lucid if you're in the UK, small, good group of creatives at the top who've all lived through that corporate hell, and seem to be happy just providing their staff with work and ticking over, and who might every now and then get support from a publisher to do a pet project. I wouldn't want to put anyone off from joining the industry, because at times it can be supremely rewarding, just do your research on studios. If you ever want some advice just at me in the forum's and I'll try my best to help... actually Sony London Studios isn't a bad shout for an internship. They used to have a pretty good program a few years back.
Re: For Real This Time, AT&T Won't Be Selling Warner Bros Games
@Kefka2589 it is an interesting one, because engagement with Gears 5 was literally at the franchise average, so it didn't increase engagement there, and you'd have to assume it didn't generate the sorts of revenue from Game Pass as it would say a full release, well, we don't have to guess, we can see from the financial results. Something has to give, that's just the way it is, short-term I say enjoy it while it lasts, long-term I don't think it remains in its current form unless there is a significant downgrade in content or massive price hike.
Re: For Real This Time, AT&T Won't Be Selling Warner Bros Games
@nessisonett and you think Environment Artist 42 or Network Programmer 5 has any say in this stuff. Plus it will have an impact on the kinds of games we can design. The business environment always does, and for that reason alone, as a creative, Game Pass in its current form concerns me.
On a different tack are you looking to pursue a career in the industry?
Re: For Real This Time, AT&T Won't Be Selling Warner Bros Games
@Kefka2589 Game Pass having lost $2.8bn so far is pretty significant. That's not including the loss Microsoft first party games have made as a result of being on Game Pass. Current estimate on that depending on who you talk to have Microsoft taking a $4bn loss or close to it on Game Pass. They talk about their 10m subscribers, but from Live data we think as an industry Microsoft and Xbox as brand's have roughly 15m diehard fans, which shouldn't be sniffed at, but you'd have to assume the majority of those 10m subscribers come from this pool. The real test will be how many more subscribers they can add, but the bigger the subscriber numbers, the bigger the fees developers and publishers will request, and that's the crux of the Game Pass model, in its current configuration it doesn't work long term.
Re: For Real This Time, AT&T Won't Be Selling Warner Bros Games
@nessisonett I'm also a developer, who sees things like Game Pass as a threat to my livelihood, because you can bet your bottom dollar shareholders won't want a reduced cut, nope that'll come from crappier working conditions for people like me, and probably even less secure working contracts, but hey, as long as you guys get your games right? Except the games you'll be getting will eventually be the sort of experiences you'd have expected to be free to play.
Re: Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales PS5 Is One of This Year's Most Anticipated Games
And this dear readers, Marvel's Avengers being more anticipated than Cyberpunk 2077 is why gamers can't have nice things.
Re: For Real This Time, AT&T Won't Be Selling Warner Bros Games
As to WB Games won't sell or can't sell, take your pick, and my guess is no one was in the market for an over valued games publisher without any of its own IP.
Re: For Real This Time, AT&T Won't Be Selling Warner Bros Games
@nessisonett I have to say going forward given the astronomical losses Microsoft are making on Game Pass (the business model really doesn't stack up) something will have to give. When you hear Halo Infinite has already cost Microsoft $500m, it doesn't take a genius to figure out there's no way to recoup that development budget via game pass as it currently is, and that will shift developers to developing heavily monetized / GaaS products. I think it's inevitable. That or the production values drop way, way down. Something has to give. So ultimately either Microsoft's games become cheap cash grabs, or egregious money sinks, I personally think that Game Pass will become a subscription service to play what used to be considered free to play games, with the odd worthwhile indie thrown in. The business model could be worthwhile if they weren't putting new games day and date release on the service, with quality games going forward that just isn't sustainable, and Microsoft's financial reports makes that abundantly clear. Were there games going to the service 18 to 24 months after launch, maybe it'd become a more sustainable option for business and developers, as it is I just can't see Microsoft share holders accepting billions and billions of dollars down the drain for very little market penetration and zero return.
Re: PlayStation Store Essential Picks Sale Discounts Some of PS4's Best Games
Add to my pile of shame? Not bloomin' likely right now, I literally needed a pandemic to get it down to manageable levels of shame.
Re: PlayStation Returns to Facebook, Instagram After Two Month Hiatus
@Menchi interesting, in my circles we call them shill boys. When I look at gaming as a sector / industry I think doing the marketing and PR must be a cinch. The amount of people who are so invested in the brand's and games that they will literally go do guerilla marketing campaigns for them is phenomenal. Throw in a generally complicit and compliant games media that on the whole just regurgitates press releases verbatim without any critical thought applied, and you probably have one of the most lopsided marketing environments going.
Re: PlayStation Returns to Facebook, Instagram After Two Month Hiatus
@Kidfried I very rarely get involved in these sorts of discussions, and when I do it is mostly to clear up technical misunderstandings about both consoles. Some of the rampant drivel I've heard spouted about both has made me want to gouge my own eyes out with a rusty spoon.
Re: PlayStation Returns to Facebook, Instagram After Two Month Hiatus
@JJ2 yeah console wars... thanks Sega of America for inventing that nonsense. All this "my plastic box I've pledged my allegiance to is more floppy" rubbish does my head in... mostly because neither Microsoft or Sony are paying these tools to be PR representatives. How deranged must you be to literally do free labour for multi-billion dollar corporations?
Re: PlayStation Returns to Facebook, Instagram After Two Month Hiatus
@Kefka2589 if they are going to use air freight for initial batches then they have to factor in potential quarantines for things coming from China that the mentalist in the White House might decide will help him get a few more votes. The logistics of a global console launch during a pandemic must be a nightmare. There's just so much "not normal" about 2020 that I wouldn't be surprised to see a limited launch in one territory, followed by staggered launches elsewhere, even if they do have stockpiles in warehouses. Getting them into people's hands right now seems harder than making the things.
Re: PS Plus September PS4 Games Available to Download Now
Looks at PS+ offerings...
Looks at pile of shame...
No thanks PS+.
Re: PlayStation Returns to Facebook, Instagram After Two Month Hiatus
This whole waiting to see who announces price first thing is nonsense. They know how much these things cost and how much of a hit they are willing / able to take. Given both have pretty much revealed what they are shoving inside these boxes they almost certainly know each others wiggle room. Xbox and Game Pass have lost Microsoft billions and billions. Share holders are already asking questions about when the division is going to be profitable. Sony likewise have shareholders to think about, if Sony or Microsoft launch at a price point the other can't match, quite frankly it makes no difference waiting, and even if they don't, it makes no difference waiting. Both by now will have locked in prices, they know they're going to have to air ship the initial batches and swallow that cost. They aren't waiting to undercut their competitors, they're waiting because I think neither truly know if they can commit to a full global launch in 2020.
Re: PlayStation Returns to Facebook, Instagram After Two Month Hiatus
@nessisonett so them doing this suggests they soon will have.
Re: New PS5 Ad Highlights Next-Gen Features and Lightning Speed
Can I get an advert to tell me when the next advert is please? There's a saying and I think it's very applicable to Sony right now s*** or get off the pot.
Re: PS5 Won't Play PS3, PS2, or PS1 Games
@nessisonett actually it's not about brute force. Emulating PS1 and PS2 games on software is more than possible, the issue is doing so in a way that covers the literally thousands of games released on both systems, supporting PAL and NTSC in ways that don't encourage piracy for a cost effective price, and that wouldn't lumber Sony's engineers with a never ending seriously of tasks to make game compatible with the emulator. The PS2 and PS1 did both have slightly quirky hardware and many games from those eras coded to the metal so to speak. Talk to the people who run these emulators on PC and they'll co firm getting certain games running at all is a nightmare, but getting them running in a stable way is also another nightmare. It's a Monmouth undertaking with very little pay off either for gamers or Sony.
Re: PlayStation Wants to Acquire Firms with Abundant Creativity to Enhance First-Party Portfolio
@Makina no it is. It doesn't have concurrent development you drama queen. It's sole development pipeline is PS5 and concentration on PS5 for all products they develop. If 2 to 3 years later a technical team then converts that over to PC that isn't multi-platform development, that's a conversion team doing a port, trying to get a PS5 or PS4 product optimized for PC. It is not a concurrent day and date release. Please stop embarrassing yourself.