Diseased Yak
Gold Member
We all know where that big increase in Live Service spending is going:
MAG Remake
MAG Remake
Nintendo dropped out of the graphics race.Shit, I didn’t realize Nintendo stopped making games.
It's not PC business, either. The future is platform agnostic, and selling your shit on every possible platform is just a stepping stone for a couple of years. End goal clearly is streaming, totally independent of hardware capabilities.
No one of us that you quoted said it would mean decreased single player output but it does show a ridiculous focus on GaaS shit.
Miles Morales showed that you can do a smaller scope, iterative sequel/spin off and have it do really well.
It’s a shame they have apparently dropped that strategy.
The flow chart projects 4 and 5 to be neck and neck until November. Guessing there will be significant black friday deals, and formal price cut early next year.
I’m just looking at the line in the chart in OPs post. Sony projects separation come November. I’m guessing they have a reason to assume trajectory outpaces PS4 from them on.How do we know this?
Why do you say that? What were the PS4 numbers during that Black Friday?
Yeah, you are completely right. That really could be a downside, I did consider it though but I guess I just looked t it slightly differently.
However thinking about it further, I guess regardless of how one looks at it, inflation is a factor. But indulge me for a second.
What I considered is how that $180M is actually spent. I think people sometimes forget that Sony is not paying for games per se but instead paying developers. So when Sony says they spent $180M on traditional games, what that just means is that they spent $180M in wages, contracts, and marketing where necessary for that year.
Eg... A 300-person studio with an average salary of $80,000/year (and this is actually a high average especially when you consider some of these devs are in Europe/Asia) still comes up to $24M/year. About half of that if in Europe/Asia. And then you have studios whose primary function is to be support staff (also no coincidence that most of those kinda studios are in Asia...), so yeah... it's kinda hard to just look at the spending and take it as just that.
Quick snip from the last two years
FY23 Slide on Investment Model
FY22 Slide on Investment Model
FY23 Slide on LTD spend and monetization
FY22 Slide on LTD spend and monetization
FY23 Slide on IP investment
FY22 Slide on IP investment
FY23 Slide on Brand Strength
FY22 slide on Brand Strength
FY23 Slide on release per platform
FY22 Slide on release per platform
FY23 Slide on PC growth
FY22 slides on PC growth
FY23 slides on accessories
Apologies for the size of the images.
Decrease in full game ltv while subscriptions ltv increase… well, people not on the GP koolaid saw how one would hurt the other and well it explains Sony’s growing investment in titles like in the GaaS/Live Services slide too because those are more immune from the effects of subscription services and free games expectations hurting perceived games value and games sales.
Yeah, but the problem is that Microsoft has pretty much hoarded all of them at this point.
Only CDPR and Techland remain, but both of those publishers/studios are a mess in terms of management problems. Sony would be hesitant to invest billions of $ in them just yet.
Alternatively, however, Sony's own first-party studios have been doing a great job at making RPGs: Horizon, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, etc. In a couple of iterations, I feel like those games will become even bigger.
But yeah, a studio like Larian would do them good - if they can use their expertise and hook them up with a AAA team to lend their expertise.
So if this allocation doesn't take away from single player investments, then why do you find it "disgusting"? How does if affect you personally as a gamer?
Nintendo dropped out of the graphics race.
But they are increasing the investment in SP games for 2025 more than they already do. GAAS games is not taking anything away. Its adding up to what we already have.I mean yes but its indeed sad that they wont push more for sp games as they already do.
Has nothing to do with being a AAA game.
Zelda is a AAA franchise
Mario is a AAA franchise
Xenoblade is a AAA franchise
Mariokart is a AAA franchise
Etc…
So Sony is basically becoming everything fans were saying Microsoft was. Big push for cloud gaming, and live services games.
But they are increasing the investment in SP games for 2025 more than they already do. GAAS games is not taking anything away. Its adding up to what we already have.
Do we know the budget for those games?
Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't 'AAA' based on how big both the budget and scope of the game is?
I’d wager those budgets aren’t small. Production values are really good.
I sure wouldn’t classify them as AA.
Yes you are right. It's a personal thing. Can't take them seriously with their underpowered trash tier hardware.Has nothing to do with being a AAA game.
Zelda is a AAA franchise
Mario is a AAA franchise
Xenoblade is a AAA franchise
Mariokart is a AAA franchise
Etc…