[Taul Passi] What Happened With PS5 Exclusives This Generation?

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LakeOf9

Member
In a recent, large-scale report on the state of the company and brand, Sony said that the upcoming PlayStation 6 was "top of mind" for the company, with some estimates putting it at a potential 2027 release date. But that raises a question. Despite its solid sales, was this…actually a good generation for PlayStation, namely its PS5 exclusives?
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I listed a decent amount of games there, yes. But how many games of true significance? Taking a step back, this entire generation, we did not see a PS5-only game from Guerilla, Sony Santa Monica or Naughty Dog, the last of which became a meme for its endless remasters of its Last of Us games. Naughty Dog has announced Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, but that may not be out until PS6 itself. We have no idea when either new Horizonor God of War games are coming from those studios, much less them branching into potentially new IPs instead of endless sequels. Sony purchased Bungie this generation for $3.6 billion, but it did little except drift on with Destiny 2 and hammer away at a game that seems on the verge of bombing, Marathon. And neither of those games are exclusive, much less PS5-exclusive.
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None of this is to say that Xbox, in contrast, had some great console generation. I've devoted a lot of ink to its collapsed hardware sales, and the concept of an Xbox exclusive is close to not existing at all now. But if we're comparing the PS5 to past eras, I'd probably rank it fourth or even fifth in terms of what it has produced in terms of true exclusives. We'll see if the PS6 can change that, whenever it arrives.
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Source

Seems like Paul Tassi is a bitter critter too.

I think PS1, 2, and 4 were all definitely better than PS5, but that's more because those were legendary than because the PS5 isn't great. The PS5 is still good, just a victim of a lot of unfortunate circumstances that ended up lining all one after another. No idea if PS6 changes this, since a lot of the issues PS5 faced were fundamental, and even better decision making from Sony (I.e., no live service chasing) would not necessarily have led to a better outcome. But we will see.
 
Sony went chasing online mp and live service and other crap, cancelling all sorts of projects and other such things.

The $$ spent on Concord could've funded close to a dozen smaller AAA games at least. Well, marketing costs aside.

They released a mmeh PS5 Pro that isn't much faster than the og, and games that should have released by now are coming later because of these consequences.
 
Will Smith Reaction GIF
 
Please put Paul Tassi, not Forbes. It's bait.

« endless remasters of its Last Of Us games » lol

One remake and one remaster becomes « endless remasters »
 
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HeisenbergFX4 said:
They went after GAAS and hopefully they will course correct

In before "but the sales numbers mean everyone loves what they are doing"
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Question for you – as much as I dislike the direction Sony went this gen, don't sales numbers conclusively prove that the broader market has no issues? It obviously wouldn't continue doing as well as it has if it wasn't a continually appealing product, surely.
 
None of this is to say that Xbox, in contrast, had some great console generation. I've devoted a lot of ink to its collapsed hardware sales, and the concept of an Xbox exclusive is close to not existing at all now. But if we're comparing the PS5 to past eras, I'd probably rank it fourth or even fifth in terms of what it has produced in terms of true exclusives. We'll see if the PS6 can change that, whenever it arrives.
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Not only should he not compare it to previous generations, but he shouldn't expect the PS6 to change this if he does not consider cross gen games "true exclusives". Cross gen is here to stay. And that's a good thing.
 
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LakeOf9 said:
I think PS1, 2, and 4 were all definitely better than PS5, but that's more because those were legendary than because the PS5 isn't great. The PS5 is still good, just a victim of a lot of unfortunate circumstances that ended up lining all one after another.
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In what way is PS5 good?

Most of their major sequels are all disappointing. They've had to fill the gaps in with uninspiring remakes and remasters. PSVR2 turned out to be a massive waste of time. I would say Demon Souls, Astro Bot, GT7, and Helldivers 2 are all good games, but four games in 5 years is good output?
 
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diffusionx said:
In what way is PS5 good?

Most of their major sequels are all disappointing. They've had to fill the gaps in with uninspiring remakes and remasters. PSVR2 turned out to be a massive waste of time. I would say Demon Souls, Astro Bot, GT7, and Helldivers 2 are all good games, but four games in 5 years is good output?
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You can't remove games you didn't like (but exist) and then say « their output is only 4 games in 5 years »
 
Topher said:
My PS5 drive doesn't play "sales numbers", unfortunately.
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Sadly my PS5 hasn't played an actual exclusive in quite awhile and can't remember the last one that stood out to me besides Astro which was great but still, its Astro

LakeOf9 said:
Question for you – as much as I dislike the direction Sony went this gen, don't sales numbers conclusively prove that the broader market has no issues? It obviously wouldn't continue doing as well as it has if it wasn't a continually appealing product, surely.
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If the broad market is happy with the games Sony has been producing thats cool with me, I can't tell people what to like

Seems a decent chunk of people here haven't been thrilled with their output this gen though
 
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Baemono said:
You can't remove games you didn't like (but exist) and then say « their output is only 4 games in 5 years »
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Yes, their disappointing and underwhelming gamers like Ragnarok and Spiderman 2 do exist. We're trying to focus on the good games here.
 
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diffusionx said:
In what way is PS5 good?

Most of their major sequels are all disappointing. They've had to fill the gaps in with uninspiring remakes and remasters. PSVR2 turned out to be a massive waste of time. I would say Demon Souls, Astro Bot, GT7, and Helldivers 2 are all good games, but four games in 5 years is good output?
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The hardware is excellent, the controller is an all time great, the UI is great, and while their exclusive lineup isn't on par with what PS4 had, I have still enjoyed multiple major games from them – at least one a year every year, which is not true for literally any of the other publishers that I can think of. The most you can say is that the lineup is disappointing compared to the highs they themselves set in previous generations. Compare their lineup to pretty much any other publisher, and Sony still comes out ahead, if not at the very top.
 
I'm still not sure why we're getting hung on on "actual" or "true" exclusive.

If Sony is spending money to make sure games comes to their console only or their console first while their own studios work on getting their games out, isn't that a good thing for people who bought their console?
 
LakeOf9 said:
Question for you – as much as I dislike the direction Sony went this gen, don't sales numbers conclusively prove that the broader market has no issues? It obviously wouldn't continue doing as well as it has if it wasn't a continually appealing product, surely.
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Sony's sales numbers can be outstanding and their first party studio output can be lackluster at the same time. The top sellers every year on consoles are multiplats. And with Xbox largely out of the picture, more console gamers who play those games are gaming on PlayStation.
 
I knew this was Paul Tassi just from the thread title.

(edit: before it said "Forbes" instead of "Taul Passi")
 
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Loomy said:
If Sony is spending money to make sure games comes to their console only or their console first while their own studios work on getting their games out, isn't that a good thing for people who bought their console?
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No. Exclusivity isn't good for gamers.
The only positive I can think of is exclusives may use the hardware more to its max potential.

It's not any better if I buy a game that's only on the Playstation compared to if it had a PC/Xbox/Nintendo version.
 
how is this clown putting an article up the same month Sony is going to release a Kojima Master Piece?


.. is he running damage control for something that is about to happen ?
 
Loomy said:
I'm still not sure why we're getting hung on on "actual" or "true" exclusive.

If Sony is spending money to make sure games comes to their console only or their console first while their own studios work on getting their games out, isn't that a good thing for people who bought their console?
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But that's only good for bragging about exclusives. Personally I got nothing out of the fact that FF XVI was exclusive to PS5 until recently.
 
Topher said:
Sony's sales numbers can be outstanding and their first party studio output can be lackluster at the same time. The top sellers every year on consoles are multiplats. And with Xbox largely out of the picture, more console gamers who play those games are gaming on PlayStation.
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Kinda? I need to point out that Horizon Forbidden West, GOW Ragnarok, GT 7, Spider-Man 2 all sold 10-15 million copies. I am not counting Astro Bot, Ratchet and Clank, or Helldivers, because I am keeping this to single player tentpoles only, but those did extremely well too.

I don't think the market seems to have any issue with Sony's lineup this generation is the thing. Yes, Multiplatform games sell more than Sony's own, but that was true for PS1-2-3-4 as well.
 
Its funny, I cannot think of a single journo or analyst that's been bullish on Playstation for nearly 20 years. And yet, here we are again.

I guess if they spread enough FUD they'll be proven right eventually... broken clocks and all that.
 
Loomy said:
I'm still not sure why we're getting hung on on "actual" or "true" exclusive.

If Sony is spending money to make sure games comes to their console only or their console first while their own studios work on getting their games out, isn't that a good thing for people who bought their console?
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It's more about how they have operated the past 6-7 years. They invested heavily in live service, it blew up in their face, and it is showing in their game output.

I still like my PS5 and think it's the best platform but it could have been way better than it turned out to be.
 
Too much multiplayer, too much gaas and too much California.

Sure hope they go back to focusing on making cool single-player games. Or at least funding them, Stellar Blade seemed like a "cheap" (compared to others) project and it seems to be yielding good results for them, not just when it comes to money but when it comes to player's goodwill. Hell they even learned about the silly mandatory PSN stuff and now it's optional + you get a bonus if you link it, which imo is the correct way to do it.
 
Bitter critters. The narrative early on the generation was that Sony was focusing way too much on AAA action-adventures, and now that the likes of Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, Astro Bot and Fighting Souls started gaining traction, people want those AAA action-adventures back (not that they went away, but fuck me if DS2 isn't considered first-party now, when Sony has repeatedly called it 'first-party').
 
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LakeOf9 said:
Kinda? I need to point out that Horizon Forbidden West, GOW Ragnarok, GT 7, Spider-Man 2 all sold 10-15 million copies. I am not counting Astro Bot, Ratchet and Clank, or Helldivers, because I am keeping this to single player tentpoles only, but those did extremely well too.

I don't think the market seems to have any issue with Sony's lineup this generation is the thing. Yes, Multiplatform games sell more than Sony's own, but that was true for PS1-2-3-4 as well.
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I don't necessarily disagree. Sales numbers are what drives Sony executives and so folks like me who don't like Sony's first party studio output are going to be drowned out by the cheers of stockholders. I just know last gen I got three games from Naughty Dog and it very well may be that we get to the end of this generation before I see another one. Sucker Punch managed two games last gen. One this gen. Same for Guerilla. So there is more than one way to look at this stuff and sales don't paint the whole picture.
 
They chased the wrong trend and forgot what brought them to dance. I guess the PS6 will get some Last of us Remasters.
 
diffusionx said:
Then your total list of positive games is exactly as long as mine.
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But I also liked GT7, Ratchet & Clank, Miles Morales, Call of the Mountain, Last of Us 1 Remake, Sackboy and Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut, will probably like Ghost of Yotei and Wolverine and still need to try Returnal, which everybody says it's a great game.

So yeah, I spent more money on this console than on PS4
 
Topher said:
I don't necessarily disagree. Sales numbers are what drives Sony executives and so folks like me who don't like Sony's first party studio output are going to be drowned out by the cheers of stockholders. I just know last gen I got three games from Naughty Dog and it very well may be that we get to the end of this generation before I see another one. Sucker Punch managed two games last gen. One this gen. Same for Guerilla. So there is more than one way to look at this stuff and sales don't paint the whole picture.
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Yeah, that's fair, I think that it is definitely valid to be disappointed in Sony's output this generation on a personal level. And especially with everything moving towards being multiplatform more and more, it can often feel like Sony has completely failed to justify a very expensive purchase if their exclusives are perceived to be disappointing.

I hope Sony is able to strike a better balance next generation for sure. In the past, they had their big hits, but they also had cool, smaller shit. They have still done some of that this generation, but the pace has definitely been lacking, and it is something that I hope they are able to improve going forward.
 
Can anyone name a company that has produced more quality titles in the last 5 years than Sony?

Since June 2020

Last of Us Part 2
Ghost of Tsushima
Spider-Man Miles Morales
Demon's Souls
Returnal
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart
Gran Turismo 7
Horizon Forbidden West
God of War Ragnarok
Spider-Man 2
Stellar Blade
Rise of the Ronin
Helldivers 2
Astro Bot

Upcoming titles
Death Stranding 2
Ghost of Yotei
Saros
Intergalactic
Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls

It's laughable that people give this company so much shit while they produce way more games of note than anyone else.

Raziel said:
DErJtG3.png
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Some choice excerpts

I find myself thinking a lot about 2013 as we head toward the release of next generation consoles here at the end of 2020. And I feel like it's shaping up to be a much different head to head battle this time around.
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But things feel different now, and I wonder if Sony doing more or less the same thing here seven years later will be enough to let it retain its advantage.


With information still to come about PS5, it's hard to paint a full picture of what's happening this time. And yet Microsoft seems to have learned all kinds of lessons with the Xbox Series X, and it makes me wonder if Sony can play it as safe as it always has this time.
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Microsoft hasn't bothered attempting to get rid of its disc drive or limiting used games sales this time around, and yet it is speeding into a purely digital future all the same as it is finally on course with that trend, rather than years ahead of it. Microsoft has a pair of pocket aces heading into the Series X launch, Xbox Game Pass, a must-own for any Xbox player which offers loads of free games and new release exclusives in the closest thing the industry has to a Netflix model. And it also has Project xCloud, its experimental streaming service that will likely end up being paired with Game Pass to offer game streaming on a wide array of devices. Google Stadia may have arrived with a thud, and yet game streaming may be a different story when it's games you already own and don't have to re-buy in a different ecosystem.
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There are smaller advantages too. Microsoft is launching with Halo Infinite, a huge game in Microsoft's biggest franchise, while we know that PS5 isn't going to be launching with Last of Us 3, God of War 2 or anything else that equivalent (maybe Horizon 2, if we're lucky?). Microsoft has also detailed its elaborate backward and forward compatibility plans, building an ecosystem of past and future consoles that allow for more purchase flexibility.
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Topher said:
Yeah, but those were console warrior narratives
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I don't know, man, it's the kind of mentality deeply established on people here.
That Hermen Hulst thread is the perfect example of this, guy made sure to specify that we will see at least one tentpole (as in, big budget productions or critically acclaimed) single-player game each year and people went insane going that Sony was just having one game per year, when that's literally not what was stated. Sony published 8 games last year and only one was considered 'tentpole' (Astro Bot), but that doesn't change the fact that they also released 7 other games as well.
And the funniest thing is that we are having two of them in 2025, Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei.
 
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Mibu no ookami said:
Can anyone name a company that has produced more quality titles in the last 5 years than Sony?
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For my personal tastes, Sony comes out ahead, but yes, there are absolutely companies that have produced a similar (if not higher) number of games the last five years:

  • Animal Crossing New Horizons
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3
  • Splatoon 3
  • Bayonetta 3
  • Pokemon Legends Arceus
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
  • Pikmin 4
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder
  • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
  • Kirby and the Forgotten Land
  • Mario Kart World
  • Emio: The Smiling Man
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of Wisdom
  • Mario and Luigi Brothership
  • Metroid Prime 4
  • Donkey Kong Bananza
  • Pokemon Legends ZA

  • Metaphor ReFantazio
  • Yakuza: Like A Dragon
  • Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
  • Like A Dragon Isshin
  • Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth
  • Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
  • Sonic Frontiers
  • Sonic X Shadow Generations
  • Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
  • Persona 3 Reload
  • Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance


Just two examples ^
 
nial said:
I don't know, man, it's the kind of mentality deeply established on people here.
That Hermen Hulst thread is the perfect example of this, guy made sure to specify that we will see at least one tentpole (as in, big budget productions or critically acclaimed) single-player game each year and people went insane going that Sony was just having one game per year, when that's literally not what was stated. Sony published 8 games last year and only one was considered 'tentpole' (Astro Bot), but that doesn't change the fact that they also released 7 other games as well.
And the funniest thing is that we are having two of them in 2025, Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei.
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You see the same people claim that PSVR2 is dead because it has no games and is getting no games, but will also simultaneously criticize new PSVR2 game announcements like Lumines and Thief VR...

At some point you just have to realize that these arguments aren't made in good faith.

XGS doesn't make nearly as prestigious games as PS
Nintendo games wouldn't be considered AAA on PS
Valve barely makes any games at all yet you'll hear more about a lack of Bloodborne than a lack of Half-Life 3...

Sony won GOTY and multiplayer GOTY last year and people with a straight face still say they had no games.
Sony has two of the most anticipated AAA games of the year and people with a straight face will still say they have no games.

Has the Sony Live Service push been well executed? Certainly not, it was a bad strategy overall, but by the end of this generation, Sony is still going to have two of the biggest new live service games of the generation coming from them in Helldivers 2 and Marvel Tokon FS. Who else can say that? That's without even focusing on the continued success of Gran Turismo, MLB The Show, and Destiny 2.

At the end of the day it comes down to a lot of salty people who prefer PC, Xbox, and Nintendo. How Paul Tassi can create an article about PS5 exclusives when nearly every Xbox game is getting ported to PS5 is beyond laughable.
 
LakeOf9 said:
For my personal tastes, Sony comes out ahead, but yes, there are absolutely companies that have produced a similar (if not higher) number of games the last five years:

  • Animal Crossing New Horizons
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3
  • Splatoon 3
  • Bayonetta 3
  • Pokemon Legends Arceus
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
  • Pikmin 4
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder
  • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
  • Kirby and the Forgotten Land
  • Mario Kart World
  • Emio: The Smiling Man
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of Wisdom
  • Mario and Luigi Brothership
  • Metroid Prime 4
  • Donkey Kong Bananza
  • Pokemon Legends ZA

  • Metaphor ReFantazio
  • Yakuza: Like A Dragon
  • Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
  • Like A Dragon Isshin
  • Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth
  • Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
  • Sonic Frontiers
  • Sonic X Shadow Generations
  • Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
  • Persona 3 Reload
  • Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance


Just two examples ^
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Any list with games like Pokemon Arceus on it immediately become a joke...

If Sony had either of these companies' production they would got torched...
 
I think they had a decent output, but it's hard to follow up on the PS3 and PS4 exclusives. Frankly I'd like it if Sony focused more on single player games. They had an absolute string of bangers for the PS3 and 4. A lot of stuff they put out this gen was so painfully chasing that online money and micro transactions.
 
LakeOf9 said:
Question for you – as much as I dislike the direction Sony went this gen, don't sales numbers conclusively prove that the broader market has no issues? It obviously wouldn't continue doing as well as it has if it wasn't a continually appealing product, surely.
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That's why they can't afford to lose the ps1&2's identity. The best part is we're still alive.
 
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