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Hermen Hulst: PlayStation is “Reevaluating how we operate” in light of the recent layoffs

Fredrik

Member
Additionally, create your own launcher, moving away from Epic Store and Steam. Build a cohesive ecosystem instead of engaging in unfocused ports.
Nah just go with Steam, nobody wants these other storefronts on PC, everything elsewhere get bad numbers, just do day 1 Steam releases like with Helldivers and Palworld and let the launch hype and masses of people playing and streaming and concurrent user numbers do the rest.
 

hyperbertha

Member
Those are all long ass, bloated as hell, never ending games except Mario. Which is exactly my point. The only successful single player games these days are long ass 30-100 hour ones with endless bloat.

Name me 1 game that was 8-10 hours that had that level of success since I dont know... The Last of Us in 2013.
No bloat in elden ring or baldur. These aren't like your typical western open-world games. Id much rather have these than shallow corridor shooters like uncharted.
 

angrod14

Member
No one asked to see the beads of sweat on Abby's forehead while getting fucked in the ass. ND spend time and money to make that happen.
Speak for yourself, buddy. The only reason I want a Pro is to kick ass with Abby in 8K/120 fps with ray-traced biceps.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
Yes, because working in a stressful environment where you always worry about your job, is definitely going to work long-term.

Sounds like a lot of the corporate managers who can't see beyond the next quarter.
I’m really only talking about getting rid of people that coast. Ever since Covid, the workforce of the West has gotten lazier. I see it my industry, my wife’s industry and others. It’s like this sense of entitlement that people think they’re worth more than they are and they think life should be stress free.
 

Fabieter

Member
Nah just go with Steam, nobody wants these other storefronts on PC, everything elsewhere get bad numbers, just do day 1 Steam releases like with Helldivers and Palworld and let the launch hype and masses of people playing and streaming and concurrent user numbers do the rest.

Constructing a genuine ecosystem doesn't unfold by merely supporting a competitor like Steam. Sony must establish an additional presence in the gaming industry as consoles diminish in relevance. Despite the presence of devoted Steam enthusiasts, Sony should innovate and create a distinct platform. It's imperative that the store is well-crafted. Criticism directed at the Epic Game Store emphasizes the need for additional features. Opting for a simplistic strategy of releasing exclusively on Steam from day one would be imprudent.
 

SNG32

Member
Sony should do more anime inspired games like It would be dope if they did a cell shaded anime inspired Spider-Man and X-Men and it would still look great and the budget would cost a lot less.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Sony London also does PSVR games going by their games history. Not a good sign for VR.

As for Hulst PRing the focus on narrative games again, that’s kind of funny since Helldivers 2 has been a giant success. If you a quality game across PS and PC it can sell a ton. Considering they got to amp up the server capacity to like 700 or 900k they probably got 4-5 millions sales by now.

But if he and the other execs want to focus on SP then a lot of those employees gutted will likely be GAAS devs currently making that batch of unknown MP games
 

Interfectum

Member
Constructing a genuine ecosystem doesn't unfold by merely supporting a competitor like Steam. Sony must establish an additional presence in the gaming industry as consoles diminish in relevance. Despite the presence of devoted Steam enthusiasts, Sony should innovate and create a distinct platform. It's imperative that the store is well-crafted. Criticism directed at the Epic Game Store emphasizes the need for additional features. Opting for a simplistic strategy of releasing exclusively on Steam from day one would be imprudent.
Doomed to failure. If they don't go with Steam or get a big check from Epic for the port, they may as well not bother. Sony is nowhere near knowledgable enough to make a PC storefront anyone gives a shit about and shareholders will have no patience to wait 10+ years for Sony to figure it out.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Just fire the developers you hired simply because they weren't white or straight and start hiring people with actual talent, REGARDLESS of race or sexuality. And stop pandering to the woketards.
It’s like this sense of entitlement that people think they’re worth more than they are and they think life should be stress free.
fire all the wokies. That'd be a good start.

People like this, yeah?

QzYrI9P.png


I was gonna wait for a reply but I just saw the time and can't be arsed doing it later. These people all worked on BG3, a game that lets the player create a trans character, engage in polyamorous relationships and orgies, all that stuff Nick and Hayden would find woke. The game was made with barely anything resembling crunch. It's one of the biggest surprise success story this industry has ever seen, sweeping awards out from under Zelda and selling millions.

On the other side of the coin, Rockstar created RDR2, an unbelievable technical feat that required insane crunch to get done. Swept awards, sold millions.

Politics and corporate culture being one way or another doesn't inherently make great games. Passion does.

The picture bit was less aimed at Fox, but the point about work culture stands.
 
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Sony London also does PSVR games going by their games history. Not a good sign for VR.

As for Hulst PRing the focus on narrative games again, that’s kind of funny since Helldivers 2 has been a giant success. If you a quality game across PS and PC it can sell a ton. Considering they got to amp up the server capacity to like 700 or 900k they probably got 4-5 millions sales by now.

But if he and the other execs want to focus on SP then a lot of those employees gutted will likely be GAAS devs currently making that batch of unknown MP games

London Studios wasn't working on a VR game and they were one of the least talented studios at Sony.
 

Fabieter

Member
Doomed to failure. If they don't go with Steam or get a big check from Epic for the port, they may as well not bother. Sony is nowhere near knowledgable enough to make a PC storefront anyone gives a shit about and shareholders will have no patience to wait 10+ years for Sony to figure it out.

If they opt for a Steam-exclusive release on day one, their gaming revenue is likely to decline. Instead of reinventing the wheel, they could simply emulate essential features from Steam and streamline the process.
 

StereoVsn

Member
I hope he doesn't cut the budget for their single player games, we only need one nintendo and microsoft in this industry.
They need to cut budget and optimize budget for some of the SP games. Spider-Man 2 cost at $350mil and more for next one is ridiculous and mismanaged.

Those costs aren’t sustainable.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Cut sweet baby inc and all the diverse hiring then.
I strong doubt that took more than a few $mil, but sure, all costs need to be looked at.

Like something is seriously wrong if a sequel that is using updated engine pipeline, reusing assets, animation and so on cost that much.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
People like this, yeah?

QzYrI9P.png
I mean, I don’t care who they are, identify as, vote for, or whatever. If you can’t do the job as good or better than the person next you, then you shouldn’t be there.

As a cog in the company machine, I’m a firm believer that the company comes first, then the product, then the employee. I think since Covid, a lot of the West has gotten that backwards and thinks employees are first, then product, and then the company.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
Funny thing is most games including helldivers 2 were greenlighted under shuhei. I dont know wtf hermen is going but he was the wrong guy for the job.

Yoshida and the rest of the execs who piloted the ps4 generation were fucking golden, the fact Sony left them in the dust because they didn’t chase the GAAS frenzy will be remembered as a really bad decision. GAAS have been known for ages to be difficult and expensive to develop and often fail to meet their lofty targets.
 

Phase

Member
PC is becoming a better investment everyday.
One of the few things that have worked out in my life. I decided to go full PC after PS4 release and not purchase another console and it has worked out wonderfully. I got months of gamepass for $1 multiple times, spend next to nothing on games while playing ultrawide for most, and now PS has decided to bring their games to PC too.

I think the younger gen is understanding this as well. The future really seems to be PC and I'm all for it. Those who don't want to build their own PC's will end up buying what I'm calling a "streaming box" (a cheap digital only console) or will use their phones. I think dedicated consoles are really on their way out.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I strong doubt that took more than a few $mil, but sure, all costs need to be looked at.

Like something is seriously wrong if a sequel that is using updated engine pipeline, reusing assets, animation and so on cost that much.
Apparently some colleges have around 300 diversity consultants. Most big universities have thousands of staff members who are not professors. I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of the actual dev costs are going into paying these consultants who actually dont do any work on making the game.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
I mean, I don’t care who they are, identify as, vote for, or whatever. If you can’t do the job as good or better than the person next you, then you shouldn’t be there.

As a cog in the company machine, I’m a firm believer that the company comes first, then the product, then the employee. I think since Covid, a lot of the West has gotten that backwards and thinks employees are first, then product, and then the company.

Picture was more aimed at the others, but I'm editing the post now to fit in the point about corpo culture I was gonna make as I've just seen the time, sorry, bear with.
 

SNG32

Member
Doomed to failure. If they don't go with Steam or get a big check from Epic for the port, they may as well not bother. Sony is nowhere near knowledgable enough to make a PC storefront anyone gives a shit about and shareholders will have no patience to wait 10+ years for Sony to figure it out.
They should test the waters first. Launch a big exclusive on the PC store front day and date and 6 months or a year release the game on steam. Atleast it gives the option for FOMO and makes Sony money. They could still make a bit of money afterwards from the die hard steam users.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Here’s my advice:

-Ditch the pc and mobile efforts
-Sell off Bungie
-Don’t focus on gaas (Helldivers 2 seems to be doing fine)
- Keep releasing amazing single player games
- Release smaller scale games akin to Lost Legacy, and Miles Morales.
Quoted for Truth.

id add, go back to $60 games. No one wants to play 100 hour games. Focus on 20 hour linear games and 30 hour open world games. Get them out in 3 years max. Profit.
 

saintjules

Member
Just fire the developers you hired simply because they weren't white or straight and start hiring people with actual talent, REGARDLESS of race or sexuality.

And stop pandering to the woketards.

That's it. That's all you need to do, and you'll earn a shitload of money.

I was just telling that to someone in my other profession - the music industry. The DJ lineups for big shows/concerts/events are wanting to showcase people on a gender based platform. It's crazy.
 

GymWolf

Member
I strong doubt that took more than a few $mil, but sure, all costs need to be looked at.

Like something is seriously wrong if a sequel that is using updated engine pipeline, reusing assets, animation and so on cost that much.
Yeah, the game didn't looked nearly as good enough to have that budget.
 

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
Multiplayer GaaS dogshit.

A few further details are hidden away in the job descriptions. The lead level designer position requests experience in "designing maps for Coop gameplay (local or online)" as well as experience "on GaaS or 'Ongoing' games".

The live ops system designer, meanwhile, will be responsible for "designing a meta game that encourages long term, sustained engagement with our audience and forming a monetisation and economy design which offers players real value for what they choose to spend with us".
Let’s talk about the current project that you’re working on. To whatever extent that you’re able, I’d love to hear from both of you about what it is you’re doing right now: what it looks like and what it feels like.

T:
It might help to share with you a teaser image that we’re gonna put out.

LS_NewGame-4k-16_9-3840-x-2160-2.webp


T: Our next project is an online co-op combat game, which as you can see here, is set in a modern fantasy London. The key thing about this is that it’s a PlayStation 5 title—it’s not a VR game like our last title was. And it’s our most ambitious project to date.

There are some important aspects communicated in this image. It’s a modern fantasy London, it’s cooperative action. And what we really love about this project is that it’s giving us an opportunity to showcase a lot of wonder and magic. So we’re really excited.
Instead of actually supporting PSVR2, using the talent and experience they’d built up making Blood & Truth and The London Heist, they pivot and chase MP GaaS for the big buck$. They end up with nothing, dead. 💀

Add this to the long tally of GaaS failures vs Helldivers 2.
 
Yes, I'm sure working within the soul-crushing atmosphere of a company that lays off 8% of it's staff every time it's experiencing a "rough year" will foster some amazing new experiences for gamers to enjoy for years to come :messenger_winking:.
 
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London Studios wasn't working on a VR game and they were one of the least talented studios at Sony.

They were also working on a very generic co-op GaaS title that was based on a futuristic London. I know this because I have two friends who work at Sony London in Soho. Once of which, I went to Uni with and studied with. I messaged him under similar circumstances a few years ago in 2019 when Sony had big lay-offs then and effectively got rid of the whole SingStar team.

That being said, the feedback was that this co-op title was very, very generic and very woke. I was told to imagine something like what we saw with FairGames. Allegedly, the studio were pumped about it and loved it but were a little perplexed that testers didn't share their enthusiasm and instead of taking on board their criticisms, they kind of went "Oh, I know what this needs!" and would add a completely random mechanic to the game. Like a chef cooking a soup made from many ingredients but has no real identity and just tastes like it needs a little something, so you keep adding ingredients and tasting but not getting closer to a soup that tastes great.

Honestly, on one hand, I'm not surprised that canned London Studio. On the flip side, I really wish they hadn't. It could have been a great studio, but like Japan Studio and others, they just felt it was simpler to reduce them to a small role instead of really moulding the studio to be what they wanted and needed.

More pertinently and not related to your post, I said that when Jim Ryan said he was retiring that I think he'd been given his marching orders. A golden handshake to say, walk before you're pushed and we can make this amicable and favourble.

Many of these projects being cancelled probably were greenlit under Ryan who thought GaaS was the way to go. The evidence is there and seeing Connie Booth and her team fired, is a major reason to be concerned. But at the time, I was quoted and told my conclusion is ridiculous and things are sunshine and roses at PlayStation. Yet every day, we come closer to thinking I was right. I was worried about Sony from the moment Shawn Layden was pushed out by Jim. His vision of PlayStation didn't seem to align with what the console actually is and keep in mind, many projects that came out within 3 years of Jim becoming the head of PlayStation were likely greenlit and arranged by Andy House and Shawn Layden, both of whom are gone. Developers inside Sony clearly had an issue with this push to GaaS and I think the Bungie acquisition was a huge mistake. It was a knee jerk reaction to the Bethesda acquisition and it hasn't worked. If anything, it sounds like Bungie have contributed to the cancellation of The Last of Us Online title, whilst not hitting deliverable targets themselves.

I am concerned that Sony are going to be a victim of success here, that they haven't been accountable to anyone but themselves and in the midst of it, they've made a lot of costly decisions that have affected the future of the platform and the profit columns that aren't going to translate into growing the PlayStation as effectively, the core unit of Sony Corp. Which to be fair, is exactly what the new head of PlayStation has said.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Multiplayer GaaS dogshit.



Instead of actually supporting PSVR2, using the talent and experience they’d built up making Blood & Truth and The London Heist, they pivot and chase MP GaaS for the big buck$. They end up with nothing, dead. 💀

Add this to the long tally of GaaS failures vs Helldivers 2.
Given Sonys track record, PSVR2 was doomed from the start. It wasn’t even about the tech as it seems like good hardware for the price. But going by PSVR 1 and Vita, Sony barely supports their non-console hardware with first party games. So it’s not surprising they hope and pray third party games carry the load. And the fact it costs more than. PS5 to begin with is a big red flag.
 
They were also working on a very generic co-op GaaS title that was based on a futuristic London. I know this because I have two friends who work at Sony London in Soho. Once of which, I went to Uni with and studied with. I messaged him under similar circumstances a few years ago in 2019 when Sony had big lay-offs then and effectively got rid of the whole SingStar team.

That being said, the feedback was that this co-op title was very, very generic and very woke. I was told to imagine something like what we saw with FairGames. Allegedly, the studio were pumped about it and loved it but were a little perplexed that testers didn't share their enthusiasm and instead of taking on board their criticisms, they kind of went "Oh, I know what this needs!" and would add a completely random mechanic to the game. Like a chef cooking a soup made from many ingredients but has no real identity and just tastes like it needs a little something, so you keep adding ingredients and tasting but not getting closer to a soup that tastes great.

Honestly, on one hand, I'm not surprised that canned London Studio. On the flip side, I really wish they hadn't. It could have been a great studio, but like Japan Studio and others, they just felt it was simpler to reduce them to a small role instead of really moulding the studio to be what they wanted and needed.

More pertinently and not related to your post, I said that when Jim Ryan said he was retiring that I think he'd been given his marching orders. A golden handshake to say, walk before you're pushed and we can make this amicable and favourble.

Many of these projects being cancelled probably were greenlit under Ryan who thought GaaS was the way to go. The evidence is there and seeing Connie Booth and her team fired, is a major reason to be concerned. But at the time, I was quoted and told my conclusion is ridiculous and things are sunshine and roses at PlayStation. Yet every day, we come closer to thinking I was right. I was worried about Sony from the moment Shawn Layden was pushed out by Jim. His vision of PlayStation didn't seem to align with what the console actually is and keep in mind, many projects that came out within 3 years of Jim becoming the head of PlayStation were likely greenlit and arranged by Andy House and Shawn Layden, both of whom are gone. Developers inside Sony clearly had an issue with this push to GaaS and I think the Bungie acquisition was a huge mistake. It was a knee jerk reaction to the Bethesda acquisition and it hasn't worked. If anything, it sounds like Bungie have contributed to the cancellation of The Last of Us Online title, whilst not hitting deliverable targets themselves.

I am concerned that Sony are going to be a victim of success here, that they haven't been accountable to anyone but themselves and in the midst of it, they've made a lot of costly decisions that have affected the future of the platform and the profit columns that aren't going to translate into growing the PlayStation as effectively, the core unit of Sony Corp. Which to be fair, is exactly what the new head of PlayStation has said.

Everything you wrote here was gobbledygook.

When doing analysis, don't come up with your conclusion first and work back from there.
 

schaft0620

Member
Sony London also does PSVR games going by their games history. Not a good sign for VR.

As for Hulst PRing the focus on narrative games again, that’s kind of funny since Helldivers 2 has been a giant success. If you a quality game across PS and PC it can sell a ton. Considering they got to amp up the server capacity to like 700 or 900k they probably got 4-5 millions sales by now.

But if he and the other execs want to focus on SP then a lot of those employees gutted will likely be GAAS devs currently making that batch of unknown MP games

Let me tell you just how things are looking for VR, they were never working on a VR game. Neither was Asobi (Astrobot devs).
 

Jakk

Member
I’m really only talking about getting rid of people that coast. Ever since Covid, the workforce of the West has gotten lazier. I see it my industry, my wife’s industry and others. It’s like this sense of entitlement that people think they’re worth more than they are and they think life should be stress free.
I'm sorry, but how exactly do you see it?
 
Everything you wrote here was gobbledygook.

When doing analysis, don't come up with your conclusion first and work back from there.

Oh I see, I guess I'm getting a fail on my business papers eh?

You don't really need to do that. I had concerns about the way Sony were going back in 2018, but that's by the by. I CBA with people like yourself. Have a nice day man. Or woman. Or non-binary individual. I mean it is 2024 innit.

Don't want to come to a conclusion and have to apologise for having to work backwards on the chance I mis-gender someone.

I'm sorry, but how exactly do you see it?

We've been going through changes where I work which is for one of the biggest local authorities in the UK. We've been told as much. The working from home set up has led to people effectively taking more time to do tasks, getting distracted by their phones, jobs at home etc. Productivity is down 38% from pre-COVID. Plus getting advice when you're stuck with something has become a real pain. I used to have a task that if I needed advice, I could walk up to the floor walker and ask them and complete it there and then. Now I have to wait for an advice line and they're usually that busy that a 10 minute interaction often takes over an hour.
 
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Wooxsvan

Member
I mean, I don’t care who they are, identify as, vote for, or whatever. If you can’t do the job as good or better than the person next you, then you shouldn’t be there.

As a cog in the company machine, I’m a firm believer that the company comes first, then the product, then the employee. I think since Covid, a lot of the West has gotten that backwards and thinks employees are first, then product, and then the company.
exactly. dont forget, if the company doesnt exist... 0 people get paid. bankruptcy is real if you dont start cutting workforce. Also the hiring because of Race/Gender/whatever check box needs to stop yesterday. it needs to play 0 role in the process.
 
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schaft0620

Member
They spent 6+ years working on GoT. Very unlikely the budget was $60m.

ZJjPNgs.jpg

This is the LinkedIn post that drove the rumors . The person left Sucker Punch in 2016, and the claim there is that the $60m was for a 4 year budget. We don’t know for sure what period that covers, but it certainly doesn’t cover the development period.
That sounds like past work, sounds like Infamous and the DLC.
 

WitchHunter

Banned
Those are all long ass, bloated as hell, never ending games except Mario. Which is exactly my point. The only successful single player games these days are long ass 30-100 hour ones with endless bloat.
Now just one more experiment please. Same staff, same production value maximized in 20-40 hours gameplay. After you get back from work, you spend around 4 hours playing each day. So that's 5-10 days of enjoyment per game. Is that not enough, do people need intravenous cocaine fluid right into their brains or wtf?
 

Ozriel

M$FT
If I recall, in the leak, big questions were asked why the budget was so steep compared to the first and no real answer was given. At the same time they were making that game, their studio size swelled. I think they added hundreds of people to the studio during development. Now that may not mean anything, but I have a hard time believing the budget for the second game was around three times higher than the first, without much to show for it in the game itself, and that a bunch of extra, possibly unnecessary mouths were a big cause.

They had a Spiderman MMO in the works that got canceled.
Venom game incoming. Ditto for Wolverine.

They’ve kinda justified their staff numbers.

That sounds like past work, sounds like Infamous and the DLC.

Annual budgets are prepared even when there’s no release. So it might be previous work, but it could very well likely cover (then) ongoing work on Ghosts of Tsushima
 

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
Given Sonys track record, PSVR2 was doomed from the start. It wasn’t even about the tech as it seems like good hardware for the price. But going by PSVR 1 and Vita, Sony barely supports their non-console hardware with first party games. So it’s not surprising they hope and pray third party games carry the load. And the fact it costs more than. PS5 to begin with is a big red flag.
They didn’t commit to PSP beyond the early years, found out that doesn’t work, started a few more PSP games for late-gen like Motorstorm and Resistance but it was too late. They ported some games to PS2 to squeeze a little more value out, less reason to get a PSP.

Vita has a decent number of first party games announced but some of them like Little Deviants look like mobile games. It’s pretty obvious the biggest first party devs are focused on PS4 games and Vita’s another also-ran.

At least with PSVR and PSVR2, FP devs don’t have to target a much lower spec machine, but you still have to commit to build a games library enough players will buy another expensive hardware for. PSVR’s pickings are small but there’s several games on the horizon for a few years. PSVR2 launches with one FP game, from a barely known, just purchased studio and nothing on the horizon. No commitment.

Since late PS4 they’ve started showing a lack of commitment, even to their primary console. They’re following a strategy closer to Xbox’s than Nintendo’s, but which is the more consistently successful and profitable?
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
They didn’t commit to PSP beyond the early years, found out that doesn’t work, started a few more PSP games for late-gen like Motorstorm and Resistance but it was too late. They ported some games to PS2 to squeeze a little more value out, less reason to get a PSP.

Vita has a decent number of first party games announced but some of them like Little Deviants look like mobile games. It’s pretty obvious the biggest first party devs are focused on PS4 games and Vita’s another also-ran.

At least with PSVR and PSVR2, FP devs don’t have to target a much lower spec machine, but you still have to commit to build a games library enough players will buy another expensive hardware for. PSVR’s pickings are small but there’s several games on the horizon for a few years. PSVR2 launches with one FP game, from a barely known, just purchased studio and nothing on the horizon. No commitment.

Since late PS4 they’ve started showing a lack of commitment, even to their primary console. They’re following a strategy closer to Xbox’s than Nintendo’s, but which is the more consistently successful and profitable?
With VR I think what Sonys strategy was to just latch onto the trend and just hope it sells itself. It’s not like they got tons of first party VR games in dev. What happened is they saw all the PC sets selling millions of units and the trend was skyrocketing. So it doesn’t even matter what first party games you got (it’s not like Valve or Meta makes tons of first party VR games either) or whether it’s even BC with PSVR1.

Just release it and if the trend holds, PSVR2 might sell millions and millions of units based off tried and true VR games like beat saber and job simulator which are Top PS VR downloads just like on PC VR.
 

johnjohn

Member
Here’s my advice:

-Ditch the pc and mobile efforts
-Sell off Bungie
-Don’t focus on gaas (Helldivers 2 seems to be doing fine)
- Keep releasing amazing single player games
- Release smaller scale games akin to Lost Legacy, and Miles Morales.
The promise of growth from PC, mobile, and other platforms are going to be the only things keeping PS afloat in the near future. Their current model and consumer base obviously isn't sustainable.
 
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Jakk

Member
We've been going through changes where I work which is for one of the biggest local authorities in the UK. We've been told as much. The working from home set up has led to people effectively taking more time to do tasks, getting distracted by their phones, jobs at home etc. Productivity is down 38% from pre-COVID. Plus getting advice when you're stuck with something has become a real pain. I used to have a task that if I needed advice, I could walk up to the floor walker and ask them and complete it there and then. Now I have to wait for an advice line and they're usually that busy that a 10 minute interaction often takes over an hour.
I have been told pretty much the same thing at my work, but that doesn't mean it's true. How do you think they measure productivity? They just look at a number of tasks completed in some amount of time. There could be a million other reasons why tasks take longer than before, so I find it particularly shortsighted to just blame it on work from home making employees lazy.
 

DeaDPo0L84

Member
Launch the fucking games on PC day one already. You're not making much money on hardware, I'm buying physical PS5 games and selling them and I'm never subscribing to PS+. I'm literally asking you to let me pay you full price for digital PC games.
It's coming, honestly at this point it might not even be something they feel great about but financially it simply makes sense. Games are insanely more expensive today versus decades ago, and if players still want these large single player games releasing them on more platforms is logical. Also the people who play exclusively on either Playstation or Xbox and say they'll abandon the platform if games start releasing elsewhere are full of crap and both Sony and Microsoft know it.
 

Beechos

Member
Nah. That's on Sony and developers for focusing on the wrong things. No one asked for Last of Us 2 to be twice as long as the first, they chose that, same with God of War.

Gamers just want good games to play either alone or with their friends. Baldurs Gate, Palworld, Helldivers, etc all proven successes without needing to spend $500 million.
The suits who know nothing about gaming only go by checkboxes and numbers to evaluate things. More hours and more content must mean more fun and sales.

Having a gaming person in charge then hurts the Financials because they focus on the game and efficiency and budgets go out the window.
 

geary

Member
Here’s my advice:

-Ditch the pc and mobile efforts
-Sell off Bungie
-Don’t focus on gaas (Helldivers 2 seems to be doing fine)
- Keep releasing amazing single player games
- Release smaller scale games akin to Lost Legacy, and Miles Morales.
Sony should sell all the studios and then buy their games as exclusive in PS.

More business advices on PM.
 
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