PlayStation 5: Thread 05

[wakka]

Nah not my cup of tea.

[Atticus]

Yes, it 'leaves' a lot to be desired

[fishbowlhead]

Leaves me cold that design.

[Lebowski]

If this is all the "quali-tea" of the things the merchandise department "Brew up" maybe it should take a Tea break

[fishbowlhead]

A rare insight into Insomniac with an interview of Bryan Inthihar.

https://sonyinteractive.com/en/leadership-spotlight-bryan-intihar-senior-creative-director-at-insomniac-games/

[fishbowlhead]

Seems Bungie had a stipulation in their buyout contract that if they fall below certain performance thresholds (ie profitability) they would then be absorbed wholesale into PS studios and the current leadership would be replaced.

This is pretty common practice in buyouts but would have been an absolute must in Bungies case for Sony, they have been on cruise for years now just bumping major issues down the road and feasting on their fans goodwill, it sounds like they are extremely close to triggering the clause.

full amalgamated details on Era

https://www.resetera.com/threads/ign-bungie-devs-say-atmosphere-is-%E2%80%98soul-crushing%E2%80%99-amid-layoffs-cuts-and-fear-of-total-sony-takeover.792342/

[Neon Ignition]

I suppose Sony could do with an FPS studio but there's a faint air that if they muscle in and take over full control, by the time the fallout is done it wouldn't really be Bungie anymore just like we all still pretend MS has Rare in anything other than name

[Brad]

Digest:

Bungie ain't all that

[Neon Ignition]

I'm sure Bungie will snap right back

[nonny]

I'm sure Bungie will snap right back

I don't. I've got a feeling Bungie needed an acquisition when Sony came along and were probably over-valued.

I don't see how they can claw themselves back unless Sony somehow offer a lenient route for recovery that doesn't have them invoking the right to just take over the leadership position. Bungie appear to have shed too much staff that are almost required to get the next DLC chapter in the best condition to return them to a profitable state... that is either going to have the DLC arrive and not be good enough, or delayed further until it is. Either of those outcomes could essentially sink the company and Sony steps in.

In short I personally think they need a miracle.

I also think Marathon is either never coming out, or potentially coming out under the stewardship of Sony at a much later date. I've seen some people automatically comment on how that would automatically make it exclusive (and that may well happen), but as a multiplayer title that needs to be as successful as possible perhaps the correct decision from Sony is not to make it exclusive.

Horrific state of affairs any way you look at it.

[fishbowlhead]

The bottom line is the studio should be kept as is devs, with the current board or directors removed, and then put under direct control of an experienced Sony 1st party like Insomniac, someone that can actually run a profitable business.

bungles cycle of,
we need independence!
we’re broke!
buy us!
oh the tyranny!
we’re going independent!
we will fix it in the next update! All Needs to be stopped.


Absolutely terrible investment for Sony bungle has been and a waste of hard earned cash that bungle have no doubt already squandered.

[fishbowlhead]

Also, part of that sale fee was $1.2b allocated for staff retention, now the board are getting rid of already 100, where the F has all that cash gone Bungle? Huh? Surely that alone is a breach of contract.

[Lebowski]

I don't. I've got a feeling Bungie needed an acquisition when Sony came along and were probably over-valued.

I don't see how they can claw themselves back unless Sony somehow offer a lenient route for recovery that doesn't have them invoking the right to just take over the leadership position. Bungie appear to have shed too much staff that are almost required to get the next DLC chapter in the best condition to return them to a profitable state... that is either going to have the DLC arrive and not be good enough, or delayed further until it is. Either of those outcomes could essentially sink the company and Sony steps in.

In short I personally think they need a miracle.

I also think Marathon is either never coming out, or potentially coming out under the stewardship of Sony at a much later date. I've seen some people automatically comment on how that would automatically make it exclusive (and that may well happen), but as a multiplayer title that needs to be as successful as possible perhaps the correct decision from Sony is not to make it exclusive.

Horrific state of affairs any way you look at it.

They have kept a game that was originally released on the ps3 profitable with a big yearly updates and a massive amounts of new content via their seasonal model, and have been one of the few studios able to make the games as a service model work, this is because as crazy as it may sound its actually quite a fun game to play with a group, and theirs nothing like the six man raids in any other shooter, its why when people get into it they stay into it for the long haul.

Where its gone wrong is the last DLC being less than great means they hemorrhaged a large amount of players and haven't been able to replace them because the barrier for entry is too high, we all have ideas on how we can fix the game but i think its to late if you Dumb the game down for new players you loose the current player base and gamble on getting new ones, leave it as it is and you could end up with a dlc that's DOA.

Who knows though get some good reviews on the final dlc and the players may come back to finish the story off, i would certainly come back to it if they launched a DLC as good as Forsaken.

[Neon Ignition]

I won't lie - My post was more about the name pun

But no-one caught it

<sad face emoji>

[endo]

Never mind, I'm sure you'll bounce back!