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Hermen Hulst Famitsu interview: PC Strategy, Cross-Play considered for mobile, Savage Games AAA Live Action, More Decima, Spider-Man 2 for PS5, Japan

bitbydeath

Gold Member
PC Porting
I would like to reiterate that the PlayStation (PS) platform continues to be the most suitable playground for playing our titles. We work close to hardware, and we test titles under development on PS first and provide feedback, so our game development and PS are inextricably linked.

On the other hand, we are also proceeding with porting to PC, but this is aimed at acquiring new users by porting existing titles.

Mobile
As for Mobile, we basically want to release works based on existing IP. So you're making adjustments to the console title and releasing it on mobile? We are also considering cross-play between both console and mobile, and Savage Game Studios, which recently joined PS Studio, is also developing a AAA-class live service action game.

Decima
several studios using Guerrilla Games' Decima engine (the game engine used for Horizon Zero Dawn , Death Stranding, etc.).

Spider-Man 2 for PS5
On the other hand, titles such as " Ratchet & Clank Parallel Trouble " and " Returnal " that allow you to fully enjoy the functions of PS5 have also appeared. Including titles such as "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" that I mentioned earlier, I hope that you can look forward to more and more titles unique to PS5 in the future.

Hermen going to Japan
After this interview, I finally got the chance to go to Japan. I am very much looking forward to meeting Japanese creators and wonderful staff. There are many wonderful works in recent years, such as " Elden Ring ", " Final Fantasy XVI " (FF16), and Team NINJA's " Rise of the Ronin ".

https://www.famitsu.com/news/202210/04278262.html
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
That slide was perfect timing in the MS/ACTI thread. Sony going hard after PC and mobile like 3 to 5 years after everyone else. GG let's see how the console schedule looks for 2023 outside VR.
 

3liteDragon

Member
Hermen Hulst said:
I would like to reiterate that the PlayStation (PS) platform continues to be the most suitable playground for playing our titles. We work close to hardware, and we test titles under development on PS first and provide feedback, so our game development and PS are inextricably linked.
As long as PS5’s the baseline for future titles being ported, I don’t have an issue with this.
I said this in the other thread & I'm pretty sure this is what he's talking about, which I got no problem with at all if that's the case.
Hermen Hulst said:
On the other hand, we are also proceeding with porting to PC, but this is aimed at acquiring new users by porting existing titles.
So no day one PC single-player titles as of right now.
 
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Why not just stick to what your good at? Who's asking for more multiplayer live service garbage? Apparently sony have 10 in development. That's 10 games I already know I won't give a shit about. Why are sony following the garbage western publishers, who churn out trash live service games? This could either go very well for them or be a total disaster but I personally don't like it because I have 0 interest in online multiplayer games.
 
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Handel

Member
Spider-Man 2 for PS5

On the other hand, titles such as " Ratchet & Clank Parallel Trouble " and " Returnal " that allow you to fully enjoy the functions of PS5 have also appeared. Including titles such as "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" that I mentioned earlier, I hope that you can look forward to more and more titles unique to PS5 in the future.


https://www.famitsu.com/news/202210/04278262.html

i-dont-believe-you-ron-burgundy.gif
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Why not just stick to what your good at? Who's asking for more multiplayer live service garbage? Apparently sony have 10 in development. That's 10 games I already know I won't give a shit about. Why are sony following the garbage western publishers, who churn out trash live service games? This could either go very well for them or be a total disaster but I personally don't like it because I have 0 interest in online multiplayer games.
Partially because they fear missing on a trend which is there to exploit people’s growing perceptions that games should be free. Wave after wave of games trying to get you dopamine addicted would then try to extract money out of you with micro transactions and games people pay money for up front may become niche and thus not worth the AAAA budget modern audiences also expect to exploit the HW capabilities they have inside their computers (few buy new HW just to have Quake I path traced).

Paid for upfront games + microtransactions is a temporary having your cake and eating it to for some publishers now, even they know that for those kind of games the freemium model is the winner… but expect those MTX to become even more predatory and more games failing while trying to get a piece of the pie as well as publishers consolidating.

“Why should I care about greedy game devs? I want tons of new AAAA for free or on a la carte $15 month subscription, I want to save money now!” —> fair, but expect market to adapt to it like it did on mobile. Devaluing software has a cost, but frogs boiling and all that…
 
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3liteDragon

Member
Will be interesting to see what the min specs of Returnal is even though there is more ways to skin a cat on PC.
That's also gonna depend on whether or not the full console feature set's being used which isn't the case with Returnal or any other first-party PS5 title so far. Spider-Man 2's most likely gonna be the first game to do that since Insomniac put out 3 titles already for the console & have more experience with it so far compared to the other PS studios. Won't be surprised if the min specs for Spider-Man 2 & Returnal are slightly different.
 
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reksveks

Member
That's also gonna depend on whether or not the full console feature set's being used which isn't the case with Returnal or any other first-party PS5 title so far.
Any reason that you say this? What part of the system do you think isn't being used to it's maximum potential?

Also don't count R&C and the portals?

I agree that the min specs will be different but that could be for multiple reason's. If I was a business man, I would probably also be pushing that the PC release of SM2 isn't too high probably more so than Returnal. The beauty of balancing art and commerce.
 
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Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
That's also gonna depend on whether or not the full console feature set's being used which isn't the case with Returnal or any other first-party PS5 title so far. Spider-Man 2's most likely gonna be the first game to do that since Insomniac put out 3 titles already for the console & have more experience with it so far compared to the other PS studios. Won't be surprised if the min specs for Spider-Man 2 & Returnal are slightly different.
Willing to be money it will be SSD (recommended) and a 1060 or 2060.
On the CPU side no idea, if they can get their engine on PC to be heavily parallelized it might even be as low as a 3600.
While the PS5 might be baseline, for the port they will still have to account for machines that are lower spec.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Normal SSD wouldn't be that unusual for the recommended specs, think we have had that before and maybe 1/2 games have it as a min.
I dont think any game has had SSD as part of the min spec. (Maybe Scam Citizen?)
But we have had games that have had min spec xxGB HDD with SSD being recommended.
 

reksveks

Member
I dont think any game has had SSD as part of the min spec. (Maybe Scam Citizen?)
But we have had games that have had min spec xxGB HDD with SSD being recommended.
I am thinking of that game but I think that's more of an informal spec cause its a PoS on normal SSD.

Think there hasn't been any distinction so far in the pc space between nvme ssd drives and sata ssd's but might need to check that as well.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Why not just stick to what your good at? Who's asking for more multiplayer live service garbage? Apparently sony have 10 in development. That's 10 games I already know I won't give a shit about. Why are sony following the garbage western publishers, who churn out trash live service games? This could either go very well for them or be a total disaster but I personally don't like it because I have 0 interest in online multiplayer games.
They want to make more money. Lots more.
 

HTK

Banned
Why not just stick to what your good at? Who's asking for more multiplayer live service garbage? Apparently sony have 10 in development. That's 10 games I already know I won't give a shit about. Why are sony following the garbage western publishers, who churn out trash live service games? This could either go very well for them or be a total disaster but I personally don't like it because I have 0 interest in online multiplayer games.
People like me…I’m kind of disappointed they haven’t catered to me at all since PS3 era with multiplayer. It’s about time they make an investment there while they still work on Single Player experiences, there is room for both my guy not just 3rd person single player.
 

3liteDragon

Member
Any reason that you say this? What part of the system do you think isn't being used to it's maximum potential?

Also don't count R&C and the portals?

I agree that the min specs will be different but that could be for multiple reason's. If I was a business man, I would probably also be pushing that the PC release of SM2 isn't too high probably more so than Returnal. The beauty of balancing art and commerce.
I see the Primitive Shaders feature as the biggest & most overlooked feature in the console which barely anyone talks about, & no game has used it yet since it's the second or even third wave of games that fully utilize the hardware. R&C as Insomniac even said, is the tip of the iceberg with them being able to properly use RAM to load only what's in front of the player thanks to the I/O setup in that game. They gain more knowledge & experience as time goes on, that's why I'm saying their mid/end-gen titles will have different min specs than the early-gen PS5 titles, that's my prediction.

Willing to be money it will be SSD (recommended) and a 1060 or 2060.
On the CPU side no idea, if they can get their engine on PC to be heavily parallelized it might even be as low as a 3600.
While the PS5 might be baseline, for the port they will still have to account for machines that are lower spec.
I'm gonna bet on a high-speed SSD & any 20XX card for min specs for mid-gen titles since that's the lowest card I think that supports mesh shaders, which is gonna be needed for future ports after 2024/25. My only worry with current-gen single-player titles on PC day 1 was that since both versions would be developed simultaneously, they would try to look at how low they can go on the PC side first before taking the PS5 into account which means they won't be fully taking advantage of the HW.

With what Hermen just said in the OP, if PS5's the baseline & the game gets tested on that first during development, then the HW will be taken full advantage of in the future. It doesn't matter what they do on the PC side afterwards since they can only go so low when the baseline's already been set, I think we'll see a big difference in the minimum specs when we compare the end-gen PS4 title ports & the end-gen PS5 title ports.
 
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reksveks

Member
I see the Primitive Shaders feature as the biggest & most overlooked feature in the console which barely anyone talks about, & no game has used it yet since it's the second or even third wave of games that fully utilize the hardware. R&C as Insomniac even said, is the tip of the iceberg with them being able to properly use RAM to load only what's in front of the player thanks to the I/O setup in that game. They gain more knowledge & experience as time goes on, that's why I'm saying their mid/end-gen titles will have different min specs than the early-gen PS5 titles, that's my prediction.
Think it's going to be largely more incremental changes within the gen but I do agree that min spec will change/increase in general. Obviously that's very subjective.

Will be interesting to see how this rolls out.
 

ANIMAL1975

Member
Hottake: Handing PlayStation over to Europeans was a mistake.
Ouch!


... im European 😅

People like me…I’m kind of disappointed they haven’t catered to me at all since PS3 era with multiplayer. It’s about time they make an investment there while they still work on Single Player experiences, there is room for both my guy not just 3rd person single player.
My man 💪
 
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They want to make more money. Lots more.

It's difficult to make a successful live service games though. Most of that audience is stuck playing a game they are already addicted to with no intention of stopping or moving on. Game development is costly and time consuming and it'll be a waste if sony spends years making these games, only for them to underperform. Sony are taking a risk here.
 
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kyliethicc

Member
It's difficult to make a successful live service games though. Most of that audience is stuck playing a game they are already addicted to with no intention of stopping or moving on. Game development is costly and time consuming and it'll be a waste if sony spends years making these games, only for them to underperform. Sony are taking a risk here.
Jimbo literally said they only need a few of them to hit big. They know half or more will flop.

It’s throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. The money waiting for them if they get a big hit is “transformative.”

Sony has plenty of cash and these companies would basically pay any price to find their Fortnite.

Like Sony already paid billions just for Destiny. And Microsoft paid billions for Minecraft.
 
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Jimbo literally said they only need a few of them to hit big. They know half or more will flop.

It’s throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. The money waiting for them if they get a big hit is “transformative.”

Sony has plenty of cash and these companies would basically pay any price to find their Fortnite.

Like Sony already paid billions just for Destiny. And Microsoft paid billions for Minecraft.

This doesn't sound good to me. So, sony are making games knowing they will flop in the hopes that one hits it big? Its too focused on money and not on quality, which is how they have been operating during ps4 gen. I know we haven't actually seen these live service games, so I'm open to the possibility that Sony may surprise me with the quality.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
We don't have any idea of what sony has for next year. I don't think it's ever been like this right?

This gen has been crazy, Is spider man 2 all they have for next year? so nothing from now until Xmas next year apart from their big VR push?

There's no way that can be it, but I've never seen Sony announce titles and launch them within 3-6 months I dont think? Super up for it if I am wrong though. I just want some games to look forward to on PS5. Ive known about God Of War for 2 years lol
 

kyliethicc

Member
This doesn't sound good to me. So, sony are making games knowing they will flop in the hopes that one hits it big? Its too focused on money and not on quality, which is how they have been operating during ps4 gen. I know we haven't actually seen these live service games, so I'm open to the possibility that Sony may surprise me with the quality.
Yeah, Sony Corp is a greedy for profit business. Run by suits who only care about money.

It’s not some magic coincidence that they have 12 live service games cooking suddenly.

Its a business decision.
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
We don't have any idea of what sony has for next year. I don't think it's ever been like this right?

This gen has been crazy, Is spider man 2 all they have for next year? so nothing from now until Xmas next year apart from their big VR push?

There's no way that can be it, but I've never seen Sony announce titles and launch them within 3-6 months I dont think? Super up for it if I am wrong though. I just want some games to look forward to on PS5. Ive known about God Of War for 2 years lol

yea i don't think they want to go back to announcing games years and years out.

So its likely you simply start to hear more about Spiderman 2 when God Of War comes out, they are probably just waiting until it releases to start marketing their other big AAA title or something. So I doubt all the teams are doing nothing, simply that lately Sony has preferred to have their announcements much closer to when those titles will release.

HFW reveal 2020, release 2022
GT7 reveal 2020, release 2022
Returnal, reveal 2020, release 2021
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart reveal 2020, release 2021
Demon Souls remake reveal 2020, release 2020


So I don't know if they wish to go back to those really, really long marketing tails and after last gen you see them slow down with all that. Consider The Last Of Us remake was literally being made for years and they said nothing, old Sony might announce that pretty quick after starting or something, so it sounds like they wish to start marketing their next years big title, when some other big AAA title has been released or something.


Don't get me wrong, I love the old reveals like Ghost Of Tsushima or The Last Of Us 2 reveal, but I get why Sony might go in the direction of shorter marketing windows and this shogun marketing viral approach of random Youtube drops, it does wonder for Rockstar, AC series, Call Of Duty etc.

When that GTAVI trailer drops, its doing millions of views in minutes lol Maybe that way really is better for gaming.
 
I’m really dreading the future of gaming. Maybe Sony will prove me wrong, but I have my doubts. Inevitably predatory GAAS games everywhere, most, if not all PS5 exclusives will most likely eventually come to PC, remakes to games that don’t need it instead of more original titles, price increase on hardware, cross generation will probably last until the PS6, less risks and unique games from first party exclusives, etc. We’ll see what happens, but I REALLY don’t know about this new direction for Sony.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Why does no one ask this guy and Jimbo when they plan on having the PS showcase. Especially after skipping E3 and Gamescom.

There are literally no PS first party games slated for next year aside from Spiderman 2. Surely this is worth a question.

Journalists are more like PR at this point. Useless tools.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
Why does no one ask this guy and Jimbo when they plan on having the PS showcase. Especially after skipping E3 and Gamescom.

There are literally no PS first party games slated for next year aside from Spiderman 2. Surely this is worth a question.

Journalists are more like PR at this point. Useless tools.


Big tech managed to turn the media into 100% paid chills and through Astro turfing they turned the online fanbase into moronic minions.
 

SSfox

Member
Playstation has lost its soul.

Why does no one ask this guy and Jimbo when they plan on having the PS showcase. Especially after skipping E3 and Gamescom.

There are literally no PS first party games slated for next year aside from Spiderman 2. Surely this is worth a question.

Journalists are more like PR at this point. Useless tools.
They won't do a show cause they have nothing to show from their 1st party devs, huge portion of ressources has gone to Gaas, mobile, useless remakes, TV shows and PC porting.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Why not just stick to what your good at?
In business, warfare, and life, if you're not growing/progressing...you're dying.

In WW1, the Germans had superior trenches. They were deeper, and built with more concrete than the Ally trenches. Two years into the war, the British built and used the first tanks to break through trench defenses. The tanks were extremely effective.

If the Germans stuck with what they were good at (trenches) the war would have been over much sooner. Instead, the Germans built their own tanks to break through Ally trenches.

Sony can't keep making small advancements in AAA single player games during the GAAS era because they're not stupid.

Live Service games have proven to be 10x - 100x more profitable than traditional single player games.

Live Service games are also an excellent defense against Xbox's massive GamePass strategy.

"I just beat The Last of Us II in 20 hours...I wonder what's new on GamePass"

vs

"I've spent 843 hours in Rust. On the next server wipe we should try doing X."

Live Service games prevent the wandering eye from developing for gamers. I get not liking multiplayer games (not really) but everyone should understand why PlayStation is employing this long term strategy.

Who's asking for more multiplayer live service?
The market. The market is asking for more live service games.

Apparently sony have 10 in development. That's 10 games I already know I won't give a shit about.
12. They have 12 planned for release by March 2025. They certainly have more in development planned for release after that.
 
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Why not just stick to what your good at? Who's asking for more multiplayer live service garbage? Apparently sony have 10 in development. That's 10 games I already know I won't give a shit about. Why are sony following the garbage western publishers, who churn out trash live service games? This could either go very well for them or be a total disaster but I personally don't like it because I have 0 interest in online multiplayer games
Bye then?. I dunno what other publisher is going to keep making AAA Single Player cinematic GOTY contenders tho?. Those ain't cheap and don't generate as much money as GaaS.....just look at GTAV.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Why does no one ask this guy and Jimbo when they plan on having the PS showcase. Especially after skipping E3 and Gamescom.

There are literally no PS first party games slated for next year aside from Spiderman 2. Surely this is worth a question.

Journalists are more like PR at this point. Useless tools.
Lots of people here are saying later this month, so be patience
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch

Salz01

Member
I always felt Herman was an odd choice for this position. Not sure who the intended audience is for this interview. Is it gamers, investors, publishers, all of the above? As a gamer on Ps5, it doesn’t really say anything. Still not sure what ps5 future holds or looks like. As a PC gamer, not sure either, as what do I have to wait a year from release for? As an investor, I’m just hearing they are diversifying, but not sure of what actual products or applications. It’s all fluff. Just confirms my opinion thst Sony so far this gen, their communication has been dog shit. Xbox showed a one year roadmap in June for Christ sake…..
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I always felt Herman was an odd choice for this position. Not sure who the intended audience is for this interview. Is it gamers, investors, publishers, all of the above? As a gamer on Ps5, it doesn’t really say anything. Still not sure what ps5 future holds or looks like. As a PC gamer, not sure either, as what do I have to wait a year from release for? As an investor, I’m just hearing they are diversifying, but not sure of what actual products or applications. It’s all fluff. Just confirms my opinion thst Sony so far this gen, their communication has been dog shit. Xbox showed a one year roadmap in June for Christ sake…..
Yeah, why cant they simply release a roadmap like Kevin Feige does for Marvel movies? We understand things get delayed but I really dont understand the secrecy. If you have 25 first party games in development, just list them if you cant reveal them with trailers just yet. Right now, Only Spiderman 2 and Wolverine have release dates or rather release quarters/years.

The console they sold for $500 has to have next gen support. And it's their obligation to share that with us. Just like they would with investors on key product releases. Consoles have always been an investment. We dont buy consoles to play 1-2 launch games. We buy them on the promise of games to come. They almost seem to be treating consoles like PCs. You buy the GPU and the games will come when they come.
 

lachesis

Member
I wonder if Famitsu asked him whether he considers SIE a Japanese company?
Last time he said "I will say that we are in some ways very much a Japanese company still.."
and pissed some Japanese folks off, saying "what do you mean by in some ways?"
 
Sony have 12 live service games in development, but where are they? All we hear are rumours, but all we get is silence. Sony haven't attended any of the shows and still haven't even done their own replacement "showcase". Why all the secrecy and hiding? Total opposite to how they were during PS4 gen. I'm not liking this new strategy from them.
 
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