Julius Posted May 5 Posted May 5 32 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: Many have said for years that Microsoft would find a bigger audience on the PS4/PS5 and these releases are proving to be right. Indiana Jones also done very well compared to the Xbox release. 100%. They're the biggest publisher these days (probably one of the bigger players even before the Activision-Blizzard and Zenimax acquisitions) and so their finding success on a much bigger platform was pretty much a foregone conclusion. The only thing that seems to be getting in their way so far is themselves, what with all this messy curation; I'm very curious to see how things play out if they try to pull that Oblivion/Clair Obscur nonsense against Sony's own first-party (e.g. Halo remake dropping the week of Ghost of Yōtei). What's also crazy is that Indy not being higher is likely down to Machine games pushing for a physical release; if it were digital-only like Forza and Oblivion are, I imagine it'd be a spot or two higher on both lists. Thank goodness they did, though. Really strange to watch from the sidelines while some games from Xbox get physical releases and others don't, and it seems like it's probably down to resistance from the developers themselves more than anything else. Curious to see if they decide to shadow-drop anything around Not-E3... 3 minutes ago, Dcubed said: They will easily be the biggest 3rd party publisher on that platform [Switch 2] The fact that they're probably way up there already on Switch with Minecraft alone, never mind some of the other games that have drifted onto Switch like Overwatch, means it's pretty much a foregone conclusion I think. I'm curious to see how hard they hit Switch 2 and how quickly they scrambled on there, or if they're going to be sensible and space things out. Heck, they'll likely be one of the top third-party publishers on PlayStation this year too (probably the top publisher now that GTA VI has been delayed to next year, actually). 1
Cube Posted May 5 Posted May 5 An updated version of Gears of War Ultimate (now called Reloaded) is next 1
Julius Posted May 5 Posted May 5 At this rate I'm curious to see if Xbox can keep a lid on Halo until next year and have something lined up for the 25th anniversary (that rumoured remake?) or if they push something out this year (such as the Master Chief Collection) to help whatever lands for the 25th hit harder. 1 hour ago, Julius said: Curious to see if they decide to shadow-drop anything around Not-E3... It's not a shadow-drop obviously but the timing is killing me
Julius Posted May 6 Posted May 6 It continues to get weirder: PS5 Call of Duty bundles are back on the table. I suppose that's one way to offset the rising hardware prices
Happenstance Posted May 7 Posted May 7 Think I’ll pick up some fighters while they’re on sale on PSN at the moment. For now I’ll get Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, Mortal Kombat 12 and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. Was tempted by King of Fighters XV but as I don’t know much about the series I don’t know if it’s worth jumping in while I’ve got those others to play. Still been thinking about getting a new fight stick as well so this would probably be a good time for it. Just need to decide if it’s worth getting a whole new one or spending a bit less for an adaptor for my PS3 stick.
Julius Posted May 7 Posted May 7 PlayStation Studios have revealed teamLFG as a new member of the PlayStation family: This is the former Bungie team who were rumoured to be working on a project called "Gummy Bears" – their first game will be a team-based action game.
Hero-of-Time Posted May 14 Posted May 14 Sales figures have dropped today. Quote PS5 added another 18.5 million units to its overall hardware total in the fiscal year ending 31st March, 2025. Of that total, 2.8 million units were tacked on throughout the company’s fourth quarter. That takes the worldwide total of current-gen system’s sales up to 77.7 million units lifetime. Launch aligned, it's only 1.4 million behind the PS4, which is crazy when you look at the supply constraints it had, the price of the console (PS4 was pretty cheap at this point, whereas the PS5 continues to go up in price) and an arguably weaker software line up. I wonder if it will manage to pass 100 million? 1
drahkon Posted May 14 Posted May 14 (edited) 2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: I wonder if it will manage to pass 100 million? I think it's a given. Even with another price increase likely to happen (thanks Trump), GTA IV will undoubtedly have a massive pull. EDIT: GTA VI Edited May 14 by drahkon
Julius Posted May 14 Posted May 14 58 minutes ago, drahkon said: Even with another price increase likely to happen (thanks Trump), GTA IV will undoubtedly have a massive pull. I mean I guess for people like me who have GTA IV on their pledge maybe, everyone else though, I'm not too sure... 1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said: Launch aligned, it's only 1.4 million behind the PS4, which is crazy when you look at the supply constraints it had, the price of the console (PS4 was pretty cheap at this point, whereas the PS5 continues to go up in price) and an arguably weaker software line up. I wonder if it will manage to pass 100 million? The launch-aligned graph freaks me out with just how in lockstep with the PS4's sales the PS5 has been almost the entire time. Just one of those freakish coincidences you see from time to time. I think the PS5 will pass 100m units sold, simply because they have no direct competition in the dedicated home console space now that Xbox are [very slowly] bowing out in their own unique way. GTA VI, like drahkon mentioned, is probably going to be what bumps the PS5 line over the PS4's, though I'm curious to see if that is sustainable in the slightest given that the PS5 price seems to be constantly increasing and by this time last gen the PS4 Slim had launched and could be had bundled with a game or two come Black Friday/Christmas for £200 or so, PS4 Pro wasn't prohibitively more expensive than the base PS4 so I think people were more likely to upgrade/pick up a second console, etc. I do think that, despite a very messy generation on the whole because of studio closures and chasing the unicorn that is GAAS success, PlayStation have things set up in a way now that first-party can credibly finish this generation with a bang because of development timing with where a number of studios are at/should be (Intergalactic and Saros coming up in the next 2 years, Santa Monica's game, Insomniac will have at least one game between now and the end of the generation, etc.) – that is, if they want to. The thing is, with GTA VI still to come and Xbox happy to bring more and more games over to PlayStation (good for software sales, obviously terrible for their hardware sales and future), do PlayStation even have an incentive to go out with a bang this gen? Last gen it felt important to build momentum going into the launch of PS5 and Series X|S, but that race is now all but run, with Xbox pivoting in twenty one ways which suggests they're happy to do everything other than stick to their previous trajectory
drahkon Posted May 14 Posted May 14 5 minutes ago, Julius said: I mean I guess for people like me who have GTA IV on their pledge maybe, everyone else though, I'm not too sure... 2
Hero-of-Time Posted May 14 Posted May 14 11 minutes ago, Julius said: The thing is, with GTA VI still to come and Xbox happy to bring more and more games over to PlayStation (good for software sales, obviously terrible for their hardware sales and future), do PlayStation even have an incentive to go out with a bang this gen? Last gen it felt important to build momentum going into the launch of PS5 and Series X|S, but that race is now all but run, with Xbox pivoting in twenty one ways which suggests they're happy to do everything other than stick to their previous trajectory With the Switch 2 being as powerful as it is, more 3rd party games will be jumping on that platform and porting games that otherwise would have stayed on the PS platform or PC. I can see it eating into Sony's share on the market in the West.
Happenstance Posted May 14 Posted May 14 34 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: With the Switch 2 being as powerful as it is, more 3rd party games will be jumping on that platform and porting games that otherwise would have stayed on the PS platform or PC. I can see it eating into Sony's share on the market in the West. Guess it depends on how much power the games require. If I remember right the Switch 2 is still only around PS4 Pro levels and I was watching an impressions video yesterday of Cyberpunk on the Switch 2 and they weren’t impressed, saying it felt like it was running sub 30fps.
Hero-of-Time Posted May 14 Posted May 14 2 minutes ago, Happenstance said: Guess it depends on how much power the games require. If I remember right the Switch 2 is still only around PS4 Pro levels and I was watching an impressions video yesterday of Cyberpunk on the Switch 2 and they weren’t impressed, saying it felt like it was running sub 30fps. That's true. I haven't seen any reports on Cyberpunk and just assumed it was looking like a good port.
Happenstance Posted May 14 Posted May 14 17 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: That's true. I haven't seen any reports on Cyberpunk and just assumed it was looking like a good port. Yeah me too, I was thinking about maybe preordering it for launch as I never completed it on pc so thought I’d see what people thought from the preview events when I found that video and decided not to get it.
Julius Posted May 14 Posted May 14 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said: With the Switch 2 being as powerful as it is, more 3rd party games will be jumping on that platform and porting games that otherwise would have stayed on the PS platform or PC. I can see it eating into Sony's share on the market in the West. It's a weird one to me where the actual "next-gen"-ness of this gen has only really started to come into play in the last few years rather than since the start of the generation, what with this incredibly long and laboured cross-gen period, and so while I do think we're going to see a good number of ports, the Switch 2 is probably going to find itself lagging behind in the same way the Switch was a couple of years after launch – and that's going to feel especially true after the PS6 rolls around, I think (and the inevitable PS5/PS6 cross-gen period begins). 40 minutes ago, Happenstance said: Guess it depends on how much power the games require. If I remember right the Switch 2 is still only around PS4 Pro levels and I was watching an impressions video yesterday of Cyberpunk on the Switch 2 and they weren’t impressed, saying it felt like it was running sub 30fps. I do think it is worth bearing in mind that the Cyberpunk 2077 build at the Switch 2 Experience is based on a build from roughly the middle to the end of Feb (the build at the Experience was around 7 weeks old at the time of Digital Foundry getting hands-on in the middle of April), and so while I'm not saying it'll be perfect by the time it launches, I do expect it to be much improved over what many people have spent hands-on time with. DF similarly noted an improvement from the Switch 2 Direct showing of the game when they got hands-on time with it. Edited May 14 by Julius 1
drahkon Posted May 15 Posted May 15 Just saw on my PSN wishlist that Roboquest will be released on May 27th. Been waiting a looooooong time fo... Nevermind. This will be my next purchase. 2
Julius Posted May 15 Posted May 15 (edited) Per Bloomberg, Jade Raymond has left Haven Studios – the studio behind Fairgame$ (which according to Schreier has now been renamed as Fairgames) : Quote PlayStation leadership didn't give Haven staff a reason for her departure, but it came several weeks after an external test of Haven's first game, the online shooter Fairgames, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some developers at Haven were concerned about how the game was received and its progress, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren't authorized to speak publicly. Marie-Eve Danis and Pierre-François Sapinski are the new co-heads of the studio. Her leaving and reading that some devs are concerned about reception and progress after having not seen it in forever outside of that super weird mask demo doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. They didn't forget that they have the option to walk away if it isn't shaping up after everything what happened with Concord, did they? Hermen surely couldn't survive pushing through a potential second GAAS flop, could he? Edited May 15 by Julius
Hero-of-Time Posted May 16 Posted May 16 The game was already facing a mountain to climb and this doesn't exactly helps things.
Hero-of-Time Posted May 16 Posted May 16 Someone on Era compiled a list of Sony's GaaS push and it makes for some depressing reading. Quote Arrowhead Game Studios: Helldivers II (Released February 2024) Bend Studio: Unnanounced GAAS (Cancelled 2025) Bluepoint Games: God of War GAAS (Cancelled 2025) Bungie: Marathon (2025?) Bungie: Payback (Cancelled 2024) Firesprite: Twisted Metal GAAS (Cancelled 2024) Firewalk: Concord (Released, and Cancelled 2024) Guerilla Games: Horizon Online Title (TBD) Haven Studios: Fairgames$ (TBD) Insomniac: Spider-Man: The Great Web (Cancelled Date Unknown) London Studio: AAA New IP Fantasy Multiplayer Title (Cancelled 2024 - Studio shuttered) Naughty Dog: The Last of Us Factions Online (Cancelled 2023) What a waste of time, money and man power this whole thing has been.
Glen-i Posted May 16 Posted May 16 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said: What a waste of time, money and man power this whole thing has been. And as long as Fortnite keeps making big bucks, execs will continue to waste time, money and manpower chasing this whole thing. Which is why Fairgames hasn't been cancelled... yet. Edited May 16 by Glen-i
Hero-of-Time Posted May 16 Posted May 16 1 hour ago, Glen-i said: And as long as Fortnite keeps making big bucks, execs will continue to waste time, money and manpower chasing this whole thing. Which is why Fairgames hasn't been cancelled... yet. Indeed. This came out of their recent financial report. Quote For the fiscal year as a whole, microtransactions pocketed PlayStation a cool ~$9.23 billion in revenue, an incredible ~29.3% of the division’s entire income. That’s a larger share than any other category, including physical game sales, digital downloads, hardware, subscriptions, and so on. They only get a cut from games like Roblox or Fortnite and so you can see why they are chasing the GaaS model. If they can get even 1 successful GaaS game under their control then they will get 100% of the earnings.
Julius Posted May 16 Posted May 16 31 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: If they can get even 1 successful GaaS game under their control then they will get 100% of the earnings. Well, I mean, they already have one. It's Helldivers II. The actual problem is that they're greedy enough to want more (like any big business), and silly enough to have completely neutered the game themselves (game requires a PSN account to be played on PC, meaning it isn't available in a surprising number of territories) – and I guarantee that both of those statements will remain true even if they have more success in the space. We can say they want bigger and more successful GAAS games, but the truth is simply that they want a Fortnite...and they won't get one. Fortnite's Battle Royale was lightning in a bottle where they just so happened to be in the right place at the right time and had the technical know-how and awareness of the market (PUBG's success) to successfully pivot Save The World's mechanics and assets - which by the way otherwise surely would've flopped - into the Battle Royale it became. They also then created and popularised the Battle Pass model, cameo skins, etc., etc. – Fortnite's success will be studied in the future the same way that the success of the MCU's Infinity Saga (and its consequent downfall) will be, and rightly so. It's brilliant management of a lightning in a bottle situation. Even if Marathon and Fairgames both flop, putting PlayStation at a success rate of 1 in 12 of their GAAS attempts being a success (Helldivers II), I still think that in and of itself is as good a return as you're going to get when it comes to the GAAS model. And no, obviously that doesn't make it profitable, but that's just what happens when you go chasing the proverbial unicorn 1
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