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[nial]

More Japan and less western please.

Tsuyoshi Kodera was not as good as Andrew House, tho...
That said, Hiroki Totoki is not here to stay, not after March 2025 at least. Heck, he can be already gone by July, October or January.

 

[DrFigs]

That and Sony never said "no major exclusives". They said "no major new releases in established big IP". So no sequels to stuff like Spiderman, God of War, Horizon, Uncharted etc. basically.

They could have a new 1P AAA (and hopefully AA) major release this year that is a new IP, which would be refreshing. Preferably non-GAAS, b/c GAAS-wise they're already covered with Helldivers 2 and Concord.

Anyway, I don't have any particular opinions on Totoki, I don't know a lot about them. However, given where things are currently, I do know what I'd like to see, and what would be best for PlayStation going forward. I'll just boil it down to some snippets because I've talked about this in great length already in much more detail.

-Scale back PC ports to mainly only GAAS for the time being (& still keep a couple of those exclusive to PS consoles)​

​

-Shore up 1P AAA and AA genuine exclusives for the console (no PC ports, no mobile ports)​

​

-Maybe start porting some 1P AAA and AA to PC & mobile starting late 2027​

​

-Going forward, try making sure total number of 1P ports to PC, mobile and maybe even other consoles never goes over the following for any amount total output of a 4-year period:​

​

[GAAS]​

​

PC: 65%, MOBILE: 50%, NINTENDO: 40%, XBOX*: 40%​

​

[1P AAA]​

​

PC: 20%, MOBILE: 10%, NINTENDO: 10%, XBOX*: 10%​

​

[1P AA]​

​

PC: 20%, MOBILE: 40%, NINTENDO: 25%, XBOX*: 15%​

​

*Assumes Xbox continues to exist as a traditional console and doesn't become a PC gaming hardware device line​

​

-Find a way to compartmentalize some 1P AAA games so they can be released in "installments" or "parts" (a la FF VII Remake trilogy) every 2 years or so at a fair price per part (i.e $30 - $40)​

​

-Work more with 3P for exclusives in legacy 1P IP (mainly as AA, maybe some AAA) and 3P IP strongly associated with the brand (i.e Parasite Eve, Bloody Roar, Deception, Ridge Racer etc.).​

​

-This way, 3P exclusives are more manageable and add more overall to the console while giving 3P more flexibility with the titles they could otherwise just make themselves. Any 3P co-developed games with SIE IP should have exclusivity treated like with the terms mentioned above. Those with 3P IP should ideally try to be exclusively for the console at least 1-2 years if smaller AA games, or 6 months - 1 year for larger AAA games.​

​

-Invest in more 3P studios and publishers (share purchases, upfront investments, publishing deals, M&As). At least buy stock in the big 3P publishers (Capcom, SEGA/Atlus, EA, Take Two, CDPR, etc.)​

​

-Please don't abandon VR; improve it and make it scalable for cheaper production and for MR in the PS6​

If SIE take those steps, they'll be set.

I didn't want to get even more into it, but of course you are right. people misread the statement about no new major sequels.

 

[TheTony316]

More Japan and less western please.

Toki Toki Literature Club by Team Asobi.

 

[kiphalfton]

*Looks at current date

Keep forgetting to steer clear of Internet today.

 

[TheTony316]

Tsuyoshi Kodera was not as good as Andrew House, tho...
That said, Hiroki Totoki is not here to stay, not after March 2025 at least. Heck, he can be already gone by July, October or January.

Kodera was pretty bad and it's ironic how it was him, a japanese guy who initiated the censorship bs policies. Thankfully, Sony's slowly backtracking since he left in 2021.

 

[TheTony316]

Hopefully he will not be there for long

Apparently just a year at most.

 

[mansoor1980]

I only liked Ryan Conner

 

[nial]

Kodera was pretty bad and it's ironic how it was him, a japanese guy who initiated the censorship bs policies. Thankfully, Sony's slowly backtracking since he left in 2021.

And people will try to blame Jim Ryan on that, when he didn't even become CEO until a year later.

 

[TheTony316]

And people will try to blame Jim Ryan on that, when he didn't even become CEO until a year later.

Jimbo brought us Stellar Blade without censorship. No chance under Kodera.

 

[nial]

Jimbo brought us Stellar Blade without censorship. No chance under Kodera.

Exactly what I thought.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Jimbo brought us Stellar Blade without censorship. No chance under Kodera.

Technically Shuhei Yoshida brought us Stellar Blade without censorship, but I see where you're getting at

 

[nial]

Technically Shuhei Yoshida brought us Stellar Blade without censorship, but I see where you're getting at

To clear up any misconceptions, it's true that Shuhei Yoshida was the one pushing the game to the rest of SIE, but his role being head of the indie initiative means that he couldn't do much aside from convincing Hermen Hulst and Jim Ryan to pick up Stellar Blade.

 

[Topher]

Jimbo brought us Stellar Blade without censorship. No chance under Kodera.

I thought that was Shawn Layden

 

[nial]

I thought that was Shawn Layden

Influential, probably, but he didn't have the power to do so.

 

[TheTony316]

I thought that was Shawn Layden

There's a misconception about Shawn Layden. He was never the CEO of SIE as a whole, just SIE America. John Kodera was the CEO until he was replaced by Ryan.

 

[Wastelander92]

Totoki-San remaster Bloodborne as well as the old GOW, ratchet, and infamous and release for PC and you will go down as the best PS CEO in history!

 

[Topher]

Influential, probably, but he didn't have the power to do so.

There's a misconception about Shawn Layden. He was never the CEO of SIE as a whole, just SIE America. John Kodera was the CEO until he was replaced by Ryan.

I understand Kodera was CEO and Layden was over America only, but wasn't the censorship only appied in the US? Or am I misremembering that?

 

[TheTony316]

I understand Kodera was CEO and Layden was over America only, but wasn't the censorship only appied in the US? Or am I misremembering that?

Worldwide and mostly affected japanese games. SIE's censorship policies are less strict since Kodera left.

 

[Topher]

Worldwide and mostly affected japanese games. SIE's censorship policies are less strict since Kodera left.

Ah....good to know. Thanks.

 

[ReBurn]

Mr Profit Margin starts today. First order of business is to jack up the gaming division margins from 6% the past two years back to 13% like the previous four.

Sales at PS have doubled past bunch of years but the profits are the same $2M like before COVID.

So something at Sony is draining their profits. And it’s not bungie acquisition costs because they don’t buy them until 2022.

The thing they are doing to drain profits is spend too much money.

 

[Generic]

Jimbo brought us Stellar Blade without censorship. No chance under Kodera.

There's nothing to censor in Stellar Blade. The game is much tamer than Senran Kagura, Oneechanbara, etc

 

[Fabieter]

Can't wait for sony to miss their next target even harder.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I wish this was an April fools.

I bet you some good money he runs circles around you.

 

[Physiognomonics]

More Japan and less western please.

based on successful many of those japanese games are, they reall should. They shouldn't have fired all those japanese developers in the first place.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Jimbo brought us Stellar Blade without censorship. No chance under Kodera.

That was thanks to Shuhei Yoshida. One of the last japanese exec still making long-term decisions at Playstation. He is soon gone BTW...

EDIT: Sorry for double posting, didn't realize I was in the same thread.

 

[Dorfdad]

Just looking at him makes me feel he's a business man and worried about costs and numbers not gaming. Hopefully IM wrong but when big players leave we never know how things will turn out.

 

[Robb]

Let his reign begin!

 

[Arsic]

 

[twilo99]

Just looking at him makes me feel he's a business man and worried about costs and numbers not gaming. Hopefully IM wrong but when big players leave we never know how things will turn out.

Sony is a business…

 

[Sushi_Combo]

Sony is a business…

A family business /s

 

[Topher]

Let his reign begin!

 

[NuclearDiarrhea]

Its been 24 hours since he started this role and he hasn't greenlit a Bloodborne remaster so i think we can all agree that his run is a complete failure.

 

[Elios83]

Totoki is really likely to become Sony's next CEO in the future, I don't expect much from his interim period at SIE. It will be focused on making the business more efficient (the 900 people fired are basically his decision) and finding a proper replacement for Jim Ryan.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

First order of business: New Motorstorm and Wipeout.

I know that they've shut down Psygnosis and Evolution Studios (one of the many big mistakes Sony made) but they've got a lot of money, last I heard.

Big mistakes?

MotorStorm Apocolypse tanked
DriveClub tanked (with an epic disaster of a launch)
OnRush tanked

How many more failures are you allowed before you pull the plug? Sony made the right descision to close the studio.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

 

[Vroadstar]

No, that's not what I'm saying. Surely any gamer feels letdown by PS first-party this generation, the biggest being the massive failure with Naughty Dog? Of course they will sell hardware but things need to be run better IMO, maybe this guy will do that?

 

[Bernardougf]

More Japan and less western please.

This

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

He looks like the type of man that would cancel some shit.

Lmao.

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

Sony is a business…

Duh, but caring about numbers over actual next gen experiences will result in more last gen looking 60 fps GAAS PS5 games to cater to casuals…

 

[Killer8]

This year, as far as exclusives / console exclusives go, PS5 has had Helldivers II, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Rise of the Ronin and is about to get Stellar Blade. That's basically a major release every month of the year. They could take the rest of the year off as far as i'm concerned, the output is already better than 2023.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

There's nothing to censor in Stellar Blade. The game is much tamer than Senran Kagura, Oneechanbara, etc

The way "certain folks" try criticizing the game you'd think it were a porn simulator

To clear up any misconceptions, it's true that Shuhei Yoshida was the one pushing the game to the rest of SIE, but his role being head of the indie initiative means that he couldn't do much aside from convincing Hermen Hulst and Jim Ryan to pick up Stellar Blade.

Okay then, fair enough. I mean, final approval came down to Jim and Hulst I guess. But I think Yoshida deserves as much credit for getting the game attention among SIE; he was the one who first got it on the radar, so to speak.

 

[ArtHands]

Can't wait for sony to miss their next target even harder.

The PS5 Pro will sell very well.
If Sony fail to meet their next target then too bad for them

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Conflicting info, here. Let's see what this entails..

 

[The Fuzz damn you!]

Why the fuck do so many of you keep on thinking “maybe the next CEO will be on our side”?

Just… why?

None of them are.

NONE OF THEM!

Literally ever single person who has ever stepped in that role, or who ever will, exists solely to extract as much money out of you as they possibly can, while giving as little in return as they can possibly get away with. This isn’t a criticism, it’s not a whine, I’m not railing against capitalism here, just pointing a simple and what I thought was blindingly obvious and well known fact.

Yes, sure, this CEO or that might happen to decide that the best way to do that is to make more third person cinematic single player narrative games, or more live service games, or more first person shooters or RPGs or sports games or whatever the fuck floats your boat, and it’s fine for you to be happy about that, but they are not on your side.

People who think this guy or that guy is going to be good (or not) at extracting those dollars while maintaining the long-term health of the brand, the company and the industry: continue as you were. The rest of you, fuck, stop hoping that these CEO’s will start sending you personal secret messages and leaving chocolates on your doorstep. You know who you are.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Literally ever single person who has ever stepped in that role, or who ever will, exists solely to extract as much money out of you as they possibly can, while giving as little in return as they can possibly get away with.

This has always been the case and has produced many high quality games you've enjoyed.

Easier to extract money out of people if they appreciate your product.

 

[TheTony316]

That was thanks to Shuhei Yoshida. One of the last japanese exec still making long-term decisions at Playstation. He is soon gone BTW...

EDIT: Sorry for double posting, didn't realize I was in the same thread.

Shuhei was very influential but Jimbo had the final say in this.

 

[TheTony316]

There's nothing to censor in Stellar Blade. The game is much tamer than Senran Kagura, Oneechanbara, etc

It's much more explicit than the games that were censored between 2017-2021.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Big mistakes?

MotorStorm Apocolypse tanked
DriveClub tanked (with an epic disaster of a launch)
OnRush tanked

How many more failures are you allowed before you pull the plug? Sony made the right descision to close the studio.

Driveclub actually sold very well according to the leaked slide. Poor critical reception but PS gamers liked this game. Jimbo got rid of the studio obviously.

Short term the game did bad, studio disbanded by exec, turned out the game did pretty well long term, oops we got rid of the studio! Welcome to the new Playstation world and decision making: short term profits is all what matters now with no respect for either their customers or long-term health of their brand / IPs.

 

[jm89]

Driveclub actually sold very well according to the leaked slide. Poor critical reception but PS gamers liked this game. Jimbo got rid of the studio obviously.

Uhm is that jims fault?

He wasn't even in charge of SIE at the time, so the decision would have probably come up from higher up.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Shuhei was very influential but Jimbo had the final say in this.

Mr. Shu is the one making deals with the new Asian big players like Mihoyo, Shift Up, or Kuro. Jimbo doesn't even know who those are.

Playstation Studios needs execs who actually play games (lots of them) and can tell the good from the bad (Godfall, All Stars, cough cough), people who stop chasing trends that end up in wrong acquisitions. IMO it's imperative that tne next CEO is chosen from outside the Californian hivemind that is ruining Sony Pictures and slowly eroding PS Studios.