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Where do we go from here PlayStation Nation?
- Thread starter Ass of Can Whooping
- Start date
- Drama Cringe
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Looking at EA's website their portfolio isnt even that impressive. They got lots of games (lots of sports), but it seems like FIFA, Apex, BF are the key games. And with BF trending down lately, it can be argued it's a FIFA/Apex company. All the others (even Madden?) I dont think move the needle much.
But one thing their games do have a lot of is MTX.
Alebrije
Member
The only company bleeding money is Microsoft....Sony is fine for the next years. Microsoft is the one that needed IPs ans took the easy road : buy instead od develop.
So now Microsoft should reach Sony....but they do not have nothing on its bag...
Time will tell...this could be great or a waste of money...
So now Microsoft should reach Sony....but they do not have nothing on its bag...
Time will tell...this could be great or a waste of money...
Roni
Gold Member
exactly, the perfect 1-2 combo to Sony. buy EA and announce FIFA will be moving away from MTX's.
CoD + Forza + FIFA would just be too much...
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Arun1910
Member
Yes but not on launch, maybe after 2-3 years otherwise it devalues their platform and makes no business sense when it comes to selling PS5s.
GHG
Member
With 3rd party sales it's pretty much all profit aside from any potential marketing deals. They take the cut and have nothing else to worry about. This is why all the 3rd party publishers are trying to run with their own storefronts on PC.
Yeh I addressed microtransactions in the edit in my previous post. It's a more significant proportion of revenue than many people realise.
It's not really about the inevitable decline having any impact on the running of their 1st party games (if they are sensible they will have 1st party ring-fenced from an accounting perspective), but it's about the overall impact it will have on their revenue as a whole.
And that's not even getting in to the drop off in PS Plus subscriptions that losing COD would cause. COD has been a cash cow for them for a very long time, hence they were willing to put the franchise front and center at every opportunity they got.
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icerock
Member
First post in a while, hope you all are doing fine.
It’s bit delusional to downplay the significance of this acquisition. Yes, it’s one mega title, but it’s a title which will sell GoW:R, GT7 & Horizon:FW numbers combined. Every year, I might add. It leaves a gigantic hole in Sony portfolio which they cannot fill. There’s Deviation, who have very talented ex-CoD devs and scope/budget for that title just went up significantly. But, it’s at least 3-4 years away. And, it’ll be a new IP trying to penetrate a market full of quality FPS offerings.
I don’t understand why people are grilling Sony, they just cannot compete on buying at this scale. They need to invest their resources to curate their own content which they excel at, but increase the output. Because, in space of 2 years, they’d have lost some really seismic franchises which no amount of times exclusivity deals can make up for.
I got an Xbox Series X last October, and tbh it hasn’t gotten a lot of use. But, there always was a sense of inevitability of getting an Xbox this gen because the CEO of Microsoft is fully into gaming. I suspect, most hardcore would’ve have to buy both platform because there’ll be more franchises/IPs disappearing from PS. EA are prime candidate for this in an year or two time. CoD/FIFA on GP Day 1 is sort of a combo which can decide generation by itself. And, I believe hardest battle for Sony is not in imminent future. But, towards late-gen, and next-gen.
It’s bit delusional to downplay the significance of this acquisition. Yes, it’s one mega title, but it’s a title which will sell GoW:R, GT7 & Horizon:FW numbers combined. Every year, I might add. It leaves a gigantic hole in Sony portfolio which they cannot fill. There’s Deviation, who have very talented ex-CoD devs and scope/budget for that title just went up significantly. But, it’s at least 3-4 years away. And, it’ll be a new IP trying to penetrate a market full of quality FPS offerings.
I don’t understand why people are grilling Sony, they just cannot compete on buying at this scale. They need to invest their resources to curate their own content which they excel at, but increase the output. Because, in space of 2 years, they’d have lost some really seismic franchises which no amount of times exclusivity deals can make up for.
I got an Xbox Series X last October, and tbh it hasn’t gotten a lot of use. But, there always was a sense of inevitability of getting an Xbox this gen because the CEO of Microsoft is fully into gaming. I suspect, most hardcore would’ve have to buy both platform because there’ll be more franchises/IPs disappearing from PS. EA are prime candidate for this in an year or two time. CoD/FIFA on GP Day 1 is sort of a combo which can decide generation by itself. And, I believe hardest battle for Sony is not in imminent future. But, towards late-gen, and next-gen.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
EA games arent bad because they have no talent. It's because they are rushed out to meet fiscal year demands. Bioware has been a victim of this with mass effect 3, andromeda and Anthem all being forced to release before their march fiscal year deadline. All games that couldve been great were they given an extra few months of polish like Sony does when they delay their games every year.
I can promise you Sony's seal of quality wont suffer just because they would increase their team size. If that was the case, Uncharted 2 would have sucked because they went from 75 to 150 people and the game was even better. The reality of game development today is that you need manpower or you will find yourself in the position GG has found themselves in where they spent 5 years working on a last gen sequel.
One thing that occurs to me is - and I've no idea how valid this is - but just how lucrative are COD players anyway? I mean the sort who are into it enough that they'll jump ship just to be able to carry on playing.
If they tend not to be hardcore gamers, are they actually buying that many (other) games anyway? I know there's all the microtransactions as well, and obviously it's a big hit one way or another, but maybe not as big as you'd first think?
I dunno, it could be that Sony's least bad strategy is just to take the loss and lose a bit of market share. Spending billions on acquisitions or more exclusives or whatever, might do nothing to prevent the haemorrhage of players and just be good money after bad.
If they tend not to be hardcore gamers, are they actually buying that many (other) games anyway? I know there's all the microtransactions as well, and obviously it's a big hit one way or another, but maybe not as big as you'd first think?
I dunno, it could be that Sony's least bad strategy is just to take the loss and lose a bit of market share. Spending billions on acquisitions or more exclusives or whatever, might do nothing to prevent the haemorrhage of players and just be good money after bad.
Punished Miku
Gold Member
Gamers like them that aren't exposed to multiple genres are prime candidates for changing behavior with gamepass.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
A green rat told COD wasn't good but today it's good.
In all seriousness... Sony will be fine if start releasing some of its franchises that they been sitting on.
In all seriousness... Sony will be fine if start releasing some of its franchises that they been sitting on.
I agree.
Kerotan
Member
True and kinda like how Sony backed destiny and made it bigger then halo. But I'm not seeing an alternative out there atm that can beat cod on all platforms.
Modern Warfare 2 will be huge. Cold war 2 will be huge.
Kerotan
Member
And what happens when the competitions authority says they've bought enough and sony go to buy a publisher?
GHG
Member
Ass of Can Whooping
Member
Yeah, admittedly Anthem was in dev hell for a long time, but when they finally had a clear vision they only gave them what, a year and half to build it? It's just daft.
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laynelane
Member
I'm the same about this acquisition, but will care more whenever Fallout 5 drops since I like that franchise.
Derift
Member
i think they will opt for gamepass insteadof console sales since xbox still selling at a loss but ones it turns profitable its gonna be an exclusive
eastcoastkody
Member
this things a GOW/HZD/GoT machine now
time to bring back SOCOM and inFAMOUS please
time to bring back SOCOM and inFAMOUS please
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Good to see you here again. Been too long.
I think MS bungled the launch and even though Forza and Halo launched this year, I still see a year long wait for Starfield. So yes, this might not really hit people until 2023 or 2024 which is good for Sony because it gives them time to pivot, adjust, react, whatever. The pandemic shortage will also help them. Will cod players buy the xbox consoles in droves now? Yes. But are they even in stock. Probably the s and even that console isnt able to do PS5 numbers.
The next two years are important. If MS can buy Activision, they can definitely buy Fifa for a few years until they bleed Sony out. Sony cant outbid them for Rockstar or GTA and they shouldnt even try.
I think the time of timed exclusives is over and Forspoken, FF16, Ghostwire and other cross gen looking third party exclusives just seem like wasted money at the moment. These games are not going to keep people from jumping ship. They are not going to help the PS5 standout as the true vision of the future cerny promised. They need Cory, Neil, GG, and Ted Price to step the fuck up and deliver a vision that is simply only possible on PS consoles and it has to be in the next couple of years before this deal is finalized and Phi removes CoD from PS consoles.
N1tr0sOx1d3
Given another chance
Seriously? If all games from actibliz were to be exclusive, what games would you miss? What quality does actiblizz produce these days?
GHG
Member
EA would be such a waste of money. Please no.
FIFA licencing issues, lootbox regulatory issues galore and aside from FIFA being the cash cow what else are you left with these days. It's one of the most bloated and poorly run majorly publishers.
Plus if you think Jim Ryan is bad wait until you have to put up with this guy:
Just no.
Konami would be a much better buy. Cheaper, legendary IP plus there's still a lot of untapped potential for PES (especially considering what's going on with the FIFA license).
FIFA licencing issues, lootbox regulatory issues galore and aside from FIFA being the cash cow what else are you left with these days. It's one of the most bloated and poorly run majorly publishers.
Plus if you think Jim Ryan is bad wait until you have to put up with this guy:
Just no.
Konami would be a much better buy. Cheaper, legendary IP plus there's still a lot of untapped potential for PES (especially considering what's going on with the FIFA license).
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Deerock71
Member
Cost of acquiring Actiblizz: 69 billion-ish
Amount of money generated by Call of Duty: "billions"
Making it exclusive to Game Pass subscribers:
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Yes, at E3 2017 all they had was that vertical slice which wasnt even a game. Just a bs cinematic demo they had created to get execs off their backs. From July 2017 to Feb 2019 the dev started from scratch.
Andromeda was also given 5 years by EA, but after the studio struck out with their procedural generated planet tech after 3 years, EA gave them just 18 months to ship a brand new 50 hour ME game. It is actually an incredible game for something that was created in a year and a half.
EA mismanaged both Bioware teams and now they are doing it again with the Dragon Age team. The dev on that game has been going on since 2014, and full time since they shipped Anthem in 2019 and we still havent seen it 3 years later.
KiteGr
Member
- Alienated Both Japanese fans and developers by boosting censorship.
- Price hike in Europe.
- We still can't buy their console.
- Discouraging physical purchases (the others are doing this to, but we where hopping that at least one of them didn't)
levyjl1988
Banned
I want Xbox to buy EA and Take-Two.
I want Nintendo to buy Capcom, SEGA, and Bandai Namco
I want Sony to buy Square-Enix and Konami.
I want Nintendo to buy Capcom, SEGA, and Bandai Namco
I want Sony to buy Square-Enix and Konami.
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vpance
Member
tommib
Member
icerock
Member
Also, it’s ridiculous to shut down discussion regarding future of PlayStation. Saw a little bit of it here, and some Discord channels are basically unbrowsable. Some are definitely going way overboard, but there’s a legitimate discussion to be had.
I genuinely don’t understand what’s going at PlayStation this gen. They’ve become so short-term oriented, it’s ridiculous. Their premier teams take 4-5 years on average, but they decide these mega tentpoles should be cross-gen to chase few million sales on previous gen. Then there’s this ridiculous habit of buying timed exclusivity, which is probably the dumbest and biggest waste of resources.
Lastly, while their competition is slowly ticking away mega franchises off their platform. They’re porting their valuable IPs (which also happen to be biggest USP of buying a PlayStation) on PC. Even if these games sales in excess of 1million copies, is $50-60m of profitability worth diluting the appeal of your juggernaut IPs because there’s a sense of expectation building, that eventually everything is going to be ported on PC. You just have to wait, and this window is gonna get shorter. Are they really oblivious to long term ramifications of it?
All of this would be understandable, if they were transitioning towards becoming platform agnostic like Microsoft. But, then they go on and spend $100m on KOTOR Remake, and pay SE a fuck ton to prevent games from hitting Xbox. Then, they’re trying to compete with GamePass through Spartacus, but won’t put their games Day 1 on it, nor committing to a fixed window. Meanwhile, their games continue to cost €80. Then, there’s this whole VR venture in addition to them establishing a mobile division. Like what? What are they actually trying to do? Because, it appears to me, they have fingers in many pies, and are unsure themselves in which direction to commit to.
I genuinely don’t understand what’s going at PlayStation this gen. They’ve become so short-term oriented, it’s ridiculous. Their premier teams take 4-5 years on average, but they decide these mega tentpoles should be cross-gen to chase few million sales on previous gen. Then there’s this ridiculous habit of buying timed exclusivity, which is probably the dumbest and biggest waste of resources.
Lastly, while their competition is slowly ticking away mega franchises off their platform. They’re porting their valuable IPs (which also happen to be biggest USP of buying a PlayStation) on PC. Even if these games sales in excess of 1million copies, is $50-60m of profitability worth diluting the appeal of your juggernaut IPs because there’s a sense of expectation building, that eventually everything is going to be ported on PC. You just have to wait, and this window is gonna get shorter. Are they really oblivious to long term ramifications of it?
All of this would be understandable, if they were transitioning towards becoming platform agnostic like Microsoft. But, then they go on and spend $100m on KOTOR Remake, and pay SE a fuck ton to prevent games from hitting Xbox. Then, they’re trying to compete with GamePass through Spartacus, but won’t put their games Day 1 on it, nor committing to a fixed window. Meanwhile, their games continue to cost €80. Then, there’s this whole VR venture in addition to them establishing a mobile division. Like what? What are they actually trying to do? Because, it appears to me, they have fingers in many pies, and are unsure themselves in which direction to commit to.
Dream-Knife
Banned
I totally forgot Activision owns Crash. Very weird. I'm surprised Sony didn't buy the rights.
German Hops
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
imho, Sony can turn the tide by purchasing Konami and Falcom.
lefty1117
Gold Member
Good analysis. That is one thing that seems to be different about MS this gen, they have a very focused approach on what they want to do and so far all of their moves have been in support of that Gamepass vision. Maybe long term it will be unsustainable and it will all blow up, but right now they have the look of a juggernaut. Like a Comcast or Netflix for gaming ... or maybe Apple is a better comparison.
tommib
Member
At least I know for sure I didn’t write the worst take today.
Banjo64
cumsessed
I’d choose to play Destiny 2 and Apex every single day over CoD. I’d even play Battelfield 2042 over CoD. I haven’t touched Warzone, and that’s free.
That being said, surely the worry for PS now is what if MS buy Bungie? There would literally be no major FPS games left on PS.
Please don’t say ‘Sony can just make a first party FPS’ - have you seen the graveyard of Sony FPS games? It’s not easy, even a massive brand like Halo that has delivered a great game has slumped behind Destiny 2 in users on Steam and never mind Call of Duty.
Ass of Can Whooping
Member
I'm already prepared for that. Fully expect them to get Bungie back at this point.
Thank god it has cross-save though because I've spent way too much time and money on Destiny to lose it all
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GHG
Member
This is the best summary of current events I've seen in a while.
This might come as a surprise to some of my haters on this forum but my PS5 has actually been sat unplugged since November. Yes, November. It's been that way since I got my new laptop that performs very similarly in a technical level and I have it permanently hooked up in my living room when I'm at home. HDR support, Dolby atmos (where the fuck is this on PS5?), the whole shebang.
What's funny about all of this is that I'm now playing through GOW again, via Steam on my laptop. This is a game that I would have happily played through again on PS5 if they patched it with some DualSense stuff and some of the slight graphical enhancements that the PC version has. I would have even paid £15 or whatever if they asked for it for a PS5 enhanced version.
Like, what the fuck are they even doing? I want to give you cunts money and you're giving me no reason to.
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icerock
Member
Good to see you and other old heads still active in here.
I completely agree with you on MS pipeline looking rather unappealing in near future. Which is why I said, Sony battle is not in the imminent future. But, rather when these stable of 32 studios start making games with an efficient time span and they start hitting consistently on GP. Vast majority of them will be poor to average, if Netflix is anything to go buy. But, at that point, subbing to GP could become an impulse for the buyers.
And, that’s where the biggest threat to Sony is. If, Microsoft lock the biggest games to their platform while offering them cheap via service, what’s the appeal of a PlayStation? Because, their exclusives are hitting PC anyway. Which is why I think, Sonys approach to porting is extremely short-sighted. IP can be grown through TV/Movies. Even mobile to an extent. But, gaming side you have to be protective of your IPs. If you want to offer a taste for it, then invest in Cloud to make it playable across array of devices. But, straight up porting is killing the biggest appeal to get a PlayStation.
Take Two would be a ginormous waste of money, they push 1 game a generation. Sony should be using every bit of budget expanding their premier studios while simultaneously building new studios. Publisher buying should be left for MS/Tencent, that’s a battle they cannot win.
Hitchyhero
Banned
Ridiculous thread. Sony exclusives are some of the best in the industry so there's no need to worry. I did make the switch to XSS this gen as MSs offering is very good. I'll still get a PS5 at some point (probably when a slim comes out).
Moral of the story is if you love gaming, don't tie yourself to one platform.
Moral of the story is if you love gaming, don't tie yourself to one platform.
Excess
Member
Is this pasta from /v/?
TastyPastry
Member
i wish they would rather focus on great japanese studios, if they could capcom and all their IPs, konami's IPs and/or square enix that would be a statement. if they can they should also try to get rockstar from take 2, that would be gg but idk if they have the money
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SLB1904
Banned
not without playstation lol
Banjo64
cumsessed
Serious talk about Sony’s future though (I might be laughed at) but I have thought what if they pivot next gen and return to making the PS6 a handheld/hybrid like the Switch?
Do they say ‘ok MS, fuck off. You can buy every dev going for your ‘fixed’ hardware, but our console will run whatever third parties are left and we’ll have a unique selling points over Xbox because you can use our hardware anywhere, and we’ll have an advantage over Nintendo because our hardware is premium with a premium online service and true AAA games.’?
Do they say ‘ok MS, fuck off. You can buy every dev going for your ‘fixed’ hardware, but our console will run whatever third parties are left and we’ll have a unique selling points over Xbox because you can use our hardware anywhere, and we’ll have an advantage over Nintendo because our hardware is premium with a premium online service and true AAA games.’?
Shmunter
Member
The enhancements should be free to PS5 owners. Respect for their user base, building goodwill - of which is in very short supply with the nickel and dime’ing of PS5 patches for slider enhancements and new controller support. The upcoming Uncharted 4 is looking like the most cynical one of all.
Dream-Knife
Banned
Didn't work for the Vita.
I think most of Sony's current customers want to play games on their TV with nice graphics. A home console will always be more powerful than a handheld, and Nintendo has handhelds on lock.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Can't you put Game Pass on the Steam Deck or similar devices?