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Does Sony have a long-term software strategy? | Opinion Gamesindustry.biz

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
1. He is assuming without understanding how it works.
2. They ran YouTube ads for Marathon after the Showcase. It was even shared on GAF.
3. Total views isn't the argument here. The argument is the alleged "negative response to Marathaon's trailer" that the writer claimed for which there is no evidence.

The writer wrote, "and the arguably quite negative response to the Marathon trailer."

Where is the negative response when the trailer has 94% likes?

I’m sure he has a better understanding of YouTube than you do. They 100% botted those views. The like and comment to views ratio is absurd.
 
Incorrect. They released the following this year:
  • Horizon Burning Shores
  • GT 7 PS VR 2
  • MLB The Show 23
  • Destiny Lightfall
  • Horizon Call of the Mountain
  • Firewall Ultra
  • Spider-Man 2
Helldivers 2 and Stellar Blade were also scheduled for release this year but got delayed into 2024.
I think the issue isn't in the amount of releases, but rather in the types of the releases. Like it or not, PlayStation has conditioned its fans and the media into thinking AAA, third-person, narrative-driven experiences are the only ones that matter. When these games are released only once a year and only 1 is officially announced for the future, the narrative becomes a "PlayStation has no games" one. It'll take a while to change this mindset.
 
Why is it that the more MS is struggling, the more articles about Sony being in trouble pop up?

I hope Sony will stay quiet until a month before release for every game/product they will release for the rest of this gen.

Should make for wonderful drama, despite Sony killing it, just like they did with all previous gens, apart from the first half of the PS3-gen.
Microsoft struggling? Joke post 🤣
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I’m sure he has a better understanding of YouTube than you do. They 100% botted those views. The like and comment to views ratio is absurd.
And what is his evidence for making such a big claim? 😄 Nothing.

He implied that 7,200 likes do not make sense for 18 million views, while ignoring the fact that this data is not updated in real-time. Now there are 76,000 likes for 20 million views,. More than 10x increase in likes, while the number of views is roughly still the same. What is his argument now?

And I know a fair bit about YouTube. Part of my job is.

Between 3.75% and 4% is considered the ideal like-to-views ratio on YouTube.

5OwZrew.jpg


And Marathon's like-to-view ratio is 3.8%.

So where's the issue?

If you still want to ignore reality and statistics and believe a YouTuber that is literally assuming without providing a single evidence, then you're just believing what you want to believe.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I think the issue isn't in the amount of releases, but rather in the types of the releases. Like it or not, PlayStation has conditioned its fans and the media into thinking AAA, third-person, narrative-driven experiences are the only ones that matter. When these games are released only once a year and only 1 is officially announced for the future, the narrative becomes a "PlayStation has no games" one. It'll take a while to change this mindset.
Sure. But that's subjective. Either way, saying that Sony released only 1 game this year is categorically incorrect -- which is what I responded to.
 
This would have been a problem if they replaced single-player games with live-service games. Why do people keep behaving like that's what they did?

Spider-Man 2 just launched to unprecedented critical and commercial success. Wolverine, Death Stranding 2, Lost Souls Aside, Stellar Blade, etc. are all scheduled to release within the next 12-24 months.

We know that Santa Monica's next game, Ghost of Tsushima 2, TLOU 3, God of War Ragnarok's stand-alone game, next Astrobot game, are also expected to be a part of the future lineup.

Live-service games are going to be additional games (as confirmed in Sony's financial reports), and even live-service games can be like GT 7, which is primarily single-player.
 
We've been hearing about Sony going all in on live service games but where are they? There isn't that many. There's also no need to worry about Sony cutting back on single player games. Those ip are too big and make tons of money. Investing in other types of games is a smart business move and is targeted towards a different, more casual audience. Sony isn't going to forget about the 20m-30m that buy their single player games. That's what PS has always been good at. Catering to all sorts of people.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
We've been hearing about Sony going all in on live service games but where are they?

Their GAAS initiative started in 2018. Building teams that make a new type of game isn't fast or easy. Games take a long time to make. Covid 19 didn't help.

TLDR: They're coming. Helldivers 2 and Concord are the next one's up.
 

Poplin

Member
The way i see it based on following gaming for the last 30+ years, a big proble with Sony is the Jim Ryan transition. Because games take years to develop, often when a new leader comes theyre landing the former leaderships strategy for the first 2-3 years before their strategy starts taking foot.

A lot of the early PS5 strong content and planning was far more likely to have been put in place under Shawn Layden and Shuhei Yoshida. Id wager that were really just seeing the "fruits" of Jim Ryan's strategy in this modern era of extremely awkward decisions around GaaS and pointless peripherals. Feels like what happens when you pivot leadership from people that love games but maybe not as ruthless in business (hence a slate focused on excellent single player games with low margins) to a leader that is finance first.

Id wager after the failures at Bungie, the GaaS pivot not yielding excitmenet, and then failing to block the merger, that Jim Ryan was politely asked to retire, which is executive speak for being shown the door while saving face.
 

BlackTron

Member
Hate clicks? Like "Bro, check this shit! Look what they did to Marathon!"

There aren't even 13m people who know what Marathon was before. To most, it's just the name of the next game by the makers of Destiny.

I'm not saying the numbers correlate with a positive reception. But it's not consistent with the "nobody cares about it" that's been tossed around.
 

RedC

Member
Depends what you compare it to.
I would question the comparison simply because it would be too limited a metric to what Microsoft is actually doing and have been and currently investing in gaming.

There's a reason why based on the moves Microsoft has made in the past 5 years with Xbox, people are reasonably projecting them in a much different space in the future, than they are now in gaming (mobile, PC, console, Gamepass, and cloud).
 
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I would question the comparison simply because it would be too limited a metric to what Microsoft is actually doing and have been and currently investing in gaming.

There's a reason why based on the moves Microsoft has made in the past 5 years with Xbox, people are reasonably projecting them in a much different space in the future, than they are now in gaming (mobile, PC, console, Gamepass, and cloud).

Ahh so you make your own metrics for success. Seems like that's the strategy.
 
The marathon views I believe were manufactured, but this continued narrative is becoming more and more of a FUD campaign to obfuscate from Sony who is about to have a massive holiday result while Microsoft has one of their worst.

For a little bit of perspective; 3 years into the PS4, we hadn't even heard about Ghost of Tsushima yet... The PS4 launched in 2013 and Sony announced Ghost in 2017 and it didn't release until 2020...

20132020Edge
Knack, Killzone Shadow Fall, God of War Ascension, GT6, TLOU, Ratchet in the nexusThe Last of Us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Dreams, Sackboy Adventure, Miles Morales2020
20142021
DriveClub, Infamous Second Son, LBP3, TLOU:RReturnal, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, Destruction All Stars2021
20152022
Bloodborne, Order 1886, Until DawnGod of War Ragnarok, GT7, Horizon Forbidden West,2022
20162023
Ratchet and Clank, Last Guardian, Uncharted 4Spider-Man 22016
20172024
Everybody's Golf, GT Sport, Gravity Rush 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, Knack 2, Uncharted Lost Legacy????Shouldn't be hard to beat
20182025
Detroit Become Human, God of War, Spider-Man,????
20192026
Day's Gone, Death Stranding, MediEvil????
I am going to have disagree with many of your chosen winners as far as game entertainment value. Spider-Man 2 might be the first modern system seller Sony has put out this generation and I say that as someone that owns a current gen Xbox.

(2020) > (2013) ==True
[Ghost of Tsushima] > [Knack]+[Killzone Shadow Fall]+[God of War Ascension]+[GT6]+[TLOU]+[Ratchet in the Nexus]

(2021) > (2014) == False
[Driveclub]+[Infamous Second Son] >>> [Returnal]+[Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart]+[Destruction All Stars]

(2022) > (2015) == False
[Bloodborne] >>>>>>>> [God of War Ragnarok]+[GT7]+[Horizon Forbidden West]

(2016) > (2023) == False
[Spider-Man 2] > [Ratchet and Clank]+[Last Guardian]+[Uncharted 4]
 
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Killer8

Member
More views doesn't mean it's a positive response.

Just look at the GAF topic and see how many users are poo-pooing it.


This is selection bias at its finest.
 

RedC

Member
Don't know about that. It still seems like sales are very important to me.
Of course sales are important but they are only one metric to a much larger pie. Continuing to view this through the lens of a console war is outdated. I believe 7 years ago, Phil Spencer conceded that Xbox was highly unlikely to ever win the console war, and decided to move the goal posts which finally got Microsoft to go all in, elevate Xbox as a pillar, and invest almost 100 billion dollars and counting.

Meta, Google, Amazon wish they're foothold in gaming was like Microsoft with Xbox.

And the scary thing is Microsoft is not finished with Xbox expanding and acquiring, while Xbox is no where close to even firing on all cylinders yet.

So I understand why some poeple are concerned on the moves or lack thereof Sony has been making in the meantime.
 
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Mr.Phoenix

Member
Their current successful strategy has been:

- Release a good system at a good price
- First party games focus on SP narratives
- Third party partnerships for shooters, FIFA, SE etc....

Their new strategy going forward is:

- Assuming still the same good systems at good prices
- Buy Bungie for Destiny and GAAS advice
- Tons of first party GAAS in development
- Third party partnerships with exception Activision partnerships will end soon. I think the Sony/COD,marketing deals end in 2024 or 2025.

Aside from Wolverine coming I think in 2024(?), unless they got secret big budget games coming soon, all their key existing franchises like GOW, Horizon, LOU etc... already have their sequels out the past few years. Those games take a long time to get sequels (~5 years where LOU is even longer).

Sony also showcases their heavy hitters a few years in advance with teaser trailers. So if they arent showing anything, I dont think anything huge is really coming out anytime soon except Wolverine. As per their business slide a year or two ago, the plan is 10 new GAAS games by 2025. Thats their key focus. You might not get a new GOW, Horizon, LOU, GT etc..... until PS6.

Big difference is there's a lot more unique PS4 games, while the PS5 era column is almost all sequels. All the big budget PS5 games are sequels, where the new IPs are small budget.

You really think 2021 games list is better than 2014?
200w.webp
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Thankfully I still have 3rd parties game I can get excited about, when comes to Sony’s own first party games I have nothing to look forward to.
 

MoreJRPG

Suffers from extreme PDS
Series S/X getting crushed and GamePass hitting a ceiling at 40M subs is success to you?
Microsoft just had their best Q1 ever for gaming revenue and Activision numbers weren’t even in the fold yet. Console sales literally do not matter to anyone other than certain people on the internet for reasons obvious to all.

You will need to try harder.
 
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Killjoy-NL

Member
Microsoft just had their best Q1 ever for gaming revenue and Activision numbers weren’t even in the fold yet. Console sales literally do not matter to anyone other than certain people on the internet for reasons obvious to all.

You will need to try harder.
Console sales for Xbox slowing down is the very reason GamePass subs are stagnating.
 

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
I am going to have disagree with many of your chosen winners as far as game entertainment value. Spider-Man 2 might be the first modern system seller Sony has put out this generation and I say that as someone that owns a current gen Xbox.

(2020) > (2013) ==True
[Ghost of Tsushima] > [Knack]+[Killzone Shadow Fall]+[God of War Ascension]+[GT6]+[TLOU]+[Ratchet in the Nexus]

(2021) > (2014) == False
[Driveclub]+[Infamous Second Son] >>> [Returnal]+[Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart]+[Destruction All Stars]

(2022) > (2015) == False
[Bloodborne] >>>>>>>> [God of War Ragnarok]+[GT7]+[Horizon Forbidden West]

(2016) > (2023) == False
[Spider-Man 2] > [Ratchet and Clank]+[Last Guardian]+[Uncharted 4]

This post is false, btw.
 
Their GAAS initiative started in 2018. Building teams that make a new type of game isn't fast or easy. Games take a long time to make. Covid 19 didn't help.

TLDR: They're coming. Helldivers 2 and Concord are the next one's up.

But why people acting like sony are abandoning single player games in favour of GAAS? There's no evidence for that. All they've delivered is their signature blockbuster games up to now. Yeah the GAAS games are coming but so are more traditional games aswell. They can and will do both.
 
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Regardless of the interest on the Marathon trailer, I don’t think it’s a measure we can use to estimate the game’s success. Most viewed NASCAR clips are the ones with the big crashes, for example.

20 years ago, Bungie was known for its big Sci-Fi First Person Shooter Campaigns and Sony is big with its Single Player Campaigns. Bungie doing a Sony-type single player game but in first person feels like it should work.
 
I think the issue isn't in the amount of releases, but rather in the types of the releases. Like it or not, PlayStation has conditioned its fans and the media into thinking AAA, third-person, narrative-driven experiences are the only ones that matter. When these games are released only once a year and only 1 is officially announced for the future, the narrative becomes a "PlayStation has no games" one. It'll take a while to change this mindset.
Your post makes little sense considering MLB is always a hit, Destiny's expansions usually are, Burning Shores and VR2 stuff was well reviewed and Spider-Man 2 as well obviously.
Last year's release Gran Turismo 7 is always appearing in multiple charts during this year as well.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Your post makes little sense considering MLB is always a hit, Destiny's expansions usually are, Burning Shores and VR2 stuff was well reviewed and Spider-Man 2 as well obviously.
Last year's release Gran Turismo 7 is always appearing in multiple charts during this year as well.
MLB the show has sold about 1 - 1.4 millions copies per year on consoles for ages. A game that sells about 1M copies across a console base of 100M is not a hit.

It actually trended down to 1M until releasing it on Xbox where sales grew to 2M in 2021.

 
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