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[SlimySnake]

the losing billions strategy will never happen again, it’s dead

PlayStation is a much larger portion of Sony’s business now versus then

Microsoft can afford to lose billions because they are the opposite. They’re doing that right now with gamepass

the fact that they rely on ps to deliver profits so much should also mean they should get the lion share of the budget no? tlou2 made like $240 million in the first three days. thats a $50 million game assuming costs have doubled since they used to make uncharted games for $20 million. they spend far far more on movies.

no one is saying they need to lose billions, but surely they can afford to invest some of those billions back into their most profitable division.

i also think strong sales of Miles post launch suggest that people were waiting to pick up the ps5 to buy it. no one wants to play games on ps4 anymore. the fact that it came back into the top ten after missing a couple of months means that these games will have legs. making them cross gen is not going to help with the sales.

 

[ZehDon]

the fact that they rely on ps to deliver profits so much should also mean they should get the lion share of the budget no? tlou2 made like $240 million in the first three days. thats a $50 million game assuming costs have doubled since they used to make uncharted games for $20 million. they spend far far more on movies...

I agree, but I guess that's why we don't run billion dollar companies: it's all about return on investment for the suits. Focusing on blockbusters means bigger return ratios. It's why Activision is now little more than a COD factory; you don't need to "invest" in six studios with 10 IPs when you're making a billion and change in profit every single year on one release. You put all your eggs in once basket and make an un-Godly 1:10+ ROI.

Naughty Dog took some six years to turn TLOU2 around. That's a very lengthy development cycle, and mean its very expensive. Rough guess-timates of The Last of Us Part 2's budget put it closer to USD$100 million, and that's just for the development of the game, not including marketing or other elements. So, when its predecessor was cheaper, took less time to develop, and came in closer to 20 million lifetime sales - not to mention having some of the strongest word of mouth of any game in history - a 1:2.4 initial return on all that effort wouldn't be terribly exciting for Sony, not when other games can come to market in much less than six years and pull in twice TLOU2's numbers without a mixed reception.

If Sony are actually pushing for a blockbuster focus, except them to shift to less investing in all their studios, and more centralising around three or four key studios and three or four key franchises; everyone else will be running support. It's why Microsoft ended up with nothing but Gears, Forza, Halo, and Fable for years on end. Fingers crossed Sony are actually smarter than that.

 

[Zones]

the fact that they rely on ps to deliver profits so much should also mean they should get the lion share of the budget no? tlou2 made like $240 million in the first three days. thats a $50 million game assuming costs have doubled since they used to make uncharted games for $20 million. they spend far far more on movies.

no one is saying they need to lose billions, but surely they can afford to invest some of those billions back into their most profitable division.

i also think strong sales of Miles post launch suggest that people were waiting to pick up the ps5 to buy it. no one wants to play games on ps4 anymore. the fact that it came back into the top ten after missing a couple of months means that these games will have legs. making them cross gen is not going to help with the sales.

Here, you think TLOUII had a production budget of $50 million... you know this figure is laughable, right? RIGHT?

"The problem with that model is it's just not sustainable," he said, explaining that the current generation has seen the cost of development reach between $80 million and $150 million for most AAA games -- excluding marketing costs -- with production taking up to five years from start to finish.

Shawn Layden: "I would welcome a return to the 12 to 15 hour AAA game"

Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has called for the industry to examine the trend towards bigger and more expe…

www.gamesindustry.biz

“The thing with those blockbuster games is that they need a box office release. They cost more than $100m dollars to make these days and in order to be able to do that and bring new IP to the market – which is a very risky thing and and we did four times in the PS4 generation – you’ve got to have a box office release.”

Sony’s Jim Ryan: Blockbuster Games Cost $100M+, Bringing New IP To Market Is “Very Risky'

Sony Jim Ryan has commented on the development cost of blockbuster games and how it is risky to release a new IP on a console.

n4g.com

Considering that TLOUII is Sony's most expensive game to date, its production budget is more likely to be near $150 million, and then add at least 50-100 million USD for its marketing, and then hopefully you will realize how little even a successful game like this make overall.

their profits have gone up exponentially since the ps3 era. this is back when they were losing billions every year. iirc, they lost around $4 billion in the first two years of playstation 3 and that amounted to all of the profits they had earned during the ps1 and ps2 era.

nowadays they make $2 billion in profits every quarter. last year, sony posted $10 billion in profits. surely they can afford a few $50 million games.

Here, you conflate Sony's $10 billion net income with PlayStation's ~ $3 billion operating income.

You also failed to mention that Sony is subsiding each and every sold PS5s with that income and in turn losing a great amount of money with each unit sold (particularly PS5 DE). I am not aware of any other sought after hardware (bar Xbox) with possibly billion dollar plus spent on R&D, only for it to be sold for a price lower than its BOM.

making them cross gen is not going to help with the sales.

Here, you fail to realize that it most certainly did not hurt the game's sales (and its reception) either.

A reminder: Sony doesn't care about list wars.

this is what i wanted a ps5 tlou to look like. this was their cg tv spot. its devastating that we wont get anything like this for another 3-5 years from ND.

If you bought a $500 PS5 thinking this level of graphics (and particularly animation) will be feasible for a +30 hours game, then I think you will have a very disappointing few years ahead of you.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

the fact that they rely on ps to deliver profits so much should also mean they should get the lion share of the budget no? tlou2 made like $240 million in the first three days. thats a $50 million game assuming costs have doubled since they used to make uncharted games for $20 million. they spend far far more on movies.

no one is saying they need to lose billions, but surely they can afford to invest some of those billions back into their most profitable division.

i also think strong sales of Miles post launch suggest that people were waiting to pick up the ps5 to buy it. no one wants to play games on ps4 anymore. the fact that it came back into the top ten after missing a couple of months means that these games will have legs. making them cross gen is not going to help with the sales.

It's not a safe assumption that TLOU2 was $50M dev budget. That was what maybe TLOU1 was. It's over $100M easily now just for development. Double that for marketing, so we are now a $200M. Next gen will be even more. Still healthy margins, but also large enough to where a "miss" could be pretty sizable loss.

Who is to say they aren't investing their profits back into the business? They likely are, but these things don't happen over night. Organic growth is....organic.

And it's not like Sony has NO exclusive next-gen games like MS. They do, they are just smaller scale projects that can still be profitable with a much smaller userbase and much smaller dev budget.

Stuff like Spiderman/Horizon is too big to fail. Ratchet/Demon's Souls/Returnal is OK. Some of those they will take a small hit on, too. No doubt Miles has sold well due to next-gen adoption uptick, but it also sold well on last-gen out of the gate.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Here, you think TLOUII had a production budget of $50 million... you know this figure is laughable, right? RIGHT?

"The problem with that model is it's just not sustainable," he said, explaining that the current generation has seen the cost of development reach between $80 million and $150 million for most AAA games -- excluding marketing costs -- with production taking up to five years from start to finish.

Shawn Layden: "I would welcome a return to the 12 to 15 hour AAA game"

Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has called for the industry to examine the trend towards bigger and more expe…

www.gamesindustry.biz

“The thing with those blockbuster games is that they need a box office release. They cost more than $100m dollars to make these days and in order to be able to do that and bring new IP to the market – which is a very risky thing and and we did four times in the PS4 generation – you’ve got to have a box office release.”

Sony’s Jim Ryan: Blockbuster Games Cost $100M+, Bringing New IP To Market Is “Very Risky'

Sony Jim Ryan has commented on the development cost of blockbuster games and how it is risky to release a new IP on a console.

n4g.com

Considering that TLOUII is Sony's most expensive game to date, its production budget is more likely to be near $150 million, and then add at least 50-100 million USD for its marketing, and then hopefully you will realize how little even a successful game like this make overall.

Here, you conflate Sony's $10 billion net income with PlayStation's ~ $3 billion operating income.

You also failed to mention that Sony is subsiding each and every sold PS5s with that income and in turn losing a great amount of money with each unit sold (particularly PS5 DE). I am not aware of any other sought after hardware (bar Xbox) with possibly billion dollar plus spent on R&D, only for it to be sold for a price lower than its BOM.

Here, you fail to realize that it most certainly did not hurt the game's sales (and its reception) either.

A reminder: Sony doesn't care about list wars.

If you bought a $500 PS5 thinking this level of graphics (and particularly animation) will be feasible for a +30 hours game, then I think you will have a very disappointing few years ahead of you.

As for covering the cost of making games to make a profit, it's actually not hard to ballpark how many copies are needed. Here's some budgets for games:

$10 million
$50 million
$100 million
$150 million
$200 million(!)

Estimate the amount of money earned by multiplying copies sold by a net revenue amount per copy...... some copies sold at $70, some at $50, some at $9.99 bargain binning. The retailer or online store takes 30% (assuming that 30% sticks because you hear about deals like I think Steam has if a game sells a ton). Retailers actually dont even make 30%. They are closer to 20-25%, but close enough.

For sake of argument, let's say the avg net revenue per copy (games are often frontloaded in sales at high price) is $30. I took $70 - 30% (-$21) = $49. I took off another $19 for the hell of it to get to $30.

Based on the budgets above, to break even you need:

$10 million = 333k copies
$50 million = 1.7 million copies
$100 million = 3.4 million copies
$150 million = 5 million copies
$200 million = 6.8 million copies

 

[arkhamguy123]

As for covering the cost of making games to make a profit, it's actually not hard to ballpark how many copies are needed. Here's some budgets for games:

$10 million
$50 million
$100 million
$150 million
$200 million(!)

Estimate the amount of money earned by multiplying copies sold by a net revenue amount per copy...... some copies sold at $70, some at $50, some at $9.99 bargain binning. The retailer or online store takes 30% (assuming that 30% sticks because you hear about deals like I think Steam has if a game sells a ton). Retailers actually dont even make 30%. They are closer to 20-25%, but close enough.

For sake of argument, let's say the avg net revenue per copy (games are often frontloaded in sales at high price) is $30. I took $70 - 30% (-$21) = $49. I took off another $19 for the hell of it to get to $30.

Based on the budgets above, to break even you need:

$10 million = 333k copies
$50 million = 1.7 million copies
$100 million = 3.4 million copies
$150 million = 5 million copies
$200 million = 6.8 million copies

Thats actually not as bad as I thought. $150-200 million dollar games can clear 7-10+mil and be clear. Which with that budget comes easily with marketing. And with how big gaming is nowadays? Not that hard.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Thats actually not as bad as I thought. $150-200 million dollar games can clear 7-10+mil and be clear. Which with that budget comes easily with marketing. And with how big gaming is nowadays? Not that hard.

Oh I forgot. My example is for third party games! First party games have no 30% cut they have to give if it's on their eco system digital store. They get it all.

Also, I didn't even factor in mtx revenue which for many games can be big.

So you can see, the number of copies needed to be sold to cover a budget isn't even that much unless it's a giant budget game.

That's why you see so many indie devs making bank selling games for even $20. There's something like 200 million Steam account, 100+ million PS4/PS5 and 50+ million Xbox One/S/X systems. Thats a lot of potential gamers.

 

[Dolomite]

Jim Ryan going to sink this ship faster than Don Mattrick tvtvtv.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

For all the hate Mattrick gets, he knew to launch a console with next-gen games (or even cross-gen for that matter...)

 

[PhaseJump]

Hey, You people listing Legend of Dragoon as a "dEaD sOnY fRaNcHiSe" with no mention of Wild Arms, which spanned 7 titles and had manga and an anime... Fuck you.

That is all.

 

[kyliethicc]

 

[Hypereides]

So s

You think it is only Sony fans? LOL.

Nope. I'm just purely speaking out about what I see going on in my own camp. I rarely wander into threads or topics about other platforms when I don't have anything worth contributing. I wouldn't be surprised if similar shit is happening elsewhere around here. I mean, I've noticed members from other camps drop some crazy shit too.

There's seriously some mindboggling circus acts going down among the peeps here. People need to stop bending over backwards and defending Sony's decisions at every turn. Call them out when they do something that seems unfavorable. Don't just go "but SALES!" every time they do something that decreases their appeal.

Same applies to the remaining fanbases and their prefered platforms.

 

[turtlepowa]

the fact that they rely on ps to deliver profits so much should also mean they should get the lion share of the budget no? tlou2 made like $240 million in the first three days. thats a $50 million game assuming costs have doubled since they used to make uncharted games for $20 million. they spend far far more on movies.

I think together with Sony's insane marketing for their big games we are talking about at least about 200 million dollars.

 

[ZehDon]

As for covering the cost of making games to make a profit, it's actually not hard to ballpark how many copies are needed. Here's some budgets for games:

$10 million
$50 million
$100 million
$150 million
$200 million(!)

Estimate the amount of money earned by multiplying copies sold by a net revenue amount per copy...... some copies sold at $70, some at $50, some at $9.99 bargain binning. The retailer or online store takes 30% (assuming that 30% sticks because you hear about deals like I think Steam has if a game sells a ton). Retailers actually dont even make 30%. They are closer to 20-25%, but close enough.

For sake of argument, let's say the avg net revenue per copy (games are often frontloaded in sales at high price) is $30. I took $70 - 30% (-$21) = $49. I took off another $19 for the hell of it to get to $30.

Based on the budgets above, to break even you need:

$10 million = 333k copies
$50 million = 1.7 million copies
$100 million = 3.4 million copies
$150 million = 5 million copies
$200 million = 6.8 million copies

Sorta, but those figures are out a little. Looking at accessible figures to give some ballparks, the best general response I can find is from 2017, where you'll pull in $15m per 1 million copies sold on average. If you're a first party title, you'll make more per sale as there will be less platform cuts, and if you have a good digital attachment rate you'll have higher profit margins.

So, as digital out paces physical in 2021, let's just go ahead and bump that up to $20m per 1 million copies sold as our ballpark figure. By that metric, you'll need to shift 5 million copies for a $100 million dollar game just to break even. Assuming no additional revenue streams and all copies are sold at full price, game budgets of $100 million and more are pretty dangerous. If you're Call of Duty, where you'll move 30 million software units alone and have extensive micro-transaction support, or if you're GTA - V's budget was rumoured to exceed $200 million - you can bare the expenditure because your return is going to exceed 1:10. If you're TLOUII, whose last confirmed sales figures were 4 million units, and we know that a good portion of its sales since then were at discounted prices, $100 million dollar budgets are a luxury that you'll need a deep-pocketed publisher to back, and one who's prepared to accept a tiny return on investment.

If Sony are moving to a blockbuster focus, then I suspect indulgent six year development cycle's like TLOUII's won't be happening too often in the future, unless they're making their own GTA-sized micro-transaction behemoth. I'm not the biggest fan of that approach, but from a pure business perspective, it makes sense: if Jim Ryan wants big profits for PlayStation, Uncharted is more valuable than interesting titles like Shadow of the Colossus.

 

[Banjo64]

Under Jim Ryan PS4 in 2019 and especially 2020 were the best, man. Games, man.

Yes, you'are bit overreacting. PS5 is just 6 months old.

PS5 launch was the best in console history. Bunch of new users got this :

Available now;

• Demon's Souls
• Astro's Playroom
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure
• Spider-Man Miles Morales
• Destruction All-stars
• Oddworld Soulstorm
• Bugsnax
• The Pathless

Releasing very soon or later this year

• Returnal
• Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart
• Horizon Forbidden West
• GhostWire: Tokyo
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Little Devil Inside
• Goodbye Volcano High
• Praey for the Gods
• Season
• Solar Ash
• Stray

Why must people post utter drivel like this? The best in history? That’s subjective, but for me the N64 beat this list of games with 2 launch games, only one of which was good. The Switch with BoTW and then Mario 6 months later, it’s not even close.

Sackboy and the small Spider-Man expansion are available on PS4 and Demon’s Souls IS a like for like of the PS3 version, no matter what anyone on here wants to pretend. Astro is the only legitimate good, exclusive experience at present on the PS5.

Are we seriously listing bargain bin trash games like Bugsnax and Destruction All Stars as key selling points now? Your second list is peppered with PS4 cross gen games, games coming to other platforms and bang average looking games also.

I mean, it’s not exactly the disaster some are making out. If you’ve not played DeS, great. Ratchet looks fantastic, GT7, Horizon and GoW when they launch too, even if some of them hit PS4. That’s 5 high quality full games by the end of 2022, it is a good launch period, but please don’t start listing Bugsnax quite frankly it makes you look desperate.

 

[turtlepowa]

i love list wars but man you cant include trash like bugsnax when boasting about games. besides, 99% of those games are either last gen or on pc or both. why even list them as PS5 games?

Let's take a look at real PS5 games that Jim ryan has put out for people who dropped half a grand on a ps5.

1) Demon Souls
2) Returnal
3) Ratchet

I am not gonna list Horizon because its definitely getting delayed and its on the PS4 anyway. If we are to compare this list to what they had for the PS3, its not even close.

1) Resistance
2) Motorstorm
3) Heavenly Sword
4) Warhawk
5) Ratchet
6) Uncharted

And thats just the big games. they had a lot of trash like Lair, calling all cars, folklore, super stardust that im not gonna bother counting because they are just throwaway games like stray, pathless and bugsnax that only belong on the shit games lists. did not even include gow 2 which actually launched on the ps2 in march 2007.

Sony is way more profitable than they were at this point in the ps2 generation. and yet they are literally going in with half the number of games they released in the first year of ps3.

If you don't list Horizon, because it's also on PS4 why then list Demon Souls? That's on PS3.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Sorta, but those figures are out a little. Looking at accessible figures to give some ballparks, the best general response I can find is from 2017, where you'll pull in $15m per 1 million copies sold on average. If you're a first party title, you'll make more per sale as there will be less platform cuts, and if you have a good digital attachment rate you'll have higher profit margins.

So, as digital out paces physical in 2021, let's just go ahead and bump that up to $20m per 1 million copies sold as our ballpark figure. By that metric, you'll need to shift 5 million copies for a $100 million dollar game just to break even. Assuming no additional revenue streams and all copies are sold at full price, game budgets of $100 million and more are pretty dangerous. If you're Call of Duty, where you'll move 30 million software units alone and have extensive micro-transaction support, or if you're GTA - V's budget was rumoured to exceed $200 million - you can bare the expenditure because your return is going to exceed 1:10. If you're TLOUII, whose last confirmed sales figures were 4 million units, and we know that a good portion of its sales since then were at discounted prices, $100 million dollar budgets are a luxury that you'll need a deep-pocketed publisher to back, and one who's prepared to accept a tiny return on investment.

If Sony are moving to a blockbuster focus, then I suspect indulgent six year development cycle's like TLOUII's won't be happening too often in the future, unless they're making their own GTA-sized micro-transaction behemoth. I'm not the biggest fan of that approach, but from a pure business perspective, it makes sense: if Jim Ryan wants big profits for PlayStation, Uncharted is more valuable than interesting titles like Shadow of the Colossus.

In that link, a guy below says the $15 is way off. There is no way a $60 game would only net the publisher $15.

 

[evanft]

Bend Studios spent most of the last decade working on what ended up being a middle-of-the-road open-world zombie game that launched with a ton of issues into a very crowded market. I would not trust them with a AAA title ever again. Frankly, I'm somewhat shocked they weren't shut down.

 

[SLB1904]

the game already got a huge downgrade when it came to the enemy character faces. the motion matching wasnt as good as the trailer either. and the environmental interaction was toned down heavily. i was hoping they would put all that back in the ps5 upgrade now that they have extra horsepower but nope, they are still making it a ps4 game.

You really live up to your name slimy as it gets.
Game got heavily downgrade. What is his proof? El analist bits heavily compressed screenshot.

[Media]

Watch this and stop spreading fud

 

[FatKingBallman]

Why must people post utter drivel like this? The best in history? That’s subjective, but for me the N64 beat this list of games with 2 launch games, only one of which was good. The Switch with BoTW and then Mario 6 months later, it’s not even close.

Utter drivel? Cut the crap, of course i meant sales numbers

Sackboy and the small Spider-Man expansion are available on PS4 and Demon’s Souls IS a like for like of the PS3 version, no matter what anyone on here wants to pretend. Astro is the only legitimate good, exclusive experience at present on the PS5.

Cut the crap here too. Demon's Souls Remake is a true next gen title. Astro too, and it is a decent lenghty small game. Sackboy is also a new game and a decent one, and lenghty too. Miles no contest. And so what if these two games are cross gens.

Are we seriously listing bargain bin trash games like Bugsnax and Destruction All Stars as key selling points now? Your second list is peppered with PS4 cross gen games, games coming to other platforms and bang average looking games also.

Why not? You're jelaous because game like Bugsnax got a decent reviews. So what if games are cross-gens? They are not worthy playing then i suppose :/

 

[ksdixon]

Never thought Sony would return to the dark ages but I guess it’s true. But they have a huge ace in the hole and we’re gonna find out about it probably later this year or next. GTA6 PS5 exclusive for at least 6 months. And I’ll take anybody who wants to bet with me on that one.

6 months is like.. nothing. And people won't be starved for GTA, GTAV is still playable on a PS5 through backwards compatiblity even before its spruced up PS5 port arrives.

 

[SSfox]

I still can't believe Naughty Dog and Bend are wasted to make TLOU1 remake. If there is a ND game to remake it's Jake or Uncharted 1.

TLOU1 is still good looking and play well, it's not that old it's just a 2013 game, same year of GTAV, imagine if Rockstar decided to not make GTA6 or new IP, but instead they would be wasting their time on remaking GTAV, that's so silly, and that's the case for TLOU1 remake, and above all that Bend are alienated to be a part of this so useless remake.

 

[Dolodolo]

I still can't believe Naughty Dog and Bend are wasted to make TLOU1 remake. If there is a ND game to remake it's Jake or Uncharted 1.

TLOU1 is still good looking and play well, it's not that old it's just a 2013 game, same year of GTAV, imagine if Rockstar decided to not make GTA6 or new IP, but instead they would be wasting their time on remaking GTAV, that's so silly, and that's the case for TLOU1 remake, and above all that Bend are alienated to be a part of this so useless remake.

1. Bend had nothing to do with the Tlou remake 1. Please learn to read.
2. Yes, imagine. The remake of the first part was approved by you know with whom? Under Shawn Layden. This is unexpected, right? But Herman Hulst and Jimbo are to blame

 

[SSfox]

1. Bend had nothing to do with the Tlou remake 1. Please learn to read.
2. Yes, imagine. The remake of the first part was approved by you know with whom? Under Shawn Layden. This is unexpected, right? But Herman Hulst and Jimbo are to blame

1- Bend are support studio for ND to make this shit among another online game.
2- Shawn approved Uncharted 1 remake not TLOU1, Hermen is the one that approved TLOU1 remake, please learn to read.

 

[bajouras]

You all mad about days gone 2 not happening, but here I am still wating on The Order 1886 sequel...

 

[Fitzchiv]

Thank god Sony doesn't rinse and repeat IP's like Microsoft does with Gears and Halo huh?...huh?!

 

[hemo memo]

I still can't believe Naughty Dog and Bend are wasted to make TLOU1 remake. If there is a ND game to remake it's Jake or Uncharted 1.

TLOU1 is still good looking and play well, it's not that old it's just a 2013 game, same year of GTAV, imagine if Rockstar decided to not make GTA6 or new IP, but instead they would be wasting their time on remaking GTAV, that's so silly, and that's the case for TLOU1 remake, and above all that Bend are alienated to be a part of this so useless remake.

It is banking on the name because they know they can get away with a $60 or worse $70 for the remake.

 

[Perrott]

I still can't believe Naughty Dog and Bend are wasted to make TLOU1 remake. If there is a ND game to remake it's Jake or Uncharted 1.

TLOU1 is still good looking and play well, it's not that old it's just a 2013 game, same year of GTAV, imagine if Rockstar decided to not make GTA6 or new IP, but instead they would be wasting their time on remaking GTAV, that's so silly, and that's the case for TLOU1 remake, and above all that Bend are alienated to be a part of this so useless remake.

Bend is not working on the remake but on an entirely new IP of their own while also supporting Naughty Dog on the development of Factions. Read Bloomberg's article again.

 

[hemo memo]

You all mad about days gone 2 not happening, but here I am still wating on The Order 1886 sequel...

I would rather play Cyberpunk on base PS4 than play that turd again.

 

[Menzies]

Surely, on a holistic/macro level, with the sheer profits of Playstation overall, not every individual internal project needs to be a runaway success financially. They just need to ensure a well-rounded offering of titles for wider appeal. The conservative tentpole releases profits should be able to supplement the risky ventures for new ideas.

From the article it's clear that Sony demand a level of critical success from their projects, not only sales. With respect to Bend, I gather the idea of putting them in close touch with Naughty Dog and the remake project was an effort to try and increase their production efforts to mirror the gold-standard quality from ND. Maybe their next development will benefit from the experience of the half job of working on it(?)

 

[Dolodolo]

1- Bend are support studio for ND to make this shit among another online game.
2- Shawn approved Uncharted 1 remake not TLOU1, Hermen is the one that approved TLOU1 remake, please learn to read.

1. This is your next conjecture. Bend had nothing to do with the remake of the first part.
2.Show me a clipping from an article that says Hermann Hulst approved a remake of The Last of us

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Moral of the story:

- Sony is more focused on what made it great and made others envy it, top tier AAA games.
- Bend is making a new IP that's probably not zombie-related so to give a breathing room vs TLOU, although Days Gone was amazing.
- This new IP could end up being Syphon Filter, which Days Gone seems to be happened years later after in the same universe.

I can only see good news here, but it's like vegans hating on steak. Steak and meat will always taste the best.

 

[SJRB]

Sony: Gets overwhelmingly popular with its PS4 in large due to their tight focus on big blockbuster single player experiences
Sony: continues this exact strategy with its PS5


Journalists:

 

[Humdinger]

My two cents...

The hate for Jim Ryan seems a bit over-the-top, but not surprising. It's the internet, and it's a gaming forum. However, I do agree that he's coming off as someone who is first and foremost interested in increasing profits for shareholders. I understand that. That's how most CEOs are. That's what their primary motivation is.

Unfortunately, Jim Ryan doesn't have the customer relations skills of someone like Jack Tretton or even Shawn Layden (who got roasted pretty good here in the past, but now people are saying, "I miss that guy"). And as Brank pointed out, Sony aren't reaching out to their customer base to explain things. MS does a much better job of that -- even if 80% of what they say is BS, at least they try to communicate.

So he's coming off as not only profit-centered, but also as indifferent to the audience. Not a good combination.

As for Bend and Days Gone, I'm glad they are working on a new IP, rather than a sequel. Although I enjoyed Days Gone, I had to push myself through the first 5 or 6 hours, and the whole zombie apocalypse thing is just too familiar. I'd rather see them do something new. So that part is actually good news to me.

I'm not at all surprised that they are focused on AAA blockbusters. That's the main reason the PS4 succeeded so dramatically (along with MS shooting itself in the foot). These modern AAA budgets are too high to do anything but produce games that sell huge amounts. They can't afford to throw money away on studios or games that aren't cutting it. Sony isn't in the financial position of MS.

Oh, and I'm glad Kojima won't be doing another game for them, if that part is true. Didn't enjoy Death Stranding and haven't been able to get into any of the Metal Gear stuff. Personally, I find him pretentious. Let Sony spend their money on someone else.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

My two cents...

The hate for Jim Ryan seems a bit over-the-top, but not surprising. It's the internet, and it's a gaming forum. However, I do agree that he's coming off as someone who is first and foremost interested in increasing profits for shareholders. I understand that. That's how most CEOs are. That's what their primary motivation is.

Unfortunately, Jim Ryan doesn't have the customer relations skills of someone like Jack Tretton or even Shawn Layden (who got roasted pretty good here in the past, but now people are saying, "I miss that guy"). And as Brank pointed out, Sony aren't reaching out to their customer base to explain things. MS does a much better job of that -- even if 80% of what they say is BS, at least they try to communicate.

So he's coming off as not only profit-centered, but also as indifferent to the audience. Not a good combination.

As for Bend and Days Gone, I'm glad they are going working on a new IP, rather than a sequel. Although I enjoyed Days Gone, I had to push myself through the first 5 or 6 hours, and the whole zombie apocalypse thing is just too familiar. I'd rather see them do something new. So that part is actually good news to me.

Yup, the market is literally choking with zombie games, even if Days Gone and TLOU2 represent that in a much refined way like no other it's still an exhausted idea. I would rather have aliens or whatever. I also think ND will not make TLOU3 anytime soon, I expect it to land again in probably around 2025 or so, unless the series is going crazy and people are highly demanding it, a spin off could happen or so. I miss Uncharted so much, and I would love another TLOU, but giving a title some breathing time is healthy. Ghost of Tsushima still feels so fresh and I think its sequel is probably is the most demanded.

 

[Alright]

You all mad about days gone 2 not happening, but here I am still wating on The Order 1886 sequel...

My man!

One of the most enjoyable games of last gen. It didn't try to be anything other than what it was, and it got panned because it wasn't Gears of War, TLoU or Uncharted.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

My man!

One of the most enjoyable games of last gen. It didn't try to be anything other than what it was, and it got panned because it wasn't Gears of War, TLoU or Uncharted.

Actually its biggest problem is being too short for the asking price. I got it for $10, and excluding the prices aside I would easily give it 10/10 but it's hard when at $60.

 

[FatKingBallman]

And as Brank pointed out, Sony aren't reaching out to their customer base to explain things. MS does a much better job of that -- even if 80% of what they say is BS, at least they try to communicate.

So he's coming off as not only profit-centered, but also as indifferent to the audience. Not a good combination.

Wrong, man. Said on the previous page

Sony partners with influencers like Travis Scott now. That person is a walking billboard. Travis Scott wouldn’t be caught dead near this forum. 99.9% of the public cares about cool trailers, cool controllers, cool banners and flashy logos. Anyone that follows Sony’s twitter, IG or YouTube page on a regular basis sees Sony is all about content.

Sony does communicate to their audience. Sony communicates a lot in fact. Their message gets delivered primarily through IG or other social media platforms. As a result, Sony is recognized as one of the strongest brands on social media.

As a forum dweller myself, I don’t fault Sony for not wanting to interact with us at all.

Also, i'm glad that Jim Ryan isn't a PR person like Phil Spencer is.

All of this also reminds me on time from 2019 when Sony was silent and MS was loud left and right. People whined for no good reason. And what happened in the end. Best PS launch in history, while those who were loud were emtpy handed

 

[Alright]

Actually its biggest problem is being too short for the asking price. I got it for $10, and excluding the prices aside I would easily give it 10/10 but it's hard when at $60.

I am not a fan of this Game Length : price ratio.

I paid full whack for The Order 1886 and enjoyed every second of the game and is on my list for top ten games of last gen. Yet there are games i get for 'free' on gamepass that last 100s of hours and are, imo, complete dogshit and couldn't hold my attention for 1/4 of the time that the order did.

If a gamer is penny pinching to the point that they need to work out a cost:enjoyment ratio, that's fine, but then criticising a game for not matching that ratio is entirely unfair.

Not aimed at you BTW, just in general. I dislike it when games fail for elements external to the quality and enjoyment of said game.(Too Human is another example)

 

[Bo_Hazem]

I am not a fan of this shortnessrice ratio.

I paid full whack for The Order 1886 and enjoyed every second of the game and is on my list for top ten games of last gen. Yet there are games i get for 'free' on gamepass that last 100s of hours and are, imo, complete dogshit and couldn't hold my attention for 1/4 of the time that the order did.

If a gamer is penny pinching to the point that they need to work out a cost:enjoyment ratio, that's fine, but then criticising a game for not matching that ratio is entirely unfair.

Not aimed at you BTW, just in general. I dislike it when games fail for elements external to the quality and enjoyment of said game.(Too Human is another example)

Hey, if I bought it for $60 I will be 100% happy, I respect my gaming and I don't like playing shovelware. Only told you why it got bad reviews. Build quality, gunfight is the best I've ever seen until now with the best gun sounds. Graphics still standout today like a remastered, premium vantage movie. I would love another sequel and I'm gutted about what happened to the studio but it's fair as the title overall has failed sales-wise.

 

[Alright]

Hey, if I bought it for $60 I will be 100% happy, I respect my gaming and I don't like playing shovelware. Only told you why it got bad reviews. Build quality, gunfight is the best I've ever seen until now with the best gun sounds. Graphics still standout today like a remastered, premium vantage movie. I would love another sequel and I'm gutted about what happened to the studio but it's fair as they title overall has failed sales-wise.

I think Sony were overly harsh with the reaction to The Order sales. As you say, the game was panned for being short, but also praised for the grphics, story line and gun play. The highest criticism of the game was also the highest praise "The gun play was amazing, there wasn't enough of it"

I don't think Sony should have killed the project there and then and should revisit it, even if it means a small "story DLC". I would like to finish that trilogy off.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

I think Sony were overly harsh with the reaction to The Order sales. As you say, the game was panned for being short, but also praised for the grphics, story line and gun play. The highest criticism of the game was also the highest praise "The gun play was amazing, there wasn't enough of it"

I don't think Sony should have killed the project there and then and should revisit it, even if it means a small "story DLC". I would like to finish that trilogy off.

I hope it gets a sequel by ND, SSM, or GG to make a perfect sequel of it.

 

[saintjules]

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Sony: Gets overwhelmingly popular with its PS4 in large due to their tight focus on big blockbuster single player experiences
Sony: continues this exact strategy with its PS5


Journalists:

Didn't you know? Blockbuster games that sell millions are BAD. Somehow.

 

[Humdinger]

Wrong, man. Said on the previous page

Sony partners with influencers like Travis Scott now. That person is a walking billboard. Travis Scott wouldn’t be caught dead near this forum. 99.9% of the public cares about cool trailers, cool controllers, cool banners and flashy logos. Anyone that follows Sony’s twitter, IG or YouTube page on a regular basis sees Sony is all about content.

I don't give a crap about some Youtube "influencer" or "cool trailers" posted on Instagram. I'm talking about the way Jim Ryan is relating (or rather, not relating) to the customers.

 

[FatKingBallman]

I don't give a crap about some Youtube "influencer" or "cool trailers" posted on Instagram. I'm talking about the way Jim Ryan is relating (or rather, not relating) to the customers.

What the hell you want from Jim to talk about? Games? You have official PS Blog, PS Twitter acc. and PS youtube acc. for games.
I'm glad that Jim isn't a daily PR man like Phil Spencer. Jim will talk when it is time for that.

 

[Humdinger]

What the hell you want from Jim to talk about? Games? You have official PS Blog, PS Twitter acc. and PS youtube acc. for games.
I'm glad that Jim isn't a daily PR man like Phil Spencer. Jim will talk when it is time for that.

How about the decisions that are causing all the uproar? I'm sure there are over a dozen of them, at this point. A customer-savvy CEO would come out and explain these decisions. He'd have an awareness of how it looks. He would sit down for one-on-one interviews where he would try to explain. He'd fake some empathy and compassion for gamers who are disappointed. He'd try to explain the business angle, without sounding too corporate.

I just don't think Jim Ryan is that kind of CEO. I think he's the type who will just make the decisions, and his attitude is sort of "tough, that's the way it goes" -- or indifferent at least. Which is why I said he's getting all the hate. Well, that's half the reason. The other half is the decisions themselves. But if he came out and did the sort of schmoozing Phil is good at (and so were others at Sony, in the past), I don't think you'd see the level of venom you see now.

 

[FatKingBallman]

How about the decisions that are causing all the uproar? I'm sure there are over a dozen of them, at this point. A customer-savvy CEO would come out and explain these decisions. He'd have an awareness of how it looks. He would sit down for one-on-one interviews where he would try to explain. He'd fake some empathy and compassion for gamers who are disappointed. He'd try to explain the business angle, without sounding too corporate.

I just don't think Jim Ryan is that kind of CEO. I think he's the type who will just make the decisions, and his attitude is sort of "tough, that's the way it goes" -- or at least, that's the way it comes off. At least, indifferent. Which is why I said he's getting all the hate. Well, that's half the reason. The other half is the decisions themselves. But if he came out and did the sort of schmoozing Phil is good at (and so were others at Sony, in the past), I don't think you'd see the level of venom you see now.

Uproar because Jason Schreier article? LOL

 

[Shadowstar39]

Days gone was hands down the most hated playstation game in recent years every conversation came down to generic open world game didnt review well. And the same people that were trolling the game now feel a disappointment that there wont be a sequel?

No it wasn't. Maybe on REEEEcrap era site where they lambasted the main character, for idpol reasons(or on this site pre late 2018 when it was sjw central). But people like me loved the game. It was original, no other game took place in a forest mountain setting. Let alone with a unique hoard mechanic and having to refill the fuel on your bike. It was an amazing game.

You know what game studio I went from loving to hating? Naughty dog. After they fired Amy and went woke, they sucked. Uncharted 4 sucked compared to uc 1-3, tlou 1 was amazing and tlou2 was crap with their bs narrative (i won't go into it, different strokes for different folks, and I accept the loss of joel and that franchise). I will bet money Nathan Drake won't be in Uncharted 5, not with Druckman and him being a major sjw. The fact of the matter is Sony is based in San Francisco now, woke capital USA. Days gone didn't fit their narrative and the REEEEEEE audience they are catering to.

If i didn't already have 200 some ps4/psplus games, I wouldn't even care about ps5. As it is now though, I already own a gaming pc, and have put way more time on the switch in the last year so my time gets spent on those platforms.

I loved niche games like Tokyo jungle, Wipeout, the last guy, Shatter, Gravity Rush, etc... they won't even make those type of games anymore. JRPGS have moved over to the switch, Disgaea 6 is exclusive there. Also Sony won't have bethesda, inxile , and obsidian to make western rpgs, plus have bad ties with cd projectkt Red and they hate warhorse studios. So 3rd party won't fill the gaps for the genres I care about.

I don't care about Uncharted 6 no drake woke edition. Dont' care about tlou after tlou 1 which i already had my fill. Don't care about 3rd party battle royale or any multiplayer. I go where the jrpgs, wrpgs, open world AC type games, strategy games, city builders, and unique indie titles go. So for me right now that's Nintendo and PC.

Sony will get a ps5 purchase from me eventually just because my ps4 is broken, and i need to replace it, I just may now just wait for the slim model, and focus on getting a 2nd switch when the pro comes out.

 

[Audiophile]

While a remake (hopefully more of a super re-remaster) is surprising, I'd actually go for it. I loved everything about TLOUII from a tech, mechanics and gameplay perspective; but Ellie turned into an imbecile, Joel arrived at his ultimate predicament by acting entirely out of character and the second half of the game was ham-fisted and mostly unnecessary to the point of being torturously boring.

The original had a great story and characters; and with the updated tech it would really shine. And of course, the original would be effectively intact, faithful and readily accessible in the form of the PS4 remaster if you prefer to go with that still. Could call this one The Last Of Us Redux; would be the bets of both worlds.