Will Sony's exclusive game portfolio lack genre diversity even more compared to Xbox's?

[pg2g]

@MonkeyBoyFrancis

Interesting. Because when Halo, Gears, Forza and Fable were dominating and Xbox 360 outselling the PS3 by quite a bit all I heard was “Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable samesamesame!!!”

Halo, Gears, Forza, and Fable are relatively diverse when it comes to genre.

[Swanlee]

@pg2g

Sony’s lack of diversity will become a problem when/if Microsoft start putting out Sony-quality games in genres where Sony is underrepresented.

There will likely never be a point where a first party is putting out high quality in every genre. I would much rather have best in class in a genre or two than “not as good as the best third party” in 8 genres.

Sony’s lack of diversity will become an issue regardless of what MS does. Eventually even brain dead Sony fans are going to get tired of the “Sad Dad Forest Simulator”

Sony has too many of their internal studios wrapped up in this template for them to pivot quickly once people tire of their Formula games. Sony would be wise to branch out before the bottom falls out.

[ElPutoXD]

The problem comes when they shut down Japan Studio because “their games didn’t sell well”, if that was the reason to close the studio, then why not shut down PixelOpus and Media Molecule as well? I absolutely expect Sony to shut down those two studios too this gen. All Ryan wants is big AAA blockbusters that sell systems and invest all the money they used to invest in smaller projects to moneyhat timed or full exclusivity.

[peter42O]

@ElPutoXD

The problem comes when they shit down Japan Studio because “their games didn’t sell ell”, if that was the reason to close the studio, then why not shut down PixelOpus and Media Molecule ad well? I absolutely expect Sony to shut down those two studios too this gen. All Ryan wants is big AAA blockbusters that sell systems and it shows.

Technically, they didn’t shut down Japan Studio. They simply eliminated the main team and will now expand the Asobi team for AstroBot IP which to be honest, is the smarter move. All their smaller games like Knack or Gravity Rush (good or bad) didn’t do anything. AstroBot will be the far bigger IP for them.

Media Molecule is a studio that I would probably sell off or shutdown because 7 years to make a creation tool? No. Sorry but that’s not what I would be paying for. I wish Media Molecule would simply make a game as opposed to a creation tool.

PixelOpus has been elevated to AAA status as far as I know and their next game is going to be just that but it is several years away.

Sony also has their Malaysia studio that is said to be working on an AAA title and they also have their second studio in San Diego which is heavily rumored to be working on a new Uncharted game.

Xbox fans don’t seem to realize that Sony doesn’t need to nor should they create all these other smaller titles whatsoever because it’s not what their fan base wants the most. Sony had a lot of variety during the PlayStation 3 generation and they ended it for the most part with PlayStation 4 and have most likely completely ended it with PlayStation 5.

If you’re looking for different genres and whatnot, Sony isn’t the publisher that’s going to give it to you.

[Outrun]

@LucasTaves

I’d say it already does.

The 2020 XGS lineup was nothing short of incredible regarding the range (even if they were not all exclusive due some contracts) and will only get better with teams having full creative control due gamepass and the sheer amount of studios.

Yep, it already is lacking.

MS has even given us a console RTS in Halo Wars 2.

Xbox has a:

Flight Sim RTS 1st Person Shooter 3rd Person cover Shooter Simcade racer Open world racer Fighting game Tactical strategy game

Now add Fable, Doom, Perfect Dark, etc…

[dehnus]

@PhantomFox

If they continue to kill their actual creative and diverse studios like Japan Studio (still pissed over that), then yes, of course. Like others, I would say it already does.

Yup, that one also got me. It was the studio online if looked up to. I loved Astro Bot! Even though wearing glasses makes the psvr very uncomfortable to wear.

But apparently they are now looking “to the west”… and apparently that means “character focused third person drama adventure” or soulsborne and nothing else.

Which is extremely “meh” to me as I don’t like either.

It also is weird as their latest playroom game apparently was really well liked. Oh well… I guess they think they found the cash cow genres and stick with it.

[Outrun]

@dehnus

Yup, that one also got me. It was the studio online if looked up to. I loved Astronomy! Even though wearing glasses makes the psvr very uncomfortable to wear.

But apparently they are now looking “to the west”… and apparently that means “character focused third person drama adventure” or soulsborne and nothing else.

Which is extremely “meh” to me as I don’t like either.

It also is weird as their latest playroom game apparently was really well liked. Oh well… I guess they think they found the cash cow genres and stick with it.

Well Sony has gotten a lot of mileage of this idea that 3rd person single player experiences are the only games worthy of GoTY consideration.

If I want diversity in the console space, I play on the Xbox.

Who else is giving a premier flight simulator, open-world racer, and first person shooter?

[dehnus]

@Outrun

Well Sony has gotten a lot of mileage of this idea that 3rd person single player experiences are the only games worthy of GoTY consideration.

If I want diversity in the console space, I play on the Xbox.

Who else is giving a premier flight simulator, open-world racer, and first person shooter?

Astronomy LOL! I mean Astrobot :P.

But yeah, I also feel that they really are successfully banking on this idea of a 3rd Person Dramatic Action game. But eventually people will get fed up with that, and then they are boned if they keep on this path :(. The studio they just closed was responsible for some of the most fun experiences out there. So it’s weird.

Oh well, not my problem, mostly am a Switch player (due to my ISP really ).

[Xplainin]

Microsoft has the better portfolio. It has more games that I like to play, but Sony has those big adventure games that the media fawn over. And generally Sony’s big studios like ND, SSM rarely miss.

[TavishHill]

I don’t think Sony has a problem wrt their diversity imho. Yes, there is a lack of diversity, but OTOH their games are also filling a void in the industry. There aren’t a whole lot of cinematic 3rd person action games that are high quality being made. Tomb Raider, Hellblade, Gears…but not a lot otherwise. I think these games do a good job filling out that void on the platform.

[Cortana117]

Sony has the better games. Hopefully this will change in a few years. HOPEFULLY.

MS has the more diverse games. The difference is massive lol. Sony has the color blue and various shades of blue while MS now has nearly half of all the colors and all their various shades as well. It’s R I D I C U L O U S how diverse MSs portfolio is.

[Bugalugs214]

It’s one of the things MS had over Sony last gen and I can’t see it getting closer now. There’s nothing in their lineup that interests me enough to get their console at the moment.

[Fiendflag]

Seeing how Sony allowed so many talent to leave the Sony Japan Studio (that could diversify their line-up IF they were given a decent budget and marketing but they couldn’t even do that) and Jimbo saying that new IP’s are “very risky” I don’t have much faith in Sony doing anything vastly different from casual friendly cinematic and/or open world games with their 1st party studios. They will probably try to cover other genres with moneyhatting 3rd parties/indies/AA and continue to release their media’s favorite “GOTY” candidate kind of games.

[KremedeLakremE]

It’s to early to say OP.

[GoroMajima]

Uncharted 4 was one of the most disappointing games this gen for me. Didn’t care for TLOU2 either but I can appreciate it being a great achievement.

The only 1st party Sony game that’s GOTG worthy is God of War.

I miss team ico. Ghost of tsushima is a good game but flawed and I was never into Spiderman.

As for ms…well I’m hoping this gen is better. Of course we know it will be.

Last gen…outside of ori and gears horde…eh.

Nintendo is still king. Although thsts imo down to 2 games. I have a beef with Nintendo too. Like lack of metroid game.

[peter42O]

@GoroMajima

Uncharted 4 was one of the most disappointing games this gen for me. Didn’t care for TLOU2 either but I can appreciate it being a great achievement.

I agree with this but TLOUP2 was a bigger disappointment for me than Uncharted 4 even though I was disappointed with it but I loved Lost Legacy.

[LucasTaves]

@dehnus

Yup, that one also got me. It was the studio online if looked up to. I loved Astro Bot! Even though wearing glasses makes the psvr very uncomfortable to wear.

But apparently they are now looking “to the west”… and apparently that means “character focused third person drama adventure” or soulsborne and nothing else.

Which is extremely “meh” to me as I don’t like either.

It also is weird as their latest playroom game apparently was really well liked. Oh well… I guess they think they found the cash cow genres and stick with it.

To be fair, outside of Astrobot (which they are keeping) nothing that the Japan Studio has made since the Ps2 resonated well either with the critics or the fans.

Sure, they added diversity, but their output was basically the definition of mediocrity that never realized the potential their ideas had.

And sometimes killing and starting over is better than trying to fix from the inside. It’s not unlike what Ms did for example. They basically killed off all their studios that were not being efficient and then started increasing again.

We’ll need to see how Sony takes it from here, but I’d say that killing of the Japan Studio could be the start of something positive.

[dehnus]

@LucasTaves

To be fair, outside of Astrobot (which they are keeping) nothing that the Japan Studio has made since the Ps2 resonated well either with the critics or the fans.

Sure, they added diversity, but their output was basically the definition of mediocrity that never realized the potential their ideas had.

And sometimes killing and starting over is better than trying to fix from the inside. It’s not unlike what Ms did for example. They basically killed off all their studios that were not being efficient and then started increasing again.

We’ll need to see how Sony takes it from here, but I’d say that killing of the Japan Studio could be the start of something positive.

Then you don’t close but send someone to clean up ship. Someone to get all the noses in the right direction. The Microsoft example you gave, is actually an example of how NOT to go about this.

It set them back years, and cost them a generation. And no, this wasnt on purpose to “clean up and start with a new slate”, this damaged Microsoft’s image in the gaming space and as a reliable partner. In this time they lost a lot of goodwill from third parties as well.

[LucasTaves]

@dehnus

Then you don’t close but send someone to clean up ship. Someone to get all the noses in the right direction. The Microsoft example you gave, is actually an example of how NOT to go about this.

It set them back years, and cost them a generation. And no, this wasnt on purpose to “clean up and start with a new slate”, this damaged Microsoft’s image in the gaming space and as a reliable partner. In this time they lost a lot of goodwill from third parties as well.

The generation was already lost when Ms did this. The problem was the extent, most of Ms 1st party investments didn’t pay off the way they were expecting, but for Sony it’s a single studio.

The one project that studio made is being kept and they are expanding the team. And the external developed projects which were by far the most successful ventures of the Japan Studio are also going to be kept, only managed by another team.