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[Diseased Yak]

We all know where that big increase in Live Service spending is going:

MAG Remake

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Shit, I didn’t realize Nintendo stopped making games.

Nintendo dropped out of the graphics race.

 

[NickFire]

The flow chart projects 4 and 5 to be neck and neck until November. Guessing there will be significant black friday deals, and formal price cut early next year.

 

[mckmas8808]

It's not PC business, either. The future is platform agnostic, and selling your shit on every possible platform is just a stepping stone for a couple of years. End goal clearly is streaming, totally independent of hardware capabilities.

Physics and economic realities will hamper these goals from happening ANYTIME soon.

 

[ChiefDada]

No one of us that you quoted said it would mean decreased single player output but it does show a ridiculous focus on GaaS shit.

So if this allocation doesn't take away from single player investments, then why do you find it "disgusting"? How does if affect you personally as a gamer?

 

[mckmas8808]

Miles Morales showed that you can do a smaller scope, iterative sequel/spin off and have it do really well.

It’s a shame they have apparently dropped that strategy.

How do we know this?

The flow chart projects 4 and 5 to be neck and neck until November. Guessing there will be significant black friday deals, and formal price cut early next year.

Why do you say that? What were the PS4 numbers during that Black Friday?

 

[NickFire]

How do we know this?



Why do you say that? What were the PS4 numbers during that Black Friday?

I’m just looking at the line in the chart in OPs post. Sony projects separation come November. I’m guessing they have a reason to assume trajectory outpaces PS4 from them on.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Yeah, you are completely right. That really could be a downside, I did consider it though but I guess I just looked t it slightly differently.

However thinking about it further, I guess regardless of how one looks at it, inflation is a factor. But indulge me for a second.

What I considered is how that $180M is actually spent. I think people sometimes forget that Sony is not paying for games per se but instead paying developers. So when Sony says they spent $180M on traditional games, what that just means is that they spent $180M in wages, contracts, and marketing where necessary for that year.

Eg... A 300-person studio with an average salary of $80,000/year (and this is actually a high average especially when you consider some of these devs are in Europe/Asia) still comes up to $24M/year. About half of that if in Europe/Asia. And then you have studios whose primary function is to be support staff (also no coincidence that most of those kinda studios are in Asia...), so yeah... it's kinda hard to just look at the spending and take it as just that.

Something else WRT where the game development costs would go...in terms of salary compensation Sony could also do things like increasing availability of stock options for employees and tying certain stock option amounts to bonuses that are tied to game performance metrics (sales, revenue, MAU etc.).

Although something something else to keep in mind, some portion of the funding allocation would probably also go to licenses (if it's a game based on a license they don't have) and maybe exclusivity deals.

Quick snip from the last two years

FY23 Slide on Investment Model

FY22 Slide on Investment Model

FY23 Slide on LTD spend and monetization

FY22 Slide on LTD spend and monetization

FY23 Slide on IP investment

FY22 Slide on IP investment

FY23 Slide on Brand Strength

FY22 slide on Brand Strength

FY23 Slide on release per platform

FY22 Slide on release per platform

FY23 Slide on PC growth

FY22 slides on PC growth

FY23 slides on accessories

Apologies for the size of the images.

Decrease in full game ltv while subscriptions ltv increase… well, people not on the GP koolaid saw how one would hurt the other and well it explains Sony’s growing investment in titles like in the GaaS/Live Services slide too because those are more immune from the effects of subscription services and free games expectations hurting perceived games value and games sales.

This is what I was thinking when I saw R reksveks 's post above. Guess there is some truth to general decrease in full game/B2P sales, but people like Bloomberg Takashi never pointed out the massive growth in Add-On content sales more than making up for that small B2P drop.

Just as long as Sony's monetization schemes for the live-service/GaaS titles isn't egregious, provided the games themselves are great and marketed well/find a big fanbase...then cool.

Yeah, but the problem is that Microsoft has pretty much hoarded all of them at this point.

Only CDPR and Techland remain, but both of those publishers/studios are a mess in terms of management problems. Sony would be hesitant to invest billions of $ in them just yet.

Alternatively, however, Sony's own first-party studios have been doing a great job at making RPGs: Horizon, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, etc. In a couple of iterations, I feel like those games will become even bigger.

But yeah, a studio like Larian would do them good - if they can use their expertise and hook them up with a AAA team to lend their expertise.

If Microsoft wants to hoard up all the WRPGs, let them. Sony can just hoard up all the JRPGs in response.

Realistically neither of these will ever happen; PS will always get a healthy amount of WRPGs no matter what and Xbox will always get at least a couple of JRPGs even if the platform is never a priority for them.

 

[jonnyp]

So if this allocation doesn't take away from single player investments, then why do you find it "disgusting"? How does if affect you personally as a gamer?

But it does take away by the fact that a lot of that talent could've been used to create MORE AAA single player games instead of being wasted on creating utter tripe. 60% is a disgustingly disproportional allocation of resources away from what has made the brand what it is today.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Nintendo dropped out of the graphics race.

Has nothing to do with being a AAA game.

Zelda is a AAA franchise
Mario is a AAA franchise
Xenoblade is a AAA franchise
Mariokart is a AAA franchise

Etc…

 

[Helghan]

So Sony is basically becoming everything fans were saying Microsoft was. Big push for cloud gaming, and live services games.

 

[Aenima]

I mean yes but its indeed sad that they wont push more for sp games as they already do.

But they are increasing the investment in SP games for 2025 more than they already do. GAAS games is not taking anything away. Its adding up to what we already have.

 

[Flutta]

Has nothing to do with being a AAA game.

Zelda is a AAA franchise
Mario is a AAA franchise
Xenoblade is a AAA franchise
Mariokart is a AAA franchise

Etc…

Do we know the budget for those games?

Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't 'AAA' based on how big both the budget and scope of the game is?

 

[MasterCornholio]

So Sony is basically becoming everything fans were saying Microsoft was. Big push for cloud gaming, and live services games.

I don't PlayStation is becoming Xbox. They still appear to be doing things very differently.

 

[Fabieter]

But they are increasing the investment in SP games for 2025 more than they already do. GAAS games is not taking anything away. Its adding up to what we already have.

That's probably due budgets getting bigger but the overall output will probably stay the same.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Do we know the budget for those games?

Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't 'AAA' based on how big both the budget and scope of the game is?

I’d wager those budgets aren’t small. Production values are really good.

I sure wouldn’t classify them as AA.

 

[Flutta]

I’d wager those budgets aren’t small. Production values are really good.

I sure wouldn’t classify them as AA.

Depends on what the market defines as small. We have games that cost around $200-$250m and those that cost between $50-$100m. Surely they aren't in same ballpark. Or maybe we should classify games that cost $200m and up as "AAAA" with how expensive blockbuster game development is getting.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Has nothing to do with being a AAA game.

Zelda is a AAA franchise
Mario is a AAA franchise
Xenoblade is a AAA franchise
Mariokart is a AAA franchise

Etc…

Yes you are right. It's a personal thing. Can't take them seriously with their underpowered trash tier hardware.