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[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

I was scrolling through Twitter earlier (refuse to call it X) and saw a games journalist had posted a tweet saying something to the effect of, it's sad that Sony are pretending that everything is fine and they're having huge success when they've cancelled all these games after the colossal failure Concord was. (Sadly, I can't find it now.)

My first thought having read this was, this is PS3 all over again. I'm sure the older members of GAF like myself will remember all the arrogant Sony memes, back when Sony thought flat screen TV's wouldn't take off and their CRT business was going to boom, when they turned down manufacturing Apple devices in favour of Vaio, when they thought WalkMan was still the future despite iPod killing it. There was a lot of mistakes made. And my second thought was that fight between Bane and Batman in the Dark Knight Rises.

And when you lack decent competition or you lead by such a margin, failure can very easily come with stupidity. Somehow, Shawn Layden and Shuhei Yoshida were replaced by Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst (who somehow got a promotion?) and there was a shift under their leadership to Games as a Service, which let's be fair, is lightning in a bottle. Complacency has set in and SIE leadership thought their shit didn't stink and that anything they fart out will be successful. I'm a huge PlayStation fan, always have been. It's my platform of choice and my only console that I own, but god fucking damn it, why does this feel like the kind of arrogance that led the PS3 to be such as disaster? When you've contributed to the destruction of a globally watched and loved gaming event like E3 to announce major things in blog posts, you're really doing an Apple. And I personally don't like this myself. At the brink of an epic failure, Sony knuckled down and remembered the core values which are that great games sell consoles. And the success train has been going since, but I'm pretty sure there have been some pretty nasty bumps on that track recently.

Cancelling these titles is going to make Sony likely lean further into exclusive game deals to bolster their line up with these titles now missing and Sony need to learn some huge lessons if they're going to continue to pursue this dream of being a dominant leader in the GaaS sector. Ignoring your fan feedback and every red flag that would indicate this game is dead on arrival *cough cough Concord* probably is one of them. I never understood the push for GaaS to be quite honest with you, sure they can be profitable, but the investment required to see it is immense. God knows how many millions of dollars have been pissed away, many staff will be made redundant and so much time wasted that you wonder what they could have done, had the developers been able to make their own games. Personally, I prefer PlayStation from the mid 2010's. Whether you loved or hated E3, for me it was always a great event to meet up with friends and Sony had this sort of formula where you had trailers for games just about to come out, some in development and some announcements for games some way down the line. It created a nice timeline and I could plan accordingly. Now we can't even guarantee a decent yearly show or even a regular State of Play and in many cases a State of Play even worth watching as it's normally 20 minutes of shovel before for the thing we all came for.

And the sad fact is, nobody forced them to go this direction. It was their decision. But PSVR2 has been a huge failure, their GaaS venture so far has to be one of the worst on record. I hope FairGame$ and Marathon make some sort of dint because personally I think FG looks shit and Bungie clearly lost the magic a long time ago. It's just another case of suffering from success and hopefully some great lessons are learnt.

I just hope this deja vu isn't going to unfold over the next few years into a disastrous PS6 launch...

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Here we go again, I’m getting thread Deja Vu

 

[Unknown?]

Nah GaaS was still far less than 50% of their pipeline, it was a speedbump but not a disaster.

As far as launches go, does it matter? Nintendo always launches with only one good game. PS Vita had the best launch of any PS and didn't help them at all.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

It's what fanbranders wanted: success at the cost of competition, and now they reap what they sow.

 

[Lokaum D+]

if it was a PS3 deja vu things would already be improving at this point, sadly i see no improving at the horizon.

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

Nah GaaS was still far less than 50% of their pipeline, it was a speedbump but not a disaster.

As far as launches go, does it matter? Nintendo always launches with only one good game. PS Vita had the best launch of any PS and didn't help them at all.

I'm not sure Sony have the IP to be able to do that personally. I mean even now Zelda Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey are priced quite highly, but Ninty have legendary IP that still sell very well, even on a pile of shit.

Sony could launch PS6 with Uncharted 5 and it could be one of the best games ever, but I don't see it doing Zelda or Mario numbers. They'd need other software and quick.

Plus, I remember the Vita launch very clearly, I know Sony and the media said it was one of the best launch line ups ever but I'm not convinced myself that it was.

 

[Astray]

This is not Arrogant Sony, it's Complacent Sony. And there's a difference between the two.

They did not misprice their base hardware, they did not stop topping up the 1P/2P/3P exclusives, they never took their foot off the gas when it comes to promoting their hardware or software, they didn't let up on their retail presence..etc

However, their biggest problem by far this gen is they've been cashing in all the chips they've earned during the end of PS3/PS4 era and not really earning new ones. PS6 launch will be very instructive imo.

Like the build up to PS5 was people salivating over the new Spider Man/Ghost/TLOU/Horizon etc, and that fueled a lot of PS5 sales, will we see similar behavior in the build-up to PS6? I don't really know.

It's what fanbranders wanted: success at the cost of competition, and now they reap what they sow.

Xbox has continued to exist while this happened and people still didn't buy into that ecosystem.

Why do people act like they got thanos'd out of existence in 2020? They've been there for the ride with us and didn't really produce anything worth discussing despite ~$80bn deployed.

 

[{insert code here}]

Sony, the multi-billion mega corp, is not a victim in any scenario. Corporations are not victims, sheesh.

 

[Foxt3r]

The problem is that we're not in that era anymore; you can't course-correct as quickly as you could back then. They are going to eat shit for a long time.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I think they’re banking on the coming collapse of Xbox in 2025 to carry them for the next couple of years.

Microsoft games coming to PlayStation en-masse in 2025 will see people flock to PS5 and PC instead.

 

[Sintoid]

What about global warning? Sony's fault?
let's discuss it

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

More like moving to Cali and leaving the brand in clowns' hands.

 

[EN250]

They're coasting and pretend to do so for the rest of the gen thanks to multiplats and the behemoth that's gonna be GTAVI because they know there is no real competition besides Nintendo which is always winning in it's own race and PCMR that dgaf about consoles

Xbox fumbling made Sony rest in their perceived success and try shit no one cares about because even if their GAAS trash fail miserably, they count on multiplats doing the heavy lifting for them

Hermen Hulst needs to gtfo so someone else that knows what Sony First Party was good at, start showing them the way

 

[DenchDeckard]

SweetTooth is gonna be gunning for you OP!

I disagree though tbh. I don't think they are arrogant. Business isn't easy. Trends move. They chased something that backfired in their face and the person responsible was clearly pushed out the door.

Hopefully they can turn it around but games are so expensive they may have fucked it up for this gen and some of ps6 tbh.

 

[tomato shrub]

Their biggest luck is MS fumbling much worse, so PS5 is the default machine for 3rd party games. You're not getting GTA6 or Resident Evil 9 on Switch 2. And no one wants a Gamepass console.

Still, thank fuck Ryan is out. They need to get back on track soon.

 

[kazuyamishima]

Their financial results for Q3 FY2024 will be released soon, I think Sony’s focus is in there.

If they’re happy with those results, I don’t think that a few articles or a few million “angry hardcore fans” won’t matter.

 

[Hypereides]

They're coasting and pretend to do so for the rest of the gen thanks to multiplats and the behemoth that's gonna be GTAVI because they know there is no real competition besides Nintendo which is always winning in it's own race and PCMR that dgaf about consoles

Xbox fumbling made Sony rest in their perceived success and try shit no one cares about because even if their GAAS trash fail miserably, they count on multiplats doing the heavy lifting for them

Hermen Hulst needs to gtfo so someone else that knows what Sony First Party was good at, start showing them the way

I wager we're going to see Nishino step up and take over from him soon. Hulst's "brilliant" moves have proven to be extremely short-sighted, a bust, arguably nepotistic, and had a damaging impact on the productivity of first party studios. He needs to go.

 

[SweetTooth]

SweetTooth is gonna be gunning for you OP!

I disagree though tbh. I don't think they are arrogant. Business isn't easy. Trends move. They chased something that backfired in their face and the person responsible was clearly pushed out the door.

Hopefully they can turn it around but games are so expensive they may have fucked it up for this gen and some of ps6 tbh.

Adding him to enemies list:

 

[Unknown?]

I'm not sure Sony have the IP to be able to do that personally. I mean even now Zelda Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey are priced quite highly, but Ninty have legendary IP that still sell very well, even on a pile of shit.

Sony could launch PS6 with Uncharted 5 and it could be one of the best games ever, but I don't see it doing Zelda or Mario numbers. They'd need other software and quick.

Plus, I remember the Vita launch very clearly, I know Sony and the media said it was one of the best launch line ups ever but I'm not convinced myself that it was.

That legendary software only works well with good hardware. Didn't help the GC or Wii U but as far as Sony goes I'm sure a 97 metacritic hit would be enough just as it is for Nintendo.

I never said Vita was best launch of all time, just that it blew away all the previous PS launches. PS1, 2, and 3 were terrible launches. PSP was okay but not close.

 

[BlackTron]

Here we go again, I’m getting thread Deja Vu

Dude while reading this post I said "oh boy James Sawyer is gonna have something to say about this".

You posted the next minute after OP this post takes longer than that to read...

 

[Three]

You're not getting Resident Evil 9 on Switch 2.

I wouldn't be so sure.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

yes and no.

They tried the GaaS initiative, failed, and fucked their pipeline. (They thought Sony couldn’t do any wrong, then Concord happened.)
BUT
They’re not that screwed because the PS5 is the market leader by a long shot

Now I'm gonna say the quiet part aloud; the truth bomb:

All the extreme negative drama against Sony is coming from and being pushed by our fellow green friends. They are releasing a lot of pressure and frustration. (too bad for them, when the shoe is in the other foot , sony ponies are going to take revenge and then people are going to cry)

And the sad fact is, nobody forced them to go this direction. It was their decision

I was listening to someone analyzing the timeline of events: he had a very interesting conclusion:

The ABK acquisitions and Phil Spencer's original plan put a lot of pressure/fear and forced Sony to go all in GaaS

 

[MMaRsu]

More like the consumers are a victim of arrogant Sony once again. They deservedly dominated last gen and now are coasting. Some things gotta happen to make Sony hungry again.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

I'm getting more deja vu with these threads on gaf. THEY LITERALLY HAD GOTY LAST YEAR. Every other game nominated is available on PS5. You cannot say that for Nintendo, Xbox or even PC. I know that's not a perfect barometer but c'mon, it's really not that bad.

Not trying to act like everything is perfect for them. Concord is an extreme bomb, arguably the largest in gaming history. Their GaaS went way too far and like nearly everyone else in the industry, it takes wayyyy too long for games to be made But the doom and gloom threads are just crazy to me. I also wonder if some of you are younger and actually lived through PS3 or are just looking back. Early PS3 days were FAR worse than right now. Not only did it have barely no games, it had a shitty controller that didn't even have basic features like rumble and a complete dogshit online, especially when comparing it to 360.

 

[SweetTooth]

I'm getting more deja vu with these threads on gaf. THEY LITERALLY HAD GOTY LAST YEAR. Every other game nominated is available on PS5. You cannot say that for Nintendo, Xbox or even PC. I know that's not a perfect barometer but c'mon, it's really not that bad.

Not trying to act like everything is perfect for them. Concord is an extreme bomb, arguably the largest in gaming history. Their GaaS went way too far and like nearly everyone else in the industry, it takes wayyyy too long for games to be made But the doom and gloom threads are just crazy to me. I also wonder if some of you are younger and actually lived through PS3 or are just looking back. Early PS3 days were FAR worse than right now. Not only did it have barely no games, it had a shitty controller that didn't even have basic features like rumble and a complete dogshit online, especially when comparing it to 360.

Bros on a mission, unfortunately for them Sony is more successful than ever and recently buried Xbox for good.

Maybe these threads are a side effect of that? Hmmmmm

 

[Scrawnton]

I've owned every PlayStation console since I got a PSOne in 1999. I've had a PS5 since launch. At this point Sony has nearly completely lost me as a consumer if they stay on this path. They have a lot of work to do if they want me to even consider getting a PS6 at this point.

I doubt Sony would be able to excite me enough about the brand to get me to buy another console, but I really really hope they try.

 

[fersnake]

TLDR i guess another sony's doomed thread

 

[Mortisfacio]

Sony has some issues, but Microsoft manages to keep fumbling so I think they'll be alright.

 

[RCU005]

When people asked me why I got a PS3 instead of and Xbox 360, I replied with a simple answer: Because that’s where the games I want to play are.

This continues to be true. I’ve never been closed to get an Xbox or Nintendo, I just want the console the games that I wanted to play.

The PS5 hasn’t had that this gen. Or more precisely there are very few games this gen. I’ve never been able to have many games, but I’ve always have struggled about what to pick first since I can’t have 100 games.

With the PS5, my wishlist is so short. There hasn’t been but a few first party games, and even third party, which have been dominating this gen (by default), are few that interest me.

This gen has been extremely boring for me in general even taking into account the few amazing games that have been out.

I got a Nintendo Switch, and I’ve been playing some games I like, but during PS4 and PS3, my attention was 95% on PlayStation and mostly with first party games.

 

[SlimySnake]

Nah GaaS was still far less than 50% of their pipeline,

??

 

[Shifty1897]

I wish I had the time to dig up my 2020-2021 posts warning about Sony's PS3 level hubris with the PS5 that enraged a bunch of Sony simps.

We've seen the polls, people think this is the worst Sony generation by a wide margin.

 

[mitch1971]

Here we go again, I’m getting thread Deja Vu

Everyday.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

When you're on top. The only way is down.

People bounce back. Ask Alan partridge

 

[BennyBlanco]

The reality is Sony doesn’t really need a huge first party anymore with Xbox dying off. If you want a subsidized console for $500~ to play games on a TV with a controller they are gonna be the only viable option soon with 3rd parties abandoning Xbox. Getting 30% of every transaction is huge. Apple doesn’t make games. Valve barely makes games.

 

[FeralEcho]

Thing is the PS3 was firing on all cylinders by the time it was in its 5th year.

Meanwhile PS5 in its 5th year with all these cancelled projects is like

 

[graywolf323]

TLDR i guess another sony's doomed thread

feels like we get a new one every day

 

[K' Dash]

It's funny to see the overly defensive people here crying because they think that cancelling huge projects in active development is a sign of good things to come.

Software development projects are expensive as fuck, developers, designers, UI, UX, everything is hilariously expensive, deciding to just stop when you're YEARS in, and cut the losses is not a good sign, neither is losing all that money.

But yeah, Sony is on top (of MS, cause Nintendo is curb stomping them as usual), everything is good, bring up Concord 2.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

Bros on a mission, unfortunately for them Sony is more successful than ever and recently buried Xbox for good.

Maybe these threads are a side effect of that? Hmmmmm

Idk, I think it's just more due to long wait times with games. Which is fair, but not particularly a Sony problem. GTA has skipped an entire gen and a half since releases and Nintendo just went a full decade without a Mario kart game. It's just unfortunately the way the industry is now but for whatever reason Sony seems to be the only one that gets the blame. Even with PS5, I mentioned in another thread it's probably their worst gen so far, but only by a slim margin really. I haven't been bored in terms of having games to play at all, with that being Sony first party, times exclusives or third party.

 

[Fess]

Isn’t it more like PS2 and Dreamcast?

Xbox is going down and Microsoft is going multi.

A PS3 scenario could arrive after this generation if Sony is sitting on their laurels when Valve is pushing SteamOS out in the living room.

 

[PeteBull]

Sony isnt a victim, saying that is like saying woman who took 100 penises by the age of 25 is a victim too, in both cases we gotta simply take accountability for terrible past/current behaviour and simply admit that actions have consequences- when company fucks up they will suffer, and big time in terms of marketshare/current and future profits, 4sure, same way when a hoe does hoe-ish things not even for "hot girl summer" but solid couple years- her chances of finding "prince charming" are close to 0, at best she will find a simp she settles for but hates wholeheartedly

 

[Fbh]

They pretty much are, except this time it's working out for them

 

[Horseganador]

Another Playstation doomed thread? There's already one that's almost 20 pages long.

 

[TGO]

This isn't like PS3, it's more the opposite.
See when Sony was arrogant with the PS3 they was still pushing new IP's and PS3 software.
And continued to improve the PS3's default software to add new features
But 3rd Party became a problem, especially keeping ones that were once exclusive.
Sony got their act together and pushed harder because they learnt a lesson.
Here it's the opposite Sony is not pushing new software, neglecting the PS5 but 3rd Party is booming.
Sony sales are continuing to be good because it has such good 3rd party so they see no lessons to be learnt.

 

[The Fartist]

Sony isnt a victim, saying that is like saying woman who took 100 penises by the age of 25 is a victim too, in both cases we gotta simply take accountability for terrible past/current behaviour and simply admit that actions have consequences- when company fucks up they will suffer, and big time in terms of marketshare/current and future profits, 4sure, same way when a hoe does hoe-ish things not even for "hot girl summer" but solid couple years- her chances of finding "prince charming" are close to 0, at best she will find a simp she settles for but hates wholeheartedly

 

[Shadowstar39]

I was scrolling through Twitter earlier (refuse to call it X) and saw a games journalist had posted a tweet saying something to the effect of, it's sad that Sony are pretending that everything is fine and they're having huge success when they've cancelled all these games after the colossal failure Concord was. (Sadly, I can't find it now.)

My first thought having read this was, this is PS3 all over again. I'm sure the older members of GAF like myself will remember all the arrogant Sony memes, back when Sony thought flat screen TV's wouldn't take off and their CRT business was going to boom, when they turned down manufacturing Apple devices in favour of Vaio, when they thought WalkMan was still the future despite iPod killing it. There was a lot of mistakes made. And my second thought was that fight between Bane and Batman in the Dark Knight Rises.

And when you lack decent competition or you lead by such a margin, failure can very easily come with stupidity. Somehow, Shawn Layden and Shuhei Yoshida were replaced by Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst (who somehow got a promotion?) and there was a shift under their leadership to Games as a Service, which let's be fair, is lightning in a bottle. Complacency has set in and SIE leadership thought their shit didn't stink and that anything they fart out will be successful. I'm a huge PlayStation fan, always have been. It's my platform of choice and my only console that I own, but god fucking damn it, why does this feel like the kind of arrogance that led the PS3 to be such as disaster? When you've contributed to the destruction of a globally watched and loved gaming event like E3 to announce major things in blog posts, you're really doing an Apple. And I personally don't like this myself. At the brink of an epic failure, Sony knuckled down and remembered the core values which are that great games sell consoles. And the success train has been going since, but I'm pretty sure there have been some pretty nasty bumps on that track recently.

Cancelling these titles is going to make Sony likely lean further into exclusive game deals to bolster their line up with these titles now missing and Sony need to learn some huge lessons if they're going to continue to pursue this dream of being a dominant leader in the GaaS sector. Ignoring your fan feedback and every red flag that would indicate this game is dead on arrival *cough cough Concord* probably is one of them. I never understood the push for GaaS to be quite honest with you, sure they can be profitable, but the investment required to see it is immense. God knows how many millions of dollars have been pissed away, many staff will be made redundant and so much time wasted that you wonder what they could have done, had the developers been able to make their own games. Personally, I prefer PlayStation from the mid 2010's. Whether you loved or hated E3, for me it was always a great event to meet up with friends and Sony had this sort of formula where you had trailers for games just about to come out, some in development and some announcements for games some way down the line. It created a nice timeline and I could plan accordingly. Now we can't even guarantee a decent yearly show or even a regular State of Play and in many cases a State of Play even worth watching as it's normally 20 minutes of shovel before for the thing we all came for.

And the sad fact is, nobody forced them to go this direction. It was their decision. But PSVR2 has been a huge failure, their GaaS venture so far has to be one of the worst on record. I hope FairGame$ and Marathon make some sort of dint because personally I think FG looks shit and Bungie clearly lost the magic a long time ago. It's just another case of suffering from success and hopefully some great lessons are learnt.

I just hope this deja vu isn't going to unfold over the next few years into a disastrous PS6 launch...

Counterpoint --- > PS3 was the best Sony console in the modern era.
Sure I hated that that it didn't have jrpgs right of the gate, but it made up for it by having legit awesome western franchises, that were aimed at the gamer market (something they don't do anymore, thanks to Druckman , Sarkesian, and sucking up to the woke resetera folks for "modern audiences" ).

In the ps3 era we had tons of 1st and 2nd party greats: 3 resistance games, 2 killzone games, 3 uncharted games, Heavenly Sword, 3 little big planets, 2 infamous games, 2 Socom games, MAG, 2 wipeout games, 2 Gran Turisimo games, The puppeteer, tokyo jungle, Heavy Rain, Beyond 2 souls, Demon souls, Twisted Metal, 2 White knight chronicles, ni no kuni, The puppeteer, Disgaea 3, Valkyria Chronicles, MGS4, The last of us etc...

The machine played all disc ps1 games, and a tone of digital ps1 games on the store (something they don't do outside of a handful of titles), and played cds. Both of which ps4 and ps5 can't do.

Oh we had no woke infestation, no mtx, no gaas. We had 2 fallout, 2 gta, 2 rainbox 6 vega, mass effect eventually got released on ps3.

It also had killer marketing. From the uncharted girlfriend ad, to the Kevin Bulter it only does everything ad, to Veronica Belmont in Quore digital app, ps home, etc..
Shit was great.

Sony's blunder with the hardware reveal and cell made them earn back their place and they outsold the 360 by the end of the gen, starting a year later and at higher price point.
Sony also had many many price cuts, something they refuse to do now.

Late PS4 sony went woke and gaas. It never cut ps4/ps5 price, it takes away disc drive, it has lack of games and supported Censorship where in the past it supported obscure Japanese games and risque art.

So ps3 was way better and nothing like lackluster ps5 output. The console is good, the games volume is shit.

 

[Bojji]

Sony isnt a victim, saying that is like saying woman who took 100 penises by the age of 25 is a victim too, in both cases we gotta simply take accountability for terrible past/current behaviour and simply admit that actions have consequences- when company fucks up they will suffer, and big time in terms of marketshare/current and future profits, 4sure, same way when a hoe does hoe-ish things not even for "hot girl summer" but solid couple years- her chances of finding "prince charming" are close to 0, at best she will find a simp she settles for but hates wholeheartedly

 

[majestix1988]

i am more okay on song "deja vu" of intial D but this one nah its just another space "thinking"

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

I don’t see it as Deja vu. I see it as them panicking by making dumb moves after MS bought Activision and they thought they would lose COD. The PS3 gen was pure arrogance but this gen they were fueled by fear.

They rushed too quickly into GAAS and devoted too many resources because they thought they were gonna lose their cash cow. I believe they knew making all these GAAS games was a risky move but they did it regardless because they felt it was a matter of survival. Now that it’s abundantly clear that MS was never gonna take COD away from PS, and in fact they need PS5 to maintain COD’s success more than the other way around, Sony’s GAAS push seems even more stupid.

The good thing about all these game cancellations is that it shows we are getting old Sony back. It’s very annoying that they wasted time and resources on these shitty GAAS games nobody asked for but in time all will be forgotten and forgiven. They are just going to have to rely on their 2nd and 3rd party exclusives to carry them for a while until their first party can recover from this epic blunder.

Concord flopping was a blessing in disguise as it led to Sony to realize that they weren’t built for this shit. They must have lost astronomical sums of money with Concord flopping. I still believe Jim Ryan’s exit was because he could read the tea leaves and knew Concord was going to be an epic bomba. The feedback they were getting even before the game’s official gameplay reveal looked sad, and the game had zero hype. He must have known they were heading straight into an iceberg and decided to jump ship before they hit. It was always suspicious to me the way he quit so early lol.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

What about global warning? Sony's fault?
let's discuss it

Of course global warming is not Sony's fault.

Herman Hulst is personally responsible.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

I don’t see it as Deja vu. I see it as them panicking by making dumb moves after MS bought Activision and they thought they would lose COD. The PS3 gen was pure arrogance but this gen they were fueled by fear.

They rushed too quickly into GAAS and devoted too many resources because they thought they were gonna lose their cash cow. I believe they knew making all these GAAS games was a risky move but they did it regardless because they felt it was a matter of survival. Now that it’s abundantly clear that MS was never gonna take COD away from PS, and in fact they need PS5 to maintain COD’s success more than the other way around, Sony’s GAAS push seems even more stupid.

The good thing about all these game cancellations is that it shows we are getting old Sony back. It’s very annoying that they wasted time and resources on these shitty GAAS games nobody asked for but in time all will be forgotten and forgiven. They are just going to have to rely on their 2nd and 3rd party exclusives to carry them for a while until their first party can recover from this epic blunder.

Concord flopping was a blessing in disguise as it led to Sony to realize that they weren’t built for this shit. They must have lost astronomical sums of money with Concord flopping. I still believe Jim Ryan’s exit was because he could read the tea leaves and knew Concord was going to be an epic bomba. The feedback they were getting even before the game’s official gameplay reveal looked sad, and the game had zero hype. He must have known they were heading straight into an iceberg and decided to jump ship before they hit. It was always suspicious to me the way he quit so early lol.

Well said. Sony was afraid of what was in their own hearts: had they bought CoD they would have never shared it with MS, so naturally that's what they feared most.