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

[Swanlee]

@raihous

So… In 2024, Sony has a huge problem with their in-house studios. But if we stop talking about in-house studios, and look at “first party games” instead, we can reframe the concept of “first party games” in such a way that the huge problem with in-house studios seems to go away…

Yea that is pretty much what is happening with all the goal post moving.

The point is when the roles are reversed MS does not get this same cover that Sony always gets.

[Popppi (Phil Spencer's shelf)]

@raihous

So… In 2024, Sony has a huge problem with their in-house studios. But if we stop talking about in-house studios, and look at “first party games” instead, we can reframe the concept of “first party games” in such a way that the huge problem with in-house studios seems to go away…

Who cares though? Not like it’s gonna make a difference for me as a customer. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[pg2g]

@raihous

So… In 2024, Sony has a huge problem with their in-house studios. But if we stop talking about in-house studios, and look at “first party games” instead, we can reframe the concept of “first party games” in such a way that the huge problem with in-house studios seems to go away…

I’d agree if this was Twitter or OtherEra, but it’s an Xbox-focused forum, nobody (should) fall for that. There are definitely issues with internal studio output, but Sony has always relied on third party exclusives an publishing deals to fill the lineup. The luxury of being the leading platform I suppose.

[Zip]

@Andodalf

They say different things. Sony would call Mario and Rabbids First party, Nintendo didn’t. Sony has called games like Stalker 2 First party, Xbox hasn’t.

Both Sarah Bond and Jim Ryan used the term in filings for the Activision case. It’s clearly used, but not for talking to customers.

PlayStation 5 |OT| This SSD has no limits

Second party was definitely a term that was used more widely in the past, but not so much any more - companies prefer to be able to call contracted work first party for marketing reasons now even though it really does fit into the second party category (aka built to their specifications on their behalf by another entity). While I do acknowledge that the term typically is used by fans more so than by platforms at this point, in the FTC case, within the Judge’s opinion on the preliminary injunct…

[KakkaKarrotKake]

@raihous

So… In 2024, Sony has a huge problem with their in-house studios. But if we stop talking about in-house studios, and look at “first party games” instead, we can reframe the concept of “first party games” in such a way that the huge problem with in-house studios seems to go away…

They are basically experiencing what Xbox did in 2022, despite Covid their timelines for games meant they had enough to put out in the first few years of the console which fortunately was the most important

Now the rest of their devs are nowhere near ready to release games because of the crazy dev cycle games have

[raihous (Musicology)]

They don’t “fill the lineup”, they replace in-house studio games completely. Imagine if Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin and Helldivers 2 were the only “Nintendo games” released on Switch in 2024…

[bof]

@peter42O

Microsoft published/released four games in 2022

Four games, of which the only AAA was released exclusively on Playstation for a year and another already available in early access for two years. Without a doubt, 2022 was a bad year for Xbox, even Phil admitted as much.

And apart from Rônin, 2024 isn’t shaping up to be a strong year for Sony either. It’s up to Xbox to take advantage!

The concept of first-party game is quite clear: the manufacturer owns the IP and publish it. Apart from obtuse people, nobody would say that the first three Forza Horizon games, the two Ori games, Flight Simulator, OD or Contraband aren’t first party games. Let’s not fall into the same absurd contradiction with Rônin or Helldivers II.

[IdiotGuru (Justin)]

@bof

Apart from obtuse people, nobody would say that the first three Forza Horizon games, the two Ori games, Flight Simulator, OD or Contraband aren’t first party games.

Do we know that they own the IP for OD ? They may have a publishing deal but I’m not sure about ownership.

[Andodalf]

Imagine if Stalker 2, 33 immortals, and Towerborn were the only “Xbox” games this year……

IGN would talk about it 24/7 and Twitter would demand Phil be shot

[bof]

@IdiotGuru

Do we know that they own the IP for OD ? They may have a publishing deal but I’m not sure about ownership.

I’m not sure about this one either, but the last time MS published games without owning the IP was nearly ten years ago (Sunset Overdrive and RotTR, I think).

@Andodalf

Imagine if Stalker 2, 33 immortals, and Towerborn were the only “Xbox” games this year……

Stalker 2 and 33 Immortals are third-party timed exclusives, nothing like a first-party.

[Saten117]

@bof

Stalker 2 and 33 Immortals are third-party timed exclusives, nothing like a first-party.

The most similar case is Rebirth, which is 3rd party owned, developed and published, also presumably timed (they say it themselves in every commercial).

Anyway, Ronin and Stellar Blade are indeed two peculiar situations: the former is very similar to Nioh contract, developed and owned externally, published on console by Sony; the latter was initially announced as multiplatform with Xbox logos, not really a premium Sony 1st party game.

I guess Sony bought exclusivity rights to cover their (lacking) lineup, companies know if the year will be light at least 18 months before it happens, or even before.

[bof]

@Saten117

“Development on Rise of the Rōnin started in 2015 with PlayStation Studios’ XDev assisting” (according to Wikipedia), so we’re a long way from a last-minute deal.

For Stellar Blade, it’s probably the case, just as Xbox did at the time with Titanfall and RotTR.

I agree with you for the lineup: when internal studios can’t deliver, you need to find other options.

[Saten117]

@bof

“Development on Rise of the Rōnin started in 2015 with PlayStation Studios’ XDev assisting” (according to Wikipedia), so we’re a long way from a last-minute deal.

For Stellar Blade, it’s probably the case, just as Xbox did at the time with Titanfall and RotTR.

Like I said, they bought Ronin like they bought Nioh, which is ok, at least publishing it on console and assisting development they took some burden, it’s not a lame moneyhat like FF, Forspoken, Kotor, etc…but Koei Tecmo is the ultimate owner and I assume it will publish it when it inevitably releases on pc (which will ultimately prove this is no 1st party game, like RoTR was not, while being published by MS on console).

Most people would not “count” it if it were Xbox case, they didn’t count Psychonauts 2 even if Xbox owned it, published it everywhere and also was instrumental in finishing and polishing the game.

[pg2g]

@Saten117

Most people would not “count” it if it were Xbox case, they didn’t count Psychonauts 2 even if Xbox owned it, published it everywhere and also was instrumental in finishing and polishing the game.

People don’t count Psychonauts 2 because it’s multi platform. It’s all silly list war nonsense.

[Saten117]

@pg2g

People don’t count Psychonauts 2 because it’s multi platform. It’s all silly list war nonsense.

MS delivered on promised platforms. Sony pays to cancel promised platforms (Stellar Blade for example, but I can name many others) and nobody even say a word, but then they regain voice to forge controversies about never announced PS ports of Bethesda games after acquisition. The double standard is huge.

[peter42O]

I have Psychonauts 2 on my list as a Microsoft first party game. It’s just not exclusive but neither is Deathloop or Ghostwire Tokyo but they’re still both Microsoft first party games. Below are my lists for Microsoft and Sony.

[SpiderLink]

@Saten117

Sony pays to cancel promised platforms

I don’t really care about most exclusivity stuff but this really irritates me.

[Saten117]

@peter42O

…I have Psychonauts 2 on my list as a Microsoft first party game. It’s just not exclusive but neither is Deathloop or Ghostwire Tokyo but they’re still both Microsoft first party games. Below are my lists for Microsoft and Sony. 20240116_2223221920×1080 139 KB 20240116_2227321920×1080 144 KB

Good list, but, if I may, I’d add AoE2 DE, porting that on console is no small feat, also the game is legendary (and bigger than 4, both content-wise and users-wise).

Anyway MS published 17 new games (18 counting aoe2) as of 2023 without counting remasters, updated versions, old ports like Goldeneye, etc…while Sony published 13 news games as of 2023 (also here excluding director cuts, remasters, repackaging, etc), considering the annual re-release of MLB (those games are the same for 5 years+, I think FIFA/EA FC is the same game with even the same menu since 2017).

And for some people Sony released more.

[peter42O]

@Saten117

Good list, but, if I may, I’d add AoE2 DE, porting that on console is no small feat, also the game is legendary (and bigger than 4, both content-wise and users-wise).

Anyway MS published 17 new games (18 counting aoe2) as of 2023 without counting remasters, updated versions, old ports like Goldeneye, etc…while Sony published 13 news games as of 2023 (also here excluding director cuts, remasters, repackaging, etc), considering the annual re-release of MLB (those games are the same for 5 years+, I think FIFA/EA FC is the same game with even the same menu since 2017).

And for some people Sony released more.

I don’t add remasters of games that were already previously released. I don’t even like adding remakes either but since there’s rumors of TES IV: Oblivion possibly being a remake, I included Demon’s Souls but if it doesn’t happen, I can always remove Souls because it doesn’t change the rating or the monthly/total gap since it was a launch title.

I don’t include director’s cuts, complete editions and all of this other crap because that’s just padding out the list and in fairness, I don’t include the games that were upgraded for Series X/S which is basically a remaster without being a remaster. Sports game wise, it’s still a new release every year even though the game is basically the same but with 8-9 months of development time, what are they really going to do? Same for Madden and NBA 2K but they’re still new releases.

[No-1HoloLens-Fan]

Either own the IP or develope the game via first party studio. Else, it is just an exclusivity deal.

Now tell me which first party game is Sony releasing this year?