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[RCU005]

PlayStation Studios will become PlayStation LIVE GAME Studios.

It's sad that Hulst could've been a big part of a PS3 comeback when it comes to exclusive games, and he decided to put everything into live service games. What's the consequence? There are no games for PS5 from PS Studios because they have realized none of their 10 live games have any hype.

This is the first generation since PS1 that PlayStation does not have a steady release schedule, releasing about 3 or 4 games a year.

 

[Perrott]

Destruction All-Stars wasn't first party and it was a throw away game trying to get content for launch, which happens... checks notes... every system launch.

Let's don't get into the first-party debate. I know what you mean, and you know what I mean.

"A first-party game made by a second-party studio."

I even agree with you, in that it was a throwaway MP game largely developed under Layden's regime, just like Predator: Hunting Grounds, that just happened to be near-completion by the time Hermen took over SIE Worldwide Studios.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Let’s hope that they focus more on their core audience and console instead of pc and mobile going forward.

Not gonna happen. Hermen wanted faster releases on PC where Jim supposedly stopped it.
Hermen is the gonna up the stuff us Playstation fans havent liked for the last 4+ years..

 

[Kokoloko85]

What shitty news. Guy can barely handle PS Studios is now in charge of Playstation and its software…

 

[bitbydeath]

Destruction All-Stars wasn't first party and it was a throw away game trying to get content for launch, which happens... checks notes... every system launch.

It was.

we spoke to its creators, developer Lucid Games and Sony xDev

Destruction AllStars interview: the PS5 tech that brought the car brawler to life

Real time deformation, mo-cap parkour, haptic feedback and more: Lucid Games and XDev give us a look under the hood.

blog.playstation.com

 

[JCreasy]

LMFAO

Followed

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Now Gaf can make fun of not one but 2 Sony CEOs.

The meme cometh.

Three, counting their boss.

 

[Perrott]

What shitty news. Guy can barely handle PS Studios is now in charge of Playstation and its software…

To be fair, it's not shitty news in the sense that he's essentially retaining his previous responsabilities as the head of PlayStation Studios with now overseeing PlayStation Productions as well in some capacity, which he actually may have already been doing in the past anyway.

Hulst isn't being put in charge of pretty much anything that wasn't under him before, it's actually Nishino who got a nice promotion out of this SIE restructuring.

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Aaaaaaaand Playstation is fucked.

Hulst is even worse than Jim Ryan.

 

[hybrid_birth]

Three, counting their boss.

The unholy trinity.

Which is the name for ps5 pro.

Playstation is so popular now even the Bible mentions it.

 

[Perrott]

Isn’t Hulst the dipshit that pushed for Japan Studios to be closed?

Look at the leaked PSN sales data from all Sony published games that surfaced a few weeks ago.

Japan Studio were responsible of making flop, after flop, after flop, outside of Bloodborne (a FromSoftware game), Demon's Souls remake (a Bluepoint game) and Astro-Bot (their only internal success in over a decade).

Now the folks responsible for Astro-Bot have a studio of their own to work on a bigger entry in the series, while there's still a regional external development unit in the form of XDEV Japan to further collaborate with FromSoftware and others in the future.

Literally nothing was lost, unless you were a Knack enthusiast, and God bless your heart if that's the case.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

 

[Radical_3d]

I was going to give my opinion but last time I gave my opinion of the managing direction of Sony as a fan I got banned. Man, the previous moderators in the 2010’s sure were sensitive about acts of violence with fire.

 

[Aenima]

Seems interesting that Hulst will be in charge of the 1st party games, and Hideaki in charge of 3rd Party. Lets see what they do.

 

[simpatico]

Herman getting the nod bodes well for more on the PC side. Helldivers 2 will be his shield. In Herman we trust.

 

[lachesis]

2 heads often leads power struggle between them. (Disney, for example).
Hope they will work well together.

 

[Represent.]

Right up there with the worst news of the gen honestly

they are going to focus on nothing but live service

 

[nial]

Demon's Souls remake (a Bluepoint game)

We need to disagree on this one, it was definitely led by Japan Studio.
BUT, I already explained the previous structure in this very thread, Japan Studio is that part of Sony that people seem to believe they understand how it works, yet it's almost never the case.

 

[K' Dash]

 

[Aenima]

2 heads often leads power struggle between them. (Disney, for example).
Hope they will work well together.

They are managing diferent things.

 

[Perrott]

Hulst is woke boi disaster, Hideaki… has a tiny face.

In short, PlayStation is doomed.

Woke boi? Let me remind you that the psychos over at the purple forums unsuccessfully tried to get him cancelled over following or liking posts by conservative or right-wing Netherlands political personalities.

Now, I don't give a shit about the man's political views, but considering that, I wouldn't claim he's woke.

Oh, and Sony's most woke studio, Insomniac, didn't ever need any pressure from above to be like they are. They're from California, arguably the wokest region in the US tech industry.

 

[Piggoro]

Jim Ryan was such a legend that they need two people to fill his shoes. Incredible.

One person per shoe

 

[Perrott]

We need to disagree on this one, it was definitely led by Japan Studio.
BUT, I already explained the previous structure in this very thread, Japan Studio is that part of Sony that people seem to believe they understand how it works, yet it's almost never the case.

Yeah, the creative director was Gavin Moore, of London Studio and then Puppeteer fame, from the Japan Studio.

But let's not kid ourselves, Bluepoint simply was a handful of hires away from being able to handle the entirety of that project themselves, while if the situation were to be the other way around, well, the Japan Studio would have had to basically be revamped in its entirety to have a technical expertise equal to Bluepoint's internally in order to handle Demon's Souls remake as it is today.

 

[bitbydeath]

Look at the leaked PSN sales data from all Sony published games that surfaced a few weeks ago.

Japan Studio were responsible of making flop, after flop, after flop, outside of Bloodborne (a FromSoftware game), Demon's Souls remake (a Bluepoint game) and Astro-Bot (their only internal success in over a decade).

Now the folks responsible for Astro-Bot have a studio of their own to work on a bigger entry in the series, while there's still a regional external development unit in the form of XDEV Japan to further collaborate with FromSoftware and others in the future.

Literally nothing was lost, unless you were a Knack enthusiast, and God bless your heart if that's the case.

Think a lot of people didn’t understand that Japan essentially worked as an XDev, and that aspect wasn’t lost.

The Last Guardian = GenDesign
Patapon = Pyramid
Everybody’s Golf = Claphandz

 

[nial]

Woke boi? Let me remind you that the psychos over at the purple forums unsuccessfully tried to get him cancelled over following or liking posts by conservative or right-wing Netherlands political personalities.

Now, I don't give a shit about the man's political views, but considering that, I wouldn't claim he's woke.

And let me remind you that Sony's most woke studio, Insomniac, didn't ever need any pressure from above to be like they are. They're from California ffs, arguably the wokest US region in the tech industry.

Lol, people are trying way too hard to bring concern over this.
I will personally judge them once we see the results of their jobs as CEOs.

Yeah, the creative director was Gavin Moore, of London Studio and then Puppeteer fame, from the Japan Studio.

But let's not kid ourselves, Bluepoint simply was a handful of hires away from being able to handle the entirety of that project themselves, while if the situation were to be the other way around, well, the Japan Studio would have had to basically be revamped in its entirety to have a technical expertise equal to Bluepoint's internally in order to handle Demon's Souls remake as it is today.

My main take is that it was a cooperative effort, MUCH more involved than in the likes of Bloodborne and Death Stranding.

 

[onQ123]

Cool but I hope he doesn't engage with Internet clowns

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Seems interesting that Hulst will be in charge of the 1st party games, and Hideaki in charge of 3rd Party. Lets see what they do.

My wish org chart would be: West (first party), East (second, third party) and a CEO above these two. The final chart might end up being something along these lines. Hermen is not the man to deal with the new studios from China and Korea, they are in completely different lengthwaves so I hope it's the other guy responsible for that.

Anyway, Hermen has a tough job because PS Studios is a mess right now.

 

[Hugare]

Fail? PlayStation's first-party output so far into the generation has been very solid, with arguably only one dud in the form of Destruction AllStars.

PlayStation hardware has also been superb under Nishino's lead.

Sequels galore, milking franchises from past gens. And those games were already in development years ago.

The only truly great new IP, Returnal, was considered a failure, and its game director left the studio after 14 years there. They arent working on a sequel.

The GAAS push was 100% on Ryan/Hulst, and despite Helldivers being the only success of this initiative, they are to blame for wasting 4 years of Naughty Dog's development time by pushing Factions to be made. They are already rethinking their strategy and this is why Sony studios have been radio silent.

 

[Little Chicken]

Going to need all the help they can get in the face of mega success Xbox.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

Smart move by Sony. Hermen is responsible for the game side of things along with TV which is perfect for him. Nishino heads the hardware side of things and Playstation experience side of things which is great for him since that's what he specializes in. I don't see anything wrong with the decision as both guys are experienced Playstation guys.


The only issue I have is that they both report Hiroki Totoki. I'm not too comfortable with that.

 

[nial]

Sequels galore, milking franchises from past gens. And those games were already in development years ago.

Then it's odd to blame him over them. Development takes a lot of years these days, Stellar Blade was probably the first project straight from the Hermen Hulst era that wasn't under Shuhei Yoshida/Shawn Layden at some point.

The only truly great new IP, Returnal, was considered a failure

They literally said the opposite. And it wouldn't make sense for them to lie over an externally-developed title whose studio was later bought by SIE.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

Cool but I hope he doesn't engage with Internet clowns

I follow him on Twitter and he keeps it business and doesn't engage with the fans.

The only thing he does that isn't business is posting pics of his vacations on yachts with girls lol.

 

[K' Dash]

Going to need all the help they can get in the face of mega success Xbox.

They should be happy of MS incompetence, cause it’s a parade of stupid decisions.

 

[bitbydeath]

Anyway, Hermen has a tough job because PS Studios is a mess right now.

Is it?

We can’t expect all Sony studios to bring out new AAA games every one-two years like Insomniac, they’re clearly an outlier in the dev space.

 

[Arsic]

Can someone explain why hulst is such a bad choice?

Compare him to Phil Spencer. He doesn’t seem the same…

 

[SegaSnatcher]

Legit, what is people's issue with Hulst? He seems to be incredibly passionate about gaming and the projects he's been part of have been pretty great. What am I missing?

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The only truly great new IP, Returnal, was considered a failure,

Which is wrong, because the game is great, one of the best action games this gen. Sony didn't market it right and hence the poor sales.

I'm pessimistic about Hermen seeing basic things like this. I agree with your assessment about the first party production being a disaster. Moreover, only Insomniac has a clear pipeline, the other studios, even the good ones, are a question mark.

- ND: new IP, pressure after Factions failure

- Santa Monica: new IP

- Bend, Blue Point: ???

- Haven / Firesprite / MM: will shut down within the next 24 months.

Hermen has been promoted just to fall from higher.

 

[odhiex]

Hermen is a suitable candidate for handling internal studio stuff and he was a Game Developer. So, good for him. Don't know much about Nishino. Hopeful for Sony's better strategic directions moving forward.

 

[Perrott]

Sequels galore, milking franchises from past gens. And those games were already in development years ago.

The only truly great new IP, Returnal, was considered a failure, and its game director left the studio after 14 years there. They arent working on a sequel.

The GAAS push was 100% on Ryan/Hulst, and despite Helldivers being the only success, they are to blame for wasting 4 years of Naughty Dog's development time by pushing Factions to be made. They are already rethinking their strategy and this is why Sony studios have been radio silent.

Sequels galore? Dude, that's literally the fucking reason why they invested so heavily into new IPs towards the end of last-gen, so that they could use their much-anticipated follow-ups as system sellers of the current generation of PlayStation.

Also, Returnal wasn't consider a failure, don't fucking lie. PlayStation executives, including Hermen Hulst himself, were on the record saying that they considered Returnal a success and that they were extremely happy about it, to the point that they went and bought Housemarque months after, moved them into bigger offices and are having them now hard at work on their most ambitious game yet.

Also, you don't get to fucking complain about Sony being a sequels machine and then bitch about them not doing a Returnal sequel, like, have some bloody consistency.

Regarding Naughty Dog and The Last Of Us Online, it was the studio's call to scrap Part II's multiplayer in order to pursue a standalone multiplayer release of a much larger scope, since TLOU's MP was a passion project for many folks over at the studio. That said, it was clear that such title at that scale was incompatible with the way Naughty Dog operates and their obligations towards their singleplayer projects, which took Bungie to come over for Sony to realize since they didn't have much expertise in the live-service space (that being the rationale behind Bungie's purchase), hence why they canned it and why Bungie's know-how turned out to be precious in this regard.

Shit happens. If they had gone ahead and released it at the expense of not having any singleplayer Naughty Dog title this generation, I bet you all would be bitching about that instead.

 

[onQ123]

I follow him on Twitter and he keep it business and doesn't engage with the fans.

The only thing he does that isn't business is posting pics of his vacations on yachts with girls lol.

If Timdog end up on that boat it's over

 

[kazuyamishima]

PlayStation: Doomed since 1994.

The Asian guy from Forbes might be waiting for Q4 FY2023 financial results, but he already has quite some number of articles of why Sony is in deep DEEP trouble.

Can someone explain why hulst is such a bad choice?

For SIE new CEO’s, the options have always been bad, and the former CEO always a better choice, that’s why we keep seeing posts about Yoshida, Tretton, Kaz and more being posted about how great they were.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

If Timdog end up on that boat it's over

Hoping and praying a shirtless Timdog doesn't end up on a boat with Hermen

 

[Hugare]

Then it's odd to blame him over them. Development takes a lot of years these days, Stellar Blade was probably the first project straight from the Hermen Hulst era that wasn't under Shuhei Yoshida/Shawn Layden at some point.

Stellar Blade started development before 2019. Dont think that Herman was responsible for securing it as an exclusive.

They literally said the opposite. And it wouldn't make sense for them to lie over an externally-developed title whose studio was later bought by SIE.

Yeah, like Microsoft wouldnt lie about Hi-fi Rush being a resounding success after release. Housemarque wasnt Sony's studio yet, but they have been practically one for decades. Every game from the studio was a Sony exclusive. And discussions were definitely happening at the time already.

Returnal's game director that was there for 14 years leaving the studio and Sony not greenlighting a sequel isnt a coincidence. Connect the dots.

 

[Kilau]

Woke boi? Let me remind you that the psychos over at the purple forums unsuccessfully tried to get him cancelled over following or liking posts by conservative or right-wing Netherlands political personalities.

Now, I don't give a shit about the man's political views, but considering that, I wouldn't claim he's woke.

And let me remind you that Sony's most woke studio, Insomniac, didn't ever need any pressure from above to be like they are. They're from California ffs, arguably the wokest US region in the tech industry.

I see you have no response to Hideaki’s tiny face.

 

[Sneakysnake]

So who’s replacing Jim Ryan’s role as CEO of SIE?

Edit: never mind I read the article.

Let’s hope that they focus more on their core audience and console instead of pc and mobile going forward.

Oh that's the exact opposite of what they are gunna do according to absolutely everything said. They want to make money. They NEED to make money. Their profit margins have gotten razer thin bc the console market is stagnant. PS will collapse in 3 years if they don't find a much wider audience to sell their games. PC day one will be more common than not very soon. Mobile will grow for them and they may even send a few games to Xbox. And the consumers will be the big winners. We need to stop rewarding console makers and companies like apple for anti-consumer practices like walled gardens and forced exclusivity

 

[begotten]

What a weird thread to open. Didn't know so many people had no idea about Hulst.

 

[Perrott]

Stellar Blade started development before 2019. Dont think that Herman was responsible for securing it as an exclusive.

Stellar Blade was announced for a multiplatform release, even on Xbox, in 2019, if I'm not mistaken.

It then reappeared as a PS5 exclusive at the PlayStation Showcase 2021 in September. After the establishing of XDEV Japan as an entity separate from the Japan Studio and nearly two years after Hermen Hulst was appointed as head of first-party. It's fairly obvious that either him or his people were behind the partnership and publishing deal with Shift Up.

 

[CitizenKratos]

Jim Ryan was such a legend that they need two people to fill his shoes. Incredible.

Takes 2 to clean up his doodoo maybe?

 

[Hawking Radiation]

That job can’t be fun. The turnover rate is ridiculous. I liked Shawn Layden

Fuck Shaw. Not literally. I mean if you swing that way then go hard.

But I'll take Andrew House or Jack Tretton

 

[AJUMP23]

Should have gone for the GOAT Phil spencer.