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PlayStation in 2021: Sony presses its advantage with a string of big exclusives

REDRZA MWS

Member
Can we return to reality? Those haven't fully transferred ownership yet. Those studios will take awhile to release exclusives for them.
Salty, bro? My response was to the issue of devs, and games, and reputation. Not “when”. That “real” enough for you?
 
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Uhh, many of the studios MS has acquired have great reputations and have made great games. Unless you’ve been living under a rock and missed it.
That’s very true, but things can change with acquisitions as well. I’m assuming that they will still make high quality games, but it seems like a lot of people are assuming that they will make games on par with Nintendo and Sony with their first offerings. Also, when are these games even coming out? After all this time, seems like most of them are still showing off CGI trailers. We’ll see what happens.
 
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MagnesG

Banned
I'm not sure GoW would even come this year with just an announcement logo, that's what Prime 4 did and look how at how its development progressed. IMO Sony did revealed too much of their future backlog to hype PS5 up vs XSX, and most if not all we'll be pushed back further down the line than what we expected. These AAA games needs their time.

The new Horizon is expected to be cross gen right?
 
Maybe I'm wrong but I thought the reaction to God of War was much more positive than divisive. I'm expecting most people who played the last one to play this one.
The last one is the first in a handful of releases that made me start to lose interest in PlayStation as my main console.
 

yurinka

Member
They also have other exclusives for 2021 that may not be big sellers, but may be important for certain niches, like the FGC: Guilty Gear Strive will release on PS this 2021. SNK will release KOFXV in 2021 and didn't announce platforms but KOFXIV was PS4 exclusive. Street Fighter V continues being console exclusive and will continue content during 2021.

Then there's some pending PS4 exclusives that still have to be released, like Babylon's Fall (by Platinum Games) or Granblue Fantasy Relink and smaller crossgen exclusive games made by popular indies like Jett, Kena, Solar Ash, that cat game from Annapurna, etc.

There is a lot of people with personal taste. Don't mind me, I enjoyed the last GOW a lot, but it still was a kinda divisive title because of the changes in tone and gameplay.
Won around 200 GOTY awards, the clear GOTY winner the year that RDR2 was also released. Got a 94 Metacritic and sold over 10 million copies. The consensus is that it's a masterpiece, there's nothing mediocre or divisive about it. If you two think that after playing the game (if you played it) it's a very rare opinion.

Isn't spiderman the biggest selling ps4 game at 20 million and didn't MM just sell 600k? I think God of war will do good if its an actual sequel. If not and its actually DLC being paraded as a full game like MM then it wont do as well. I hope its a sequel because GOW 2018 was amazing
We don't know the worldwide Morales sales. And it was released a couple of months ago, the first Spider Man didn't sell those 20 millions in two months, but in more than two years.
 
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kyussman

Member
Yea,PlayStation is starting strong.....but lets remember that....The Elder Scrolls,Fallout,Starfield,Doom,Fable,Wolfenstein,Dishonored,Perfect Dark,Avowed and a fair few more games are all Xbox now......Sony are starting strong for sure,but I think even the most die hard PlayStation fan is going to have a hard time ignoring Xbox in the coming years.
I certainly won't be missing out on all those games and I'll be owning both consoles this time around.
 
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Papacheeks

Banned
Not at all but this whole topic isn't talking long term, it's talking next two years.

Big old nope.

Go outside of gaf, and literally pay attention to where studios, and projects are.

If you think Sony only has 2 years planned, your are mistaken. Where this outlook comes from is the early PS4 years. They were transitioning old PS3 arch and tools to new x86 arch and creating new tools sets with the new SKD. Now that skd has not changed, and thats why we are seeing so much first party software for the first 12 months. And why XBox was behind in their tools let alone next gen development feature sets for their engines.

When a game is close to release do you think the studio takes a break and sits around doing nothing? All if not most of Sony's first party studios are setup for having 2 teams/2 projects. And thats also what Square/Capcom is doing as well with their respectful teams. What do you think Bend studio, San Diago, santa monic's second team, Pixelopus, blue point has a second team and has been working on two projects since 2018. One was Demons Souls, the other is another game, heard it might be another remake or new IP.

London studio has a new IP and is using manchester talent. Japan studio has other projects going on.

It's like you think that if a studio has a game coming out they can't work on multiple projects. Insomniac made miles morales and ratchet at the same time. Gureilla games is working on Horizon:FW but also is working on a new IP.

There's more dude so much more.
 
DynamiteSheriff! Not sure what the point of this is. They are still coming out on PS5 as times exclusives for quite a bit.
Cool. If they are good, MS will be sure to thank PS gamers for giving those franchises a test drive before they will never see another sequel again. If they are shit? well, thanks anyway for paying.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
Each studio has 2 teams. ANd Guerilla has a new IP they are working on. Santa Monic is working on god of war but does have a second team, they might be all hand on deck at the moment. Naughty dog has 2 teams, new San Diego studio, blue point has been working on 2 projects with collaboration with Japan studio. There is more to come dude. Not even mentioned bend studio, and concrete genie team.

London studio is working on AAA game thats not VR. I've heard rumors its set in london?
This is what really interests me. Guerilla have Horizon and an FPS in development. Naughty Dog has Factions and are working on another game. And then you have the BluePoint projects as you mention (Bloodborne 2?). Meanwhile you have Insomniac working on the Spider-Man games aswell as Ratchet and Clank.
 

THEAP99

Banned
How long can sony keep up the goty streak ?? So far 3 years in a row their games have won the most awards.

I feel this year will end the streak since there's no way god of war releases this year.
 

gamer82

Member
Looking forward to GhostWire Tokyo, it's a shame we don't have better vr visuals as i would love to play that in vr It looks like it would fit well.

Resident evil 8 is another on my list hope it drops by march and hurry up with dying light 2.
 
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Papacheeks

Banned
This is what really interests me. Guerilla have Horizon and an FPS in development. Naughty Dog has Factions and are working on another game. And then you have the BluePoint projects as you mention (Bloodborne 2?). Meanwhile you have Insomniac working on the Spider-Man games aswell as Ratchet and Clank.
Rumors are possibly Metal Gear solid remake. Unless this next game is the new IP they said they wanted to start making a while back.

I don't think bloodborne 2 would get made without from software being involved story wise.

Clearly we are past due for a state of play or something filled with release dates

End of January to second week of Feb.
 
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Bo_Hazem

Banned
Gran Turismo 7 will be mine, some day, but I doubt it’ll happen this year.

It's a good thing for Sony, although their track record is unmatched, to see that even considering rushing a game would result something like CP2077, even if I can't see a worse launch. If they were planning to rush Horizon II: Forbidden West, GOW Ragnarok, GT7 then they should take notes of how CP2077 has destroyed the reputation of one of the most beloved studios in the gaming industry with a massive hit to their stocks as well.
 
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yurinka

Member
It's a good thing for Sony, although their track record is unmatched, to see that even considering rushing a game would result something like CP2077, even if I can't see a worse launch. If they were planning to rush Horizon II: Forbidden West, GOW Ragnarok, GT7 then they should take notes of how CP2077 has destroyed the reputation of one of the most beloved studios in the gaming industry with a massive hit to their stocks as well.
Not at the level of CP2077, but previous CD Project releases were also a bugfest specially in consoles, where the Witcher 3 also had important performance issues. Over time, they addressed these issues.

With a few exceptions like Driveclub, Sony instead releases their games in a very polished state, they don't rush releases. Horizon 2, GoW and GT7 will be released when ready, they can delay them if needed because have record numbers at selling consoles, games, services and have a 2021 lineup full of important exclusive. No need to rush.

If they said they are ready for 2021 even knowing the pandemic related issues and so on, it's because they think that can be released properly.

Xbox will have Halo Infinite as their only big seller exclusive for 2021, and if they continue with their 'first 2 years without next gen only exclusives', we shouldn't expect to start seeing their next gen only exclusives (next Forza/Gears, Everwild, Hellblade 2, Avowed, Fable, Perfect Dark, State of Decay 3, any other Zenimax game like Starfield, Elder Scrolls 6, Fallout 5, the next Doom/Dishonored/Wolfenstein...) until at least the end of 2022 or later.

This means Sony has an opportunity of releasing a ton of exclusives (if possible next gen only) before these games arrive in order to secure a huge market share with the biggest install base possible, in order to minimize their impact on the competition for this generation. So they don't need to rush, but they better to take advantage of that opportunity during 2021 and 2022.
How long can sony keep up the goty streak ?? So far 3 years in a row their games have won the most awards.

I feel this year will end the streak since there's no way god of war releases this year.
God of War Raknarok and Horizon 2 are 2021 games, and I bet they will be the main GOTY contenders, competing with (if they are released in 2021, they still don't have an announced release year) BotW2 and Elder Ring.

If Horizon 2 or GoWR get delayed to 2022, will be main GOTY contenter of that year, next to other Sony games they may have in the works for that year (Spider Man 2, Days Gone 2, Bloodborne 2, etc).
 
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Bo_Hazem

Banned
Not at the level of CP2077, but previous CD Project releases were also a bugfest specially in consoles, where the Witcher 3 also had important performance issues. Over time, they addressed these issues.

With a few exceptions like Driveclub, Sony instead releases their games in a very polished state, they don't rush releases. Horizon 2, GoW and GT7 will be released when ready, they can delay them if needed because have record numbers at selling consoles, games, services and have a 2021 lineup full of important exclusive. No need to rush.

If they said they are ready for 2021 even knowing the pandemic related issues and so on, it's because they think that can be released properly.

Xbox will have Halo Infinite as their only big seller exclusive for 2021, and if they continue with their 'first 2 years without next gen only exclusives', we shouldn't expect to start seeing their next gen only exclusives (next Forza, Everwild, Hellblade 2, Avowed, Fable, Perfect Dark, State of Decay 3...) until at least the end of 2022 or later.

This means Sony has an opportunity of releasing a ton of exclusives (if possible next gen only) before these games arrive in order to secure a huge market share with the biggest install base possible, in order to minimize their impact on the competition for this generation. So they don't need to rush, but they better to take advantage of that opportunity.

GOW is Sony's biggest IP, considering Spiderman is still Marvel's. Most people recognize Kratos and he's one of the most iconic figures in gaming. Imagine a release by November 2021, it'll be pretty hard to find PS5's then.
 
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Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
I'm expecting Returnal (March), Kena: Bridge of Spirits (April/timed), Deathloop (May/timed), Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (June), Gran Turismo 7 (September) and Ghostwire Tokyo (October/timed) for 2021.

Not expecting God of War Ragnarok at all whatsoever this year or Horizon II: Forbidden West but I can see it getting a release date and then getting delayed to early 2022.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
I'm expecting Returnal (March), Kena: Bridge of Spirits (April/timed), Deathloop (May/timed), Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (June), Gran Turismo 7 (September) and Ghostwire Tokyo (October/timed) for 2021.

Not expecting God of War Ragnarok at all whatsoever this year or Horizon II: Forbidden West but I can see it getting a release date and then getting delayed to early 2022.

Thanks for the breakdown. There are 3 first party games there (Housemarque + published by SIE for Returnal) so it's already a very good output. Adding GOW and/or Horizon FW will secure another GOTY for PS Studios which is massive, but can make 2022 a bit dry (in case there are no hidden games, unannounced). We're still waiting to hear more about Naughty Dog, London studio (rumored The Getaway game successor). Sony should expand those studios to reignite the old gems they have.

Also we forgot that Destruction Allstars is another 1st party game that's coming for free for to months starting from next month!

maxresdefault.jpg


I think it might end up being added to PS Collections to keep people active with PS Plus.
 

yurinka

Member
I'm expecting Returnal (March), Kena: Bridge of Spirits (April/timed), Deathloop (May/timed), Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (June), Gran Turismo 7 (September) and Ghostwire Tokyo (October/timed) for 2021.

Not expecting God of War Ragnarok at all whatsoever this year or Horizon II: Forbidden West but I can see it getting a release date and then getting delayed to early 2022.
I don't see them waiting until June to release their first 1st party game of the year.

I see God of War and Horizon being released from late September to early November, they will prioritize their 1st party big sellers over timed 3rd party Microsoft exclusives giving both GoW and Horizon enough time to sell games and consoles before the Black Friday & Holiday period.

I'd say February Destructon All Stars, March Ratchet, April Guilty Gear Strive & Kena, May Deathloop, first week of June Returnal, August GT7 (they had great sales with TLOU or Uncharted releasing in summer), September Horizon 2, October God of War, November Ghostwire Tokyo.
 
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Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Thanks for the breakdown. There are 3 first party games there (Housemarque + published by SIE for Returnal) so it's already a very good output. Adding GOW and/or Horizon FW will secure another GOTY for PS Studios which is massive, but can make 2022 a bit dry (in case there are no hidden games, unannounced). We're still waiting to hear more about Naughty Dog, London studio (rumored The Getaway game successor). Sony should expand those studios to reignite the old gems they have.

Also we forgot that Destruction Allstars is another 1st party game that's coming for free for to months starting from next month!

maxresdefault.jpg


I think it might end up being added to PS Collections to keep people active with PS Plus.

I see 2022 being Horizon II: Forbidden West (February), God of War Ragnarok (May) and Spider Man 2 (September) which if it happens, Sony won't need anything else for the year. In fact, that would be too much. LOL.

I forgot about Destruction All Stars but since it's on PlayStation Plus, I don't really count it because why would anyone buy it for $70 when you can play it for a $10 monthly rental?

Sony has a ton of stuff as they always do so I have no worries. My biggest issue is getting a PlayStation 5. Hoping that once Ratchet releases, I can easily buy one.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
I see 2022 being Horizon II: Forbidden West (February), God of War Ragnarok (May) and Spider Man 2 (September) which if it happens, Sony won't need anything else for the year. In fact, that would be too much. LOL.

I forgot about Destruction All Stars but since it's on PlayStation Plus, I don't really count it because why would anyone buy it for $70 when you can play it for a $10 monthly rental?

Sony has a ton of stuff as they always do so I have no worries. My biggest issue is getting a PlayStation 5. Hoping that once Ratchet releases, I can easily buy one.

I really forget that PS+ is $10 because I usually buy the $50-60 yearly plan. Actually they've refunded all the people the preorders for Destruction Allstars the game, so you won't by it, it's more like PS Plus exclusive now.

Actually it's one of my most anticipated games, I've been so long out of the MP field, and wanna crack a laugh with my friends there!
 
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Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
I don't see them waiting until June to release their first 1st party game of the year.
I see God of War and Horizon being released from late September to early November. They will priorize their 1st party big sellers over timed 3rd party Microsoft exclusives.

I'd say February Ratchet, March Guilty Gear Strive, April Kena, May Deathloop, June Returnal, August GT7 (they had great sales with TLOU or Uncharted releasing in summer), September Horizon 2, October God of War, November Ghostwire Tokyo.

Returnal is a first party game and under the PS Studios label. I believe that Sony has already acquired Housemarque or will do so very shortly. Same for Bluepoint. No way in hell is Ratchet February or before Returnal whatsoever. Announcing a release date for Returnal before Ratchet in February makes absolutely no sense. Also, people don't realize that unless it's an AA/Indie digital only title, all AAA titles get retail releases and you have to add three months minimum for marketing. Returnal's marketing has already begun while Ratchet not so much if at all. January/February/March/April are pretty much eliminated for Ratchet. No marketing and Sony marketing Ratchet would overshadow Returnal which is more important for Sony for various reasons.

Sony has no worries about Ratchet. I don't see God of War Ragnarok at all. Only a logo four months ago and some believe Sony when they say 2021? HAHA. That's just not going to happen. Also, just like with PS4, outside of launch and racing games, what major AAA title has Sony released in the October/November/December months? Sony has COD 2021 in late October plus they will have Hogwarts Legacy for October/November. Sony doesn't need anything for the final quarter of 2021. They simply don't.

But we'll see what happens.
 

yurinka

Member
Returnal is a first party game and under the PS Studios label. I believe that Sony has already acquired Housemarque or will do so very shortly. Same for Bluepoint. No way in hell is Ratchet February or before Returnal whatsoever. Announcing a release date for Returnal before Ratchet in February makes absolutely no sense. Also, people don't realize that unless it's an AA/Indie digital only title, all AAA titles get retail releases and you have to add three months minimum for marketing. Returnal's marketing has already begun while Ratchet not so much if at all. January/February/March/April are pretty much eliminated for Ratchet. No marketing and Sony marketing Ratchet would overshadow Returnal which is more important for Sony for various reasons.

Sony has no worries about Ratchet. I don't see God of War Ragnarok at all. Only a logo four months ago and some believe Sony when they say 2021? HAHA. That's just not going to happen. Also, just like with PS4, outside of launch and racing games, what major AAA title has Sony released in the October/November/December months? Sony has COD 2021 in late October plus they will have Hogwarts Legacy for October/November. Sony doesn't need anything for the final quarter of 2021. They simply don't.

But we'll see what happens.
Returnal is a 2nd party game, Sony publishes the game but Housemarque is a 3rd party independent studio. Sony has not acquired them and there aren't rumors of them being acquired by Sony (but many people agrees that it would be a good fit).

Ratchet is a very well known IP and they already shown gameplay. With a trailer and previews a month or so a month before or so before launch plus the usual marketing campaign will be enough. For many big games Sony almost didn't show them a lot before release, including GoW 2018. It's very likely that this Holidays they will have Halo Infinite and BotW2, so they will want to have powerful exclusives there to compete. Howgarts Legacy is a 3rd party licensed multiplatform game from a mediocre developer, nothing important for Sony.

Sony didn't show GoWR because they had to market and give a bigger focus to a ton of other exclusives to be released before, during 2020 and 2021, plus the console itself. Looking at the time Santa Monica took before to develop games, a March 2021 release would be enough. This time they don't need to reboot the series and will make a direct sequel instead, so development should have been easy. Add some extra months due to covid, extra polish or next gen stuff, and you have H2 2021 relase, which is what they basically announced. Once most of these games keep released and they solve the PS5 supply constrain issues, I think they will use GoWR and Horizon 2 gameplay to pump the hype machine again, probably in summer / E3 to heat the H2 sales with games being released during that period and also use that event to announce big 2022 games (maybe TLOU2 factions, Days Gone 2, Spiderman 2, who knows if FFVIIR ep 2 too) plus showing more of FFXVI.

Regarding their games released in Q4, in the recent years we have Spider Man: Miles Morales, Demon's Souls remake, Sackboy, Death Stranding, Medievil, Concrete Genie, Locoroco 2 Remastered, Parappa Remastered, Gran Turismo Sport or VR stuff (they won't release PS5 VR games during the first years of the console) like Astro Bot Rescue Mission. It's true they typically release their biggest games earlier in the year, but this year they have a ton of exclusives to be released and it isn't rare to see them releasing stuff in Q4.
 
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Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Returnal is a 2nd party game, Sony publishes the game but Housemarque is a 3rd party independent studio. Sony has not acquired them and there aren't rumors of them being acquired by Sony (but many people agrees that it would be a good fit).

Returnal being 2nd party is debatable because Sony contracted Housemarque to develop the game and are paying to publish and market the game so technically from Sony's point of view, it's a first party title. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Sony acquire Housemarque and they are privately held company so rumors being out is slim to none compared to a company that's publicly traded.

Either way, Sony should acquire Housemarque (and Bluepoint) because both are excellent fits and make perfect sense within Sony.
 

yurinka

Member
Returnal being 2nd party is debatable because Sony contracted Housemarque to develop the game and are paying to publish and market the game so technically from Sony's point of view, it's a first party title. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Sony acquire Housemarque and they are privately held company so rumors being out is slim to none compared to a company that's publicly traded.

Either way, Sony should acquire Housemarque (and Bluepoint) because both are excellent fits and make perfect sense within Sony.
It isn't debatable: it's a 2nd party game. Housemarque isn't a Sony studio, it's an external, 3rd party independent studio. And Sony is a 1st party. 2nd party games are those where a 1st party hires a 3rd party, external studio to develop a 1st party game for them. As happened in this case.

A game being 2nd doesn't mean Sony bought or is going to buy them. Sony did 2nd party games with Quantic Dream, Ready at Dawn, From Software, That Game Company, Kojipro, Bluepoint and many other independent studios without purchasing them.

If you ask me if it would sense for Sony to buy Bluepoint or Hoursemarque, I'll tell you that yes. If you ask me if Sony purchased or is negotiating a purchase of Housemarque or Bluepoint I'll tell you that no, or at least there are no news about it or even rumors. But we know Sony said they will continue buying companies when makes sense, and that for gaming acquisition they typically buy devs who worked for them in some succesful 2nd party or exclusive games (as happened before with studios like Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Guerrilla or Bend Studio -previously known as Eidetic-) so Housemarque, Kojipro and Bluepoint would be likely to be purchased by them. Specially in the case of Housemarque if Returnal ends getting good enough sales and reviews.
 
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Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
How long can sony keep up the goty streak ?? So far 3 years in a row their games have won the most awards.

I feel this year will end the streak since there's no way god of war releases this year.
I respect your opinion bro but why do people think 3 years is impossible for the next God of War? The engine is done this time and there was a lot of cut content apparently
 

THEAP99

Banned
I respect your opinion bro but why do people think 3 years is impossible for the next God of War? The engine is done this time and there was a lot of cut content apparently
Cus we've seen like no behind the scenes motion cap footage. No gameplay either. Not even an official title. I just don't see it happening tbh unless it's a shorter game
 
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