Cinematic & Narrative Adventure obsession taking overhand, which @Sony ultimately have to change

[ethomaz]

Delusional.

If Xbox any type of exclusive… be it Astro or even TLOU… it hardware sales should be bad like it is.

The Xbox issue lies in their core business and not just the lack of exclusives.

Exclusives alone can’t make a platform grow.

PS. Talking about ND now… their biggest issue this gen was to put all their focus in a GAAS game that got cancelled… so now they have nothing to release… if they had focused in a single-player experience maybe they should had launch a game already.

 

[Nhomnhom]

I don't think cinematic-narrative is the issue. If that was the case, Adventure/Point-And-Click games would have died out a long time ago.
I think the shoe-horning in of RPG elements + making everything open-world (or semi-open) is what really raises the budget bloat.

These days ever pretty great games overstay their welcome because they try to do too much. I lover final fantasy Rebirth buy I can't believe how big it is, it's ridiculous how much effort was put into that game.

 

[2spooky5me]

Why do people specifically take issue with narrative third person games when Sony and Rockstar are the only ones capable of delivering them right

We aren't overloaded on this type of game in fact we barely get them due to the long development times. Maybe once a year

The narrative is, these guys can't handle to sit still for a few seconds-minutes to see how the story is unfolding, but complain that (by the end of the game) nothing made sense! They also conflate that PS' cinematic games have no gameplay, even though you show them literally hundreds of videos showing a metric-ton of combat!
If combat is NOT gameplay, then WTF IS!?

Of course a lot of Xbox + PC fans say this, but Nintendo fans always rear their ugly heads in, and say things like Pokemon, Mario and Zelda are pure gameplay. Yet, those games DO have a lot of dialogue and action-packed scenes, too. Makes absolutely zero sense from the Nintendo crowd... BUT, I digress.

 

[BroodCorp]

I say these games persist and eventually replace films.

 

[JAHGamer]

Nope, Sony should’ve doubled down on the single player cinematic narrative games instead of chasing gaas.

 

[Fenton]

First and foremost they need more studios. More studios will give variety and different genre games.

 

[SLB1904]

First and foremost they need more studios. More studios will give variety and different genre games.

That worked out well for microsoft

 

[Fenton]

That worked out well for microsoft

They shot themselves in the foot by creating that thing called Game Pass.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Shawn knew it too.

The obsession with Hollywood AAA blockbusters will end. Sony is freeing themselves from their shackles. Going back making cool and fun to play games.

 

[rofif]

What's wrong with that?
I think people really underestimate how much and how good gamepaly is uncharted games. Especially 4.
It's not one or another. You can have it all. I replay uc4 every year it's so good

What I agree with is that scope should not be ragnarok or Horizon2. Not even Elden Ring.
Games length was perfect when Mass Effect was 20-25 hours, Uncharted was 10-20 hours and dark souls was 20-40 hours... not 100. I am never replaying Elden Ring. I could play the dlc but christ the base game...

 

[Kokoloko]

Nope, Sony should’ve doubled down on the single player cinematic narrative games instead of chasing gaas.

Why not both. They made like 19Billioin profit from PS4 gen. They can afford to make many great single player games and some MP games

 

[JAHGamer]

Why not both. They made like 19Billioin profit from PS4 gen. They can afford to make many great single player games and some MP games

I was just responding to the OP, he said Sony needs to move away from GoW and GoT. Imo they should be making more of those, not less. But yes we can and should have both but still more of single player stuff.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

I was just responding to the OP, he said Sony needs to move away from GoW and GoT. Imo they should be making more of those, not less. But yes we can and should have both but still more of single player stuff.

I never said that Sony should move away from God of War or other IP. What they need to do is to take another approach on their games in general. Much, much less CGI, more focus on gameplay. Interactive playable movies need to be gutted. I don't see Sony spending more than $100-150m on their games in the future (minus the games already in the works). Maybe SSM and Naughty Dog will get a $200m budget but that's it. Sony needs to become more grounded and that's what I think they will do. Hence the critics by Totoki.

 

[JAHGamer]

Interactive playable movies need to be gutted

Which games do you consider "Interactive playable movies" ?

I don't see Sony spending more than $100-150m on their games in the future (minus the games already in the works)

Why not? These are some of their best games and they're all extremely profitable. Even Spider-Man 2 costing $300 million is very profitable.

Maybe SSM and Naughty Dog will get a $200m budget but that's it.

Sucker Punch, Insomniac, Polyphony, and Guerilla make great games too though

Sony needs to become more grounded and that's what I think they will do. Hence the critics by Totoki.

Totoki is an idiot, he wants SIE to focus on PC and mobile.He has no idea what PlayStation is about or what makes it successful, everytime he opens his mouth he speaks negatively about PlayStation and throws devs under the bus. All he cares about is milking consumers and chasing short term profits. It was probably his idea to put Lego Horizon on Switch.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Which games do you consider "Interactive playable movies" ?

Why not? These are some of their best games and they're all extremely profitable. Even Spider-Man 2 costing $300 million is very profitable.

Sucker Punch, Insomniac, Polyphony, and Guerilla make great games too though

Totoki is an idiot, he wants SIE to focus on PC and mobile.He has no idea what PlayStation is about or what makes it successful, everytime he opens his mouth he speaks negatively about PlayStation and throws devs under the bus. All he cares about is milking consumers and chasing short term profits. It was probably his idea to put Lego Horizon on Switch.

Totoki didn’t put Lego Horizon on Switch, it was Jim Ryan. Yes Lego Horizon was for 4 years at least in development, ergo Jim Ryan leadership. PC was not his decision. It was initially brought up by Shawn and later on carried out by Jim Ryan again. $300m was way too much for SM2 and als Sony said thst it's not sustainable. We don't even know if SM2 was profitable currently. It was super fast discontinued plus sold with a bundle. Totoki maybe does mistakes like any other executive, but all this points mentioned are not his fault. He just needs to carry out what was started by others.

 

[Kokoloko]

I never said that Sony should move away from God of War or other IP. What they need to do is to take another approach on their games in general. Much, much less CGI, more focus on gameplay. Interactive playable movies need to be gutted. I don't see Sony spending more than $100-150m on their games in the future (minus the games already in the works). Maybe SSM and Naughty Dog will get a $200m budget but that's it. Sony needs to become more grounded and that's what I think they will do. Hence the critics by Totoki.

I think the games you’re talking about still need to be done. Im a huge fan of TLOU1-2, Uncharted 1-4, GOW etc. They all have great gameplay and pushed action scenes to another level. Just not for some people, but they all sold over 10 million apart from maybe Uncharted 1. Those games carried them during PS3 and made lots of money during the PS4.

But yes, more varied single players game would be great. Returnal, Bloodborne, Astrobot, Demons Souls, Ratchet and Clank etc.
Just more of everything. Cinematic games, other single players games, Online games, MP games etc. They have to be a varied Publisher and Platform. They have enough money to do it and enough console sales in there history to back it up.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Their profit margins are too low and that's what Sony wants to change. Nintendo does it right: appropriate budgets plus high profits as end result.

Sony Boss Says PlayStation Has ‘Room for Improvement’ When It Comes to Cutting Development Costs - IGN

Sony boss Hiroki Totoki has offered what he called his “frank impressions” of the PlayStation business, suggesting its studios can do more to cut development costs.

www.ign.com

 

[JAHGamer]

Totoki didn’t put Lego Horizon on Switch, it was Jim Ryan. Yes Lego Horizon was for 4 years at least in development, ergo Jim Ryan leadership. PC was not his decision. It was initially brought up by Shawn and later on carried out by Jim Ryan again. $300m was way too much for SM2 and als Sony said thst it's not sustainable. We don't even know if SM2 was profitable currently. It was super fast discontinued plus sold with a bundle. Totoki maybe does mistakes like any other executive, but all this points mentioned are not his fault. He just needs to carry out what was started by others.

Lmao....Totoki is far worse than Jim. I don't think you've been paying attention bro Just because he's Japanese doesn't automatically make him a good exec

We've never heard Jim use the term "other platforms", he's only ever said Console, PC, Mobile. But as soon as Totoki used the term "other platforms", a Switch port was announced a few months later And do you really believe a 7 hour Lego game was in development for 4 year? FF7 Rebirth and Lego Horizon took the same amount of time to develop apparently

Hiroki Totoki and Kenichiro Yoshida are a cancer to Sony

Kenichiro Yoshida (Sony Chairman and CEO)

“If you look at the game industry as a whole, the console market is not a major market, rather it’s a niche market if you will"


Hiroki Totoki (Sony President and CFO, SIE chairman)

"Our stance on share buybacks and dividends remains largely unchanged, in that we stil believe shareholder return need to be addressed properly"

"We aim to increase consolidated operating income during this Mid-Range Plan, primarily in G&NS and I&SS, and achieve an average annual growth rate of 10% or more"

"We will be able to steadily increase profits from the PS platform going forward"

"We are planning to achieve a new record high in profits in FY26 (G&NS)"

"We expect lower hardware sales to drive profits in FY24"

"We will sell consoles without substantial discounts"

"Strong titles that achieve growth on PS5, PC and other platforms will widen our margins"

"FY23 will be the peak in acquisition-related expenses. These expenses will decline around 20% in FY2024"

"We intend to work to achieve a new record profit during the PS5 generation"

"Incremental Free Cash Flow is expected to be used primarily for shareholdersʼ return"

"With regard to shareholder returns, we plan to place emphasis on the total payout ratio, which we expect to gradually increase throughout the
period of the 5th Mid-Range Plan, aiming for approximately 40% in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027"

"To this end, we set aside 250 billion yen for share buybacks for this fiscal year, which exceeds the amount we acquired in the previous fiscal year"

"Regarding dividends, our policy is to continue to increase dividends steadily while accelerating the pace of dividend increases"

 

[SLB1904]

Their profit margins are too low and that's what Sony wants to change. Nintendo does it right: appropriate budgets plus high profits as end result.

Sony Boss Says PlayStation Has ‘Room for Improvement’ When It Comes to Cutting Development Costs - IGN

Sony boss Hiroki Totoki has offered what he called his “frank impressions” of the PlayStation business, suggesting its studios can do more to cut development costs.

www.ign.com

Nintendo can get away with their fanbase. They aren’t expanding or growing either

There is absolutely no change cheap looking games will thrive on PlayStation ecosystem. We have loads of examples throughout the years. The kiddy Sony games the ones that actually sells are ratchet and now Astro that looks absolutely bonkers. Games that were show on Nintendo direct would flop so hard on PlayStation that’s not even funny. One example is puppeteer it was so much better than super Mario Wii u and guess which one flopped

 

[Nhomnhom]

Nintendo can get away with their fanbase. They aren’t expanding or growing either

There is absolutely no change cheap looking games will thrive on PlayStation ecosystem. We have loads of examples throughout the years. The kiddy Sony games the ones that actually sells are ratchet and now Astro that looks absolutely bonkers. Games that were show on Nintendo direct would flop so hard on PlayStation that’s not even funny. One example is puppeteer it was so much better than super Mario Wii u and guess which one flopped

Nintendo games would sell better on PlayStation than Sony own games, you guys are never able to give Nintendo any credit and are clearly bothered by their success.

Good for them if they are able to make successful games without spending too much and without focusing on graphics and production value, nothing wrong with that.

Even garbage like Palworld would sell well on PlayStation.