Jim Ryan Retires, Connie Booth leaving after 34 years, Layoffs at Sony, Multiplayer games Cancelled

[Ulster36thDiv]

@Vivir

I disagree. I think it depends on your leads of the team to set up a smooth system that eliminates those issues.

There’s been plenty of studios from indie to AAA that delivered a finished product to great reviews with the majority of their staff working from home. We also know objectively that a ton of AAA studios that work at office are still a complete mess and far from a well oiled machine despite them working near each other.

I think it’s more so a just a case by case basis.

Plenty of lead devs said during covid lockdowns that not being face to face with team members hindered development.

[Vonterribad (Matt)]

@KakkaKarrotKake

I think with the right set up it would work fine

Although i’d imagine some dev jobs it’s much easier to be wfh than others

It depends on departments, but gamedev is incredibley collaboritive and you can often get an ‘energy’ at certain points in development which imho cant be replicated from home. Think a writers room, film etc

But then there are roles and large stretches of dev that absolutely can be done from home. Its a big topic.

[Swanlee]

Seems even Sony Bloggers are picking up on the issue of Sony lacking any road map. Any other Dev would have been dragged through the coals for this crap, seeing online the ONLY response Sony fans give when presented with the issue is “Sony is selling” who cares.

As a Sony fan if you really think Sony can coast forever then I have to ask if you are even a gamer or you only care that Sony is popular or not. Also if you are a real gamer why would you want Sony to just coast?

We Need to Talk About PS5's 2024 Problem (And 2025)

[Hue]

@Swanlee

…Seems even Sony Bloggers are picking up on the issue of Sony lacking any road map. Any other Dev would have been dragged through the coals for this crap, seeing online the ONLY response Sony fans give when presented with the issue is “Sony is selling” who cares. As a Sony fan if you really think Sony can coast forever then I have to ask if you are even a gamer or you only care that Sony is popular or not. Also if you are a real gamer why would you want Sony to just coast?

It’s good to see Mystic finally calling this out.

There’s less than a handful of PS YouTubers I can watch and Mystic use to be one of them, however in the past 6-12 months I noticed that even he started bending over backwards to defend Sony when it wasn’t deserved. Hopefully this is him turning a corner and becoming more grounded again.

Mrbadbit is one of the best PS guys out there, in terms of giving credit / criticism where it’s deserved.

[Sparda3g]

All I ask for is a PS podcast/youtuber that leaves other platform alone unless it’s needed in context such as “Xbox has a roadmap as well as Nintendo, yet PS doesn’t provide one.”

[peter42O]

Personally, I don’t believe that second party is something that actually exists. It’s a made up term for some odd unknown reason. If a game is funded, published, manufactured and distributed by the hardware manufacturer, it’s a first party game. Always has been and always will be. So while the development studio is third party, the game itself is first party especially when the hardware manufacturer owns the IP which 9 times out of 10, they do.

Anyway, while people including PlayStation fans see 2024 as being empty, I actually disagree. Looking at the new game release lineup as of now -

• Helldivers 2
• Rise of the Ronin
• MLB The Show 24
• Concord
• Stellar Blade

Three out of the five games are being developed by external development studios but they’re still first party games. No different than Contraband or Flight Simulator for Microsoft or Astral Chain and Bayonetta for Nintendo. Same shit.

I get that people may be disappointed but at the same time, as we all know, games take at least 5+ years to develop and when Sony debuts the game, they want them to be shown in it’s best form so when you combine those two things, you’ll be waiting a while for announcements.

In general, that lineup isn’t the greatest but it’s far from being bad. At worse, it’s just not what people want but at the same time, the first four years of the generation have been heavily front loaded so at some point, there was going to be a slow year if you’re just looking for Sony’s internal first party games.

Personally, im hyped for Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade. With Ronin, I already have a Sony published first party game for the first quarter of 2024 and will be a good game to tide me over until Tsushima 2 and Blade looks like a great tide me over until DMC 6. As always though, Sony will be just fine.

[Swanlee]

I’ve never seen a fanbase so afraid and unwilling to call out a company like Sony fans.

I mean its like they would prefer to suffer in silence then dare to say even the slightest critique of Sony.

Truly amazing how Sony warped so many brains.

[howlingmosquito (mosquito)]

@Swanlee

…Seems even Sony Bloggers are picking up on the issue of Sony lacking any road map. Any other Dev would have been dragged through the coals for this crap, seeing online the ONLY response Sony fans give when presented with the issue is “Sony is selling” who cares. As a Sony fan if you really think Sony can coast forever then I have to ask if you are even a gamer or you only care that Sony is popular or not. Also if you are a real gamer why would you want Sony to just coast?

Good on him for calling them out. As I’ve said many a time before, Sony has a first party problem money can’t fix.

[Mort]

@peter42O

… years to develop and when Sony debuts the game, they want them to be shown in it’s best form so when you combine those two things, you’ll be waiting a while for announcements. In general, that lineup isn’t the greatest but it’s far from being bad. At worse, it’s just not what people want but at the same time, the first four years of the generation have been heavily front loaded so at some point, there was going to be a slow year if you’re just looking for Sony’s internal first party games. Personally, im hyped for Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade. With Ronin, I already have a Sony published first party game for the first quarter of 2024 and will be a good game to tide me over until Tsushima 2 and Blade looks like a great tide me over until DMC 6. As always though, Sony will be just fine.

It’s one of the most “meh” line-ups I’ve seen.

[peter42O]

@Mort

It’s one of the most “meh” line-ups I’ve seen.

Yeah, I can agree with that but at the same time and going back to 2022 for me personally, I had no interest in Grounded, As Dusk Falls, Pentiment and Deathloop so I had nothing from Microsoft for that year. Point being is that both sides will have their droughts and their slow periods. They always have and they always will.

[Swanlee]

@peter42O

• Helldivers 2
• Rise of the Ronin
• MLB The Show 24
• Concord
• Stellar Blade

Let’s apply the type of logic and narrative that the Media and Sony fans apply to these games IF they were Xbox games.

• Helldivers 2 - Doesn’t move the NEEDLE as it’s a day one PC release
• Rise of the Ronin - Doesn’t count not made by Sony 1st party
• MLB The Show 24 - Doesn’t count, it’s multi plat and a sports game
• Concord - Doesn’t move the NEEDLE as it’s a day one PC release
• Stellar Blade - Might count but again not made by a Sony first party

This is the type of logic that is always applied to the Xbox lineup, and if everyone wants to be consistent then this type of reasoning should apply to Sony.

[Mort]

@peter42O

Yeah, I can agree with that but at the same time and going back to 2022 for me personally, I had no interest in Grounded, As Dusk Falls, Pentiment and Deathloop so I had nothing from Microsoft for that year. Point being is that both sides will have their droughts and their slow periods. They always have and they always will.

Sure, but not everything has to be a “but Xbox year XY”-thing either. (I did enjoy Pentiment, ADF and Grounded a lot though)

PS lineup for 24 sucks, that’s it.

[peter42O]

@Swanlee

Let’s apply the type of logic and narrative that the Media and Sony fans apply to these games IF they were Xbox games.

• Helldivers 2 - Doesn’t move the NEEDLE as it’s a day one PC release
• Rise of the Ronin - Doesn’t count not made by Sony 1st party
• MLB The Show 24 - Doesn’t count, it’s multi plat and a sports game
• Concord - Doesn’t move the NEEDLE as it’s a day one PC release
• Stellar Blade - Might count but again not made by a Sony first party

This is the type of logic that is always applied to the Xbox lineup, and if everyone wants to be consistent then this type of reasoning should apply to Sony.

True but I personally don’t do that. Never have and never will. Media is a never ending losing battle if you’re Microsoft or an Xbox fan so at some point, it’s better to just let it all go. As for Sony fans, not all fans are like that. That’s just the fanboys/extremists. A casual/normal fan doesn’t care about any of that stuff or even knows the differences. All they care about is - 1) where can I play this game? and 2) is it any good?

[Sparda3g]

Concord still up in the air. For all we know, it could be delayed to next year. Stellar Blade is likely to release this year. Everything is coming this quarter.

[peter42O]

@Mort

Sure, but not everything has to be a “but Xbox year XY”-thing either. (I did enjoy Pentiment, ADF and Grounded a lot though)

PS lineup for 24 sucks, that’s it.

That’s fair but that’s also for you. 2022 sucked for me as an Xbox fan but 2023 was great. Also, as I have said before, my expectations for my secondary console is always much less than my primary console. In general, I can see 2024 being disappointing for PlayStation fans as of now but for me personally, im getting two games that I want to play so I can’t complain.

[Hue]

@peter42O

Personally, I don’t believe that second party is something that actually exists. It’s a made up term for some odd unknown reason. If a game is funded, published, manufactured and distributed by the hardware manufacturer, it’s a first party game. Always has been and always will be. So while the development studio is third party, the game itself is first party especially when the hardware manufacturer owns the IP which 9 times out of 10, they do.

I personally feel there is a discernable difference. There’s an association you make with a ‘first party’ game which directly corresponds with the quality of a platform whether that be Playstation or Xbox.

For example with Playstation you expect those big AAA narrative games with high production value. The same way you expect Ferrari to release high performance sports cars instead of 1 litre eco cars. Imagine if Apple started releasing super budget phones that were ugly. There’s a certain expectation from the fans of these products.

In retail you also have ‘white label’, however none of these big brands are known simply by their re-branded white label products.

When they don’t even own the IP like Rise of Ronin or Stellar Blade, there’s no way it should be considered first party IMO. Although funded by the publisher (in return for exclusivity) they didn’t develop it and don’t own it. This is where the term second party should be used. In effect it’s a third party game where the platform has simply paid for exclusivity just like Final Fantasy.

Going back to expectations I feel Sony’s strength is those big AAA high production games from their first party studios, which I don’t feel Sony is giving us this year. The only one I’m slightly excited about is Ronin and that would have been third party hadn’t Sony struck a deal. You can’t say the same about Xbox when most of their titles are coming from internal studios.

[raihous (Musicology)]

@peter42O

… years to develop and when Sony debuts the game, they want them to be shown in it’s best form so when you combine those two things, you’ll be waiting a while for announcements. In general, that lineup isn’t the greatest but it’s far from being bad. At worse, it’s just not what people want but at the same time, the first four years of the generation have been heavily front loaded so at some point, there was going to be a slow year if you’re just looking for Sony’s internal first party games. Personally, im hyped for Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade. With Ronin, I already have a Sony published first party game for the first quarter of 2024 and will be a good game to tide me over until Tsushima 2 and Blade looks like a great tide me over until DMC 6. As always though, Sony will be just fine.

What does Sony own here? Not the studios, not the staff, not the IPs, not the publishing rights, not even the exclusive rights. Then what is a Sony game?

[Swanlee]

@raihous

What does Sony own here? Not the studios, not the staff, not the IPs, not the publishing rights, not even the exclusive rights. **Then what is a Sony game?**

Whatever they money hat to stay off of other platforms, but seemingly Sony is the only one in gaming allowed to do that without serious backlash.

[Hue]

@raihous

What does Sony own here? Not the studios, not the staff, not the IPs, not the publishing rights, not even the exclusive rights. Then what is a Sony game?

This!

IMO There’s no real difference between paying a third party a large sum of money for exclusivity compared to offering them a lucrative publishing deal (where they get favourable rates).

They are either paying them upfront or over a term.

The outcome is still the same: a third party exclusive.

[peter42O]

@Hue

I personally feel there is a discernable difference. There’s an association you make with a ‘first party’ game which directly corresponds with the quality of a platform whether that be Playstation or Xbox.

For example with Playstation you expect those big AAA narrative games with high production value. The same way you expect Ferrari to release high performance sports cars instead of 1 litre eco cars. Imagine if Apple started releasing super budget phones that were ugly. There’s a certain expectation from the fans of these products.

In retail you also have ‘white label’, however none of these big brands are known simply by their re-branded white label products.

When they don’t even own the IP like Rise of Ronin or Stellar Blade, there’s no way it should be considered first party IMO. Although funded by the publisher (in return for exclusivity) they didn’t develop it and don’t own it. This is where the term second party should be used. In effect it’s a third party game where the platform has simply paid for exclusivity just like Final Fantasy.

Going back to expectations I feel Sony’s strength is those big AAA high production games from their first party studios, which I don’t feel Sony is giving us this year. The only one I’m slightly excited about is Ronin and that would have been third party hadn’t Sony struck a deal. You can’t say the same about Xbox when most of their titles are coming from internal studios.

Sony has been funding Ronin since day one. It was never going to be a multi-platform game. The game has also been in development for like 7 years or some shit. Stellar Blade was originally announced for Xbox One and the developer accepted a payday for it to be a console exclusive for Sony. That’s not on Sony. That’s on the development studio for accepting the deal. They could have just said no.

As for looking at every Sony game being big budget and whatnot, vast majority don’t even know any of this stuff. Only those on twitter and forums. Rest don’t know or don’t care.

As for the whole “first party” debate, well, Phil Spencer himself said in 2014 that those third party developed exclusives are first party games. Sony has said it and so has Nintendo in the past. Second party is a made up term for whatever reason.

I have looked at games being published by the hardware manufacturer as always being first party since Super Nintendo. Super Mario RPG was originally developed by Square Enix but yet, it’s a Nintendo first party game. Sony had Twisted Metal and Destruction Derby in 1995 by SingleTrac and Reflections which as far as I know, Sony never owned either but they’re still first party games. The studios aren’t first party but the games themselves are.

People only use the second party term when it favors their narrative. If the game is rated low or some shit, it doesn’t count but if it’s rated high, it does. lol. I count them either which way. Destruction All Stars which is by far Sony’s worst released game this generation is a first party game and just like all the rest, it’s on my list.