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Shuhei Yoshida: “Indies will take the risks” on PlayStation VR 2

Lunatic_Gamer

Gold Member
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Speaking at GI Live 2022 on Wednesday – attended by VGC – PlayStation Head of Independent Developer Initiative Shuhei Yoshida discussed the upcoming virtual reality hardware and where he thinks indie games will fit in its lineup when it releases next year.

“There are big games like Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Resident Evil Village and yes, they’re amazing, but it’s the indies, in my mind, that really take the risk because they want to make games on VR.”

He added: “Indies have been waiting for this next VR boom, like Mizuguchi-san,” Yoshida explained, referring to Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the developer behind Rez and Tetris Effect, who had previously worked on VR projects at Sega in the 90s.

Yoshida also spoke about the growing VR market and how industry leaders such as Meta have pushed the space forward. Meta’s main headset, the wireless Oculus Quest 2 was released to high critical acclaim and wide adoption in the VR space.

“The VR market is small, it’s still growing thanks to Meta doing a great job promoting the Quest, so more people are coming into trying VR for the first time, but still, compared to console gaming, it’s a subset and a growing market.”

 
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Speaking at GI Live 2022 on Wednesday – attended by VGC – PlayStation Head of Independent Developer Initiative Shuhei Yoshida discussed the upcoming virtual reality hardware and where he thinks indie games will fit in its lineup when it releases next year.

“There are big games like Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Resident Evil Village and yes, they’re amazing, but it’s the indies, in my mind, that really take the risk because they want to make games on VR.”

He added: “Indies have been waiting for this next VR boom, like Mizuguchi-san,” Yoshida explained, referring to Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the developer behind Rez and Tetris Effect, who had previously worked on VR projects at Sega in the 90s.

Yoshida also spoke about the growing VR market and how industry leaders such as Meta have pushed the space forward. Meta’s main headset, the wireless Oculus Quest 2 was released to high critical acclaim and wide adoption in the VR space.

“The VR market is small, it’s still growing thanks to Meta doing a great job promoting the Quest, so more people are coming into trying VR for the first time, but still, compared to console gaming, it’s a subset and a growing market.”

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I agree its probably gonna be the smaller developers that grow the VR market as much as AAA market. Shu is ahead of the indie department so thats what he’s most passionate about
 
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consoul

Member
This is one of the things I like about the VR space. It's not (yet) dominated by the formulaic approach of mass market publishing.

Haters carry on about how VR is so niche and a waste of time and effort. It is niche and that isn't a bad thing. Many of the people developing in the space are doing so because they passionately believe in it - maximum return on investment is not their primary driver. They want to evolve the medium, not just churn out low-risk cash cows.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
This is one of the things I like about the VR space. It's not (yet) dominated by the formulaic approach of mass market publishing.

Haters carry on about how VR is so niche and a waste of time and effort. It is niche and that isn't a bad thing. Many of the people developing in the space are doing so because they passionately believe in it - maximum return on investment is not their primary driver. They want to evolve the medium, not just churn out low-risk cash cows.
Almost like how gaming started out, yes, they needed to make money, but it was heavily driven by passion projects.
 
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Reallink

Member
This is one of the things I like about the VR space. It's not (yet) dominated by the formulaic approach of mass market publishing.

Haters carry on about how VR is so niche and a waste of time and effort. It is niche and that isn't a bad thing. Many of the people developing in the space are doing so because they passionately believe in it - maximum return on investment is not their primary driver. They want to evolve the medium, not just churn out low-risk cash cows.

The indie VR market is steered by the same consumer dollars as mega publishers. That's why 99% of VR games are either some kind of Beat Saber rip off or some kind wave shooter. Innovation died within the first 6mo to 1 year.
 
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lukilladog

Member
When even Sony does not have a killer game to launch with their headset you know things are going south for VR gaming, even pc vr enthusiasm is now surviving on mods, Beardo Benjo (hardcore youtuber) just admitted it.
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
When even Sony does not have a killer game to launch with their headset you know things are going south for VR gaming, even pc vr enthusiasm is now surviving on mods, Beardo Benjo (hardcore youtuber) just admitted it.
They already have announced a killer game in Horizon Call of the Mountain.

Also, they haven't announced their rest of the first-party lineup yet. So you're a bit early.
 

pasterpl

Member
I don’t think that it will work for indies without wider adoption. VR is still a gimmick, and attachment rate for psvr1 was not that great, more likely indie devs will take a risk while developing games for meta and then, if cheap, will port to psvr2 as I am expecting less content there (=less competition). Unless Sony offers some sort of financial incentives for these indie devs.
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I think we’re at the part in the hype cycle where we pretend or downplay the scope of a new horizon game


state-of-play-june-2022-horizon-call-of-the-mountain-horizon-forbidden-west-52118068508-o-1654299945686.png

It's the new trend. Instead of elevating their own game, the trend is now to downplay what others are doing to create a level-playing field.

That's why Horizon Forbidden West was "overshadowed" (still charts btw) and sold "only because of bundles" (#4 best-selling as per NPD that doesn't include bundles), and why TLOU 2 sucked, and why God of War Ragnarok is a DLC, and why TLOU 1 Remake is a scam, why DualSense is a gimmick, and why VR is a gimmick and dead, and why PS VR 2 is going to be a failure, why Astrobot was "just a tech demo" etc. etc.

Unfortunate really.
 
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It's the new trend. Instead of elevating their own game, the trend is now to downplay what others are doing to create a level-playing field.

That's why Horizon Forbidden West was "overshadowed" (still charts btw) and sold "only because of bundles" (#4 best-selling as per NPD that doesn't include bundles), and why TLOU 2 sucked, and why God of War Ragnarok is a DLC, and why TLOU 1 Remake is a scam, why DualSense is a gimmick, and why VR is a gimmick and dead, and why PS VR 2 is going to be a failure, why Astrobot was "just a tech demo" etc. etc.

Unfortunate really.

being a playstation fan is having to endure FUD 24/7 at this point even from media lol

Playstation is like the one brand you can never be openly excited about (until there is a insane sop or showcase) without triggering people. Its like we shouldn’t be happy to pay 70 dollars for games or not hate jim ryan or something
 
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It's the new trend. Instead of elevating their own game, the trend is now to downplay what others are doing to create a level-playing field.

That's why Horizon Forbidden West was "overshadowed" (still charts btw) and sold "only because of bundles" (#4 best-selling as per NPD that doesn't include bundles), and why TLOU 2 sucked, and why God of War Ragnarok is a DLC, and why TLOU 1 Remake is a scam, why DualSense is a gimmick, and why VR is a gimmick and dead, and why PS VR 2 is going to be a failure, why Astrobot was "just a tech demo" etc. etc.

Unfortunate really.

being a playstation fan is having to endure FUD 24/7 at this point even from media lol

Playstation is like the one brand you can never be openly excited about (until there is a insane sop or showcase) without triggering people. Its like we shouldn’t be happy to pay 70 dollars for games or not hate jim ryan or something
Check This Out GIF
 
It's the new trend. Instead of elevating their own game, the trend is now to downplay what others are doing to create a level-playing field.

That's why Horizon Forbidden West was "overshadowed" (still charts btw) and sold "only because of bundles" (#4 best-selling as per NPD that doesn't include bundles), and why TLOU 2 sucked, and why God of War Ragnarok is a DLC, and why TLOU 1 Remake is a scam, why DualSense is a gimmick, and why VR is a gimmick and dead, and why PS VR 2 is going to be a failure, why Astrobot was "just a tech demo" etc. etc.

Unfortunate really.

8nxpk2J.gif
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Making low budget games for a new platform is not showing much confidence in it.
If Layden said that sometimes you have to lose money on games in order to push a platform.

While im sure there are folls very excited to play PSVR2 because its improved in every area compared to PSV1.
But it needs its mario 64 or GTA3 to really get the broder market excited for it.
Sony are still not treating PSVR like its a new platform. They to give insomniac, ssm or naughty dog $75 million each and say "make some unique and amazing that people will buy a psvr2 for. Not the climb 3 with an horizon skin and some on rails shooting.
Sonys strengths are in narritive and story, PSVR2 could take these things to the next level, they should use there strengths.
 

Wohc

Banned
What VR boom? Quest sells well, because its a all-in-one system and wireless, but i must have missed the boom for other devices.
 

Loxus

Member
It's the new trend. Instead of elevating their own game, the trend is now to downplay what others are doing to create a level-playing field.

That's why Horizon Forbidden West was "overshadowed" (still charts btw) and sold "only because of bundles" (#4 best-selling as per NPD that doesn't include bundles), and why TLOU 2 sucked, and why God of War Ragnarok is a DLC, and why TLOU 1 Remake is a scam, why DualSense is a gimmick, and why VR is a gimmick and dead, and why PS VR 2 is going to be a failure, why Astrobot was "just a tech demo" etc. etc.

Unfortunate really.
Can't forget Gran Turismo 7.
Sure it had a little rocky start balancing the economy, but no way did that make it a bad game.
Definitely got review bomb.
 

lukilladog

Member
Nope. Share one negative review of the game from the hands-on previewers if you want to back up your claim. I bet you won't be able to find even one negative review.

I´m not sure I´d expect negative reviews from carefully cherry picked and contractually obliged influencers, at this point I consider all of that propaganda. But anyway, the guy who played it was interviewed on Moore´s law is Dead chanel and said it was good, but it was made to be very accesible, he called it babie´s first VR experience or something like that. And that is all I need to hear.
 
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Mung

Member
That's why Horizon Forbidden West was "overshadowed" (still charts btw) and sold "only because of bundles" (#4 best-selling as per NPD that doesn't include bundles), and why TLOU 2 sucked, and why God of War Ragnarok is a DLC, and why TLOU 1 Remake is a scam, why DualSense is a gimmick, and why VR is a gimmick and dead, and why PS VR 2 is going to be a failure, why Astrobot was "just a tech demo" etc. etc.

Unfortunate really.
Best ignore them, they just lash out when they see data or news that doesn't fit their made up false narrative on playstation.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I´m not sure I´d expect negative reviews from carefully cherry picked and contractually obliged influencers, at this point I consider all of that propaganda. But anyway, the guy who played it was interviewed on Moore´s law is Dead chanel and said it was good, but it was made to be very accesible, he called it babie´s first VR experience or something like that. And that is all I need to hear.
So no negative reviews? Good. Accessibility isn't a negative; it's a positive.
 

lukilladog

Member
So no negative reviews? Good. Accessibility isn't a negative; it's a positive.

I told you, I´m not quoting from Sony´s curated propaganda. And we all know how companies screw up when they try to make their games more "accesible", Horizon VR´s combat mechanics are already ruined because of that.
 
Making low budget games for a new platform is not showing much confidence in it.
If Layden said that sometimes you have to lose money on games in order to push a platform.

While im sure there are folls very excited to play PSVR2 because its improved in every area compared to PSV1.
But it needs its mario 64 or GTA3 to really get the broder market excited for it.
Sony are still not treating PSVR like its a new platform. They to give insomniac, ssm or naughty dog $75 million each and say "make some unique and amazing that people will buy a psvr2 for. Not the climb 3 with an horizon skin and some on rails shooting.
Sonys strengths are in narritive and story, PSVR2 could take these things to the next level, they should use there strengths.
They haven't announced the line up yet and don't expect the killer app to be in the first 6 months. If anything, Destiny 3 will be the VR winner app imo
 
because they want to make games on VR
And we or other AAA devs don't... What? Sounds almost like they are "committed" like with Vita, some support at launch but if third parties, indies, don't carry the ball to the 5 yard line we won't do much to win the game.
Could someone please swap all PS 5 clowns with the PS4 guys that did not make so many stupid statements. Shuhei? Oh wait... Damn...
VR2 should be mandatory with foveated 3D cinema mode at bare minimum and they should have made the VR1 VR2 conversion layer system wide themselves. PC support is still unclear but it's PS5 era Sony so it will not work officially until it gets hacked to death and they realize that they could sell PC ports of horizon etc.
Sony is really tragic this gen to me. PS5 imho is designed worse than series x and not having a series S, even a 720p PS5P should be on the table, the same chip design also for a wireless PSVR2P, which feels like a blunder in their cooperation with AMD (maybe could have partnered with Valve) but at least games are dropping slowly in. VR on the other hand seems like a perfectly reasonable design for the hw but here games will be the problem, again, if this is the commitment they signal.
 

ResurrectedContrarian

Suffers with mild autism
Indies are fine but they absolutely need to back this hardware with a software investment on the level of Alyx if they want to show how it’s done. Something built as a top-tier, full length game entirely constructed around VR interactivity.
 

ABnormal

Member
Hope PSVR2 could make VR games mainstream in the future
It's too early for the mainstream (before that we have necessarily to completely solve the motion sickness problem, the eye convergence problem and depth of focus, and to have glasses-sized headsets), but it will help to experiment with gameplay tailored around the controllers (which give enormous possibilities with 3d interaction, hoping some dev will be able to go beyond the usual schemes) and to consolidate the market.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Sony don't put much faith in PVR2 if they aren't willing to make AAA VR games with their best developers.

They will just release some token major games once a long while and let indie VR devs carry the headsets, like the original PSVR. Its library is going to be mainly multiplatforms, or PCVR/Quest 2 ports. There was this EGX event yesterday with bunch of VR indie games news, and all of them are for Quest and PCVR, 0 for PSVR. That’s how the industry is now.

 

ABnormal

Member
Making low budget games for a new platform is not showing much confidence in it.
If Layden said that sometimes you have to lose money on games in order to push a platform.

While im sure there are folls very excited to play PSVR2 because its improved in every area compared to PSV1.
But it needs its mario 64 or GTA3 to really get the broder market excited for it.
Sony are still not treating PSVR like its a new platform. They to give insomniac, ssm or naughty dog $75 million each and say "make some unique and amazing that people will buy a psvr2 for. Not the climb 3 with an horizon skin and some on rails shooting.
Sonys strengths are in narritive and story, PSVR2 could take these things to the next level, they should use there strengths.
Confidence is a thing, installed base is another. There has to be a balance in the risks. It's already surprising that AAA titles have been confirmed being in development.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Well fuck me.

Do we at least know if it is free movement and free exploration or completely on rail?
It's not a full open world game, but you do control your character. It has several set paths to choose from to reach your destinations in the exploration portions of the game. Probably more like Uncharted 4/TLoU compared to how Horizon is itself.
 
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