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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
- Thread starter bitbydeath
- Start date
FalsettoVibe
Member
Don't all companies want to make money?
bitbydeath
Gold Member
Communication has definitely been a problem this gen, that said they’re by far leading the way in games and services, so of all the problems to have, it could be much worse.
Yoboman
Member
Not sure we can expect one this year now. If they drop an October one you'd think we would know about it. I think they are probably trying to avoid undercutting Ragnarok at this point because the next set of games should eclipse it graphically
Like the whole tease with no trailer they did for TLOU Online made no sense
TheGodfather07
Member
It's obviously a deliberate strategy from Sony. It's not like they are stumbling about making decisions as they go. I think they just aint ready to show much because it isnt ready. They obviously have a lot of stuff in development that isn't ready to be shown just yet.
They did atleast give us 2 good state of plays to tide us over but no showcase at all this year would be disappointing.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
TheGodfather07
Member
I'll take it.
Og PS4 or pro?
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I have a Pro.
Spider Man 2018 and Miles Morales look fantastic on it, even if a sequel looks exactly like that on PS4, it'll be pretty good.
Horizon FW's PS4 port was really good earlier this year, for example.
TheGodfather07
Member
You can trust insomniac will do a good job with a port if it happens. The meltdowns would be funny for sure if sony backtrack on it.
SSfox
Member
No way. Spiderman 2 and Wolverine will be only PS5.
That being said i think there will be more Crossgen after GOWR still. Personally i'm gonna just skip all of those.
TheGodfather07
Member
You will skip if its cross gen? Games can still be good even if they are cross gen.
SSfox
Member
I agree, that's why i bought day one Elden Ring (that can be GOTY), and will for Ragnarok and SF6. But enough is enough, it's time devs to moves on, it's 2023 and still crossgen? it's time to put a stop on this.
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splattered
Member
He just now started going to japan to meet with people? Wait what...?
bitbydeath
Gold Member
I think GoW will be the last cross-gen title, in terms of first-party SP games.
vivftp
Member
The live service initiative only began in 2019 when Jim Ryan became head of SIE and games take time to make. He's outright said that 2 unannounced live service games are scheduled to launch before the end of this FY, so before March 31, 2022. We know that Helldivers 2 has a trailer already prepared since part of it leaked several weeks ago, so that's likely to be one of their live service games. The second one is anyones guess, but that could be the TLOU MP game as we know we'll get more info on it next year and we know that was already in the works when it was still the MP mode for TLOU2.
As for why all the secrecy? You do realize the pandemic occurred right? Not only did it push back all their heavy hitter games from 2021 into this year, not only did it push back the marketing of games that were SUPPOSED to be announced last year and launch this year, but it also MASSIVELY fucked up their console production plans and severely limited how many they could produce. Only recently have things been on the upswing (since July 2022) and based on the tidbits and rumors we have, they're aiming for record numbers next year as far as PlayStation consoles shipped.
The point is, announcing all these games earlier would've been a waste. The point of announcing games is to build hype and get folks to go out and invest in your ecosystem. Well due to console shortages they wouldn't have sold a single extra console even if they had announced all 25+ games they were working on at last years showcase. Announcing more of their lineup under those conditions would have been wasted marketing and diluted the hype by drawing it out. Now is the time that console production is on the upswing. Now is the time that they're about to launch the last game they had announced back in 2020 (God of War) and now is the time that they'll have to begin the next wave of marketing their first party games. Now is the time to get the proper marketing push going for PSVR2 as they'll have to get the price and release date out to open pre-orders since it's launching early next year.
You assume this strategy is the way they wanted things to play out, it's not. It's how they've had to adapt to the pandemic wrecking all their plans. That said, there's a LOT of evidence to suggest something is happening very soon in October, so sit tight and I'm willing to bet a showcase is right around the corner.
vivftp
Member
I'm guessing due to this?
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/09/23/national/kishida-japan-border-opening/
At least in the modern age he would've had the ability to communicate with folks in Japan without necessarily having to be there. Now he'll have a chance to go there in person.
SSfox
Member
The way hermen was talking didn't give me this vibe, but i hope you're right.
vivftp
Member
Let's put it this way. Some of the cross-platform live service games they're launching are gonna also be on mobile. Any game capable of running on mobile will easily run on the PS4 so why not launch it there too? The vast majority of games we know they're working on are PS5 only, but the odd cross-gen game here and there could definitely happen.
I expect MLB The Show to have a PS4 version for the foreseeable future, especially since it's on less powerful platforms like Switch and likely on mobile.
Also, I'm curious what people expect Hermen to say when asked about PS4 games when they're about to launch a MASSIVE cross-gen game? Do folks want him to say, "Yeah, fuck those PS4 owners, we're dropping those assholes as soon as we can! BTW, remember to buy God of War Ragnarok on PS4 this November!" ???
Common sense needs to be applied here.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Neil said that they wont reveal TLOU online until next year at E3 so it wouldnt have been shown at this years showcase anyway. If anything that probably was them hinting at the fact that there wont be a PS showcase this year.
They will probably be at the VGA with a trailer for Spiderman but thats about it. I just dont know why they would skip E3 AND Gamescom AND September. It's very likely that they just have no games to show just yet. Doubt they are worried about it outshining GOW. TLOU and TLOU2 both released shortly after their E3 PS4 and PS5 conferences respectively.
I was sure that Insomniac would have something ready for both Wolverine and Spiderman, but if THE most productive studio cant get a demo and a realtime teaser ready then everyone else is likely fucked. Did we really expect GG to show up with a new IP 6 months after shipping Horizon or ND with a new IP a month after shipping TLOU or SSM with a new game 2 months before their new release?
Herman was doing damage control. He knew the Horizon remaster leaked and went out of his way to disclose they were working on last gen games. I have no idea why GG is wasting their time on DLC for a last gen game, a last gen remaster and a last gen GaaS Horizon game. Assuming they are done by Holiday 2023 for all three projects, (best case scenario) they would be starting dev on their first true next gen project in 2024. If its Horizon 3 and takes 5 years like HFW did, we are looking at a 2029 release for their first true next gen release. Whose bright idea was this?
I thought they were working on a new IP alongside HFW. Turns out its just Horizon and very likely last gen. ND is doing the same. Last gen remake, last gen MP and their next game is nowhere to be found. September was supposed to be the month when they showed off ALL their big IPs they had been holding back for 2.5 years since the PS5 reveal show. Instead we got a state of play.
I really hope this is a bad dream and Sony shows up next week with an hour long show featuring a next gen GG game, Corys next gen New IP, TLOU3 or a new IP from ND, death stranding 2, next gen only horizon MP and not fake next gen like TLOU, Cerny's MGS remake, Spiderman 2 and Wolverine. If they dont then they are clearly not ready to release ANY of these games anytime soon. Forget 2024. If a game is being revealed in 2023, it is not releasing until. 2025. Just like Spiderman and Wolverine.
vivftp
Member
Neil said we'd learn more in 2023, nothing more was said about a time frame, and especially nothing was said about E3.
As for the rest of this post... I just can't... too much supposition and conspiracy theories to wade through.
Let me ask you, what exactly do you think the Helldivers 2 trailer was made for? It's been ready since at least August, likely earlier. Seems way too early to have been prepared for TGA, and it didn't show up at Gamescom, TGS or the State of Play. There is a ton of evidence pointing to a showcase this month. I am curious if/when it does get announced what your reaction will be. Positive? Negative?
EDIT.
Upon further reading of the line I quoted, I think maybe you meant to say Neil said that at SGF, rather than E3? That would be the other way of reading this comment, I suppose.
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kyliethicc
Member
They announced Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut with a trailer on Twitter / PS Blog / YouTube.
They announced Firewall Ultra with a trailer on Twitter / PS Blog / YouTube.
They announced God of War Ragnarok’s release date with a trailer on Twitter / PS Blog / YouTube.
Helldivers 2 could easily just be announced with a trailer on Twitter / PS Blog / YouTube.
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vivftp
Member
GoT DC occurred at a time when they had no Summer event in 2021. The only thing that happened around that time was the Horizon SoP at the end of May, and that only featured 1 game. There wasn't going to be a showcase at that time so they dropped it out of the blue.
Firewall Ultra, well they've got over 20 games launching on PSVR2 and not every game is gonna make the cut for a showcase. Presumably this is one of them, or they're saving the actual gameplay reveal for the showcase. Either could be true.
Ragnarok's release date... well first off it's a release date announcement, not the announcement of a brand new game. It's not like Sony are silent all year long and ONLY wait to speak at showcases, so I don't really see how this is proof of anything. It's not like they would've waited until a potential October showcase to announce that God of War launches November 9th, right?
I can't say with 100% certainty that Helldivers 2 won't get randomly dropped on Youtube one day, but add that to the building mountain of evidence of an October showcase and I think it's happening.
kyliethicc
Member
There was a State of Play in July 2021 just a few weeks before they announced Ghost DC. Skipped it.
Sony doesn’t feel the need to waste time and money doing big shows. They know a simple tweet suffices.
Tweets, Blog posts, and 20 minute long state of plays are the future of Sony marketing.
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DeepSpace5D
Member
Good interview, but wtf is up with the vague corporate talk.
You hope? Bitch, you’re the head of the studios. What do you mean you hope?
You hope? Bitch, you’re the head of the studios. What do you mean you hope?
Hawking Radiation
Member
No one is forcing you to play Live service games and Sony won't abandon their traditional approach of AAA bangers either.
What they're trying to do is make more money by expanding their portfolio while remaining faithful to the core userbase.
You will never grow your business if all you're going to do is stay stagnant and pump out AAA exclusives and call it a day. If all BMW did was produce luxury sedans, they wouldn't exist today because the market has moved on and expanded with time. Its the same with video games. Live service games, subscription services, streaming, its all about expansion and accessibility and will all sit comfortably alongside AAA releases.
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bitbydeath
Gold Member
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
what the hell is ratchet and clank parallel troubles?
vivftp
Member
So you're logic is that Sony doesn't feel the need to waste time and money doing big shows... even though they've done 3 of them in the last 30 months? And despite the fact that a showcase using the format they've been using the past 3 years is no more expensive and requires no more effort than a State of Play to put together? And despite the fact that they've held 2 very meaty third party focused State of Plays this year and deliberately kept their new first party game announcements out of them?
Friend, I'll let you in on a secret. State of Plays and Showcases are the exact same thing. Only one is normally longer and features their first party content. Now in the future they may once again return to live showcase events or a PSX, but for now there really is no difference between them other than length and whether first party shows up or not. And hardware, that typically shows up at showcases too, which PSVR2 very likely will with its price, release date and launch lineup.
HYDE
Banned
Japanese name for Rift Apart.
How about this lol? Google translate but readable
The robot-like way these suits are talking is absolutely disgusting. I'm pretty sure that you can easily train AI to give non-answers like that.
vivftp
Member
He's also not doing these interviews to announce any unrevealed projects. They could have new entries to every single IP SIE has ever made being developed and he still couldn't hint at them because that's not what these interviews were for.
Hawking Radiation
Member
kyliethicc
Member
The June 2020 show will never happen again. That was for launching the PS5. Point is don’t get your hopes up. Sony is changing and becoming more like Nintendo. Shorter, cheaper, comfy marketing. PSX is a laughable pipe dream only a fool would think will happen again lol. And no, we’re not friends. I have no idea who you are.
DeepSpace5D
Member
The thing is, wasn’t Wolverine already confirmed to be a current-gen only game?
I’m not looking for a hint or reveal of any future projects, but we all know there will be more current-gen only games beyond Spiderman 2. If he would have said for example, “Including Marvel’s Spiderman 2 that I mentioned earlier, you can be sure to look forward to more titles unique to PS5 in the future”, I don’t see how that would have spoiled anything, taken the shine away from Ragnarok, or done anything of that sort.
Saying, “Oh I hope you guys get more PS5 only content in the future!” as the head of PlayStations studios and privvy to knowing every project being worked on just sounds silly to me. Idk maybe I’m overreacting, but the choice of wording rubbed me the wrong way.
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vivftp
Member
Listen mate, we may not be friends, but we are chums!
It's not about getting ones hopes up, it's about using the available evidence go form a logical conclusion. If an event doesn't come until 2023 then that's fine.
As for PSX, they did renew the trademark (or something like that) last year, so don't count it out.
kyliethicc
Member
Listen mate, we may not be friends, but we are chums!
It's not about getting ones hopes up, it's about using the available evidence go form a logical conclusion. If an event doesn't come until 2023 then that's fine.
As for PSX, they did renew the trademark (or something like that) last year, so don't count it out.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Unless Sony has a ton of new AAA IPs games to show (whether it's existing franchises or new IPs), it looks like the only ones in the cooker in the near future are GoW Ragnarok next month and Spiderman 2 and Wolverine. Those might be 2023 and 2024 games. Who knows. Of course they might stealth promote a big new game that comes out the same time.
What you'll get in the next few years is tons of GAAS games, VR2 games, and depending how fast they can be made some mobile games since Sony got their whole mobile division up and running.
Given their recent track record, there arent even big new IPs lately. Big games yes, but sequels and some remaster/remakes like DS, Spiderman, and LoU 1. That doesnt even include Horizon remaster. Spiderman 2 is a sequel, so I guess Wolverine is the new IP, which might be a 2024 game. The new stuff lately are Returnal and Destruction All Stars.
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Oddvintagechap
Member
Because they learned their lesson from Destruction All-Stars. You can’t rush these GaaS. You have large companies bigger than all of Sony‘s first party studios all together maintaining one game, where they can pump content quickly.
So they have to make sure their live service games launch complete and with with extra content ready to go. Otherwise they won‘t make bangers.
vivftp
Member
To be honest, I think folks nitpick wording too much. Not every single word or phrase is sculpted with layers and extra meaning to it. Not everything will be said with precision and in the best possible way.
It always seems to happen that folks kick, scream and predict doom right up until the very moment that they come out and announce a showcase. It never fails. There's plenty of reasons to expect a showcase is near, so let's all be patient and see what happens. If it happens, great. If it doesn't, we can still remain patient and wait.
kyliethicc
Member
He‘s from Europe. Jimbo’s handpicked yes man who will enthusiastically carry out the new business driven agenda.
David Jaffe never met him, but said the only thing he ever heard about Hulst was that he’s very political. I think once Layden was fired or quit, Booth and Rohde, the Americans execs who were running WWS, had no shot. Office politics. So Hulst got to jump up top over Booth and Rohde. And Yoshida got moved to the indies thing.
Around that same time btw, Shannon Studstill had quit and Evan Wells had picked Druckmann to takeover Naughty Dog for him and will probably be on his way out eventually. And for Ted Price, I think he also wasn’t gonna get picked because Insomniac was only recently acquired. So they’re still sorta an outsider/new kid kinda. Kaz don’t give a fuck, etc.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Could be a political thing.
I was thinking it was more practical. Under his leadership, his studio did KZ which is a MP franchise SSM and ND dont have equivalents to. With Sony's big focus on GAAS, he might have the most experience overall with SP games like Horizon and MP with KZ.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Shannon went to Google and lost her shot at the job.
Ted price wasn’t part of Sony studios until after Herman took over.
That leaves Evan wells and tbh he would’ve been a better choice than this moron. I mean how do you have the most talented studio work on last gen dlc, remaster and mp 2 years after launching next Gen consoles.
Just put shu back in charge.
bender
What time is it?
I just look at it through the lens of all of Sony's big hitters, they went with the head of the worst of that lot. We could only be so lucky to have Yosp back.
kyliethicc
Member
Nah. Fact is no studio head person should have taken over WWS. WWS was set up by Phil Harrison under Kaz, basically. An executive type. Basically a suit. Shuhei Yoshida was an exec, as was Shawn Layden. None of them were working at a specific studio. Scott Rohde or Connie Booth should have replaced Layden. They were longtime execs at WWS under Yoshida and Layden. Rohde ran all of the US studios.
Hulst went from running a single studio to suddenly the boss of all studios. Was a political ladder climb. No way it was merit based.
And Naughty Dog has just as much multiplayer experience as Guerrilla. If not more.
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TheGodfather07
Member
They won't abandon but there will be less. Even naughty dog are working on a multiplayer only live service game. When have naughty dog ever done that? They are known for their single player narrative games. The writing is on the wall and there will be even less single player focused games in the future. They're already lacking as it is.
