PlayStation 5: Thread 05

[teddymeow]

Is Helldivers 2 a PC port? I thought Arrowhead developed both versions?

[fishbowlhead]

This is awesome, sadly there’s a bug currently (pun intended) with quick matching which has been confirmed to have a fix incoming today, but the gameplay is just awesome, looking forward to playing more tonight.

[Neon Ignition]

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[CMcK]

I had an email last night asking me to check the details of my order for the new PlayStation headset. Kind of slipped my mind it was due to ship this month. Anyone else waiting on it? Really hoping this works well with the PSVR2 headset as my current headphones don't sit tightly enough with the headset on and it doesn't have the oomph to drive them to sufficient volume either.

[fishbowlhead]

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It needs to be on PC to really thrive, and is really one of the few games that should have been day and date from Sony.

[nonny]

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Sony come out with a statement to confirm there are no major releases planned for the for next year and also expects hardware sales to decline.

I admire the honesty as we were all aware of the release schedule. I'm a bit surprised by the hardware decline as I'd have expected them to really push their slim model now... not like a slight hardware decline is anything to worry about in their position.

[Wools]

Sony come out with a statement to confirm there are no major releases planned for the for next year and also expects hardware sales to decline.

I admire the honesty as we were all aware of the release schedule. I'm a bit surprised by the hardware decline as I'd have expected them to really push their slim model now... not like a slight hardware decline is anything to worry about in their position.

It’s astonishing isn’t it?

I’m well aware that it takes a long time for a modern game to be developed and smaller developers and indies are far more integral to gaming now, but Sony & Microsoft’s lack of anything worthwhile or consistent in this generation of games? It’s embarrassing really.

We don’t need more horsepower, we don’t need a subscription upon a subscription, we don’t need free to play. As Nintendo has shown, we’re happy to pay good money for some worthwhile ****ing games!

[nonny]

It’s astonishing isn’t it?

I’m well aware that it takes a long time for a modern game to be developed and smaller developers and indies are far more integral to gaming now, but Sony & Microsoft’s lack of anything worthwhile or consistent in this generation of games? It’s embarrassing really.

We don’t need more horsepower, we don’t need a subscription upon a subscription, we don’t need free to play. As Nintendo has shown, we’re happy to pay good money for some worthwhile ****ing games!

I think Naughty Dog stalling and eventually having to cancel factions along with other major changes around GaaS are probably to blame. Sony usually has a decent cadence to releases that they at least have 1-2 major titles per year but it does feel like they've been leaning heavily on remasters and 3rd party exclusives (Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, Death Stranding 2) in order to plug the gaps.

I do wish they'd support teams creating smaller titles with more creativity... I think that is one area where Xbox does actually do pretty well in comparison. My favourite title on PS5 to this day is the astro's playroom pack-in title.

They are obviously way ahead and comfortably unbeatable in the hardware space so that is pretty insignificant information now but the software side of things I do feel they really need to be more diverse. Hopefully the success of Helldivers 2 recently will make them re-assess and do just that.

[Lebowski]

They have no traditional AAA tent pole exclusive in 2024 we kind of knew that, or we would have seen previews by now. So no AAA exclusives tiles that would drive christmas hardware sales, (Spider-Man, Last of us, Horizon zero dawn, God of war ect) This doesn't mean we won't see smaller releases from Sony still. We have just seen (Helldivers 2 launch), but yeah it looks like 2024 is sony relying on third parties, Maybe Some of Microsoft big exclusives can fill the gaps and help fill out sonys schedule???

It's turning into a strange year for consoles

[fishbowlhead]

Sony said about a year ago that now is the time that covid has caught up with the pipelines, I’m pretty sure it was Jim Ryan that said it when asked about the subject.

[Neon Ignition]

Personally I see that as BS from Sony to cover internal pipeline issues. They have plenty studios and haven't been flush with titles for years already, to bridge the peak year of the system like this is either symptomatic of behind the scenes stalled projects or they've wound things back precisely because they don't really need to sink multi-millions into risky AAA's to sell their systems as much. Something that tomorrow might well cement. If PS5 is going to rely more on third parties as well I suspect that we just got our answer about PSVR2 support in there too.

[nonny]

I really feel like its another indicator of just how long (and expensive/risky) AAA development has become. Sony just said it wants to do more multi-platform as well as grow first party and they've also said the PS5 is entering the "latter stages" of it's life-cycle.

If studios like Naughty Dog literally only output remasters in a console generation that is a crime. The pandemic hasn't helped of course but across Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo those development cycles are punishing and any slip up can cost dearly in the schedule.

From the way Sony are talking today it sounds like they will be more aggressive with PC releases (assuming that is what multi-platform means more than putting exclusives on other platforms)... and trying to expand their first party studios with more diverse titles.

It's been a pretty weird generation of consoles to be fair and it's affecting all of them.

[hudson]

Thank organized democracy for double A title, Helldivers 2. It's really poured a hot vat of LiberTEA all down our fronts.

For Super Earth!

[Lebowski]

I suspect that we just got our answer about PSVR2 support in there too.

I wouldn't call anything Sony have done on VR1 system sellers or having AAA budgets, so I wouldn't write 2024 off for PSVR2 exclusives yet, even if Sony did write off most of 2023 .

[Neon Ignition]

Reading the bits that have come out of SIE it sounds similar to Xbox. Both seem to have hit a wall in a growth orientated world. Whereas with Xbox it sounds like this has brought into question the viability of their entire strategy, with Sony they don't have going third party as an option available to them so scaling back costs and softening the walls seems to be what they're hinting at.

If it turns out MS are going to throw their titles over they should get one of their bigger hitters done quick and milk the empty space, especially pre-GTA6. If they do bow out then seeing more day and date PC launches from Sony might be a thing too. Hell, even on the long odds some Switch 2 ports because at that point it's not like fans have a choice of they don't like it.

And studio cutbacks, lots of cutbacks