Playstation 5 Console Discussion

[Hero-of-Time]

51 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Impressive.

How's the platinum for Jumping Flash!? I always wanted to try that one.

And did you enjoy Humanity? It started out great but turned out to be too much of a timing-based puzzler for me...

Aaaaand one more question: I recently started that Klonoa collection. Do you have to collect all the crystals in each level or are the 6 weird creatures enough?

Plat for Jumping Flash is pretty easy. Only takes a few hours or so.

Loved Humanity. It's one of the best puzzlers I've played. It's so clever.

For Klonoa, IIRC, I don't think you need all of the crystals in each stage. 

[drahkon]

35 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Plat for Jumping Flash is pretty easy. Only takes a few hours or so.

Sweet

35 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Loved Humanity. It's one of the best puzzlers I've played. It's so clever.

Gotta agree, it's very clever. I just don't care for timing based puzzles. It frustrates me when I figure out the solution, set everything up and then the timing is slightly off and you have to rewind/start again. Pisses me off.

35 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

For Klonoa, IIRC, I don't think you need all of the crystals in each stage. 

Wonderful. I can't seem to find any info on that online and I missed one in the first stage so that annoyed me to no end

Speaking of Klonoa: I've never played it before but the first game of that collection is pretty fun. At least from my experience with the first two levels.

Edited December 12, 2023 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

2023 PlayStation wrap up is now available.

https://blog.playstation.com/2023/12/12/playstation-2023-wrap-up-launches-today-with-a-personalized-look-at-your-2023-gaming-achievements/

[drahkon]

My year in short:

Call of Duty

Pretty much every single "card" mentions it

[bob]

It's the most depressing time,

of the yeeeeeeeear!

Not a great year for me.

[Sheikah]

It's the most depressing time,

of the yeeeeeeeear!

Not a great year for me.

To be fair I spent even less time than that playing a PS4.

Don't ask me about my PS5 though

[Hero-of-Time]

Highlights from my year in review.

Spoiler

 

[drahkon]

16 hours ago, drahkon said:

My year in short:

Call of Duty

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

The amount of Platinum trophies doesn't seem right. My trusty excel sheet only shows 22 and I'm pretty sure I've counted them correctly.

My top 5 make it seem like I'm one of those "only buys a PS for CoD and Fifa type of players"

Edited December 13, 2023 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

To the surprise of nobody...

Quote

We realize many of you have been anticipating news around the project that we've been calling The Last of Us Online. There's no easy way to say this: We've made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game.

We know this news will be tough for many, especially our dedicated The Last of Us Factions community, who have been following our multiplayer ambitions ardently. We're equally crushed at the studio as we were looking forward to putting it in your hands. We wanted to share with you some background of how we came to this decision.

The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part II – crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential. As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystalized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.

In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. To release and support The Last of Us Online we'd have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog's heritage.
We are immensely proud of everyone at the studio that touched this project. The learnings and investments in technology from this game will carry into how we develop our projects and will be invaluable in the direction we are headed as a studio. We have more than one ambitious, brand new single player game that we're working on here at Naughty Dog, and we cannot wait to share more about what comes next when we're ready.

Until then, we're incredibly thankful to our community for your support throughout the years.

Things look to be a bit of a mess over there. A cancelled game and 2 ports ain't exactly a good look from one of your flagship studios.

[Dcubed]

That’s really interesting that they highlight how they would’ve had to become a one game GAAS studio to support a live service game…

They basically threw a middle finger at Sony’s wider GAAS plans.

Crazy that Naughty Dog hold that much power within PlayStation Studios.  I wonder how much of that decision hinged on the success of the HBO TV series? (Providing recurrent revenue that otherwise wouldn’t be there with a single player title).  Makes you wonder how much is also riding on PlayStation’s other movie and television content…

Four odd years of work wasted.  Also crazy to think that ND’s next game might not come out until 2027-2028 now.  It’s gonna end up being a PS6 launch title at this rate!

Edited December 15, 2023 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

They basically threw a middle finger at Sony’s wider GAAS plans.

If rumours are to be believed, those plans have changed now anyway. If true, gotta wonder if it was Jim Ryan who wanted the GaaS stuff and now that he is leaving, the studios are pivoting away from it. The acquisition of Bungie to help with online components of first party games seems like a complete waste of money at this point, especially seeing as the Destiny numbers have plummeted. I can't imagine the people at Sony who paid the bill for this are going to be happy with their return or lack thereof.

Still, i'm happy if they do move away from the GaaS stuff. Just let the other big boys fight it out and leave the first party studios to crank out the single player experiences.

[Dcubed]

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

If rumours are to be believed, those plans have changed now anyway. If true, gotta wonder if it was Jim Ryan who wanted the GaaS stuff and now that he is leaving, the studios are pivoting away from it. The acquisition of Bungie to help with online components of first party games seems like a complete waste of money at this point, especially seeing as the Destiny numbers have plummeted. I can't imagine the people at Sony who paid the bill for this are going to be happy with their return or lack thereof.

Still, i'm happy if they do move away from the GaaS stuff. Just let the other big boys fight it out and leave the first party studios to crank out the single player experiences.

Well this certainly lends credence to that rumour, but it's also something that you can't change overnight.  Playstation Studios have already sunk years into their GAAS initiative and spent more than $3 billion on Bungie to spearhead things (who are, themselves, now struggling to meet their own targets).  That's a hell of a sunk cost to not have a fallacy over.

If they do plan to pivot away from GAAS enmasse? Then this is going to be a supremely dry generation when it comes to first party releases (mind you though, it's not like their competition is doing much better in that regard ).  Developers starting new projects now may well be looking at releasing as PS6 launch titles (or at least very very tail-end PS5 in 2027-2028).

Edited December 15, 2023 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

Insomniac suffered a major hack the other day. This has resulted in various things being exposed, one of which is their future lineup of games.

Spoiler

Marvel's Venom in Fall 2025
Marvel's Wolverine in Fall 2026
Marvel's Spider-Man 3 in Fall 2028
New Ratchet & Clank in Fall 2029
Marvel's X-Men in Fall 2030
New IP in 2031/2032

Looks like they are gonna be a Marvel studio for the next few years. Very surprised Wolverine is scheduled for that far out. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Hero-of-Time

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Looks like they are gonna be a Marvel studio for the next few years.

Given the quality of their games, I don't mind. Even though I'm not invested in Marvel at all.

But seeing R&C slated for 2029? That makes me sad

[Hero-of-Time]

52 minutes ago, drahkon said:

But seeing R&C slated for 2029? That makes me sad

Yeah, that really bums me out.

[Dcubed]

Yeah, not surprised that Insomniac are being turned into a Marvel factory.  There's just too much money to be made from their licenses.

The next R&C will no doubt be billed as a tech demo for the PS6; much like how Rift Apart was used for PS5.

[Hero-of-Time]

More info from the leaks is popping up. Apparently, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart sold 2.2 million but lost 8 million in cash. It cost 80 million to make. 

It's sad to see these types of games not sell better, at least on Sony consoles. I guess this is what happens when you create an audience that only wants 3rd person, narrative driven games or yearly franchises. I also doesn't help that new releases are pricing people out of picking them up and so less and less are likely to take a chance on things. Ratchet is a 10-12 hour game and released at £60. That's an easy pass for most.

It also highlights just how unsustainable developing for high end machines has become. Selling 2.2 million copies of a game should be more than enough to be profitable but this is no longer the case. Its something that Shawn Layden warned about and was concerned with but clearly nobody at Sony agreed with him.

[drahkon]

13 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Ratchet is a 10-12 hour game and released at £60. That's an easy pass for most.

I will never understand this.
Most of my favourite games are "shorter" experiences and I'd gladly pay 70€ for them.

14 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's sad to see these types of games not sell better, at least on Sony consoles.

I think these games only sell really well on Nintendo consoles. Then again, Xbox doesn't even offer these games (or any games, for that matter ).

It's a shame...I do enjoy myself some gritty, hard-hitting, narrative games but I also enjoy games like Astro's Playroom, R&C and more. Sadly, the majority of gaming people are more into Fifa EA FC, Fortnite, CoD, etc.
I'm not judging them, but the fact that these games rake in billions has changed the video gaming landscape. And not for the better.

While I'm very happy with my PS5, I do hope Nintendo can grab me again with their next console and games. But given recent experiences...not going to happen.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

10 minutes ago, drahkon said:

I will never understand this.
Most of my favourite games are "shorter" experiences and I'd gladly pay 70€ for them.

Most people want more bang for their buck and with game prices rising, I can see why. This year I've refused to splash the £60-£70 asking price and have instead just waited until they dropped to at least £40 or below.

13 minutes ago, drahkon said:

It's a shame...I do enjoy myself some gritty, hard-hitting, narrative games but I also enjoy games like Astro's Playroom, R&C and more. Sadly, the majority of gaming people are more into Fifa EA FC, Fortnite, CoD, etc.
I'm not judging them, but the fact that these games rake in billions has changed the video gaming landscape. And not for the better.

Yeah, each to their own but you are right in saying that certain games have changed the hobby massively. The free to play/live service/GaaS model has distrupted things on a large scale, as have subscription services. 

To be honest, I can't imagine just sticking to a few games a year and playing them constantly. One of my nephews does this with EA FC and Fortnite. Baffles me, especially when he PS+. There are a wealth of different games and experiences to be had if you step outside of your comfort zone every now and then.

[drahkon]

6 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Most people want more bang for their buck and with game prices rising, I can see why. This year I've refused to splash the £60-£70 asking price and have instead just waited until they dropped to at least £40 or below.

Fair enough.
I tend to wait for sales, too. Sometimes I just need a game right now, though

6 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

To be honest, I can't imagine just sticking to a few games a year and playing them constantly.

Same here.
While I do play CoD a lot, there's no way I'll only stick to this one. Way too many great games out there.

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

2 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Fair enough.
I tend to wait for sales, too. Sometimes I just need a game right now, though

I'll be breaking this habit with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. There's no way I'm waiting for that.

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'll be breaking this habit with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. There's no way I'm waiting for that.

Oh hell yeah!

Will probably take the 29th and the day after off from work and never leave my room

[Dcubed]

Man, there's some juicy tidbits coming out of this leak...

These royalties are nuts! How are Sony even making any money off of these hardware bundles!?

Also interesting to see that Sony's Marvel games will specifically not block the re-release of any Marvel games from the 1990s... Are they planning on re-releasing some classic Marvel titles sometime soon then?

 

Pretty lukewarm sales overall considering how big they are on consoles... Sony have a long way to go with their PC efforts.

 

https://www.installbaseforum.com/forums/threads/insomniac-games-leak-multiple-software-unit-sales-and-profitability-for-past-and-future-releases-read-threadmark.2214/

Yup.  R&C Rift Apart lost money overall.  Crazy that it didn't even manage to break even with 2.2m sales!  Also, Spiderman 2 had a total budget of $315m!?!? This industry is so fucked...

Oh, what's that? Spiderman 3 is going to break even at the same 5.5m as Spiderman 2, despite costing 70m more to develop!? I smell a price hike coming...

 

Behold! Marvel at your future!

Also deets on PC ports...

Quote

Rift Apart PC port was estimated to cost $2.6m
The port took under 5 months to do
Insomniac figured they'd get 800k sales and make $20m profit (haven't found how much it ended up)
Ports that cost <$30m just need an email approval from Sony to get funded

Finally.  It seems that an alpha build of Insomniac's Wolverine has also leaked online... no doubt you'll be seeing footage from that build hit the Youtubes pretty soon.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Dcubed

[bob]

You can't post those - they're confidential!

[Sheikah]

 

8 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Man, there's some juicy tidbits coming out of this leak...

These royalties are nuts! How are Sony even making any money off of these hardware bundles!?
Also interesting to see that Sony's Marvel games will specifically not block the re-release of any Marvel games from the 1990s... Are they planning on re-releasing some classic Marvel titles sometime soon then?

 
Pretty lukewarm sales overall considering how big they are on consoles... Sony have a long way to go with their PC efforts.

 

https://www.installbaseforum.com/forums/threads/insomniac-games-leak-multiple-software-unit-sales-and-profitability-for-past-and-future-releases-read-threadmark.2214/

Yup.  R&C Rift Apart lost money overall.  Crazy that it didn't even manage to break even with 2.2m sales!  Also, Spiderman 2 had a total budget of $315m!?!? This industry is so fucked...

Oh, what's that? Spiderman 3 is going to break even at the same 5.5m as Spiderman 2, despite costing 70m more to develop!? I smell a price hike coming...
 

Behold! Marvel at your future!
Also deets on PC ports...

Quote

Rift Apart PC port was estimated to cost $2.6m
The port took under 5 months to do
Insomniac figured they'd get 800k sales and make $20m profit (haven't found how much it ended up)
Ports that cost

This doesn't quite tell the whole story though. Ratchet has been on the subscription service for a while so I reckon a lot of people have played it there, possibly picking up a sub just to do it.

I think as well that looking at raw sales is only part of the puzzle - exclusive software is what draws people to PS5 over Xbox, it's why Playstation is outselling Xbox by more than 2:1 (and far in excess of that in some territories). Ratchet is probably a loss leader for this purpose. Maybe they break even or worse but if they expand their userbase it's worth it. Sony get 30% from every digital purchase, getting new customers is the dream for platform holders.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Sheikah