PlayStation 5: Thread 05

[wakka]

That's really sad to see. London Studios completely gone and Firesprite pretty much gutted.

Notably both studios that have primarily worked on VR software in recent years.

[QualityChimp]

Boooo to the layoffs.
Yay to Sea of Thieves.

[Neon Ignition]

Take it that closes the door on anything Getaway/Blood related now. It's also getting incredibly hard to see any other PSVR2 support outcome from Sony than hand washing. I know many are pinning their hopes now on Astro Bot 3 but personally I'm not expecting that to be a VR entry at all either.

https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/an-important-update-from-playstation-studios/

Insomniac and Naughty Dog will also be recieving cuts as well as at Guerrilla

[Neon Ignition]

But Sony finally has some first party software ready!

[nonny]

Damn that really feels like the nail in the coffin for PSVR2 first party output... I wasn't expecting that after the good news they were rolling out PC support for it.

[Neon Ignition]

From what is being speculated it sounds very much like Sony set up multiple studios to focus on GAAS titles and have now pivoted away from that line up, the studios now paying the price. Though London weren't working on a VR game, when you map out the studios standing and their known projects it leaves PSVR2 projects with almost no room to fit in. Feels like Call of the Mountain will effectively be Sony's Alyx, a single showcase game for the headset then let the market dictate the rest. I imagine those GAAS titles are part of what has cost the system releases too given how many they had in the oven.



Time to pour another one out for the Legend

[hudson]

Muffdivers has been a helluva GaaS for them though.

But yeah, maybe the others were pish.

[Lebowski]

Take it that closes the door on anything Getaway/Blood related now. It's also getting incredibly hard to see any other PSVR2 support outcome from Sony than hand washing. I know many are pinning their hopes now on Astro Bot 3 but personally I'm not expecting that to be a VR entry at all either.

https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/an-important-update-from-playstation-studios/

Insomniac and Naughty Dog will also be recieving cuts as well as at Guerrilla

As a PSVR2 owner, why do I constantly feel like I've been mugged every time I hear any news from Sony. They now have shut down studios responsible for two of the biggest PSVR exclusives from Last Gen (Firewall and Blood & Truth), We didn't even get to see a Blood and Truth sequel as Sony had them working on a live service game which I'd bet had suddenly come up for review due to massive fail that was Suicide Squad.

If you look at London studios history It's had a massive hand in supporting Sony side projects with quite a bit of software, Eye Toy, PSVR1, Wonder Book and the PlayStation move to name a few, so their not just loosing a studio but a studio that could flex to work on its more innovative ideas. With the recent pipeline issues they really do need to plug the software gaps, not lay off massive amounts of staff, putting stretched timelines and struggling projects under even more pressure,

[MartyG]

Remember: Line must go up.

[wakka]

Yep really sad to see London Studios go. They've always been a cool studio doing interesting stuff. With Firesprite being gutted out that's looking like kind of the last gasp of Psygnosis too, which is a very historic studio.

And agreed that PSVR2 buyers have been incredibly badly treated by Sony. You fork out £530 and then they support it with absolutely sweet FA. A massive shame considering the potential of the platform to deliver games more technically proficient than Quest can, which has sadly not been met.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.eurogamer.net/playstation-studios-head-confirms-projects-cancelled-in-wake-of-layoffs

PS Studios Head confirms multiple projects have been cancelled, all the ones cited in the article are part of the GAAS wave they'd planned. We know they want to expand on PC too but I think the give away is when he refers to the big budget cinematic titles PS is now known for. They do well but Sony simply isn't getting them out the door anymore. They won't be making much PC expansion if they have nothing to expand with so given the cuts it feels like the big budget studios are being protected by sacrificing the smaller ones.

A shame as especially during the PS3 era Sony was great for quirky in house smaller titles but they're also on the road to being the only non-Nintendo first party in town too so why harbour the financial risk?

That AAA tentpoles focus though... That's why PSVR2 feels like a red hot target for first party jettisoning. No way to make those games and make $ back on it, especially when they are already aiming for end of gen for PS5 too. My guess is PS5 will end up largely being a loss gen for their studios outside of Insomniac.

[fishbowlhead]

Incredibly disappointing, If insomniac aren’t 100% safe in the industry then who the hell is.

So that’s what, over 3000 jobs gone just between Sony & MS this year alone?

[Lebowski]

Incredibly disappointing, If insomniac aren’t 100% safe in the industry then who the hell is.

So that’s what, over 3000 jobs gone just between Sony & MS this year alone?

And in an industry known for abusing and overworking its staff the ones not let go will be expected to work all the harder.

[Neon Ignition]

If you're able to tick along well enough on your own the last few years should be a massive alarm bell to many developers for the next time someone comes knocking on the door with a shiny buyout paycheck.

From what I can gather the outlook for next in line projects are:


2024 - Concord
2025 - Wolverine


Naughty Dog - Original IP Title
Santa Monica - Original IP Title
Sucker Punch - Ghost of Tsushima II
Bend Studio - Original IP Title
San Diego Studio - MLB The show 2025
Insomniac - Venom and Spider-Man 3
Bluepoint - Original IP Title
Haven - Fairgame$
Firewalk - Unknown
Guerilla - Horizon III
Media Molecule - Original IP Title
Housemarque - Original IP Title
Polyphony - Unknown
Asobi - Rumoured Astro Bot 3
Bungie - Marathon

If I were a betting man...

2026 - Venom and Ghost of Tsushima II
2027 - Naughty Dog's New IP Game and maybe Media Molecules?

Then PS6

[hudson]

Just get Metroid Prime 4 out ffs.