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Jim Ryan is on fire

Banjo64

cumsessed
You take a look at PlayStation Productions, and they're probably the hottest Production company on the planet right now. They produced the 13th highest-grossing film of 2022 and have what will probably be the biggest hit new show of 2023 (obviously it's early in 2023 and they've only shown one episode, but based on season reviews, I expect people will be pleased).
The 13th highest grossing film!? So hot!!!!!!!

Ben Stiller Hansel GIF by Zoolander No. 2
 

vivftp

Member
So doing everything except games??

Giving me tv tv tv vibes.

Plenty of games too. SIE's got "over 25" games in development. Based on looking at everything each studio is working on, we can conclude that's just from their first party studios alone.

In addition to that, XDEV is working with a lot of third party studios on first party titles. Some of those include:

KojiPro (DS2)
Arrowhead (Helldivers 2)
Deviation
Firewalk
Haven (before they became first party)
Team Ninja (Rise of the Ronin)
SHIFT UP (Stellar Blade)
First Contact Entertainment (Firewall Ultra)

They've also expanded their China Hero Project and are publishing games like Lost Soul Aside and Convallaria. Phase 1 of China Hero Project began in 2016 and phase 2 in 2018. They recently announces the beginning of phase 3 which will be significantly larger than the previous phases and that's where they announced publishing the two aforementioned games. Source

Speaking more broadly, they've got over 10 live service games in development scheduled to release before the end of FY25. They're investing in mobile development which will no doubt also share some overlap with the live service initiative.

They've been massively growing all their studios over the past 3 years with new hires and several are now multi-project meaning they can fully develop more than 1 game at a time, increasing their overall output. They've acquired more studios in the past 3 years than they have in any other period in SIE's history. More first party developers equals more games.

They've been bringing their games to PC in a major way for the first time since Jimbo took over, introducing their content to a brand new audience.

They've also been growing their support infrastructure for all these games and new studios and collaborations by acquiring studios like Nixxes, Valkyrie and forming PS Studios Malaysia.



So... yeah, everything including games.
 
SIE has published 21 games in the last 36 months. In the next 12 months, they are publishing at least 6 more.

They are averaging more than 1 game per 2 months. How many more games do you think are adequate?

Plenty of games too. SIE's got "over 25" games in development. Based on looking at everything each studio is working on, we can conclude that's just from their first party studios alone.

In addition to that, XDEV is working with a lot of third party studios on first party titles. Some of those include:

KojiPro (DS2)
Arrowhead (Helldivers 2)
Deviation
Firewalk
Haven (before they became first party)
Team Ninja (Rise of the Ronin)
SHIFT UP (Stellar Blade)
First Contact Entertainment (Firewall Ultra)

They've also expanded their China Hero Project and are publishing games like Lost Soul Aside and Convallaria. Phase 1 of China Hero Project began in 2016 and phase 2 in 2018. They recently announces the beginning of phase 3 which will be significantly larger than the previous phases and that's where they announced publishing the two aforementioned games. Source

Speaking more broadly, they've got over 10 live service games in development scheduled to release before the end of FY25. They're investing in mobile development which will no doubt also share some overlap with the live service initiative.

They've been massively growing all their studios over the past 3 years with new hires and several are now multi-project meaning they can fully develop more than 1 game at a time, increasing their overall output. They've acquired more studios in the past 3 years than they have in any other period in SIE's history. More first party developers equals more games.

They've been bringing their games to PC in a major way for the first time since Jimbo took over, introducing their content to a brand new audience.

They've also been growing their support infrastructure for all these games and new studios and collaborations by acquiring studios like Nixxes, Valkyrie and forming PS Studios Malaysia.



So... yeah, everything including games.

Games released to this point were in development since long ago. Only now we will get to see what Jimbo is doing.

If he has so many online games in development, along with TV show focus, I wonder how many SP traditional games they will be able to make.

2023 already looks dire.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Games released to this point were in development since long ago. Only now we will get to see what Jimbo is doing.

If he has so many online games in development, along with TV show focus, I wonder how many SP traditional games they will be able to make.

2023 already looks dire.
So now you have moved the goalpost to single-player-only games, which wasn't in your original comment.

Anyway, SIE is publishing 5 single-player games in 2023 that we already know of. Are 5 games in 12 months enough? In 2024, we already know 4 single-player games that SIE will publish. Is one single-player game per quarter enough?
 

vivftp

Member
Games released to this point were in development since long ago. Only now we will get to see what Jimbo is doing.

If he has so many online games in development, along with TV show focus, I wonder how many SP traditional games they will be able to make.

2023 already looks dire.

Yes, games released up until this point were in development before Jimbo took over SIE (maybe with some exceptions there). Since AAA development typically takes 4-5 years and this will be his 4th year in charge, this is the point where we should start seeing games that were greenlit under his leadership.

As for dire, we haven't even gotten their showcase yet and it's starting to take shape both in the form of PS produced games and third party exclusives

Sony Published:

Horizon Call of the Mountain
Firewall Ultra
MLB 23
Destiny 2 Lightfall
Spider-Man 2
Horizon FW Burning Shores expansion
Stellar Blade

Add to the above that we know 2 unannounced live service games were planned to launch before the end of this FY, so that's 2 more titles at least to add to the list. Add to that games they're releasing on PC (TLOU Part 1, Returnal and more) and games getting ported over to the PSVR2 which launches in a month like GT7. Once they hold their showcase to reveal their next phase of releases, we'll have a much better idea of what else might be coming this year from first party development.

Third Party Console Exclusive:

Forspoken
Final Fantasy 16
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Tchia

Then add on every game releasing on PSVR2, which will be the absolute only way to experience these VR games on console - about 30 games during the launch window alone.


As for how many of their games will be single player games, well look at my earlier post about 25+ games from PS Studios, all the XDEV games, China Hero Project games and all that... then remember that they've got about 12 live service games they plan to release by the end of FY25. So yeah, well over half of those overall titles in development are still single player games.
 

makaveli60

Member
The ps4 dreamteam did the hard work. This corporate ass guy is just reaping what they sowed. Why can’t people understand this?
 

vivftp

Member
The ps4 dreamteam did the hard work. This corporate ass guy is just reaping what they sowed. Why can’t people understand this?

So all the initiatives and big moves that SIE made since he took over in 2019 just spontaneously happened without someone at the top to steer the ship? Obviously everything is a massive collaborative effort and hundreds/thousands of people were involved in pulling these things off, but at the end of the day it's still up to the captain to chart the course and steer the ship. If they've done a good job then there's no harm in giving them praise for that, and it takes nothing away from all the effort that those hundreds/thousands of people put into making everything happen.

Under Jimbo we've seen key people installed in specific segments of the business like Shu in the PS Indie initiative, Hermen as head of PS Studios, Asad as head of PS Productions and Nicola Sebastiani as head of their mobile efforts (former Apple Arcade content boss. Source). Captaining the ship also involves appointing the right people to head up each department and so far these picks have been doing a stellar job. Nicola's efforts haven't really materialized yet as the mobile initiative is still incubating.

Also, corporate ass guy? He's not some random shlub, he's been with SIE since 1994 and headed up SIE Europe from 2011 to 2019, helping to solidify Europe as Sonyland. The man knows how to do his job.
 

Snake29

RSI Employee of the Year
PlayStation is more focused on what they need to deliver. While every company makes mistakes, Microsoft/Xbox seems to be more focused on promising people a lot and especially wanting people to like them.

Also it's funny to see PS Studios support for a lot of graphics features on PC is better and faster integrated then what MS has released on PC so far.
 
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Toots

Gold Member
Thanks op I was expecting pics of that supreme asshole burning in hell where he belongs, instead I get a wall of text :/
 
Games released to this point were in development since long ago. Only now we will get to see what Jimbo is doing.

If he has so many online games in development, along with TV show focus, I wonder how many SP traditional games they will be able to make.

2023 already looks dire.

lol you people crack me up.

They bought more studios and built new studios organically under Jim Ryan. They've also expanded their current studios so that they can work on multiple projects.

They can work on multiplayer games and GaaS, while maintaining a focus on single-player narrative games. These are the very games that are going to be best suited for adapting to tv/film, so of course they'll keep that up and not just sequels but original IP as well.
 
Jim is SIE CEO so PlayStation is under him But MAYBE PlayStation Productions is reporting to SONY Pictures?

PlayStation Productions is a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment. It's not even a joint venture between SIE and SPE. SIE owns it. Of course Sony Pictures, their sister company is their preferred distributor, because synergy. Sony Pictures greatly benefits from the situation as well. They've been mostly getting by with Spider-Man movies that they split revenue with Marvel on.

Uncharted is their 30th highest-grossing movie of all time and I'm sure pulled in a nice bit on streaming for them. They are going to make hundreds of millions on TLOU.
 
Yes, all that PlayStation Productions revenue can be used to invest more heavily in PC.

It all circulates.

PlayStation Productions money can be used to invest more heavily in PC, PC revenue can be used to invest more in original IP and buying studios/buying or licensing IP, which can then be turned into more TV/Movies for PlayStation Productions.

When PlayStation Productions hits maturity, a high percentage of their revenue might come from TV/Movies rather than games BUT that operating income can be used to bring other game-related ventures into greater maturity.

A company with healthy margins can take more risks and those risks generally can turn out well for consumers.

So many people are mad at Sony for being business business business, but they really took one on the chin with the PS3 and for years were bleeding due to R&D costs before partnering with AMD.

I think Jim Ryan deserves credit for creating new revenue streams that are going to put SIE and Sony Group on a more sound footing, which should allow space for innovation they've been known for in the past. There's definitely still some of that DNA in there and you see it with xdev/indie/media molecule/VR.
 

Warablo

Member
Hasn't Jim just been riding the waves from the previous CEO in PS4 era? I feel like he has made a lot of cost cutting anti consumer moves.
 

HoodWinked

Member
I dunno if Sony's dominance can really be attributed much to him, its mostly because of the studio talent, and brands that was built up and established prior.

PS3 was a big set back but i think most of the stuff that was built up in that generation is a huge part of their future successes. Most of their biggest IPs and Studios built up massive calluses working on PS3's retarded architecture that they became engineering gods.

Think about this hypothetical, swap Jim Ryan and Phil Spencer. Put Jim Ryan in at the tail of Xbox One's generation he would have been a complete disaster, Don Mattrick 2.0 he would have burned any remaining good will chasing nickels and would have never been able to rebuild the Xbox brand and navigate the public relations side. Then install Phil Spencer during PS4's height, he probably would have put a death nail into the Xbox One and made Xbox Series completely irrelevant. I can see him locking huge exclusives while simultaneously telling the public how what he's doing is good for gamers and charming the public to believe it.
 
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Something they both failed to do something that Howard Stringer has discussed in the past. The best they've really done under Stringer/Hirai was cross marketing.

Jim Ryan is ACTUALLY doing it. Actively working to collaborate with Sony Electronics on "Ready for PlayStation" and "Best for PlayStation" and actively working with Sony Pictures through PlayStation Productions.

If half of the initiatives he has taken hit maturity, he will be a shoo-in for the next CEO of Sony Group.

There is a reason why Nintendo is worth 61 billion dollars despite not being the market leader in gaming and why Sony group is just worth over 100 billion despite being the market leader in gaming and having several major market subsidiaries like Sony Pictures, Sony Music, and Sony Electronics.

Not all on PlayStation, definitely failures with VAIO (which would be a huge thing right now had they kept it), and Sony-Ericsson now Sony-Mobile.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Every film that grossed more was a sequel or continuation of a film, or was a chinese blockbuster... so yeah 13th, is quite an accomplishment especially for a franchise hitting the screen for the first time and when people weren't going to movies just to see anything yet.
So how does that make them the hottest production company on the planet?
 
I'm just gonna quote myself from a post a few months ago:

Since Jim Ryan took over in 2019 we've seen initiatives from SIE such as:

- Massive studio expansion of all PlayStation Studios, with some of their larger ones going multi-project
- More acquisitions than ever in SIE's history (Insomniac, Valkyrie, Housemarque, Bluepoint, Bungie, Haven, Firesprite, Savage Game Studio and Nixxes)
- Expansion into PC gaming (several PC titles released so far with several more announced and known via the Nvidia leak)
- Expansion into mobile gaming (not yet announced anything)
- Expansion into esports with the co-acquisition of Evo
- The creation of PlayStation Productions (10+ film and TV projects)
- The push for live service games (10+ by 2025)
- Premium subscription services by merging PS+ and PS Now together and improving the overall content library and offerings.
- Appointing Shu as head of PS Indies & Hermen as head of PS Studios. Presumably appointing Asad as head of PS Productions

That's in about 3.5 years. SIE has transformed massively under his watch and they're not done yet. It'll be interesting to see what SIE looks like by the end of this gen.

The man knows how to run and grow an organization, and has a lot of talented folks working with him.

Exactly.

I don't think people understand what these revenue streams mean for them.

I'll give an example that should hit home. Had the PS3 not been a disaster for Sony with massive R&D costs, Sony would have had more resources to put towards the Vita.

The Vita was underperforming and all efforts were placed on getting the PS3 back into the market lead and lower R&D costs for PS4. They couldn't sustain both platforms because they were hemorrhaging money.

Sony is especially susceptible to low income when they're sunsetting hardware and launching new hardware. By having revenue coming in during transition years, Sony can maintain a higher risk profile.

Sony Santa Monica might have been shut down had God of War 2018 not performed well... Can you imagine that?

Last of Us 2 could have really slowed things down for Naughty Dog, but Jim Ryan and team doubled down on them and the IP. That was risky and the risk paid off. Now we're talking about TLOU3 and maybe even 4,5,6 e.t.c.
 
So how does that make them the hottest production company on the planet?

Find me a production company within the last 12 months that have generated 400 million or more on a movie AND put out a hit tv show with already 10 million viewers in the first two days.

If you compare with the 12 movies that performed better than uncharted:

Avatar 2 was produced by Lightstorm, who hasn't done anything since 2019, which was Terminator Dark Fate, which bombed. That's just an example, but if you look down the list, you won't find anyone who has hit like they have here, which is even more impressive given they've just started, but also what they have in the pipeline.
 
Yeah he gets a lot of flak, but he’s really transforming the business:

PlayStation Productions
PC ports
Expansion of PlayStation Studios
Expansion of PlayStation Network
Subscription services
Maintaining high levels of success with established and new IP

The one area I think he’s fell down on is having consistent strong messaging with the PS community. That could be a lot better.
 
What this means is that Sony can use the revenue that they generate from PlayStation Productions and put it back into IP development AND IP acquisition
if this happens in the coming years, fine, but so far his success is result of his predecesors decisions and IPs. I guess Returnal is their last new IP, after failing with destruction allstars, and was possibly greenlight before him? Still too early to judge his leadership imho. Making more movies, series and also mobile games seems sensible and I wonder why the fuck Square let go of Hitman and Tomb Raider and Capcom not making RE in two ways, one the current cheesy action and one actual horror movie fork of the material. Companies seem clueless so far how to squeeze some of their own IPs. If he is the leading man for that and others get it now too, that would be great. Hollywood is in need of fresh ideas anyway, so adaptations might spice it up.
crisis mode Sony PS3 era was the best though, maybe this time they also pump out new IPs without the same dire need to catch up but so far not much has been shown in that regard. Late gen IPs of Sony have often been their best, but we ought to see something soon to starting to up that bar.
 
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