GAAS is a necessary evil for Playstation

Nitro

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I guess my worry is how much single player suffers as a result.

That's it. The real test isn't how many live service games PlayStation have in development, or if they all succeed, it's whether their single player output remains consistent or declines as a result.

If we see a situation develop where they begin robbing Peter to pay Paul, we'll see a greater level of pushback.
 
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Satoru

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IMO Sony could have 55 GaaS live service games in development. My problem is putting their A game teams on those games (Naughty Dog, etc) when they could instead acquire companies that specialise on that kind of content. They are literally compromising their AAA single player audience in detriment of bullshit live service crap that loads of people don't care about. Sony's single player games sell millions, they pay for themselves multiple times, and Jimbo & Hermie are fucking that up
 

Ezekiel

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Like it or not, Sony needs a successful GAAS. Maybe multiples

Game development is only getting more expensive with a ceiling on revenue from single player games. That margin between profitability and failure will only diminish over time. Soon enough games will need to sell 10 million just to break even.

GAAS may not be the games we play but they can be the safety net that can keep PlayStation Studios well funded into the future

Right now Sony is in the precarious position where a lot of revenue comes from third party GAAS success, where they only make 30% and where COD can be directly attributed to helping fund PlayStation Studios


And all of that is at more and more risk as Microsoft buys up publishers

Just one to two major hits for GAAS will be a game changer. Single player bangers are what we buy the systems for but GAAS will be what keeps the lights on
Oh look, a rational, level-headed take.
 
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Dr Bass

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It's not that they aren't profitable, it's that the bar for success keeps going up and up

Selling a million on PS2 would make you a monster hit. Now it's nothing.

God of War Ragnarok dev cost was $200 million. That's over 3 million you need to sell at full cost to break even. Maybe more after retailer cuts etc. This would have been unheard of 10 years ago. If a game bombs it is a huge loss

Even if everybody paid the full $70 for Ragnarok and it sold 30 million, it's capping out at $2.1 billion revenue

On the other side Fortnite made $5.8 billion in 2021 and does similar numbers each year

I'm not saying Sony needs Fortnite level success. But if they are successful enough to have a couple GAAS hits generating a few hundred million in profit every year it can essentially keep PS Studios in the green and hopefully the single player studios don't have to even look at GAAS games
Not every single player game has to be a massive production. I just don’t agree with the premise at all. GaaS games are just pure money grabs. That’s all it is.
 

Nhomnhom

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Does Nintendo have any GaaS? They seem to have very traditional multiplayer games fighting game, kart racing, paint shooter and the thirds are left to fight with Fortnite to see who's the king of generic zoomer GaaS.
 
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Zzero

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Does Nintendo have any GaaS? They seem to have very traditional multiplayer games fighting game, kart racing, paint shooter and the more generic and thirds are left to fight with Fortnite to see who's the king of generic zoomer GaaS.
If you define GaaS as "predatory MTX plans" then only their mobile collabs, Pokemon Go and Mario Kart Tour. They've deliberately steered away from doing it otherwise, even if it meant that stuff like Dragalia Lost and Fire Emblem mobile didn't make the money it "should" have. If you include any game with a longterm roll-out plan that has "seasons" and such, then you can throw in Splatoon and a few others with pre-baked DLC campaigns.
 

Killer_Sakoman

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Not every single player game has to be a massive production. I just don’t agree with the premise at all. GaaS games are just pure money grabs. That’s all it is.
I agree, single player games can be smaller. Not every game needs to be 100+ hour long open world games.
 

Dr Bass

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We have an entire 40+ year history of single player gaming existing, without the need for subsidizing via predatory plays on addictions. No, not everyone “wins”, but the idea that we need GaaS to back up single player games is literally admitting defeat. And I just don’t believe it’s true either.

Not every game needs to be a huge blockbuster or cost 200 million to make. Not every game needs to be 50 hours. On top of that, tools like UE5 are expressly focusing on developer productivity. Single player gaming can obviously sustain itself. We just need quality games and it the industry can still thrive. GaaS is literally the antithesis of everything you find in a great single player game.
 

Nhomnhom

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We have an entire 40+ year history of single player gaming existing, without the need for subsidizing via predatory plays on addictions. No, not everyone “wins”, but the idea that we need GaaS to back up single player games is literally admitting defeat. And I just don’t believe it’s true either.

Not every game needs to be a huge blockbuster or cost 200 million to make. Not every game needs to be 50 hours. On top of that, tools like UE5 are expressly focusing on developer productivity. Single player gaming can obviously sustain itself. We just need quality games and it the industry can still thrive. GaaS is literally the antithesis of everything you find in a great single player game.
EU5 is so productive that no UE5 AAA game was ever released, not a single one has a release date as far as I know.
 

anonpuffs

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If you define GaaS as "predatory MTX plans" then only their mobile collabs, Pokemon Go and Mario Kart Tour. They've deliberately steered away from doing it otherwise, even if it meant that stuff like Dragalia Lost and Fire Emblem mobile didn't make the money it "should" have. If you include any game with a longterm roll-out plan that has "seasons" and such, then you can throw in Splatoon and a few others with pre-baked DLC campaigns.
They also have amiibos but at least you get something physical with them
 

Zzero

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They also have amiibos but at least you get something physical with them
Thats not GaaS, thats a ten dollar figurine or physical DLC purchase. Like I hinted at in my previous post, we really need a definition of GaaS beyond just "things I dislike." Is regular long-tail stuff like multiplayer GaaS? 90s/early 2000s stuff like plug-ins and paid DLC? What about randomizer functions like the political randomizer in CK II, the map generator in Civ or the player modding functionality in Doom or TES?

Because I like most of that stuff.
 

anonpuffs

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Doom and gloom after a mid showcase is absolutely irrational.

People calling for Jim and Herman resignation when the business as never been better is absolutely irrational.
Business never been better is something that shareholders need to worry about. I'm not a shareholder, I'm trying to play some high quality 1st party games.
 

Ezekiel

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Business never been better is something that shareholders need to worry about. I'm not a shareholder, I'm trying to play some high quality 1st party games.
Burning Shores just released
Spider-Man 2 is coming up
Helldivers 2 is coming up

For third party partnerships, we have
Silent Hill 2 coming up
FF16 is right around the corner

A bunch more ahead

So again, what's rational about the concerns we're seeing all of a sudden?
 

Vertigo

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Burning Shores just released
Spider-Man 2 is coming up
Helldivers 2 is coming up

For third party partnerships, we have
Silent Hill 2 coming up
FF16 is right around the corner

A bunch more ahead

So again, what's rational about the concerns we're seeing all of a sudden?


Because no more gravity rush sequels and David Cage interactive YouTube videos for consumers to ignore.

I never cared for Sony’s 1st party offerings until they published Bloodborne aside from GT. God of War 2018 and Ragnarok then followed that up. So now I’m kind a fan. Tsushima and Death Stranding were great too.

I’ve been a ps gamer for awhile but always looked at Xbox and ps as to where I play 3rd party games. Sony is almost at Nintendo’s pedigree now. Xbox? Industry cancer.

I’d much rather they do better business and keep delivering the bangers we expect them too.
 

Nhomnhom

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IMO Sony could have 55 GaaS live service games in development. My problem is putting their A game teams on those games (Naughty Dog, etc) when they could instead acquire companies that specialise on that kind of content. They are literally compromising their AAA single player audience in detriment of bullshit live service crap that loads of people don't care about. Sony's single player games sell millions, they pay for themselves multiple times, and Jimbo & Hermie are fucking that up
The problem is also the lack of investment on traditional games. They need to invest a lot more just to keep what we have going due to the nature of making games.

Not to mention that they need new things coming up consistently to keep things fresh. Right now most of their studios will spend years working on sequels and we'll have one or two shots at new IPs this gen.