Support NeoGAF

[UniformDeliverance]

I'll never understand posts like this.

More consumers who can access Sony games is good for Sony, they can sell more games. It's also good for consumers, they don't have to buy another box to play a game, they can just play it on their existing box.

Who benefits from exclusivity? Fans who attribute personal value and identity from brand allegiance? Like what's happening here?

 

[Madserb2023]

I wish Sony would but they aren't. You normally have threads saying Nintendo gets a pass but those people must not play Nintendo games. I remember the discussion as to why there was a decline in physics and interactivity from the PS3 to PS4 due to the Jaguar CPU but the Zem 2 will change all this. Never happened and people pretend they didn't want it in the first place. At least Nintendo tries to do it. Also, Mario Kart World and Bananza are exclusive to the switch 2. If it was Sony these would have cross gen. Even with 150 million Switches they still release games as they did 20 years ago.

 

[ZehDon]

No, but mainly because they have no competition to encourage exclusives. That's how Xbox and PlayStation used to joust with each other but that time is gone.

So basically......I blame Phil Spencer

On topic, there's two reasons for what's happening: Ryan's GAAS push decimated their line up, and Sony has no competition. It'll take their studios a few years to clean up the disaster Ryan left behind, so the second half of the generation is basically empty. Most of their devs are done for this gen, with basically Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch left. They could potentially buy up exclusives to fill the gap, but why spend big to get system selling exclusives when there's literally no reason to? What are gamers going to do - suddenly buy the Xbox they already decided they don't want? The situation only gets worse for the PS6: you'll be getting the games they started after Ryan's GAAS push was killed, so they'll trickle out cross gen titles across virtually the entire PS6 generation to make up for the lost revenue. I imagine remasters and remakes fill the gaps.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

The future of the console making brand might depend on it.

 

[DenchDeckard]

They will continue to focus on exclusives like they are now. 6 to 12 month exclusivity window for self developed, self funded, published and moneyhatted.

It works for them, why change.

 

[Gambit2483]

They will continue to support PC with their Single Player titles that are no longer pulling in "significant" numbers (sales or otherwise) on their platform.

However, They will then re-evaluate that PC support to some degree based on what Xbox does in that PC space. They do NOT want their Single Player games associated with Xbox at all, in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Effigenius]

resitence killzone WARHAWK

Yes, I agree. Those games are all bombs.

 

[Brigandier]

I don't think Sony will ever be the Sony from PS3 and PS4 era again as they have no real competition anymore and are making lots of money from the PSN store and 3rd party revenue... They will probably close a few studios down soon sadly and it won't be the devs fault either it'll be Hulsts and Jim Ryan's for forcing many of their studios to make GaaS games.

I don't like how Sony Japan have very little input in developing PlayStation games it's bizarre, It's just western slop this gen.

Worst gen ever for me.

 

[kazuyamishima]

I'm not sure this is a fair standard, since, outside Nintendo, most companies bailed on the handheld market after a single failure, whereas that's not true of the console market.

Look at the Lynx, Nomad, N-Gage, and Wonder Swan.

The potential downside of the handheld market is so low that the vast majority of hardware manufacturers have decided that it's not worth the gamble.

None of these ones have/had the brand power or production capacity.

The only other company that has capacity atm, aside from Nintendo, is Sony.

They bailed on the Vita due to their financials at the time, they had to choose between the PS4 or the Vita and well, the rest is history.

We'll have to have and see how the PS6 portable will do when it launches

 

[RetroGamingUK]

We'll have to have and see how the PS6 portable will do when it launches

As long as it plays all the home console games I don't see how it could fail unless it has to be sold at a huge loss.

It's just another way of expanding the PS5 (or PS6) install base.

 

[Cakeboxer]

Sony has conditioned its audience to expect outrageously expensive cinematic graphics showcases. A small, affordable game like Astro Bot therefore can't achieve the same level of success on this platform as it could on the Switch. Over time, this focus on exclusive games will become very costly for Sony. But as their success shows, they don't even really need to do it. People are buying the console like hotcakes anyway.

 

[kazuyamishima]

As long as it plays all the home console games I don't see how it could fail unless it has to be sold at a huge loss.

It's just another way of expanding the PS5 (or PS6) install base.

And it'll possibly be digital only, but they're going with AMD and if this thing will cost around $400-500 and run games decently, it could do some numbers.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Sony has conditioned its audience to expect outrageously expensive cinematic graphics showcases. A small, affordable game like Astro Bot therefore can't achieve the same level of success on this platform as it could on the Switch. Over time, this focus on exclusive games will become very costly for Sony. But as their success shows, they don't even really need to do it. People are buying the console like hotcakes anyway.

Really hoping next gen solves a lot of the development issues through brute force

Things that need to go…

- Bespoke face/body rigging (just use Metahuman)

- Multiple LOD models (use nanite instead)

- Baked lighting (use RT/PT global illumination instead)

 

[poppabk]

Thread 'Has the PS5 already cemented itself as the worst Playstation generation in history?'

Jan 20, 2025

In my opinion, outside of some type of a miracle in the next few years, the answer is definitely "yes". Particularly with the news of Bend's and Bluepoint's projects being canned.

There's been some good/great games, but just no where near the level of Sony's past generations thus far.


Personally, I'd rank the generations as such:

1. Playstation 2
2. Playstation 4
3. Playstation 3
4. Playstation
5. Playstation 5

• analog_future
• Replies: 1,950
• Forum: Gaming Discussion

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Over 1000 people voted too

So Playstation is having a tough time making good 1st party games. Why would they want them to be the main reason to buy a playstation?

 

[KungFucius]

Switch 2 is the fastest selling console in history. Do you think Sony might re-consider their strategy of porting every game?

leaving xbox out of this as it isn't immediately clear to me whether we will even have another xbox, or at least as we know it.

Switch 2 had the most units available at launch and is the successor to a system that sold over 150M units. PS5 was sold out for years and could have done the same if they stockpiled systems. Its really a stupid thing to focus on since it does not guarantee long term success. Both systems will likely sell less than their predecessors. In the case of Sony that is kind of a failure since Xbox is disappearing.

How the fuck do you also conflate porting games to PC with this one number panic is beyond me. Yikes.

 

[Topher]

On topic, there's two reasons for what's happening: Ryan's GAAS push decimated their line up, and Sony has no competition. It'll take their studios a few years to clean up the disaster Ryan left behind, so the second half of the generation is basically empty. Most of their devs are done for this gen, with basically Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch left. They could potentially buy up exclusives to fill the gap, but why spend big to get system selling exclusives when there's literally no reason to? What are gamers going to do - suddenly buy the Xbox they already decided they don't want? The situation only gets worse for the PS6: you'll be getting the games they started after Ryan's GAAS push was killed, so they'll trickle out cross gen titles across virtually the entire PS6 generation to make up for the lost revenue. I imagine remasters and remakes fill the gaps.

Pretty much agree. We've seen this side of Sony before where they take gamers for granted. Unfortunately there isn't an Xbox 360 equivalent to bring PlayStation back to earth. I look at Bungie, Firewalk, Haven.......all investments that could have been boosting first party single player and it has gone to shit. So I joke about blaming Phil Spencer, but Phil Spencer didn't force Sony to make bad investments in Gaas. As a result, the folks who bought PlayStation 5 for the awesome single player games are left with a drip feed and staring into 2026 without a clue of what is going to be there.

 

[Markio128]

Let's get real here. Only Nintendo have the evergreens than enable that strategy.

The only constants that Sony have in the 1st party arena are Gran Turismo, and perhaps GOW. At a push R&C, but that franchise has never been a big seller. They are constantly having to create new IPs, which is very expensive, and very time consuming, hence why we are seeing less and less each generation.

I think if you made a list of all of PlayStation's new IPs since PS1 compared to Nintendo's it would make for interesting reading.

 

[Sakura]

I'll never understand posts like this.

More consumers who can access Sony games is good for Sony, they can sell more games. It's also good for consumers, they don't have to buy another box to play a game, they can just play it on their existing box.

Who benefits from exclusivity? Fans who attribute personal value and identity from brand allegiance? Like what's happening here?

I think fans benefit from exclusivity.
If a company is trying to convince you to buy their box, then they are going to do things like being willing to take losses, make a broader genre of titles, invest in more niche titles or fund 3rd parties to make games, etc. We benefit by getting better/more games.
In an ideal world we could have both, but I don't really think that's what will happen. As companies start to move more third party (not saying Sony is there yet), then they will start experimenting less, and focus more on just making whatever titles will have the highest ROI. You'll see less games overall in my opinion.

 

[Sephiran]

Its not comparable, Nintendo first party games have always sold more than Sony first party games. First party games have dominated Nintendo consoles forever, while third party games have dominated every PS console generation.

In general, people buy Nintendo consoles to play Super Mario, Mario Kart, Smash, Zelda, Animal Crossing. They buy Playstation to play CoD, GTA and Fifa. I don't think exclusives are super vital to Sony from a console selling perspective, because they get a lot more people that want to play FIFA buying a PS over people that want to play Death Stranding.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Most of the games on this list sell better on PS consoles with the exceptions of marvel rivals, apex legends and possibly rainbow six siege, roblox and maybe maybe fortnite.

Why would the companies pull out their games from PS systems?

i am not saying it's gonna happen at any point soon. Epic pulled Fortnite off iOS for years over petty legal squabbles and trying to get their store on iOS because they wanted 100% of the revenue. If you look far enough down the line any of these companies could say you can only play our game by streaming it to your TV or on our app or whatever. It's just all uncertain and entirely out of their control.

 

[Baemono]

Who benefits from exclusivity? Fans who attribute personal value and identity from brand allegiance? Like what's happening here?

platform holders benefit from exclusivity

 

[Three]

Most of the games on this list sell better on PS consoles with the exceptions of marvel rivals, apex legends and possibly rainbow six siege, roblox and maybe maybe fortnite.

Why would the companies pull out their games from PS systems?

Playstation is fortnites biggest platform

 

[Ar¢tos]

Why would anyone ever want more exclusives from Sony?
Don't we have enough androgynous strong female characters going through deep emotional stuff already?

 

[Lokaum D+]

Do you think porting games isn't dumb?

Or do you think it's not Sony simply prioritizing short term profits?

What about it bothers you? The most diehard Sony fans on this board have been extremely critical of Sony on this

I had no idea this had a defense force. Sony is a huge corp. it doesn't need people defending its dumb practices. Unless you think this is actually a good practice long term for Sony?

Isnt MKW and DKB Switch 1 games ported to SW2 to conver the lack of exclusives at SW2 launch?

Isnt Nintendo prioritizing short term profts by doing the bare minimum on Online services, charging U$10 for last gen res/framerate upgrades and interactive system guides?

And you have the courage to come here and call Sony fans defense force? Do you Nintendo shills have mirror at home ?

 

[jumpship]

OP you forgot to add context about the PS5 launch. It happened during a global pandemic. I'm from the UK and couldn't order one for months with most online and retail stores simply out of stock. Scalpers had a field day with ridiculously high prices because nobody could get there hands on the console.

Launch window sales would be much higher without those conditions.

Sony have said late ports aren't a negative on PS5 and regardless it does have exclusives, maybe you meant permanant exclusives. But the main reason is they couldn't ship anywhere near enough to meet demand at launch.

 

[Roberts]

Their games are more expensive to produce so I doubt it.

 

[Sintoid]

Given Nintendo's Success

Don't get me wrong, I think that the premise is wrong but the will is right.
I hope that given the success of games like Astrobot and Clair Obscure will make them change the Idea about AAAAAAAAA multiplayer GAAS and shit like that
It's obvious that Nintendo sells well what they are good to do to who love what they do. It's somerhing different that Astrobot is loved from Sony audience, like Clair Obscur

My 2 cent

 

[SNG32]

I really wonder why people do not understand this. Families will often share a home console but are far more likely to buy individual handhelds for people who want to play.

The premise of this thread is flawed. The assumption that exclusives is what drives Switch sales number begs the question of what happened to the Gamecube and Wii U?

This

Nintendo and Sony obviously compete for the same market. They both make videogame consoles, and they both make their own software, and have third-party devs make games for said hardware. It is the exact same space, with slightly different emphases.

The one thing that is different, is that if Nintendo, amd their hardware start getting the same exact games(third-party)day and date as Sony, it will damage Sony. The same cannot be said about Nintendo. Nintendo is extremely self sufficient in terms of games. Their exclusives are in a completely different realm.

This is not a situation where the switch 2 cannot possibly have the same games. It absolutely can. That is the danger zone Sony is in. I use myself as a singular piece of evidence. I have always had Nintendo+Another system. It was xbox for the longest time. I switched to Sony. If the games I played on those consoles started hitting the switch 2, and they play the same, I am going to stop buying said games on the PS5. I HUGE portion of this is coupled to the online aspect. When the next COD hits, im going to see if its feature same. If it is, for the first time, ill play on a Nintendo system.

Sony has to have a reason for gamers to buy their hardware. If its not exclusive titles, made by Sony, then its third-party games. If those games are also available on switch 2, and those games start selling well, well, Sony is in trouble, because things can change on a dime.

But that's the thing if you are a hardcore gamer you are not playing inferior third party ports on a switch 2. They will never play the same on the switch 2 because the hardware is inferior to console. Because of this Third party devs will always prioritize Console and PC over Nintendo.

 

[poppabk]

They will continue to support PC with their non Live Service titles that are no longer pulling in "significant" numbers (sales or otherwise) on their platform.

However, They will then re-evaluate that PC support to some degree based on what Xbox does in that PC space. They do NOT want their games associated with Xbox at all, in any way, shape, or form.

Err they just announced Helldivers 2 for Xbox.

 

[REDRZA MWS]

I didn't answer yes, or no, simply because if Sony doesn't start pumping out original and new IP, thats literally what keeps them at a 5-1 sales ratio for hardware. Otherwise the series x and ps5 are off the shelf AMD SoC's (each with customizations), the ps5 doesn't blow the series x out of the water as a product. They are basically the same. What separates is first party big titles.

Edit: could care less about Nintendo, I lost interest with 480p, low level cartoonish graphics, and the fact they just quit. It all started with Wii, an abomination with it literally being a repackaged GameCube, but FORCED waggle nonsense. Nintendo will never get a dollar from me unless they come back to the present with a modern, powerful, home console. And that's not happening.

 

[protonion]

It doesn't matter at this point. First party Sony games are not system sellers any more.

They had something going since that legendary E3 that started with Uncharted 2 and ended with GOW3.
This was the beginning of a period of Sony first party titles that consistently blew us away. That GOW Kratos reveal still is one of the best moments in any game show.

Then they were infected with the woke virus and never recovered.
LOU part 2 was the worst of all. This game was to be their sales record breaking title. It is one of the greatest games ever made and I do not want to play it again.
Then they poisoned most of their franchises. They filled them with repulsive (not just ugly) characters, stupid woke themes, shitty non humor (Ratchet WTF was that game)...

Other than Gran Turismo (7 is probably the best Sony game ever) and Astro Bot they have nothing. Not ported to PC funnily enough.

So who cares? The mess they created is not salvageable. As far as I'm concerned they should release everything everywhere. Their business is carried by the hardware and 3rd parties.
If they manage to fix their shit, sure go back to exclusivity.

They should not take note of Nintendo about exclusivity.
But about respecting your franchises and your fans.

 

[Bonfires Down]

You reminded me how bizarre it is that Demons Souls still doesn't have a PC port.

 

[Radical_3d]

Do you think porting games isn't dumb?

Or do you think it's not Sony simply prioritizing short term profits?

What about it bothers you? The most diehard Sony fans on this board have been extremely critical of Sony on this

I had no idea this had a defense force. Sony is a huge corp. it doesn't need people defending its dumb practices. Unless you think this is actually a good practice long term for Sony?

I think you didn't read my whole post. I wanted to insult Sony because I'm extremely critical with them.

 

[EN250]

No, with the head of the studios burning money chasing gaming fads and sequels getting longer to develop with quality going down as well

They're fine for now coasting the gen and waiting for GTAVI to do the heavy lifting for them, till the next gen when we'll see how bad this GAAS initiative turned out to be (because having one or two major flops seems to be not enough for them, bunch of idiots)

 

[Shtof]

At least Sony makes money when people play their exclusives on PC

 

[Felessan]

If they want to sell the PS6, they will have to.

They have CoD/FIFA crowd and Fortnite/Genshin crowd on lockon. They rake in profits and they are alone in their market niche.
There are literally no threat for them in foreseeable future

CaliSony isn't seeing anything. Completely lost and disconnected from what made them the #1.

Catering to mass market is what made them #1 and they still do it just fine

 

[BbMajor7th]

I think it's too soon to really know whether Switch 2 is a success. It was fast out of the gates, sure, but the long game remains to be seen.

 

[MSduderino]

There are literally no threat for them in foreseeable future

What about themselves? What's the incentive to upgrade from PS5 if the games still come out on that? We're already seeing diminishing returns on graphics increases.

 

[Zacfoldor]

I'll never understand posts like this.

More consumers who can access Sony games is good for Sony, they can sell more games. It's also good for consumers, they don't have to buy another box to play a game, they can just play it on their existing box.

Who benefits from exclusivity? Fans who attribute personal value and identity from brand allegiance? Like what's happening here?

The people who cry when exclusivity is lost understand why it is important.

So do the people who make fun of and rub in when exclusivity is removed.

So do the people who smugly say they will wait for a game to come to PC when it is released on PS5.

It seems the only person who does not understand why exclusivity is important, is you.

 

[Felessan]

What about themselves? What's the incentive to upgrade from PS5 if the games still come out on that? We're already seeing diminishing returns on graphics increases.

There are still quite a bit of room for improvement
PS6 compared to base PS5 will have ML/RT features that will be a significant factor in IQ difference
Moreover we don't know what else Cerny prepared for us outside of CPU/GPU upgrade. SSD was big for PS5 even though it's proper implementation takes time (as it require to rebuilding engines)

 

[MSduderino]

There are still quite a bit of room for improvement
PS6 compared to base PS5 will have ML/RT features that will be a significant factor in IQ difference
Moreover we don't know what else Cerny prepared for us outside of CPU/GPU upgrade. SSD was big for PS5 even though it's proper implementation takes time (as it require to rebuilding engines)

And you think the COD/Fortnite/FIFA crowds care about that? Some are fine still playing on their PS4s.

 

[Vlodril]

What a well made and unbiased poll.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Poll results don't disappoint.

 

[Felessan]

And you think the COD/Fortnite/FIFA crowds care about that? Some are fine still playing on their PS4s.

And PS5 still sold almost 80 mil, most of them to that CoD/Fortnite/FIFA crowd. And keep selling despite "no gamez" claims.
Of course people care, just not all in rush to buy newest thing
And as a time goes by more and more game drop off pastgen support increasing incentive to upgrade.

 

[poppabk]

The people who cry when exclusivity is lost understand why it is important.

So do the people who make fun of and rub in when exclusivity is removed.

So do the people who smugly say they will wait for a game to come to PC when it is released on PS5.

It seems the only person who does not understand why exclusivity is important, is you.

So its main importance is for fanboys to score 'points' on the internet? Doesn't seem the best reason to stop making extra millions in profit.

 

[MSduderino]

And PS5 still sold almost 80 mil, most of them to that CoD/Fortnite/FIFA crowd. And keep selling despite "no gamez" claims.
Of course people care, just not all in rush to buy newest thing
And as a time goes by more and more game drop off pastgen support increasing incentive to upgrade.

Good points, but I think the PS5 does have games and CoD/Fortnite/Fifa wasn't a reason anyone upgraded to PS5. it was basically this gen they started going nonexclusive with games so people are now know they can play Sony games elsewhere, even on Sony's own legacy hardware. PS6 is going to need it's own games to standout in a crowded video game market.

 

[Gambit2483]

Err they just announced Helldivers 2 for Xbox.

Hell Divers 2 is a Live Service game. My post was specifically referring to non Live Service games, i.e. Single Player games. I edited the post for clarity

 

[Felessan]

Good points, but I think the PS5 does have games and CoD/Fortnite/Fifa wasn't a reason anyone upgraded to PS5. it was basically this gen they started going nonexclusive with games so people are now know they can play Sony games elsewhere, even on Sony's own legacy hardware. PS6 is going to need it's own games to standout in a crowded video game market.

Standout from whom? They are alone in their niche.
Nintendo is different market - it's children console (or "family" with children). The usual bad performance of 3rd party only reinforce this.
PC is expensive and not comfortable, especially for technically unsavvy masses. It also will lose IQ quality advantage due to dlss and rt, making it even less viable choice "value for money" wise.
The only real competition in big screen comfy chair young adult+ gaming was Xbox - and it just fucked itself beyond measure

 

[MSduderino]

Standout from whom? They are alone in their niche.
Nintendo is different market - it's children console (or "family" with children). The usual bad performance of 3rd party only reinforce this.
PC is expensive and not comfortable, especially for technically unsavvy masses. It also will lose IQ quality advantage due to dlss and rt, making it even less viable choice "value for money" wise.
The only real competition in big screen comfy chair young adult+ gaming was Xbox - and it just fucked itself beyond measure

But if you own a PS4 or 5, you don't have to buy a PS6. What is going to showcase why you need to upgrade? It's not "will I get a Nintendo, Sony, or MS product next gen?" It's about if any one product is worth it compared to what you already might have too.

 

[lachesis]

I'm sure they know how important exclusives are, but I don't think they can afford to make them in timely fashion at the quantity to keep them relevant in any given calendar year.

If they can magically reduce the time and cost of the production without losing quality - I'm pretty certain they'll swing back to exclusives - at least for a longer period of time at least.