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Are Sony pursuing the right strategy this gen?

Are Sony pursuing the right strategy this gen

  • Yes, confident in what they're doing

    Votes: 39 39.0%
  • Mixed thoughts, not entirely happy but mostly good

    Votes: 39 39.0%
  • No, they're making poor decisions this gen

    Votes: 22 22.0%

  • Total voters
    100
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buenoblue

Member
Last time I looked they were outselling Xbox by 2 to 1? I think switch is in a different catergory.

And physical sales are way more on playstation too.

I'm paid £1 for 3 months of game pass and am playing halo and Forza horizon 5. Great games. But Microsoft feels like that ex girlfriend that will do anything for attention lol.
 

arvfab

Banned
Mixed bag here.

Seems like they want to focus again on MP/online crap instead of continuing with what they are good at.

But it's good that - at least for now - they aren't going the Gamepass way.
 
Last time I looked they were outselling Xbox by 2 to 1? I think switch is in a different catergory.

And physical sales are way more on playstation too.

I'm paid £1 for 3 months of game pass and am playing halo and Forza horizon 5. Great games. But Microsoft feels like that ex girlfriend that will do anything for attention lol.

lol they aren’t outselling anyone 2:1 it’s a dumb narrative kept alive by fantasy on this website.
 

Godot25

Banned
That's one game and it'll probably be out by 2023 given it's Insomniac
Yeah.
Main devs that are working on Wolverine are same that worked on Miles Morales. So they are working on that game for 1 year...
...during pandemic while big chunk of a studio is making Spider-Man 2 and second big chunk finished development of Rift Apart.
And that new game won't be an "assetflip" like Miles Morales.
There is no way Wolverine is coming out in 2023. I place my bets on 2025.

Game was announced that soon to help Insomniac hired new devs. Much like Machinegames did it in January with Indiana Jones announcement and The Initiative did it last year with Perfect Dark.
 
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SSfox

Member
Ehh. Didn't they announced Wolverine in their last event? Game that is 2024-2025 at best?
And so? Because they announced one doesn't mean they must announce all?

Also it make sense to announce this one early cause y'know "Muh Marvel Muh"
 

Masterri

Member
Last time I looked they were outselling Xbox by 2 to 1? I think switch is in a different catergory.

And physical sales are way more on playstation too.

I'm paid £1 for 3 months of game pass and am playing halo and Forza horizon 5. Great games. But Microsoft feels like that ex girlfriend that will do anything for attention lol.
You should check Black Friday sales figures.
The "shortage" excuse is wearing thin.
 
I'm paid £1 for 3 months of game pass and am playing halo and Forza horizon 5. Great games. But Microsoft feels like that ex girlfriend that will do anything for attention lol.

I might sub to PC gamepass for a month when starfield releases and it turns out to be good. Then unsub afterwards. I'm glad MS is making it easy to play their games for $10.
 

FrankWza

Member
Interesting topic. And DeepEnigma DeepEnigma thinks that threads are recycled around here. Obviously not
World Think GIF by Kochstrasse™ .agency
 
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SSfox

Member
Don't want to be dick about it, but Kena is timed exclusive and not Sony first party game. That's like counting The Gunk as a new Xbox IP...
IDK, I was told same about FF7R that will be on Xbox few months after PS4 release, but.
 

buenoblue

Member
lol they aren’t outselling anyone 2:1 it’s a dumb narrative kept alive by fantasy on this website.

I mean nobody really knows cause they don't release figures. But it's pretty safe to say that ps5 is outselling Xbox? No.

It's great though, compition is always good. I get to play cheap Xbox games I'm happy lol.
 

Haggard

Banned
These threads are utterly ridiculous given that all consoles have been sold out for over a year now. How much better could anyone in the market do? Do a company patreon to milk the fanboys or sth?
 
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Yeah.
Main devs that are working on Wolverine are same that worked on Miles Morales. So they are working on that game for 1 year...
...during pandemic while big chunk of a studio is making Spider-Man 2 and second big chunk finished development of Rift Apart.
And that new game won't be an "assetflip" like Miles Morales.
There is no way Wolverine is coming out in 2023. I place my bets on 2025.

Game was announced that soon to help Insomniac hired new devs. Much like Machinegames did it in January with Indiana Jones announcement and The Initiative did it last year with Perfect Dark.

Three years is about how long the first Spiderman took. I don't expect the game to be bigger in scope than that.

It's probably been in pre-production before they even shipped MM, which itself was already a small production. 2023 is doable
 
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Topher

Gold Member
Gaming is really the only major media format that (other than books) that is still clinging onto physical and/or individual purchases. How many people buy individual TV shows/movies/albums anymore?

Having Amazon Prime Video has been a massive game changer for me. The best thing is that I've watched all sorts of different shows and movies that I would never watch if I had to buy them individually. I don't have Game Pass or anything similar but I can imagine it would be the same thing.

Think how many TV shows you can watch on a cheap Netflix subscription and then consider what it therefore means to pay $60-$70 for a single video game. That is quite the investment, and a lot of the time there is no demo to try before you buy, either.

Problem is the costs of making games isn't going to allow every single game to be accessed via $10 a month like with music. And considering renting a digital movie for $4 to $5 only gives me access to that movie for 24 hours, I don't see how that compares to gaming either. We can talk about subscription services all day long but the simple fact of the matter is that this isn't going to fund AAA games. Not unless every single publisher has their own subscription service anyway. Even with a Netflix type service you are not going to get all new third party AAA games day one.

"Nah, it'll never happen" CEO Blockbuster Video 2009.

Folks are still making that false analogy to video games?

Vine Ok GIF
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I think they're merely continuing what they were doing during last gen. I think's audacious being the first to raise prices of new gen software units by $10. It had to be done eventually, but we'll see if consumers even care. Too early to tell.
 

laynelane

Member

HoofHearted

Member
Like previous generations, I own all 3 consoles this gen. Honestly, I could care less which plastic box “wins” because, well, I buy consoles to simply play the games I like. The technology in these boxes is certainly interesting to discuss, but certainly not worth fighting over…

That being said, of the three, I think (currently) MS is the most forward thinking with respect to long term vision and planning. Sony is starting to develop their plan with respect to streaming and subscription models, but it feels a bit erratic. Nintendo is just doing what they always do… ;)
 
As long as they continue the great single olayer games Im gonna support them.
I hope they branch out a little bit but Stay mostly what they are currently doing.
 

deathsaber

Member
They are the market leader, so long as they keep doing what they are doing and don't fuck up majorly (ala themsleves at PS3 launch, or MS at Xbox One launch)- then that likely won't change. And they didn't do either of those things. They released a competitively priced and powered console, they released some nifty exclusive games and they haven't really released big guns yet- with some of the biggest ones (Gran Turismo, Horizon) now within spitting distance of release. Yes MS is doing 1000X better this gen, but Sony isn't really going to lose their spot unless they shoot themselves in the foot.
 

manzo

Member
Giving up on Japanese market is one of my pet peeves. But I don't blame them either as the JP market is practically dead anyway, coomer gacha shit all over their phones. Most shit is now mostly Nintendo with a Playstation port here and there. Not talking about big companies like Bamco and Squeenix, but mostly B-tier studios like Falcom.

That's what pisses me off is that games are now bound on ancient hardware and we'll get the PS Vita / PS3 level stuff again for the next 10 years.
 
I don't understand this whole "value proposition" of Gamepass thing. I'm an adult with a job and a social life - what matters to me isn't money, it's time. I only buy a handful of new games per year, and they're games I really want to play. What do I care if I can subscribe to Gamepass and play a bunch of random games? I don't want to play a bunch of random games.
 
Their strategy hasn't really changed much, so I guess that's fine. Releasing high quality first party games and paying for timed exclusives. PSVR 2. Pretty much the same as last gen.

But they have made mistakes that I think we've all talked about on here many times.
  • Raising prices of games is a mistake to me. Maybe it will all play out in their favor in the end. But for me, it's soured me on the experience of buying many games, resulted in less impulse purchases from me, and pushed me to look at other systems instead.
  • Poor investment in BC compared to the competition. I think that as consumers become less dependent on the physical boxes and streaming and digital continue to rise, the relationship consumers have to their preferred "ecosystem" is going to be more and more important. If you believe all your digital purchases will be respected and preserved, and that the company is fine investing money into making that happen - it actually has the by product of making you more open to digital purchases and investing in that ecosystem with multiplatform purchases. It was an error to not respect BC purchases.
  • Poor messaging in terms of generation transition and upgrading PS4 games. I think it was a mistake to charge for PS4 upgrades at the same time that PS5 game prices got raised. Packaging some good will with the pain would have probably gone a long way, but they decided to just raise prices on both. Furthermore, it was inconsistent and different for every game.
  • Gameplay of first party games is becoming a little homogenous. Two post-apocalyptic series in Last of Us and Days Gone, multiple third person cinematic adventures, God of War sequel with minimal gameplay differences, etc. They need to diversify more aggressively. A few of their teams are now releasing "expansion" style stand-alone games too like Miles Morales and Uncharted 4-2, which adds to my feeling of homogenization.
  • Poor first party sales digitally. I think this is another miscalculation. Black Friday sales were very anemic when we know they make more on digital, and they raised prices. Sours the experience for people compared to PS4, which had shockingly aggressive discounts.
  • Jim Ryan is learning too slowly that half of the console war is fought in reality based metrics, and the other half is fought in terms of consumers feeling they have an emotional connection to the brand. Saying the right things in interviews is a shallow metric for success, but it does matter in hardcore circles. When Sony was on point with their messaging during the launch of the PS4, they seemed to just "get it" when making fun of MS and their used games policy "this is how you share a game on PS4." Those little jokes and successful interviews add up. They seem less adept at this kind of messaging this gen compared to the competition.
  • Skipping E3 and not clearly communicating what people can expect did not help them. MS I think had their best E3 ever, and its set the tone for the entire 2nd half of the year. If their plan was to get their own limelight without anyone hogging it, I think they've failed, and the competition is exploiting it more effectively.
Ultimately though, it's so early in the gen that any of this can be changed. We've seen Sony adapt to complaints on upgrade confusion, which is a good sign. Rumors of adapting to the Gamepass threat as well. And by all measures, they look to have a much more impressive 2022 in terms of game releases.

Their strategy overall hasn't really changed, but they're making multiple small errors, and they seem to be standing still in terms of large investments while the competition seems very forward looking. In the end, I think all 3 seem to have a bright future right now and I'd recommend people get all 3 systems. I didn't feel that way last gen.
 
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ethomaz

Banned
I don't understand this whole "value proposition" of Gamepass thing. I'm an adult with a job and a social life - what matters to me isn't money, it's time. I only buy a handful of new games per year, and they're games I really want to play. What do I care if I can subscribe to Gamepass and play a bunch of random games? I don't want to play a bunch of random games.
That is the same reason I cancelled my subs to streaming services... I had Netflix for a lot of time but realized I did not watch 1 movie or serie per month.... so what the point to pay for it?

Occasionally I watch a movie or try to follow a serie... so it is cheaper to me to ask these on demand than sign for Netflix.

Games is probably similar... I really play (put time and finish them) around 6 new released game per year.
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
Yes. Games, games, games just like last gen, and next year is looking hot.

There's been a few of these articles from the Tom Warren's of the world, but they don't know what's going on in many of Sony's studios/partners. And they fail to understand that while GamePass is good value, most gamers are happy to pay for top quality games and experiences on a regular basis.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
GamePass and 24 studios is probably unbeatable over the next 5 years.

Sony is David at this point. They need multiplayer to hit massive or they need to form more partnerships to get to Goliaths size.
 

vdopey

Member
I own a PS5 (and an XSX) and I'm pretty happy with my PlayStation as a gaming machine.

That said, it does feel like more of the same from Sony. A safe step forward from the PS4. It doesn't feel to me like something that will disrupt the market, or even something that will grow the market.

The minor innovation on the controller does very little for me personally, and the SSD (which they may have anticipated as being their major USP over the competition) has been rather blindsided by the XSX's excellent Quick Resume feature.

Meanwhile in the face of fierce value proposition from Game Pass, Sony have chosen to up the cost of games. Should they be surprised that Demon Souls, Returnal and Ratchet & Clank have arguably underperformed. Even God Of War: Ragnarok, which we would all peg as a sure fire smash, showed its trailer and looked to be a case of 'same again'. There are big moves and acquisitions taking place in the gaming industry, and I'm not sure that 'same again' will work, and perhaps Sony needs to be fleeter footed at adapting and more innovative in its thinking. Add to this a few small annoyances that may test the goodwill of their customers; backwards compat, upgrade paths, censorship, etc.

Sony have announced that they are doubling down on VR but whether that will be a successful strategy or an expensive dead end remains to be seen.

This isn't about console warring or putting the boot in, and there will be many things behind the scenes at Sony that we're not privy to, but as a bystander like myself do you think Sony's current strategy is on point or are there things that need to change?


So you state, its a "safe step forward" from the PS4.

Yet they produced a completely new controller with haptic feedback and new trigger mechanism which already did a tonne more than the standard xbox controller, Xbox did practically nothing new for the controller. This is seen as a "minor innovation"

They added 3 x 10Gbps Usb superspeed ports (usb 3.1 gen 2) and Wifi-6, literally the fastest usb ports and wifi available on the market, but lets neatly forget about this, what does xbox have ?

They created a new I/O complex trying to eliminate bottlenecks from disk directly to APU and new hw based compression techniques which in some cases has drastically reduced the storage size of games.

They have committed to VR, a completely different way to play games and providing a virtual reality interface - cutting edge tech on consoles.

They were one of the first to jump into streaming and have provided backwards compatibility via streaming since then and hold most of the patents around the tech thanks to purchasing onlive and GaiKai.

This is all considered "Safe" - Sony are investing heavily in tech and different ways to play - this is the very definition of risk - they are spending money researching and developing new vr headsets, in new ssd tech new ways to use a controller.

What has Microsoft done exactly ? What new innovative thing have they actually done ? Bought a bunch of game studios and a publisher ? Is that "risky", is that "innovative" ? what about gamepass - a service designed to bleed their competitors dry, based on stuff done by Netflix for Movies and Spotify for Music (both of which have now got about 10 rivals) is this truly "innovative" and / or "risky" ?

What is it that makes you believe Sony isnt taking any risks and Microsoft is ?
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Not really a Sony thing. Just a position of power thing.

During the 360/PS3 gen, Sony had free online, had a system pretty much same price as 360 even though it was BR based and they came out wit PS+ sub plan with monthly games because they needed to play catch up hoping to creep back to PS2 dominance. 360 was doing great gaining a lot from Xbox OG, so they were happy with what they did so they did none of that Sony stuff.

PS4 rolls around dominating, and going into PS5 and they have a system same price as X (though 2 TF weaker), edged up prices to $70, and PS Now isnt as aggressive as GP.

XBox has been much weaker sales wise since One OG/PS4 so they pumped out GP including first party games day one, EA Access, made their systems more BC and cross plat etc...

Competition is good.
 
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SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Sony has been taking an "If it ain't broke approach. They're doing what they have been doing, which is focusing on really great AAAA blockbusters. That approach has worked really well for them, and it makes sense to do that.

With that said, Microsoft has been much more forward thinking. Game Pass is a game-changing service, and they have been building up a stable of talent that will pay dividends down the line. Xbox was almost completely irrelevant to me last gen, but now I love my PC Game Pass and play new MS games all the time.

So Sony is probably going to keep their lead, but they've let MS gain on them.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Sony are waiting for 2022 for their next big push. PSVR2 and an expanded set of online offerings seem like a lock for the year and they have a full-strength line-up of first party titles ready to go.

If you consider XBox to have put their best foot forward this holiday with Forza and Halo, you need to consider Sony returning with GoW, Horizon, and GT7 as a pretty solid counter for the new year.
 
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