Former Bend Studio Developer, Robert Morrison, says "PlayStation needs to:"

Punished Miku said:
I think most of us didn't realize it at the time but they tried to see how well they can take the Nintendo route and bring in some younger interest already and as far as I can tell, it isn't working. That was Horizon Lego sets and Lego Horizon game, even putting it on Switch. It didn't seem to go that well. I think they see the bulk of their growth opportunity in China. And that means PC. They'll be happy to sell you a console, but growing on PC seems like the next decade.
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Nintendo is their own universe. The gamers who enjoy are Nintendo systems will skew to

- Family fun
- All the Nintendo franchises, which are bright, cute, polished and a total 180 vs. any 18+ only games MS, Sony or third parties make
- A low hardware price
- Online competitive play isnt important
- Big third party franchises arent important

Probably some more I missed. The above will never work on PS or Xbox. The gamers mindset, interest and competitive spirit are totally different than Nintendo gamers. You got Wii U finally getting some day one heavy hitters and ports from 360/PS3 and nobody cared. You havent had a COD game or GTA game on any Nintendo system in ages. Nobody cares. EA barely releases sports games on their systems or they get a gimped version or some stupid Madden All Stars kiddie version. Ninty gamers dont care either.

You can tell Sony's own gamer base has Astrobot. A GOTY platformer. Barely sold. Googling it, it finally cracked 2M sales early in the year. That's it.

Astrobot, Lego Horizon, Sackboy, and any other fam friendly game will never work pulling on Ninty gamers to flip to PS even if they all released on Switch. Or even just skim sales like a PC port and hope it sells on that platform as a sales boost. Ninty gamers seem to have a certain mindset of being heavily skewed to first party games (as any Nintendo top sellers list shows) where third party sales are a trickle.

On PS and MS it can be totally different. First party games can sell great too (Xbox harder to decipher with the GP effect), but the key thing is there's tons of big third party games that are top sellers that can even beat a Sony or MS game.
 
EDMIX said:
I definitely agree but that also disqualifies him from trying to explain how to run an entire business if all he's factoring in is what he prefers to create

I mean just theoretically looking at what can work for playstation and even I personally like single player games more as the only multiplayer game I even play nowadays is battlefield

But there's no way I could ever make some plan for Sony for the future that only accounts for 10% of multiplayer

That's absolutely fucking insane and just makes no sense. It's simply too much of a bias and disregards reality of how consumers are playing games. So if some developer comes up to me and they look like they're about to make the next Minecraft or roblox , Of course I would green light it and see where it goes

I don't play any of those games but I also see the success of them and it would be completely idiotic to ignore reality-based on what consumers are playing solely based on what I personally create or what I personally like.

If you notice based on how I comment I rarely ever make any recommendation on how a company is run based on any personal thing I like...

Be like "make 10 The Last Of Us games and 7 Ico games" lol



I think there's some article Sony very much understands that gamers go in phases based on one company to another so I think they're completely fine knowing that gamers can start with Nintendo and end up moving on to Playstation

That's how it was for me and I feel many other gamers....

I think they already cast a pretty wide net and sort of have something for everyone on their platform
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Maybe he's a super knowledgeable gaming employee who knows how to run a studio. Maybe he isnt great.

But I'll just leave it at this and you decide.

At any company (gaming or not), would you seriously take advice from anyone from the graphics or packaging art department how to run the corporation? If you look at his Linked In career, his entire career is graphics, mocap, animation. Zero business, project management, revenue management, or anything else involving budget or product strategy.
 
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I agree with a good amount of these, but some are silly to me like the promoting outspoken people...so often they're the activist whiners vs. having some secret third-eye insight.

The 4 year dev cycles, having core people regularly producing prototypes, and greenlighting the proven prototypes as smaller budget games I think are most crucial to actually getting new IP out of Sony...at better than a snails pace.

Retaining playstation games on playstation matters less than fixing the cadence of first-party banger releases. AAA games especially are built around hype culture for the first 2-4 weeks for a bulk of their sales, and people won't wait 1-2 years unless they had middling to casual interest in the first place. Sony built and bought support studios just to port, so resources aren't being drained from core teams that still build for Playstation consoles only...if any focus was being taken away it was from PS4 cross-gen + PS5 Pro as a 2nd SKU.
 
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PlayStation use to move gaming forward

Live look at SONY & PlayStation:

Drown Deep Water GIF by Greg Villalobos


Meanwhile PC gamers:

Angry Office GIF


And live look at Nintendo:


Tossing Video Games GIF
 
I think zoomers call this "millennial cringe". We're totally fighting the power man! Sony is in the business of selling chic consumer electronics. Asking them to make XBLA in 2025 is stunning. Indies have never had a shorter pipe to the cash register and Sony should transfer hundreds of millions to guys who wear undersized flannels and drink weird coffee products to maybe shorten that pipe and help them get exposure. Maybe if they record the trailer of their game on a VHS tape and send it to the local news station it can finally get the publicity it needs! Or what if we get signatures?? A lot of those bullets are perfectly salient, and I agree with them, but then he just throws in some Lisa Simpson moonshots that ruin the whole thing and make the "AAA Dissent" side look dazed and quixotic.
 
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If you want to have fiercely loyal customers, doing everything outlined in this X post would do it. We'll call that the Nintendo approach.

If you want to make stupid amounts of money, make hit GaaS games and put them on everything. We've seen the numbers from leaked documents, a hit single player game doesn't make anywhere near the amount of gross profit a hit GaaS game makes. The problem is that Sony apparently can't reliably make a hit GaaS game, and all those sunk dev costs tank the company's bottom line and frustrates customers who now have to settle with one major tentpole release a year.

TLDR: Dude's right, just make great single player games and promote a rabid fan base and you'll stay the market leader for console generations to come.
 
Shifty1897 said:
If you want to have fiercely loyal customers, doing everything outlined in this X post would do it. We'll call that the Nintendo approach.

If you want to make stupid amounts of money, make hit GaaS games and put them on everything. We've seen the numbers from leaked documents, a hit single player game doesn't make anywhere near the amount of gross profit a hit GaaS game makes. The problem is that Sony apparently can't reliably make a hit GaaS game, and all those sunk dev costs tank the company's bottom line and frustrates customers who now have to settle with one major tentpole release a year.

TLDR: Dude's right, just make great single player games and promote a rabid fan base and you'll stay the market leader for console generations to come.
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Thing is, the 'console war' is won. Investors now want more … pitching a strategy of looking to the past isn't going to excite them
 
Bunch of Pc and Xbox fans in here trying to gaslight people into thinking exclusives for Playstation dont matter......hilarious. Outside of Helldivers 2 the only Playstation ports that had any success was Horizon Zero Dawn, which was the first Playstation port, and Stellar Blade, which was a wet dream for Pc nerds to mod. The funny part is that if Pc gamers knew Playstation owned Helldivers 2 before it released, it wouldnt have sold as much as it did. They were port begging for Sony games for years, yet those same games they port begged for didnt sell anything. They just want Sony to follow in the foot steps of Microsoft so they're less of threat to Steam and Nintendo. The games Sony ported to Switch did nothing and soon we'll get to see how dumb it was to port Helldivers to a dying console. All this has done is just damaged their brand.

Its crazy how Sony is still yet to realize the full potential of Playstation. The bulk of the revenue they make comes from getting players to by games, DLC and subscriptions through the PSN store, so its essential people buy their hardware. They're more than just a publisher now, they're a storefront. Playstation is the second biggest platform for traditional flat screen gaming, and their revenue dwarfs what Steam and Nintendo brings in. Playstation would dwarf Xbox too if Microsoft didnt just buy 2 of the biggest western dev studios this gen.

The other concerns can be fixed by reoganization. Quality game mechanics and narrative storytelling over the quanity of time it takes to beat them. Find more proven indie studios to fund new games, or license old IPs to them and give creative liberty. Build a premium handheld thats aimed at penetrating mobile gaming dominated territories. Find a way for studios to share more technology and ideas. They shouldnt have any studios using Unreal Engine 5 over the Decima engine.
 
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Helldivers 2 was one (if not the most) successful Sony games of all time but apparently Sony should do less of that and more 200m singleplayer games that struggle to sell after reaching 10 millions of copies because their audience are limited.
 
Generic said:
Helldivers 2 was one (if not the most) successful Sony games of all time but apparently Sony should do less of that and more 200m singleplayer games that struggle to sell after reaching 10 millions of copies because their audience are limited.
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Not what he said. He said Sony should focus 90% on single player. Helldivers 2 fits perfectly in that scenario. So did games like Warhawk and MAG.
 
Angry_Megalodon said:
These ones are very strong statements, and they clearly speak of what is wrong with Western devs, in general.

+ Encourage, reward and promote the outspoken team members more, not the yes men
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That one in particular, which is very much the reason why we didn't get Days Gone 2 going and greenlit at the studio-level stage.
 
Generic said:
Helldivers 2 was one (if not the most) successful Sony games of all time but apparently Sony should do less of that and more 200m singleplayer games that struggle to sell after reaching 10 millions of copies because their audience are limited.
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Yes we need more Concords, Fairgame$, TLOU online, Marathons, and all the GAAS that got canceled. Helldivers was the only success story from Sony GAAS atemps. Not the most Successfull Sony game of all time though, thers plenty of Sony single player games that sold more on Playstation consoles alone than Helldivers 2 did being multiplatform.
 
Topher said:
Not what he said. He said Sony should focus 90% on single player. Helldivers 2 fits perfectly in that scenario. So did games like Warhawk and MAG.
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i heard everything you just said, so basically zero MP? No Gran Turismo 8?

(starts cancelling Helldivers 3 and MAG2 and Spacehawk)
 
Generic said:
Helldivers 2 was one (if not the most) successful Sony games of all time but apparently Sony should do less of that and more 200m singleplayer games that struggle to sell after reaching 10 millions of copies because their audience are limited.
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HD 2 is a second party game... and while it sold really well, we still didnt get a killer first party from sony, all their SP "blockbuster" games have been subpar sequels with short legs ... so HD2 being the most successful just proves how fucked up sony first party output is 5 year into this gen...

As much as I dont give a shit about Cuckman new girl boss game.. it may be the only real first party blockbuster this gen... MAYBE...


Edit.:

And btw this idea of sony using gaas money to make SP games is laughable... if they make 1 gaas success.. they want two.. when they make two they want four.. and so on. Specially if their strategy in the long run is multiplat software sales and engagement and not consoles/hardware
 
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Kilau said:
Because I loved PS, been with them since the week of the PS1 launch. Every system day one including PS5, PSP, Vita, both VRs. They've changed and it makes me sad.
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If you're such a longtime fan, then you'd know that meaningful Playstation first party exclusives were not even a thing prior to the PS3 generation. The biggest franchises were birthed then.

Currently they're just being risk averse because the economics of games development in the AAA space has changed and games are just so absurdly expensive to make now. The PS identity they created during the PS3 gen was one of the highest production value single-player games. That's what won them the PS4 gen and beyond.

Unfortunately, bleeding edge graphics, highest possible production values, single player games are the genre that is the hardest to make work financially now that game dev costs have so ballooned. Without excess MTXs and other such scummy practices that third parties like Ubisoft use, Sony didn't have anywhere to go than to expand into the GaaS space to attempt to catch at least one multi-billion dollar, money-printing GaaS whale that could fund all their SP AAA endeavours.

They haven't quite found the success they were looking for with GaaS. So, they're now trying to figure out how they can continue doing what they do best while ensuring they remain profitable. They're a business after all.

Japan studio, outside of PD and Asobi team, hadn't done anything meaningful or commercially successful in decades. They needed to go. Sony Japan's best games have been partnerships with third party studios. Those will continue.
 
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PixelatedBeast said:
Bunch of Pc and Xbox fans in here trying to gaslight people into thinking exclusives for Playstation dont matter......hilarious. Outside of Helldivers 2 the only Playstation ports that had any success was Horizon Zero Dawn, which was the first Playstation port, and Stellar Blade, which was a wet dream for Pc nerds to mod. The funny part is that if Pc gamers knew Playstation owned Helldivers 2 before it released, it wouldnt have sold as much as it did. They were port begging for Sony games for years, yet those same games they port begged for didnt sell anything. They just want Sony to follow in the foot steps of Microsoft so they're less of threat to Steam and Nintendo. The games Sony ported to Switch did nothing and soon we'll get to see how dumb it was to port Helldivers to a dying console. All this has done is just damaged their brand.

Its crazy how Sony is still yet to realize the full potential of Playstation. The bulk of the revenue they make comes from getting players to by games, DLC and subscriptions through the PSN store, so its essential people buy their hardware. They're more than just a publisher now, they're a storefront. Playstation is the second biggest platform for traditional flat screen gaming, and their revenue dwarfs what Steam and Nintendo brings in. Playstation would dwarf Xbox too if Microsoft didnt just buy 2 of the biggest western dev studios this gen.

The other concerns can be fixed by reoganization. Quality game mechanics and narrative storytelling over the quanity of time it takes to beat them. Find more proven indie studios to fund new games, or license old IPs to them and give creative liberty. Build a premium handheld thats aimed at penetrating mobile gaming dominated territories. Find a way for studios to share more technology and ideas. They shouldnt have any studios using Unreal Engine 5 over the Decima engine.
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If Xbox steps even further out of the picture, how much is that exclusivity worth going forward? What angle do you take in the debate if the guy on the other side is just holding the check stubs from Steam? It's hard to quantify in the best of times (fiercest competition), but with Xbox bowing out, it's really hard to attach numbers to that pitch.

How much money do you think Valve has sent to Sony over the course of 2024 and this far in 2025? We know hardware margins are tough, so what number do we multiply that by to bring in the same profit in console sales? Is Sony confident they can convert that many million PC gamers to try out a PlayStation? With the profitability problems they're having on the software side lately, it's harder to justify not doing the easy Steam port. We haven't even gotten the bill for birthing Marathon yet.
 
  • No, the ship has sailed here
  • No, that's short sighted,
  • Feels arbitrary but I get his point
  • Yes, and actually finish the game upon release date
  • Yes, but haven't they done this for many years now?
  • Yes, but as long as they don't lay them off within 5 years
  • Only if they can unionize
  • Yes, will prevent tribalism within the Sony umbrella
  • This seems redundant with #5 but could revive the creativity of the PS1 to PS3 era
  • Yes, though this could lead to bubbles
  • Absolutely yes, will prevent another Concord, but could also lead to "wag the dog" situations
 
I would have understood this if Sony was getting into trouble.

They seem to be setting records for revenue/profit/sales etc.

Nintendo, pls check their revenue before making that comment.

Revenue=/= profit, sure, you need revenue before you can turn it into profit.
 
Generic said:
Helldivers 2 was one (if not the most) successful Sony games of all time but apparently Sony should do less of that and more 200m singleplayer games that struggle to sell after reaching 10 millions of copies because their audience are limited.
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Nah, it's up there with Days Gone sales wise but Sony has bigger games than those.
 
bitbydeath said:
Shorter dev times would mean spending less and making more games
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Maybe the reduction in features for their titles and the focus on single player experiences would reduce (in the eyes of investors) their value?

Maybe this would cost them more when it comes to raising funds to make said games?
 
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Miyazaki's Slave said:
So spend more and make less?
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If money is the only goal PlayStation should start selling cigarettes or booze or guns, but since they're in the video games business it might be a good idea to make the people who support them happy. Those people have largely rejected the likes of Marathon and Concord so scrap those projects and make the kind of games long-time PlayStation fans want and have supported since inception.
 
All of those are good, but the mandatory one has to be the four year development cycles.

Not only would games come out more frequently, but Sony would be forced to cancel the shit games more often and sooner.
 
Miyazaki's Slave said:
Maybe the reduction in features for their titles and the focus on single player experiences would reduce (in the eyes of investors) their value?

Maybe this would cost them more when it comes to raising funds to make said games?
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Make more money vs games having better value in their eyes.

I think they'd still side with the money personally.
 
nial said:
Does funding stuff like Lost Soul Aside, Exiledge and DaBa: Land of Water Scar after they were originally announced as independent projects kinda count as this?
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Exactly, you don't even need to look at future games for evidence of that. Team Ninja and Shift Up too last year. Both independent, both single player, and clear evidence that Stellar blade was funded after a proven prototype.
 
Some crazy populist stuff that ain't gonna work. Typical whine of "former"

Kagoshima_Luke said:
None of this will change until PlayStation's profits start sliding.
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If profits will slide - none of these points will happen as most of them lead to decrease in sales and profits, not increase (like decrease outsource lol, so much salt from "former").

Like:
- Games only on Playstation - smaller sales/profit
- Only SP games - smaller sales/profit and killed future. SP games market is shrinking, you know, and younger gamers massively prefers online/live service games.
- 4 years dev cycle = drop in quality/scope, it'll be harder to differentiate themselves for young adult+ crowd, leading drop in sales (A/AA in general doesn't sell a lot)
- shorten scope - see above
- Indie funding is venture capitalism (it's not that Sony don't do it) - a lot of misses for a few hits. In low profit environment it's too risky and will be cut first.
- More staff positions means more cost as Sony can't replace expensive staff positions with cheap outsource to Eastern Europe/Asia
- Special teams that drink coffee and blablabla all days long is further increase in costs for some "ideas" that can be compiled by junior game designers as side activity.
- Listening to each member - as if there are already not too much democracy in western teams leading to their poor manageability and thus long devs time/budget. You know - Asia that everyone hail this generation and who has better management of time and budget tends to be very authoritative and has this "culture of listening" in very limited scope.
- Reward outspoken - as if any company doesn't already strive for this. It's just don't work (it's a psychological and personal) and there are little what can be done to enforce it.
 
Topher said:
I used to agree with this, but at this point, I'd rather Sony find some sort of focus on their own platform because they are all over the damn place.
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Nah fuck that. They make enough money to be able to manage. Don't continue to deprive me of Gran Turismo and MLB The Show because folks wanna protect their plastic box from some unknown evil. Sony is a big boy, they can multitask and bring me the goods!
 
yogaflame said:
I agree 100%.

And let me just add, remove woke agenda particularly twisted gender ideology and twisted DEI on Sony PS games. Spider man 2 and TLOU 2 are so woke infested and sadly it also looks like Intergalactic and GOY will be the same.
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Fuck YEAH!!!

Bring fucking BOOBS BACK !!!
 
PixelatedBeast said:
Bunch of Pc and Xbox fans in here trying to gaslight people into thinking exclusives for Playstation dont matter......hilarious. Outside of Helldivers 2 the only Playstation ports that had any success was Horizon Zero Dawn, which was the first Playstation port, and Stellar Blade, which was a wet dream for Pc nerds to mod.
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Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and Spider-Man also did decently well. Delayed ports like these take years to build up sales numbers when the hype period has passed.

Either PC games sell poorly on PC and thus exclusives being on PC are no threat to Sony console sales, or PC games sell amazingly well on PC and thus a potential threat to Sony console sales. Selling poorly on PC and simultaneously having a noticeable impact on console sales doesn't really make that much sense.
 
yogaflame said:
I agree 100%.

And let me just add, remove woke agenda particularly twisted gender ideology and twisted DEI on Sony PS games. Spider man 2 and TLOU 2 are so woke infested and sadly it also looks like Intergalactic and GOY will be the same.
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Remove ANY type of real life politics in my games but yes especially inclusion. Im 40 years old and never in my life did I play a game and think...oh theres too many white or balck people in the game. Once we got to a point where they bent the knee by removing sexes in a game but instead got "body type A and B", then you know this isnt just a game anymore. Even though you identify as a sexless turtle, you are still a dude with a penis and not an actual turtle so chose the male character.
 
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