I’m half half with the criticisms you listed. Majority of what you listed makes no material difference to me as a PlayStation fan nor does it change the way I play games.
Everything I've mentioned has a huge direct impact on PS gamers, but if you don't care then that's fine.
The reality of game dev these days is that everyone is pushing out less AAA games
How? AAA is a big focus for every publisher...but the barrier of entry for game development gets lower and lower every year, so more and more indie games have been getting some spotlight. Which kinda makes it seem like AAA isn't as big as it used to be, but it's even bigger. 2023 was a huge year for AAA gaming and 2024 is even better (imo).
Bungie was a headscratcher of an acquisition but they also bought the studio that made my fave PS game this gen, Housemarque.
I love Returnal as well and Housemarque, that was a great acquisition, their only good one this gen. That acquisition follows the blueprint of every other great acquisition, ND, Insomniac, Sucker Punch, Bluepoint, Guerilla, etc. Work with them for years, build great games, build a great relationship, then join the family. But that hasn't been the case with the rest of their recent acquisitions....
Haven - GAAS junk and acquired before any game has been released
Firewalk - GAAS junk and acquired before game has been released
Neon Koi - Mobile junk and acquired before any game has been released
Savage - Mobile junk and acquired before any game has been released
Bungie - GAAS junk and waste of 3.7 billion dollars, shortsighted knee jerk reaction to ABK, SIE resources being wasted on Xbox development.
Nixxes - beyond worthless for console owners and provides negative value to SIE
“Losing” 3rd old party partners is less of their fault than it is the partner’s who wants to push for multiplatform.
I disagree, it's 100% SIEs fault. It's not a coincidence that all of the 3rd party partnerships they've had for decades suddenly evaporated under Jim Ryan. It wasn't because of Xbox's aggressive bartering, it was because of pure incompetence, complacency, and greed from SIE leadership. Even MLB is a 3rd party game now
and I guarantee Horizon is next. If SIE had competent leadership and got FF9 Remake, Kingdom Hearts 4, and Metaphor ReFantazio as exclusives like they should have, then we would already have these games out by now. Like how we got FF7 Rebirth, the biggest and best game of the generation, after only 4 years and during a pandemic! But now these studios have to waste several extra years developing for the Potato Series S and PC, where they won't even make up 10% of sales. Sony has ALL the leverage this generation, more than they ever have, to secure 3rd party deals but the idiots just don't care to. Xbox is doing worse than it's ever done but somehow getting more than they ever have. It's nothing but gross incompetence.
Despite that, they’re still establishing new partnerships that’s already paying dividends with games like Stellar Blade and Ronin.
This is to be expected...3rd party exclusives like these have been a pillar of PlayStation since PS1. They shouldn't be commended for doing the bare minimum.
Plus, all of these 3rd party deals are coming from Shuhei Yoshida and have been in the works for 5+ years. Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, Stray, Kena Bridge of Spirits, Phantom Blade 0, Lost Soul Aside, are literally all from Shuhei. Since Ryan/Hulst have taken over, we won't be getting anymore of these. Because now that Sony is putting all of their own games on other platforms, why would a 3rd party want to go with them exclusively? No foresight as always. It's a big reason why Switch 2 will destroy the PS5 for the next few years.
No comms, eh, this one honestly is subjective I understand why people miss it but for me it doesn’t matter.
No comms sucks, but that's even not the main issue, it's when the rare times they do communicate, it's bad/useless news. Prices being raised, PC ports announced, gaas announced, apologizing to crybaby PC gamers, throwing their own devs under the bus, etc. Not to mention straight up lying to us. Hulst/Nishino said single player 1st party games will be timed exclusives, and then a week later announce a 1st party single player game day/date with PC/Switch. Every time they open their mouths they create a new FUD campaign, PS haters don't even need to bother coming up with new narratives because Sony does it to themselves.
I also dont see how PC is getting more focus than consoles either and feels like people don’t like PC getting ANY focus.=
Lol....
PC 1st party ports announced since 2021 - 14
PS5 1st party single player games announced since 2021 - One (Astro Bot)
PlayStation literally talks more about PC than they do about PlayStation, that isn't an exaggeration
They bent over backwards to cater to PC idiots with the Helldivers 2 situation and 1m sales on PC is considered a huge success while 5m sales on console isn't enough. The entire gaas push was because of their PC initiative since single player games flop on PC while gaas slop excels. PC is literally at the forefront of SIE's entire strategy around PlayStation this generation, even though it doesn't even make up 1% of their revenue. PC not getting any focus would be ideal, it's nothing but a distraction and a waste of resources. This gen would be 100x better if all resources were dedicated to the console....
THAT SAID. GaaS…fucking GaaS. This was the thing that really turned me off. Aside from generally not liking GaaS as a model, it’s also resulted in wasted efforts from one of my fav studios, ND, in just cancelling projects but all we got from them in the last 4 years was an unnecessary remake, PC ports and remasters (but hey new roguelike mode right
). This was the one business decision that I really hated from them and there’s just no defending it.
Yep, the overly aggressive and shortsighted GAAS push was one of the dumbest decisions in gaming business history. GAAS investment exploded overnight and overtook single player investment almost instantly, before they even had a proven system or any actual plans. All they saw was dollar signs and they leapt before looking like the idiots they are. They had the perfect strategy last generation, and they upended all of that to chase pennies. This is why I don't feel bad for saying I hope Concord flops, even before I saw how awful the game looks
it’s also resulted in wasted efforts from one of my fav studios, ND, in just cancelling projects but all we got from them in the last 4 years was an unnecessary remake, PC ports and remasters (but hey new roguelike mode right
).
Not to mention how Naughty Dog altered their entire development pipeline to cater to PC and wrote a whole blogpost bragging about it. This was before they ever even launched a game on PC btw. And both of their PC ports thus far have been colossal flops. So now games are taking longer to make and are of inferior quality, which effects console owners, just to cater to a platform where they don't even make 1% of their revenue....That's why TLOU1 Remake somehow looks worse than TLOU2, despite it "being built from the ground up for PS5" (my ass). Another example of SIE leaping before they look, extremely incompetent leadership. This is the case for all of their other studios as well, Spider-Man 2 looks noticeably worse than Spider-Man 2018 and Miles Morales because it was simultaneously developed with PC in mind. That's why there was a fully functioning fan made PC port out only a few months after the console release
Which just makes Nixxes look like an even worse acquisition.
This was the one business decision that I really hated from them and there’s just no defending it. I get the business need for sustainability but fuck me it sucks.
Except that their GAAS push isn't sustainable at all, half of them have been already been cancelled
Including Factions 2, which was 4 years and $200m down the toilet. 95% of GAAS games fail.... It's nothing but a trap. Every business/economics class teaches that during a gold rush, it's better to sell pickaxes than to mine for gold yourself. This gaas push is them trying to mine for gold, when they can just focus on increasing their install base and taking a 30% cut of the gaas games that are successful. You know, like what Apple and Google do and how they make just as much gaming revenue as Sony without even making games. And what worked for them so well last generation.....Getting people into your ecosystem and letting 3rd party's play the gaas lottery is 1000x more sustainable than making your own gaas. Instead they're doing the exact opposite, pushing people away from their ecosystem and flushing billions down the toilet chasing live service ghosts. Idiots
There’s a stark difference between Xbox and PS. While we can see some overlap in strategy the way they handle their core gaming business couldn’t be further apart. Xbox is plagued by mismanagement and a general lack of care or understanding of what games is about. You can say what about Sony but they will never allow God of War to be treated the same way as Halo.
Yes, and that's only because that idiot Phil has somehow been in high ranking leadership positions at Xbox for over 15 years, so Xbox has just been one awful year after another. Meanwhile the current SIE leadership has been able to coast off of the success of much more competent administrations. Everything good about PlayStation this generation isn't because of Ryan or Hulst, no matter how much some of these PS fanboys love to give them credit.
The only things that they've actually done since taking over is lose partnerships, raise prices, focus on PC, GAAS junk, mobile, and cloud. They have NOTHING to do with things like GoW Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2, Returnal, FF7 Rebirth, FF16, etc. Look at the last few state of plays and showcases, which have received an insane amount of dislikes, that never used to happen. Again, it's not a coincidence, current SIE is just Xbox 2.0 with better branding, the complete opposite of what PS fans want. No one tunes into a PlayStation event to see slop like Concord and Fairgame$ or to see PC be mentioned more than PlayStation. There hasn't been a single PS showcase/state of play this gen that could match the excitement of the
worst show from last gen. I wish I was exaggerating.
So yeah, I’m still happy with PS. Things are weird sure but the entire industry is just weird right now.
No, the industry is only weird for PlayStation and Xbox, because both are run by idiots who don't understand or value what gaming is actually about. Both companies are run by people who hate gaming and only care about imaginary never ending growth by any means necessary. Every other company seems to be doing great, especially Nintendo. This year, PS5 console sales are on steep declines every month, even with great games constantly releasing, imagine next year when the Switch 2 releases
Well, at least they'll have GTA 6 to bail them out, but even that won't be enough. I hate to say it but the writing is on the wall, PlayStation is going full 3rd party just like Xbox