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[Hero of Spielberg]

I didn’t notice it in the comments, but Jim’s biggest contribution to PlayStation would be stopping the Activision acquisition. If his campaign to get regulators to block the deal is successful, then that is a huge win for Sony.

Then if it goes through will it be his biggest failure?

 

[systemr123]

It's either that or nobody is interested in interviewing him.

True, if I was a journalist I’d be much more interested in hearing what a master spinner like Phil has to say without saying anything than someone who states some facts and actually releases stuff instead of only talking about it.

 

[Danjin44]

The way some of you worship CEOs like some kind of celebrity is cring as fuck.

 

[tommycronin]

Imagine going to bat and defending your favorite video game manufacturer's boss for no reason.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Then if it goes through will it be his biggest failure?

MS and ABK agreed to the acquisition, so unless someone puts a hurdle in there, it is going through. That is its default direction.

Jim Ryan has made it significantly more difficult for MS to complete what they started, however. That is success in itself. But if Jim manages to block this deal, that will be an unprecedented and unimaginable level of success for Sony. There's no failure for Jim if he fails, because otherwise it was always going through.

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

MS and ABK agreed to the acquisition, so unless someone puts a hurdle in there, it is going through. That is its default direction.

Jim Ryan has made it significantly more difficult for MS to complete what they started, however. That is success in itself. But if Jim manages to block this deal, that will be an unprecedented and unimaginable level of success for Sony. There's no failure for Jim if he fails, because otherwise it was always going through.

Haha, I’m sure Jim wishes he answered to you.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

if this happens in the coming years, fine, but so far his success is result of his predecesors decisions and IPs. I guess Returnal is their last new IP, after failing with destruction allstars, and was possibly greenlight before him? Still too early to judge his leadership imho. Making more movies, series and also mobile games seems sensible and I wonder why the fuck Square let go of Hitman and Tomb Raider and Capcom not making RE in two ways, one the current cheesy action and one actual horror movie fork of the material. Companies seem clueless so far how to squeeze some of their own IPs. If he is the leading man for that and others get it now too, that would be great. Hollywood is in need of fresh ideas anyway, so adaptations might spice it up.
crisis mode Sony PS3 era was the best though, maybe this time they also pump out new IPs without the same dire need to catch up but so far not much has been shown in that regard. Late gen IPs of Sony have often been their best, but we ought to see something soon to starting to up that bar.

This is kind of my point.

People think things just happen by themselves. What separates SIE with Capcom and Square Enix? SIE launched a production studio to manage their own IP and control the creative input on them. Other companies farm their stuff out to external production studios and external distributors who have their own ideas on how to adapt their IP.

They've made a multitude of Tomb Raider movies and the prospect of continuing didn't entice them to keep the IP.

On the same front, it seems obvious that Sony should have supported PC as well for additional revenue, but the question is how to do it without impact PlayStation console sales for which they generate their most revenue from royalties of software sold there, DLC, and MTX and without impacting the quality and timeliness of their own software and without giving up the benefits of focusing on PS5 hardware.

That's when they bought Nixxes and Valkyrie Entertainment. These are moves that show insight.

Sony asked themselves what they need to do to support PC and overall game development with less crunching and without impacting first party development and they bought companies to do just that. They didn't spend 70 billion dollars because they don't have 70 billion dollars to spend.

Does Jim Ryan have a good hand? Sure, but it takes more than a good hand to be successful and expand your business. You have to play the hand properly AND make good sound moves.

Even with a good hand during the PS4 era, they sat on games that would have sold gangbusters on PC. They were too tied to their old ways of thinking.

Jim Ryan is taking their company into a new era and one where PlayStation means a lot more than just console gaming. That might rub a lot of people the wrong way, but in 10-15 years, PlayStation might be more of a TV/Movie company than a game company. I jest a bit, but look at Marvel. Marvel is a movie company now, not really a comic book company and that really only started in 2008 with the release of Iron Man and Disney bought them a year later. That's 15 years ago... and the transformation for them was immediate. Yes, I know that there had been some dabbling in movies and movie properties earlier, but they didn't produce movies until 2004 and Iron Man was their first production.

Ultimately, gaming is going to be bigger for Sony, but PlayStation is going to mean a lot of things within the next 5 years. It's going to mean console gaming, mobile gaming, PC gaming, VR gaming, TVs, Movies, probably Cloud, subscription... these are a lot of things that all have to be managed well for them to be successful. He's put them on that route to success...

 

[damiank]

But he has abandoned the PS players and sold his soul to the PC devil.

Gaben possesed him.

 

[Zathalus]

They had a good year, but 13th highest grossing film for 2022 aside, the Uncharted movie was a critical and commercial failure. Which is a pity, as The Last of Us is so amazing.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

They had a good year, but 13th highest grossing film for 2022 aside, the Uncharted movie was a critical and commercial failure. Which is a pity, as The Last of Us is so amazing.

How was it a commercial failure... It gross 400 million dollars, more than making its budget x2 back. Critically, yes I think it was a failure.

 

[Zathalus]

How was it a commercial failure... It gross 400 million dollars, more than making its budget x2 back. Critically, yes I think it was a failure.

To make money in a movie, you generally need double it's budget + marketing costs, as over the release frame of a movie the Cinema takes roughly 50%. Assuming 50% of the production budget for marketing costs means it needed around 360 million to break even. Which is me being rather conservative on the marketing budget. So yeah, 40 million at most is likely not what Sony was hoping for. Every game movie that earned more never got sequels either. It may get a sequel, but you can bet Sony was hoping for more.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

To make money in a movie, you generally need double it's budget + marketing costs, as over the release frame of a movie the Cinema takes roughly 50%. Assuming 50% of the production budget for marketing costs means it needed around 360 million to break even. Which is me being rather conservative on the marketing budget. So yeah, 40 million at most is likely not what Sony was hoping for. Every game movie that earned more never got sequels either. It may get a sequel, but you can bet Sony was hoping for more.

Double its budget is to account for marketing. Its budget was 120 million. Double that is 240 million. It made 400 million. That's 160 million in box office profit, not even including streaming deals.

It's absolutely a commercial success.

 

[Heisenberg007]

They had a good year, but 13th highest grossing film for 2022 aside, the Uncharted movie was a critical and commercial failure. Which is a pity, as The Last of Us is so amazing.

You say a film needs to 2x its budget. Uncharted's revenue was 3.35x its budget.

How was it a commercial failure... It gross 400 million dollars, more than making its budget x2 back. Critically, yes I think it was a failure.

It was a commercial and critical success. IMDB's rating is 6.3 after 214,000 votes.

Other recent video game adaptations that are considered to be excellent are:

• Detective Pikachu = 6.5 (166,000 votes)
• Sonic the Hedgehog = 6.5 (142,000 votes)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 = 6.5 (69,000 votes)

Sony Pictures declares Uncharted “a new hit movie franchise" after film generates $139 million worldwide

Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group is rather pleased with how Uncharted is doing at the box office.

www.vg247.com

 

[Mibu no ookami]

You say a film needs to 2x its budget. Uncharted's revenue was 3.35x its budget.

It was a commercial and critical success. IMDB's rating is 6.3 after 214,000 votes.

Other recent video game adaptations that are considered to be excellent are:

• Detective Pikachu = 6.5 (166,000 votes)
• Sonic the Hedgehog = 6.5 (142,000 votes)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 = 6.5 (69,000 votes)

Sony Pictures declares Uncharted “a new hit movie franchise" after film generates $139 million worldwide

Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group is rather pleased with how Uncharted is doing at the box office.

www.vg247.com

I wouldn't call a 6.5 a critical success. Those movies you mentioned are financial successes, but I don't think anyone thinks of them as critical successes.

 

[Zathalus]

Double its budget is to account for marketing. Its budget was 120 million. Double that is 240 million. It made 400 million. That's 160 million in box office profit, not even including streaming deals.

It's absolutely a commercial success.

No, the publisher only gets 50% of the revenue from the box office. So 400 million would mean Sony got 200 million. The production budget of 120 million also does not include marketing.

 

[Zathalus]

You say a film needs to 2x its budget. Uncharted's revenue was 3.35x its budget.

It was a commercial and critical success. IMDB's rating is 6.3 after 214,000 votes.

Other recent video game adaptations that are considered to be excellent are:

• Detective Pikachu = 6.5 (166,000 votes)
• Sonic the Hedgehog = 6.5 (142,000 votes)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 = 6.5 (69,000 votes)

Sony Pictures declares Uncharted “a new hit movie franchise" after film generates $139 million worldwide

Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group is rather pleased with how Uncharted is doing at the box office.

www.vg247.com

It needs double the production and marketing budget. Which could mean anything from 40 million profit to a 20 million loss, depending on the marketing budget.

Also, critical obviously means movie reviews, not audience score.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

No, the publisher only gets 50% of the revenue from the box office. So 400 million would mean Sony got 200 million. The production budget of 120 million also does not include marketing.

Again... the general rule in hollywood is that a movie needs to make double the budget to break even, that's because the budget doesn't include marketing. It's not double PLUS marketing.

That includes the theaters getting their cut.

 

[Nemesisuuu]

Jim Ryan is on fire, the other guy is getting cancelled - what is next?

 

[Saber]

The guy brings the green paper sure, but still has made alot of small choices I don't agree with. Still not a fan of him, but hope everything turns alright for games like Stellar Blade and Rise of Ronin.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

the speculation was that Jim Ryan took over Shawn (they fought naked in pit of mud).

Comments from Jim seems to suggest one of the main arguments was PlayStation dominance in Europe.

also some remarks when Herman became head of studios:

"Hermen is a European who will be taking one of the major offices at PlayStation," he said. "I think everybody in Europe should be thrilled and happy and proud that that is happening."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/guerrilla-games-hermen-hulst-is-playstations-head-of-worldwide-studios

maybe Jim thought the American division was gaining so much power......

 

[Ansphn]

Honest Jim. Straight shooter who lets the games do the talking. No awards for him, hundreds of awards for his studios. A stark contrast to Phil "Award man" Spencer.

 

[Doom85]

Jim Ryan is on fire, the other guy is getting cancelled - what is next?

Doug Bowser: As many of you have guessed, this isn’t even my final form! (transforms)

 

[Heisenberg007]

No, the publisher only gets 50% of the revenue from the box office. So 400 million would mean Sony got 200 million. The production budget of 120 million also does not include marketing.

Don't forget to add other money like advertising, sponsors, toys, Netflix deals, DVD sales, etc.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I wouldn't call a 6.5 a critical success. Those movies you mentioned are financial successes, but I don't think anyone thinks of them as critical successes.

These movies are usually considered some of the best adaptations. Two of these (including Uncharted) were also nominated for the best adaptation.

And if you sort video game adaptations on Rotten Tomatoes, all of these movies feature in the very top echelon. (Source)

Uncharted ranks among these.

 

[Hobbygaming]

So doing everything except games??

Giving me tv tv tv vibes.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

These movies are usually considered some of the best adaptations. Two of these (including Uncharted) were also nominated for the best adaptation.

And if you sort video game adaptations on Rotten Tomatoes, all of these movies feature in the very top echelon. (Source)

Uncharted ranks among these.

That isn't saying anything...

 

[Heisenberg007]

SIE has published 21 games in the last 36 months. In the next 12 months, they are publishing at least 6 more.

They are averaging more than 1 game per 2 months. How many more games do you think are adequate?

He hasn't responded at all after his drive-by post.

 

[German Hops]

Jim Ryan is on fire, the other guy is getting cancelled - what is next?

Miyamoto goes transgender.

 

[Heisenberg007]

That isn't saying anything...

According to whom?

This literally represents critical success -- featuring in the top 10 best video game adaptation lists, getting nominations from a jury, etc.

 

[Interfectum]

 

[daninthemix]

But he has abandoned the PS players and sold his soul to the PC devil.

Join our church and become one of us, brother.

 

[ActusReusJB]

Then if it goes through will it be his biggest failure?

I don’t think so, purely from the perspective that current legal precedence/interpretation indicate Microsoft should have no issues closing this deal. Which is why I think if Jim manages to get it completely blocked, or more likely the expected concessions from Microsoft mean that the value just isn’t there and they drop out he scored an impressive victory.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I just want more ports to PC. I don't care about most of them but more ports might mean getting closer to playing Bloodborne at 4K/60fps.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

the speculation was that Jim Ryan took over Shawn (they fought naked in pit of mud).

Comments from Jim seems to suggest one of the main arguments was PlayStation dominance in Europe.

also some remarks when Herman became head of studios:

"Hermen is a European who will be taking one of the major offices at PlayStation," he said. "I think everybody in Europe should be thrilled and happy and proud that that is happening."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/guerrilla-games-hermen-hulst-is-playstations-head-of-worldwide-studios

maybe Jim thought the American division was gaining so much power......

If you look at the legacy SCEA, they really struggled to put Microsoft away. I think the success of legacy SCEE really pushed forward their execs in the company. That's where they struggled the most during the PS3 days and Europe kept them afloat.

That being said, they put their HQ in California.

Herman Hulst created a 20 million selling IP out of nothing from a studio that probably could have been closed down. That was quite a transformation. Naughty Dog on the other hand has always really been successful.

I think right now you have a lot of potential replacements for Herman moving forward depending on what they want. You also have a few options to replace Jim Ryan, but it can't be ignored what he has done for global marketing for the PS brand and what he has done in Europe.

His global strategy has certainly paid off and looks to pay off even more now. I don't think he's overly favored SIEE though. I think Herman was a legit candidate. I think going forward you could see Evan Wells, Neil Druckmann, or Ted Price, become the next PlayStation Studio head though.

 

[soulbait]

Someone drank the Kool-Aid.

 

[Hobbygaming]

He hasn't responded at all after his drive-by post.

I can't say I'm surprised. Even he knew that was BS

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Yup.

Selling millions of consoles on promise of single player games, then shifting focus to TV shows, Live service games, VR etc is one of biggest bait and switch I have seen recently.

Ubisoft is cancelling live service games left and right. This is when they have lot more experience in these types of games. Doesn't bodes well really.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Yup.

Selling millions of consoles on promise of single player games, then shifting focus to TV shows, Live service games, VR etc is one of biggest bait and switch I have seen recently.

Ubisoft is cancelling live service games left and right. This is when they have lot more experience in these types of games. Doesn't bodes well really.

You make it sound like they aren't still developing single player games

 

[Nemesisuuu]

Miyamoto goes transgender.

In shocking turn of events...

 

[Evil Calvin]

Let's see how he fares producing something that is not a sequel and not based on LOU or Uncharted.

 

[German Hops]

In shocking turn of events...

 

[diffusionx]

I don’t really like what Sony is becoming these days. I think it’s what happens when you have someone who is obviously and clearly not that interested in video games in charge of a video game company. I don’t like how Hermann Hulst is in charge of all this shit and the end result is nonstop Horizon, which just happens to be the franchise from Hermann Hulst’s old studio. I don’t like how we keep getting remakes of Last of Us. I don’t like how they are investing tons of money into GAAS bullshit. They overpaid incredibly for Bungie in what looks like a panic move, and justified it with the GAAS bullshit. It all seems very profit-maximizing in the moment, which is one of those things that makes sense in the moment but can go south very quickly. And yet they remain one of the few companies (outside of Capcom, and some others) that can deliver “AAA” games reliably. The decision to expand into TV/movies right now looks like genius although we will see what happens once they have some stinkers (my bet is on Twisted Metal).

He has his strategy, I don’t like it, but we’ll see I guess.

 

[Games of Today]

Ehh Shawn Layden was so much sicker. Jim Ryan can't even give me consistent PlayStation showcases.

Sean delivered some of the sickest E3 presentations I've ever seen including the 2016 show with the live orchestra.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Yup.

Selling millions of consoles on promise of single player games, then shifting focus to TV shows, Live service games, VR etc is one of biggest bait and switch I have seen recently.

Ubisoft is cancelling live service games left and right. This is when they have lot more experience in these types of games. Doesn't bodes well really.

I literally told you that SIE is publishing 5 single-player games in 2023, and we already know of at least 4 single-player games already that are coming in 2024.

I ask again: do you think that's not an adequate quantity of single-player games?

 

[supernova8]

Jimbo didn't lie. The quote had nothing to do with cross-gen games and PS5 exclusive games, it was about features and experiences. He was very clear in what he was talking about there. Sure it was conveniently timed with MS's statements at the time, but again, he was very clear in his quote. The fact that internet folks ran with it as some sort of "gotcha" when Sonys cross gen plans were revealed has caused me to facepalm many times cause no one takes the time to look at the original quote to see what he was actually talking about.

Nah come on, SIE knew what they were doing when they wrote that script for him (I doubt he wrote it himself).

Everyone on GAF was like "YAAAASSS!" when he said "we believe in generations" and then later everyone who isn't excessively forgiving remembered it when a bunch of titles ended up being cross-gen. As proof, just look at their very first "future of gaming" show:

Miles Morales: title credits "captured on PS5" - no mention of whether it would be PS5 exclusive or not.
Gran Turismo 7: ... nothing. No mention of any platforms.
Ratchet & Clank: "Built from the ground up for PS5" .. but no mention of whether or not it would be PS5 exclusive
Project Athia (Forspoken): nothing, no mention of platforms.
Stray: no mention of platforms.
Returnal: "this new franchise, coming exclusively to PS5"
Sackboy Adventure: no mention of platforms.
Destruction AllStars: no mention of platforms.
Kena Bridge of Spirits: no mention of platforms.
Goodbye Volcano High: lol
Oddworld Soulstorm: no mention of platforms (but we already knew it was coming to PC so meh)
Ghostwire Tokyo: no mention of platforms.
(I'll skip some of the filler garbage)
Demons Souls: no mention of platforms.
RE Village: no mention of platforms.
Pragmata: no mention of platforms.
Horizon FW: no mention of platforms.

closing statement from Jim Ryan:
.."and you've seen games that can only be enjoyed with the full range of Playstation 5's features and power"
.." we want you to enjoy the unique benefits of moving from one generation to the next"..

So first thing I would say is that (with the sole exception of Returnal for some reason) they were intentionally vague about what games would come to what platforms because they already knew the vast majority were cross-gen and it would make them look like hypocrites... so they choose not to say anything and then we saw all the gaming media outlets trying to catch out SIE's PR people to actually get that information.

PlayStation 5 launches in November, starting at $399 for PS5 Digital Edition and $499 for PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-Ray Disc Drive

New games announced at PS5 Showcase, including Final Fantasy XVI, Hogwarts Legacy, and a new God of War title

blog.playstation.com

Sony had their Future of gaming showcase in June 2020 but didn't reveal that Miles Morales, Sackboy, and Horizon FW would be cross-gen until three months later in September 2020. Assuming they didn't just pull those PS4 versions out of a hat, they knew full-well they'd be coming and chose not to say anything at first.

Additionally, we know that the PS4 community will transition to PS5 at different times, and we’re happy to announce PS4 versions of some of our exclusives. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy A Big Adventure, and Horizon Forbidden West will also launch on PS4. While these three games were designed to take advantage of PS5 and its unique next-gen features like the ultra-high-speed SSD and DualSense controller, PS4 owners will also be able to enjoy these experiences when they launch.

Strange... they didn't seem overly eager to announce PS4 versions during the initial showcase.

Second thing is that when Jim said "games that can only be enjoyed with the full range of PS5 power" he essentially just meant Ratchet & Clank, Returnal, and Demons Souls remake, right? That's a tiny fraction of the games shown and yet he didnt say "a few games" or "some games" he just said "games". That was absolutely intentional.

On top of that, "we want you to enjoy the unique benefits of moving from one generation to the next".. in the end it wasn't really much different from the Xbox Series X launch, right?

Jimbo didn't lie but he sure as hell chose his words extremely carefully and SIE left out details (mainly which games would be cross-gen) that didn't suit them at the time. In hindsight, Xbox was actually far more honest and upfront.

 

[mckmas8808]

Jim Ryan has been a fairly divisive character, but love him or hate him, he's doing big things for PlayStation.

He'll probably go down as the most consequential CEO of PlayStation (and that includes Ken Kutaragi).

You take a look at PlayStation Productions, and they're probably the hottest Production company on the planet right now. They produced the 13th highest-grossing film of 2022 and have what will probably be the biggest hit new show of 2023 (obviously it's early in 2023 and they've only shown one episode, but based on season reviews, I expect people will be pleased).

PlayStation Productions has the potential to transform the entire company's model. We're talking about billions of dollars in potential annual net income. PlayStation Productions is uniquely qualified to manage it's own IP via PlayStation Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment, but also to acquire new IP within the spectrum of Sony Group's catalog of companies.

Take a book or graphic novel... There isn't a company on the planet that can DEVELOP a game based on that book (at a high quality), PRODUCE a TV Show or movie, AND DISTRIBUTE that TV Show or movie.

What this means is that Sony can use the revenue that they generate from PlayStation Productions and put it back into IP development AND IP acquisition, with the full knowledge that by hitting on their marks on the TV Show/Movie they can pretty easily recover from their investment.

Let's say that companies were bidding for the all-out rights to Metal Gear Solid. What company could develop a AAA game for Metal Gear Solid, make the movie, AND distribute the movie?

That makes out-bidding on IP significantly easier.

The more successful PlayStation Productions gets, the more talent they're going to hire, the more consistent they're going to be. No production company on the planet has a continuous stream of IP available to them aside from Marvel Studios (but even with Marvel Studios it's largely limited to existing characters). You look at Disney and why they're remaking all of their animated hits, and it's because they're fairly surefire hits. Even the bombs like Dumbo at least broke even (budget x2).

When you look at what Jim Ryan has done expanding the PlayStation brand beyond console games: Movies, TV, PC Games... even doubling down on VR... I just don't understand how he gets so much hate. He is almost certainly going to be the next CEO of Sony Group. He's navigated SIE through the pandemic and global supply chain shortage, and has positioned Sony and SIE to be more profitable than they've ever been before.

He'll NEVER be "bigger" than Ken Kutaragi, but I agree with you that he's on fire! I still hate him by the way, but I can't argue with the results so far.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

I literally told you that SIE is publishing 5 single-player games in 2023, and we already know of at least 4 single-player games already that are coming in 2024.

I ask again: do you think that's not an adequate quantity of single-player games?

2-3 AAA games are adequate.

But games you are counting are not full games. Or not from proven studios.

Again, if you think these detours (TLOU R, TV show etc) are not taking away resources from SP games, I dunno what to tell you.

Neil Druckmann himself directed first season of TV show. Must have eaten a lot of his time.

You make it sound like they aren't still developing single player games

Damn, wish xbox fans had resolve like this during Xbone reveal, we would have gotten so many cool things like digital game sharing.

 

[mckmas8808]

Imagine going to bat and defending your favorite video game manufacturer's boss for no reason.

 

[mckmas8808]

Damn, wish xbox fans had resolve like this during Xbone reveal, we would have gotten so many cool things like digital game sharing.

Digital game sharing was always a lie and never going to be real.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Digital game sharing was always a lie and never going to be real.

It would be via SharePlay, which we had last gen and this one.