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Hermen Hulst is being raked over the coals by PlayStation fans on Twitter

[Sigma]

Member
I'm just now seeing the Hermen tweet congratulating PlayStation studios. And to add to injury, Phil post right under lol. What kinda bizarro shit is this. I'm glad he's getting roasted. HE SHOULD BE. Him and Jim. That's what I expect from the fanbase. Well, at least the PlayStation fanbase.
 
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Drizzlehell

Banned
Bend is working on a new IP, was confirmed by the heads that left. They chose a new IP over DG2.
Oh cool, and you wonder what's taking them so long? Do you know what it takes to actually start from scratch on a completely new IP? I recon that the management change didn't make things any smoother for them, that's like a recipe for a project stuck in development hell, lol.
 
Doesn't make much sense when most ps players dont know it existed. Am I right.
You would be, if players were the target audience. These Showcases are essentially replacements for the conferences that used to be held at E3 and other industry trade shows. They're a marketing vehicle aimed at investors, i.e. the kinds of people who care about money first and games second. Or third. Or not at all.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
I'm yet to be convinced that this is sufficient enough time for any of those studios to be ready to ship another game, especially since most of them kept working to expand their latest games or got sidelined with other minor projects.

We're not asking for games ready to ship, we're asking for announcement, a sign of life.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Oh cool, and you wonder what's taking them so long? Do you know what it takes to actually start from scratch on a completely new IP? I recon that the management change didn't make things any smoother for them, that's like a recipe for a project stuck in development hell, lol.
The management left right at the time of choosing the new IP (plus over 90 other employees going by a recent tweet of the ex boss). I think their CULTural shift are what's giving them issues, honestly.
 
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mortal

Gold Member
That's the thing, what we got yesterday was not a Playstation Showcase.

A gaming showcase? Yes, but as a whole if that was what was shown at a game awards showcase then it would have been fitting. But barely showing anything from Playstation studios and calling it a Playstation Showcase? Nah, no bueno.
Agreed.
Repeating myself from a previous thread, but the marketing for this was off.
Even with the precedent set aside, "PlayStation Showcase" alone sets certain expectations.
In my humble opinion, it was the wrong response, especially with their awareness of nearly 2 years of pent-up demand and anticipation for what PlayStation Studios have in store for the rest of 2023 and 2024.

You were either really into GaaS/multiplayer or being Spider-Man, or possibly both. Other than that, not much else from 1st party this time.
I think most would agree that the PlayStation brand has since become synonymous with the AAA single-player. Although this time the ratio of singleplayer to multiplayer was inverted.
There is also some reluctance toward GaaS models, which probably made it an even harder sell for some of us.
 
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I've disliked Herman Hulst ever since his boldfaced lies about GT7 not being next gen only.

He's also spearheaded some other negative trends since his time at PlayStation like half assed Ps5 "Upgrades" and Directors cuts as well as $70 games and that bullshit where they were trying to charge $70 for Forbidden West and didn't remove the $70 store page for it even though gamers caught Sony in the lie that "AFTER H:FW games will be $70".
 

ProtoByte

Member
50 bucks says that everyone would complain anyway because it would all be CG trailers with no gameplay.
Then don't have CGI trailers. It's been 20 months since their last showcase. Part of being a game studio in the AAA space in the year 2023 is being able to prepare assets for display. The studios should have in-game shit ready.

Factions started development in at least 2019. Barlog's new IP has been gestating since 2018. Ghost shipped three years ago, and it's not like they showed Rise of The Ronin; Sucker Punch should be ready to make an announcement. Team Asobi shipped Astro in 2020. Where are they? Bluepoint?
 
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Not even close. Not even in the top 20 worse. The Decima engine wouldn't exist without him.
Objectively it wasn't bad at all(apart from few too many CGIs), people just imagined Bloodbornes and whatnot in their heads to be shown and started believing that, also so called "leakers" with their "trust me bro" sources add to it. Sony never claimed or promised anything.

Not one NEXT GEN looking Sony exclusive. That's a Fail with a capital F!
 
Only Philbo seems to be positive about the event and his job as Head of PS Studios lol.

P.S That tweet about them spending billions on Bungie only to make games for xbox is hilarious given how Hermans job is to make first party games for playstation.
This is such a silly take. It’s a business decision to make games multiplatform. It’s not their role to solely make games for a specific console just because you want another console to not be as popular for no reason. They’re running a business, and everyting has a cost/benefit analysis behind it being released in a certain way.

it’s honestly tiring and boring to see comments like this.
 

BbMajor7th

Member
They need to make us FEEL something. Anything!
The whole point of these shows is to generate excitement, build momentum for the platform and give people a reason to continue investing in the ecosystem. They failed to do that spectacularly and left people feeling uncertain about where PlayStation is headed. Phase 1 has been solid enough, but there's little on the horizon after MSM2, and even that's not locked.
 
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The reactions are disproportionate, but Sony has a solid resume when it comes to their showcases, which makes them more prone to scrutiny and criticism. This presentation also takes place almost 20 months after the last major one; This has prompted PS fans into thinking that the reveals would be more impactful. Add the CG crap, and you get the unholy trifecta.
Honestly, at this point, I would be fine with smaller SOP events from now on. It will give a handful of games their time to shine, and lessen the hype/pressure associated with "the big conferences"...Sony has one leg firmly in the new communication territory, while trying to maintain aspects of their old approach...
This showcase should have been divided into two SOPs, one for May, the other for September, and the internet PR hit would have been much smaller.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
This is such a silly take. It’s a business decision to make games multiplatform. It’s not their role to solely make games for a specific console just because you want another console to not be as popular for no reason. They’re running a business, and everyting has a cost/benefit analysis behind it being released in a certain way.

it’s honestly tiring and boring to see comments like this.
Their audience is literally starved for first party games. They went out and spent $3.2 billion on a third party studio when they couldve invested that into their first party studios which are struggling to get teasers let alone gameplay demos out after 3-4 years of dev time. That money wouldve been better spent on giving ND, SSM, Sucker Punch, Insomniac and Bend enough resources to get games out faster.

Buying Bungie which was always going to release games on playstation for an insane amount of money is a moronic move.
 
Their audience is literally starved for first party games. They went out and spent $3.2 billion on a third party studio when they couldve invested that into their first party studios which are struggling to get teasers let alone gameplay demos out after 3-4 years of dev time. That money wouldve been better spent on giving ND, SSM, Sucker Punch, Insomniac and Bend enough resources to get games out faster.

Buying Bungie which was always going to release games on playstation for an insane amount of money is a moronic move.
The money spent on acquiring Bungie or any other studio has like nothing to do with existing large studios and the work they are involved in, tho. It’s not like the $3.2 billion would’ve been spent on quadrupling the size of all of their studios to make games 4x faster. That’s not how it works, and you can’t grow studios that quickly without ruining them.
 
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Nah we're two years late. The writing was on the wall.

When Sony started bragging about all the GaaS stuff they were working on was probably the time we needed to revolt.

It's no surprise they wanted to show off all that sweet, sweet GAAS crap. Kinda funny how the first thing they showed was that purple haired abomination from Haven Studios lol.

The only reason Sony has appeared so strong is because MS has been that much worse.

PS- I'm too old for this shit but that doesn't mean it's not complete shit
 

mckmas8808

Banned
And if you are going to show a bunch of 3rd party games what happened to......................

project-eve-hyung-tae-kim.gif

ezgif-5-7d5adc0a44.gif



This game looked next-gen to me.
 

Draugoth

Gold Member
You can complain all you want. In the end what Twitter and Gaf thinks doesnt matter, only what the shareholders and board think of him.
 
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Elios83

Member
We're not asking for games ready to ship, we're asking for announcement, a sign of life.

And how can they announce things that are not ready?
Just a logo?
CGI teasers? We've seen how people love them.
Unpolished early work in progress footage when even something like Spiderman 2 is not considered perfect enough? :messenger_grinning_sweat:
It's just a losing game.
AAA games take 5 years to make.

The reality is that there will be a drought of announcements until the projects they're working on are in a good state to be showcased and they will have to go through that announcing and talking about what's ready from time to time.
In parallel they will have to grow organically and through acquisitions until the point their first party development pipeline will allow them to have big announcements every year, they're not at this point yet clearly.
 
You can complain all you want. In the end what Twitter and Gaf thinks doesnt matter, only what the shareholders and board think of him.
What matters is if any of these live service games they’re putting so much effort into are popular and make a lot of money. I would say most people are sick of live service games and a lot of these new products from Sony are not going to do well. And it’ll take them a few years to realize it, but they’ll eventually go back to the drawing board and put more emphasis on single-player games again. But clearly they need to learn this the hard way.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Like I said in the other thread
He tweets this.
Couldn’t be more thrilled and proud for what’s coming from PlayStation Studios. Ahh Spider-Man 2 🤯.
Which pretty much sums up all that's coming from Playstation Studios.
Was his mind blown because he realised that all they had to show in the 2 years of silence?
 

ElCasual

Member
Ok Maybe Bend's next game was not there because is in prealpha or whatever, maybe that Is the case of the games of Haven and Firewall and was a CGI, Bend or Bluepoint can do that.
 

Aenima

Member
And if you are going to show a bunch of 3rd party games what happened to......................

project-eve-hyung-tae-kim.gif

ezgif-5-7d5adc0a44.gif



This game looked next-gen to me.
They just anounced recently that they are publishing Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin, both games got new trailers last September in a State of Play, this is not the game that needs more trailers when a bunch of 1st party studios are working on games for years that havent even been anounced yet.
 

Draugoth

Gold Member
What matters is if any of these live service games they’re putting so much effort into are popular and make a lot of money. I would say most people are sick of live service games and a lot of these new products from Sony are not going to do well. And it’ll take them a few years to realize it, but they’ll eventually go back to the drawing board and put more emphasis on single-player games again. But clearly they need to learn this the hard way.

GaaS games are cheaper to make than single-player games and are very profitable (if done right), which is why we keep seeing these bloated GaaS games like Babylon's Fall. Fortnite is stupidly protifable and every developer wants their own version of it.

It's likely we will come back to see more single-player games once development gets cheaper and faster with AI and stuff, but this isnt the case nowdays.
 
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mckmas8808

Banned
They just anounced recently that they are publishing Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin, both games got new trailers last September in a State of Play, this is not the game that needs more trailers when a bunch of 1st party studios are working on games for years that havent even been anounced yet.

Stellar Blade is supposed to release this year though. It would have been a good time for a release window at least.
 

Fake

Member
Neil Cuckman next please.


BTW Phil got the same level of heat when release that shit Xbox conference, so nothing more fair.
 
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Killer8

Member
And if you are going to show a bunch of 3rd party games what happened to......................

project-eve-hyung-tae-kim.gif

ezgif-5-7d5adc0a44.gif



This game looked next-gen to me.

Every one of these Asian slasher games are vaporware until proven otherwise. Every one.

Stellar Blade
Phantom Blade Zero
Black Myth: Wukong

They all come out of nowhere with an amazing looking trailer, suspicious levels of polish and the smoothest looking animation ever seen in a game... then disappear for years.

They probably don't even exist.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
The money spent on acquiring Bungie or any other studio has like nothing to do with existing large studios and the work they are involved in, tho. It’s not like the $3.2 billion would’ve been spent on quadrupling the size of all of their studios to make games 4x faster. That’s not how it works, and you can’t grow studios that quickly without ruining them.
First party is why we are all fans of playstation. No one gives a shit about third party exclusives like Godfall, deathloop, forspoken and ghostwire tokyo. People want to play next gen sony games. If Sony has $3.2 billion to invest in their playstation business and spends it on a third party developer to makes games for Xbox then they should just shut their console business and go third party like Sega. I dont pay $500 to fucking EA or Ubisoft, I pay Sony and I expect more than 1 first party game a year.

They clearly cant get them out in time which means they are lacking resources, manpower or talent. Take $1 billion out of that $3.2 billion and hire a few thousand devs from other publishers. Invest in colleges to ensure devs come out ready out of college. Baseball, NFL, and NBA do this.

There are way better ways to spend that cash than on a company that was always going to be making games on playstation.
 
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