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Is Sony creatively bankrupt?

I know a lot of people love Playstation and I used to as well. But what happened? They used to have slam dunk IPs one after another. I’m not even talking about Concord, that’s a one-off flop, but where is their creativity anymore?

Syphon Filter
Socom
Legend of Dragoon
Resistance
Infamous
Killzone
Jak and Daxter
Sly Cooper
Twisted Metal
Legacy of Kain
Motorstorm
Dark Cloud
Wipeout
and that’s just for starters…

They had home run after home run. It’s been a steady decline ever since.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
unimpressed michael keaton GIF


Sony Santa Monica and ND are both working on new IPs.
 
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I know a lot of people love Playstation and I used to as well. But what happened? They used to have slam dunk IPs one after another. I’m not even talking about Concord, that’s a one-off flop, but where is their creativity anymore?

Syphon Filter
Socom
Legend of Dragoon
Resistance
Infamous
Killzone
Jak and Daxter
Sly Cooper
Twisted Metal
Legacy of Kain
Motorstorm
Dark Cloud
Wipeout
and that’s just for starters…

They had home run after home run. It’s been a steady decline ever since.

Somewhere along the way, they were blinded by the potential profits of a runaway GAAS success, such that they decided their studios are not allowed to make games they're excited and passionate about. Instead, they must make the same orange and purple sludge every other studio is making.
 
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XXL

Member
Instead of complaining where the industry is going why don't you just buy some fucking games that are different from time to time.

Support goes a long way, you know....vote with your wallet.

That why Concord (deservedly) died, because people didn't buy it.

So if you want stuff that different (like Astro Bot) then buy it and don't just wait for it to come to a fucking subscription service.
 
They've been creatively bankrupt for at least a decade.

PlayStation is best for their hardware. I couldn't be happier with the PS5, dual sense, Portal, and PSVR2. 1st party games though, spare me. 99% are lowest common denominator mid as F games. Caters to graphics whores and people who are too scared to play AA games.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
We are in a creatively bankrupt era.
Yup. Sony, Ubisoft, EA and others of their ilk aside you can also look at the state of Hollywood and the music industry. There's just so much forgetful junk that doesn't leave any kind of lasting impact. Or stuff corrupted by ideology in a way that kills the immersion through excessive activism and boring modern trends.

Sure you still get the the odd good thing that stands out, but they come few and far between in comparison to decades past.
 
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//DEVIL//

Member
Sony went to shit just like the rest of Western devs for the most part thanks to forced diversity and color even if they are half-qualified or not qualified at all but have to fill a quota.

When a game like Dark Knight looks better than Gotham Knights, you start to see the lack of experience and knowledge these people have.

Too many filled positions with not qualified people demanding high salary . You get a high budget game that takes long time to develop and it’s not even good .

There is a reason why Japanese games and Asian games are getting better and better why western devs are closing studios .

And instead of management saying fuck it ( like how Activision did to the stupid state of California where they tried to sue them for lack of diversity or whatever ( hey why did you look at me while I am not working ? This is a sex offense I am going to sue you ) they are getting fucked money wise.

The Western video game market will collapse. It’s just a matter of time at this point not if. And when this happens, all these retards will vanish and go back to flipping burgers.

What’s sad is the engine is fucking there !! . It’s built and ready. whatever it’s an unreal engine or whatever. Yet they still suck at making a decent game. Imagine asking these devs to create a new engine. Lollll see you after 20 years with a ping-pong physics

Then you get people like that retard calling us talentless freaks with that shit of a game.

Yeah, not a single fuck will be given when this market crashes and these devs get fired. Have plenty of old games to play for a lifetime. I’ll wait.
 
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Instead of complaining where the industry is going why don't you just buy some fucking games that are different from time to time.

Support goes a long way, you know....vote with your wallet.

That why Concord (deservedly) died, because people didn't buy it.

So if you want stuff that different (like Astro Bot) then buy it and don't just wait for it to come to a fucking subscription service.

I’m not buying an entire console for one game. They’ll probably bring it to PC anyway.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
You’re missing the point. Even if Astro Bot becomes the new Super Mario Galaxy, it’s one game in what used to be a sea of heavy hitters.
Some of you are on repeat always giving the same answer in these threads. BUT BUT ASTRO BOT as if one game dismisses genuine concerns lmao.

If a studio made a new game tomorrow where some regular guy gained superpowers and started jumping around the city blasting bad guys and saving people, wouldn't it just be immediately dismissed as an inFamous, Prototype, Crackdown etc. clone?

What about a futuristic racing game where all the cars floated and drove at 300mph? Wipeout? F-Zero?

Games made in the 90s and early 2000s had way less existing material to draw on, so they were inherently seen as more creative. If Resistance never came out for PS3 and released today, would anyone seriously care? There's tons of creativity in the indie space still today, but where massive publishers are concerned, with game budget skyrocketing out of control, how many are seriously going to take the plunge on the wild and weird?

Case in point: Hi-Fi Rush was one of the most creative AA games I'd seen in ages, and they closed the entire studio because nobody played it.
 
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NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Gamers are creatively bankrupt, encouraging devs and publishers to stay on the well-threaded path instead of rewarding creativity and innovation. Nothing stops the cinematic game / Marvel game train even if it’s been hijacked by ideologists, but try a new IP and see what happens.

Sony is now passing through a phase Nintendo entered years ago. You know the narrative, “Nintendo only makes Mario, Zelda and Pokemon”? That’s what sells the gazillions, my friend - everything else is background noise, as good as it may be. Meanwhile actual users of Nintendo hardware have been pointing out for more than a decade that Nintendo is making new IPs and original minor games all the time, and people were laughing their asses off. Now that it’s Sony that’s going through this, suddenly Astrobot is relevant - the saviour of PlayStation, even.
 

Bombolone

Gold Member
I think Modern Sony is tired of making Single Player experiences.
In that, they are so risky today for a reward that’s seems like peanuts compared to its multiplayer counterpart.

They want that cash cow. That multiplayer, online, mtx focused ecosystem that allows for a steady stream of income, while they take the risks. They will keep trying because they have to. I would scale their effort down considerably and build off a legacy ip like socom.

Creatively bankrupt. I think the inevitable growth/maturation of the industry (big money took hold)
Its a common battle between art and commerce.
 
If a studio made a new game tomorrow where some regular guy gained superpowers and started jumping around the city blasting bad guys and saving people, wouldn't it just be immediately dismissed as an inFamous, Prototype, Crackdown etc. clone?

What about a futuristic racing game where all the cars floated and drove at 300mph? Wipeout? F-Zero?

Games made in the 90s and early 2000s had way less existing material to draw on, so they were inherently seen as more creative. If Resistance never came out for PS3 and released today, would anyone seriously care? There's tons of creativity in the indie space still today, but where massive publishers are concerned, with game budget skyrocketing out of control, how many are seriously going to take the plunge on the wild and weird?

Case in point: Hi-Fi Rush was one of the most creative AA games I'd seen in ages, and they closed the entire studio because nobody played it.

Hi-Fi Rush was repetitive and got boring super fast. I stopped playing it halfway. Rhythm games have always been niche.

Nobody would criticize those things if they were original and fresh. Super powers have always been a thing.

And look at the new Forza… trash and a stark fall from Forza 4.

It’s like developers have forgotten how to make games and what made games good to begin with.
 
If you mean creatively bankrupt in the sense that all Sony do is shit out generic GAAS and third person cinematic movie games with the Ubisoft open world formula, then yes. Also, people are delusional as hell if they think Astrobot is going to be some mega hit. The Playstation fanbase has been brainwashed by Sony into thinking that anything that doesn't look like The Last of Us or Horizon is not worth your time.
 
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Gamers are creatively bankrupt, encouraging devs and publishers to stay on the well-threaded path instead of rewarding creativity and innovation. Nothing stops the cinematic game / Marvel game train even if it’s been hijacked by ideologists, but try a new IP and see what happens.

Sony is now passing through a phase Nintendo entered years ago. You know the narrative, “Nintendo only makes Mario, Zelda and Pokemon”? That’s what sells the gazillions, my friend - everything else is background noise, as good as it may be. Meanwhile actual users of Nintendo hardware have been pointing out for more than a decade that Nintendo is making new IPs and original minor games all the time, and people were laughing their asses off. Now that it’s Sony that’s going through this, suddenly Astrobot is relevant - the saviour of PlayStation, even.

Tell me, what exactly is creative and innovative about Concord? Or Fairgames? What about those games sets them apart from the competitors? What about those games instills any hope that the half dozen other live service games that Sony still has in production will be creative and innovative?
 

MacReady13

Member
I know a lot of people love Playstation and I used to as well. But what happened? They used to have slam dunk IPs one after another. I’m not even talking about Concord, that’s a one-off flop, but where is their creativity anymore?

Syphon Filter
Socom
Legend of Dragoon
Resistance
Infamous
Killzone
Jak and Daxter
Sly Cooper
Twisted Metal
Legacy of Kain
Motorstorm
Dark Cloud
Wipeout
and that’s just for starters…

They had home run after home run. It’s been a steady decline ever since.
I'll continue to ask, when will Playstation give control back to Japan? I used to LOVE my Playstation consoles. They had unique and different games coming out. They were the trend setters most of the time. Now, it's generic crap. Astro Bot is the best thing they will have released since Astro Bot on PSVR!

Nintendo is the only one keeping me going on consoles at the moment. Thank god for my Switch and gaming PC...
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
back in PS1, PS2 and PS3 they had good balance of both Japanese and western first party games, thats what made them unique compare to Nintendo and Microsoft.

But now other than Asobi Team, they are mostly focus on western games and in my opinion it made their game selection extremely boring.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
It’s like developers have forgotten how to make games and what made games good to begin with.

Here's the thing - I think Baldur's Gate 3 is in contention for one of the greatest games of all time. But at the end of the day, it's just a D&D universe CRPG. There's nothing particularly or uniquely creative about it - it's just incredibly well put together.

At the same time, Scorn was a super creative game being basically a walking H. R. Giger museum, but the game itself stank. Creativity is only ultimately worthwhile when the product it's attached to is worth a damn. Sony are still pumping out quality games - let's just not talk about Concord.
 
If a studio made a new game tomorrow where some regular guy gained superpowers and started jumping around the city blasting bad guys and saving people, wouldn't it just be immediately dismissed as an inFamous, Prototype, Crackdown etc. clone?

What about a futuristic racing game where all the cars floated and drove at 300mph? Wipeout? F-Zero?

Games made in the 90s and early 2000s had way less existing material to draw on, so they were inherently seen as more creative. If Resistance never came out for PS3 and released today, would anyone seriously care? There's tons of creativity in the indie space still today, but where massive publishers are concerned, with game budget skyrocketing out of control, how many are seriously going to take the plunge on the wild and weird?

Case in point: Hi-Fi Rush was one of the most creative AA games I'd seen in ages, and they closed the entire studio because nobody played it.

Same can be said about Astro Bot lmao. Oh boy, a platformer, we havent seen those before huh? You just proved OP's point, that companies are indeed creatively bankrupt, but I highly doubt because we ran out of creative things. Cmon.
 
Once again, we’re talking 1-2 games in 1-2 years, at best. Even two amazing IPs pales in comparison to what Sony used to put out.

It's taking a lot longer to develop games. They aren't going to be able to put out hit after hit at the same pace anymore, no one can. Are they at the top of their game? No but they aren't creatively bankrupt either.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Kinda. Imo it's not about lack of creativity, but lack of the will to take a risk and make something creative.

AAA games, specially those that have to cater to graphic-whores, are very expensive to make, so even if there's creative people working under Sony's umbrella they can't really do shit because of the cost of a possible flop. It's much safer to keep pumping out third-person cinematic games and Marvel stuff, since those have been proven to sell a lot among the general public.
 
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