It's kind of a prestige title yes. But I think the thing that a lot of people are missing here is:
1) Both games are sequel titles to arthouse hits that launched at increased pricing and not on their original systems (gen gap between PS4/Xbox One and PS5/XS), people WILL bounce off series, even good ones for any kind of reason.
2) Hellblade 2 probably got fucked over badly being on GP day 1 AND on Xbox only when its "home audience" was the PS4. Microsoft really needs to figure out how 1P titles should be positioned on GP. They shouldn't be guaranteed to be day 1, and they certainly shouldn't be guaranteed to stay on there everyday.
IMO MS have to totally commit one way or another with GP going forward if it's going to survive. Either they put
actual exclusives on the service (as in, 1P releases only available through GP and don't get B2P physical or digital releases until some months later), or they end putting 1P games in the service altogether (turn it into a perks-based service). Obviously, the former would be a gamble to drive real growth again, while the latter would be them preparing to sunset the whole initiative at some point in the near future.
Both, though, show a definitive stance on their part which is something they've failed to do for years now and which has contributed to the service's growth basically stalling out.
I think E33 is the current frontrunner now, the narrative is too good to not win, sort of similar to Astro Bot last year.
Dunno; something still tells me Geoff is not gonna let his buddy Kojima go empty-handed for GOTY in a year DS2 releases. E33 would still easily win the Player's Choice (basically GOTY voted on by gamers) award anyway, and Best RPG plus some other awards. Also keep in mind Geoff likes to cozy up to Hollywood almost as much as Kojima, and Death Stranding 2 is somewhat symbolic in that aspect too.
If it can't win GOTY or even Player's Choice, that could be a harbinger in disrupting that games + Hollywood synergy people like Geoff want to establish. Personally I wouldn't mind DS2 losing out simply on those grounds alone, because I'm not a big fan of the Hollywood-ification of gaming. But that aspect right there is what I'm feeling will get DS2 the GOTY win. As for gamer backlash, well there was already a lot of that last year when Astro Bot won over Black Myth Wukong, and some people were saying it's because Sony "paid for it" (as if other companies don't pay for advertising or favor at these award shows, especially at events like The Oscars :/).
I can see some of them losing their shit if yet another PS exclusive wins GOTY two years in a row. But, I'm also of the opinion DS2 will get a port to Steam before the year's over with; in fact they could announce the port right at the Game Awards and that'd pair well with it getting GOTY plus stemming crybabies over the fact it's "another PS exclusive" winning since technically that wouldn't be the case anymore.
That's how I'm expecting it to play out, but we'll see I guess.
True, but also it's a damned walking simulator with hollyweird actors attached to it in an era where people don't care about hollyweird actors anymore, so it has everything going against it, story is wacky as hell, "gameplay" is there if you liked the first one, if you didn't, well it's a waste of money to even think about buying a used copy and it can't just rely on the pretty graphics alone to sell to a wider audience
Maybe Death Stranding 3 should cast streamers instead?
Kojima is about making video games as high art but he may be forgetting the business side:
"Sony is pleased, of course, but I do wish I was a bit more controversial. Blockbuster films need an 80 percent approval rating – I don't want to make games like that. I'm not interested in appealing to the mass market, or selling millions of copies."
Not sure they bankroll the sequel unless they just want to chase awards.
Personally, I'd argue that as a platform holder, SIE have a responsibility to produce games like Death Stranding and use them as showcase titles. They may not be the biggest sellers but they do boost the profile of their hardware.
Of course, this is the same SIE that might be gradually drifting away from prioritizing their own hardware through means of action where it matters, and with someone like Totoki in charge I wouldn't be surprised if they scaled back support for titles like Death Stranding to chase more ports on other platforms or GAAS instead. It's a sad but increasingly possible reality I've been preparing for over the past few months.
Not sure what MS has to do with it, Square Enix have been publicly saying the same thing for a bit now. They're the ones we're talking about here with FF16.
Say goodbye to those PS5 exclusives
www.pushsquare.com
Final Fantasy 16 producer and 14 director Naoki Yoshida has said Square Enix is looking to double down on Xbox releases, after its focus on PlayStation exclusivity led to a financial dip.
www.ign.com
PlayStation's exclusivity grip on Square Enix is finally slipping as the publisher's future titles are confirmed to release on Xbox simultaneously.
www.windowscentral.com
Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida discusses how the series will progress in the future, as well as what he'd like to accomplish in the next several years.
www.animenewsnetwork.com
MS were parroting that talking point for years, right as the ABK stuff started intensifying. But yes, Square-Enix have espoused some dumb rhetoric themselves. They've been very quick to lay blame on outside factors versus admitting that their own dev pipeline for some of these games isn't as solid as it should be, and their sales expectations for certain titles being so unrealistic it's become a meme.
Until they address those problems, and until they settle on an identity for FF that most of the fanbase likes and can be built off of consistently through future installments, then multiplatform focus for the IP will only have a very modest benefit at best. A game like E33 coming out of seemingly nowhere and obliterating FF XVI at its own game should be both embarrassing and sobering for Square-Enix.
I think the evidence is pretty strong now that exclusivity for JRPGs is a bad move.
There isn't a huge market for them on Xbox but on Steam and Switch 2 it's a different story.
Metaphor, Clair Obscure and FF7 Rebirth have all sold strongly on Steam.
Rebirth was impressive as it was a year late release and the port wasn't high effort, although it was competent enough. There are some estimates suggested it sold over 1mil on Steam alone.
Then factor the sizeable audience for JRPGs on Switch 2 as well. So for certain genre's exclusivity is no longer the way to reach your audience.
You just kinda proved that JRPG exclusivity can work, if it's (in your mind) the right platform(s).
Welfare estimates all consoles
NS2 ~1600K
PS5: ~300K
NSW: ~96K
XBS: ~68K
PS5 is now outselling Xbox 4.4 to 1 in the US
I swear it's gotta pain Welfare to write these every month.
