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[Bryank75]

I’d really like to see them push VR. I have yet to join in, but if there were several amazing games, then I would. It would also be a market with no console competition. I’m just not sure how hard they can push the technology at an affordable price point in console gaming.



That may not be a big splash, but it would be a solid get. You’d have solid studios that you could buy for cheap to help keep quality product flowing. Maybe you’d be able to partner with Konami on IP and get exclusive content, including new games of franchises that they don’t want to spend the money on. Konami could make a good chunk of change on royalties. I’d say Capcom would be a good purchase, but I do worry that Sony has lost touch with managing Japanese talent.

Capcom, WB, Square, Kojima, Sega, Kadokawa or someone comparable..... one of those or there is no point.

Bluepoint would be fine if they had a longterm contract for MGS / some Konami IP's but without some valuable IP's, they should forget it.

 

[SSfox]

I mean if we talk about the reality now, PS is still the best plateform right now imo. But they need to remind themselve why the plateform has always been the best, it was because of variety and innovations, and also Japanese games for the most parts. I don't want to see playstation become the home of AAA western open world and focuse only or mostly on that.

Also i don't get why they bother to pay to get exclusives like FF or Nier, the games will sell mostly of playstation no matter what, so why bother.

 

[TKOFromTokyo]

Capcom, WB, Square, Kojima, Sega, Kadokawa or someone comparable..... one of those or there is no point.

Bluepoint would be fine if they had a longterm contract for MGS / some Konami IP's but without some valuable IP's, they should forget it.

If the acquisition of Bluepoint was intended to be a direct response to MS, then I agree that it would be pathetic. However, I do see value in not letting them get away. I’d make them into my IP partnering studio and maybe give them the opportunity to create an IP if they can grow a little.

I’d love to see WB, if they get the IP with it. I’d have no problem sharing a certain royalty with them if they can get some ownership of the IP on their consoles or some kind of perpetual license based on a one time payment that allowed a mutual option to end the IP agreement at some point.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Jim Ryan is literally the worst. He is just coasting along doing the bare minimum being cocky as fuck. I mean he's literally getting rid of communities on top of pulling Sony out of E3, not having PlayStation Experience anymore etc.. plus pricing games so high and porting games away to PC I mean as a PlayStation fan this is bad news for the future. Not to mention he sits idle as Microsoft plants the seeds for the future in regards to acquiring studios. Meanwhile Sony shuts down/downsizes other studios.. Ugh. Hopefully things start to change but I fear for the future of PlayStation under his regime.

Jesus tapdancing christ. The state of some of you. Not to mention all of the above is flat out false

 

[NahaNago]

I'm talking more in terms of their budgets. Graphically, they're still on a post-360, pre Xbox one budget. The switch can barely handle UE 4 games that aren't Fortnite. I'm curious to see how things will change once they are dealing with more power, more textures, and more capabilities.

It was originally the shift to hd that I thought had most Japanese developers stumped. Plus by the time they release their own 4k machine, my hopeful side believes that they would have accustomed to 4k. My more realistic side believe that the next Nintendo product won't be 4k so they will be safe.

That may not be a big splash, but it would be a solid get. You’d have solid studios that you could buy for cheap to help keep quality product flowing. Maybe you’d be able to partner with Konami on IP and get exclusive content, including new games of franchises that they don’t want to spend the money on. Konami could make a good chunk of change on royalties. I’d say Capcom would be a good purchase, but I do worry that Sony has lost touch with managing Japanese talent.

Sony definitely needs more smaller studios to help pad out the year in between the heavy hitters. They have been needing this for awhile but they abandoned the approach of funding a lot of games and hoping one or 2 will be massively successful. Now they mainly go after the heavy hitters. Capcom or Squareenix would have been perfect purchases. They fill the niche of unique aaa Japanese games whether it be jrpgs or fighting games. Plus they have beloved franchises. wild arms or legend of dragoon made by squareenix just seems wild.

That shift had to do with budgets as well, hd transition was traumatic for a lot of japanese devs.

Well makes sense. Western studios were accustomed to making huge worlds and larger games unlike the Japanese developers so I'm guessing the west had larger studios.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Glad to see i'm not the only one who isn't feeling too much Jimbo and Hermen decisions.

What decisions can we pin on Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst?

 

[PhaseJump]

Jim Ryan is literally the worst. He is just coasting along doing the bare minimum being cocky as fuck. I mean he's literally getting rid of communities on top of pulling Sony out of E3, not having PlayStation Experience anymore etc.. plus pricing games so high and porting games away to PC I mean as a PlayStation fan this is bad news for the future. Not to mention he sits idle as Microsoft plants the seeds for the future in regards to acquiring studios. Meanwhile Sony shuts down/downsizes other studios.. Ugh. Hopefully things start to change but I fear for the future of PlayStation under his regime.

You should make a youtube video about it. Try not to pig squeal and cry too closely to the mic this time though. That shit can get inaudible.

 

[Vasto]

 

[NahaNago]

What decisions can we pin on Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst?

You can't. You can only go by the vague direction that company seems to be moving in. Examples would be from games be developed, studios being closed, exclusives being announced, headquarters being moved, or studios being bought.

 

[SSfox]

What decisions can we pin on Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst?

Porting games on PC, Closing Japan Studio, lying and hiding that some games will be crossgen.

 

[Hatsuma]

What decisions can we pin on Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst?

Everything lol. Including PC ports

Sony open to PC versions of PlayStation exclusives

Sony may start bringing PlayStation exclusives to other platforms. In an interview with Bloomberg this week, Sony Inter…

www.gamesindustry.biz

Blame Ryan for JP studios inefficiencies. Blame Ryan for why they don't like TLOU2, which was in development long before. Blame for communities getting closed. They've been wanting to shutter it before him. Blame it all on them.

EDIT: Forgot to put link in for communities.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/03/ps4s_communities_feature_to_be_shut_down_sony_confirms

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Porting games on PC, Closing Japan Studio, lying and hiding that some games will be crossgen.

The whole industry is supporting PC.
Closing loss leaders is healthy.
They didn't lie. You bought PR hook line and sinker.

 

[Craig of War]

Jim Ryan is the Don Mattrick of Playstation

 

[Hawking Radiation]

This happens at the start of every new generation.

Xbox makes some loud early noises.
PlayStation stays silent.
PlayStation fans go into panic mode.
PlayStation ends up delivering the goods.

This happened last gen and the gen before that.

It's like PlayStation is currently sat on their hands or Jim Ryan is putting together panic board meetings over the latest spate of Xbox/Bethesda news.

 

[Killer Sakoman]

Jim Ryan is the Don Mattrick of Playstation

Still better than Spencer. At least Don Mattrick provided great exclusive games rehardless of TV TV.

 

[bender]

This happens at the start of every new generation.

Xbox makes some loud early noises.
PlayStation stays silent.
PlayStation fans go into panic mode.
PlayStation ends up delivering the goods.

This happened last gen and the gen before that.

It's like PlayStation is currently sat on their hands or Jim Ryan is putting together panic board meetings over the latest spate of Xbox/Bethesda news.

 

[Kokoloko85]

lol. MS still has the worst games out of the trio and the least sales....

 

[DrAspirino]

If we look at factual data instead of forum posts, PlayStation brand now is better than it never has been. Or than any other console manufacturer has been. Or at least this is what revenue and sales numbers say.

Facts beg to differ:

BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands - 2020 (Kantar) | Ranking The Brands (Neither Sony, nor Playstation is among the 100)

Best Global Brands - 2020 (Interbrand) | Ranking The Brands (Microsoft is nº3, Sony is 51)

Tech 100 2021 | Brand Value Ranking League Table | Brandirectory (Microsoft is nº4, Sony 28)

Global 500 2021 | Brand Value Ranking League Table | Brandirectory (Microsoft is nº4, Sony 115).

So... even if we only look at tech brands, Nintendo has more value as a brand than Playstation (and obviously over Xbox).

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

This happens at the start of every new generation.

Xbox makes some loud early noises.
PlayStation stays silent.
PlayStation fans go into panic mode.
PlayStation ends up delivering the goods.

This happened last gen and the gen before that.

It's like PlayStation is currently sat on their hands or Jim Ryan is putting together panic board meetings over the latest spate of Xbox/Bethesda news.

Could you be any more vague about "early noises"?

Microsofts commitment to gaming over the last 2.5 years trump's anything they've ever done BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Could you be any more vague about "early noises"?

Microsofts commitment to gaming over the last 2.5 years trump's anything they've ever done BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE.

1) There's google.

2) You starting to sound like Xbox PR. Is that your day job?

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

1) There's google.

2) You starting to sound like Xbox PR. Is that your day job?

You tried to suggest that Microsoft's moves over the last 2-3 years were par for the course for them.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

You tried to suggest that Microsoft's moves over the last 2-3 years were par for the course for them.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

Wait and see how this all pans out. That's what you're supposed to do. That's what the smart folks do. None of us has a magic crystal ball to see 3 years ahead from now or even see the end of this generation.
Wait and see mate. Christ, it can't be that hard to do unless you do possess a hidden talent whereby you can see the next 6 years into the future.

 

[Hugare]

Gimme a beak

Sony Japan is crumbling down not due to Jim Ryan's decisions, but due to underwhelming sales time and time again

Who bought Gravity Rush? Knack? Pupeteer?

The Last Guardian is one of my GOTG, but I'm very aware that it probably didnt sell enough to cover its costs

Sony Japan made games that never sold much in the West.

And the japanese market is never going to sell 10M+ copies of niche games, especialy now that its Nintendo / mobile focused

Financialy, it makes way more sense to support western Sony studios that are making best sellers

It's paying off, so I'm sorry that it sucks for you, but Sony is probably more than happy with Jim Ryan right now

 

[VAL0R]

Gimme a beak

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Wait and see how this all pans out. That's what you're supposed to do. That's what the smart folks do. None of us has a magic crystal ball to see 3 years ahead from now or even see the end of this generation.
Wait and see mate. Christ, it can't be that hard to do unless you do possess a hidden talent whereby you can see the next 6 years into the future.

Wait and see how it all pans out?

1) You're the one prognosticating that nothing has changed with Microsoft, and in time we'll all see that.

2) Prognostication is fun. It's what NeoGAF is for!

3) Someone (you) is wrong on the internet and I must fix that!

 

[MonarchJT]

This happens at the start of every new generation.

Xbox makes some loud early noises.
PlayStation stays silent.
PlayStation fans go into panic mode.
PlayStation ends up delivering the goods.

This happened last gen and the gen before that.

It's like PlayStation is currently sat on their hands or Jim Ryan is putting together panic board meetings over the latest spate of Xbox/Bethesda news.

if you think that opening the initiative and worlds edge studios and then acquiring obsidian, playground, Ninja theory, compulsion, inxile, undead labs, double fine and not to end up buying one of the largest publishers in the industry like Bethesda ..launch a beloved service like gamepass that in a very short time has more than 20 million subscribers, and where ms have almost double the development team than Sony. If that for you means doing just a few "noise" you should have your hearing checked by a doctor because it looks like you are completely deaf

the gen before this one Ms Xbox had a console that was clearly underpowered compared to ps4 (xbox) and Ms had very few First party studios. In this generation, Microsoft also has the most powerful console on the market.
I don't know what you remember about the x360 vs PS3 generation but it seems like you remember really badly.
Sony only recovered the money lost throughout the ps3 generation around 2017/18

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Wait and see how it all pans out?

1) You're the one prognosticating that nothing has changed with Microsoft, and in time we'll all see that.

2) Prognostication is fun. It's what NeoGAF is for!

3) Someone (you) is wrong on the internet and I must fix that!

 

[Mike Zhang]

Jim Ryan doesn't play games, he doesn't know the difference between games. He only see games which makes money and which doesn't. Playstation is losing appeal to me, I don't want another boring *box

 

[Exanthus]

Still better than Spencer. At least Don Mattrick provided great exclusive games rehardless of TV TV.

Spencer inherited the Don's trash from the beginning of the generation when he bounced.
Spencer salvaged what he could from that mess.

 

[zedinen]

If a martian came to earth he would believe that the PS5 costs $600, has no games, sits on the shelves, trails XBS by 10 million and Sony is ready to call it quits.

The martian would eventually come to know the truth and end his days in Arkham; the cognitive dissonance coupled with stronger gravity would undoubtedly break him.

 

[MrJTeera]

Here’s to another year of over-the-shoulder open-world cinematic adventure game.

Japanese devs provided a lot of DNA that defines PlayStation and I’m sad to see them got put down so unceremoniously.

I knew they’re heading towards that direction when they changed the accept button from O to X. It’s a small thing that no one really cares, but it really goes against their former tradition. Blasphemous, really.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Here’s to another year of over-the-shoulder open-world cinematic adventure game.

Japanese devs provided a lot of DNA that defines PlayStation and I’m sad to see them got put down so unceremoniously.

I knew they’re heading towards that direction when they changed the accept button from O to X. It’s a small thing that no one really cares, but it really goes against their former tradition. Blasphemous, really.

Most people don't care about the change in direction Sony has done the past bunch of years because those changes are for greater mass of gamers which is outside of Japan.

If it was that detrimental, PS4 sales would be down in the dumps and people would be hating PS5. I don't see it.

The games they focus on couldn't be more hated by Japanese gamers, and all the third party deals with FIFA and COD all cater to mainstream audiences. But thats where the money is. Theres no money in Gravity Rush and Folklore. But there is in God of War and Spiderman.

Think of it like stick shift. If this was decades ago, lots of vehicles had a stick shift option. But it seems to skew more and more to automatic except for purists driving performance vehicles. And thats even with manual transmission cars traditionally being cheaper with better fuel economy, yet people still want automatic. With that trending, car makers skew to automatic.

 

[HE1NZ]

PlayStation is done. Their only chance of survival is to port games to PC.

 

[Bryank75]

PlayStation is done. Their only chance of survival is to port games to PC.

 

[MrJTeera]

Most people don't care about the change in direction Sony has done the past bunch of years because those changes are for greater mass of gamers which is outside of Japan.

If it was that detrimental, PS4 sales would be down in the dumps and people would be hating PS5. I don't see it.

The games they focus on couldn't be more hated by Japanese gamers, and all the third party deals with FIFA and COD all cater to mainstream audiences. But thats where the money is. Theres no money in Gravity Rush and Folklore. But there is in God of War and Spiderman.

Think of it like stick shift. If this was decades ago, lots of vehicles had a stick shift option. But it seems to skew more and more to automatic except for purists driving performance vehicles. And thats even with manual transmission cars traditionally being cheaper with better fuel economy, yet people still want automatic. With that trending, car makers skew to automatic.

But that’s car, though. Its purpose is to make life more convenient, so the simplification is welcomed. We’re talking about games here.

No matter how many sales figure you cited, that’s not gonna convince me, because it’s not the answer I’m looking for.

I don’t count a game company values by how much money they made. It’s about the content they produced.

How would you feel if some kid just go and erase your kid’s hopscotch line from the pavement because it’s not the standard block that’s used around the world? That’s how I feel about the situation, anyway.

Videogame suppose to be fun and interesting and varied. If Sony’s gonna efficiently condense it to just fun, they might as well sell me a dopamine injection.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

But that’s car, though. Its purpose is to make life more convenient, so the simplification is welcomed. We’re talking about games here.

No matter how many sales figure you cited, that’s not gonna convince me, because it’s not the answer I’m looking for.

I don’t count a game company values by how much money they made. It’s about the content they produced.

How would you feel if some kid just go and erase your kid’s hopscotch line from the pavement because it’s not the standard block that’s used around the world? That’s how I feel about the situation, anyway.

Videogame suppose to be fun and interesting and varied. If Sony’s gonna efficiently condense it to just fun, they might as well sell me a dopamine injection.

I get what you're saying. But Jim Ryan and execs care about $$$. Execs job is to grow profits and increase profit margin. If that means kacking Japan Studio and consolidate into Sony California that's the call.

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At our company we trash underperforming brands too. Even if it makes a bit of profits, it still may not worth keeping as we can free up resources for other products and simplify the product lines.

Sony realized MS had great success catering to the mainstream COD crowd during 360, so Sony took over partnering with Activision. That's where the money is (and other big name titles).

Unfortunately gaming is a resource heavy industry so entire studios are cut. What you're looking for is something more like the company I work at with 500+ products spanning every kind of user. And half this shit can be bought at Walmart. And that's just our region's products. Globally, I have no idea, we surely got 1,000s of products. All it takes is the factories to adjust the machinery to churn out a different variation. But gaming isn't like that. It's a very black and white kind of industry where a studio or publisher sticks to a relatively small number of products (games) and makes a run with it. Even companies like EA and Activision (probably the most mainstream companies out there) really only have a handful of games that come out every year. My company region makes probably 50 new ones every year alone and the other 450 keep going too.

What gaming companies consolidate into smaller number of games, the industry is made up with 100s of devs that all contribute games to the pot. That's the exact opposite of my company where there's only maybe 5 key suppliers that supply everything in my product lines, but each of us releases new shit every year.

 

[Barakov]

 

[Kagey K]

Videogame suppose to be fun and interesting and varied. If Sony’s gonna efficiently condense it to just fun, they might as well sell me a dopamine injection.

Do they even do that anymore? I know there’s at least one lead designer that says maybe video games don’t need to be fun.

These early sales and hype are all based on the success of the PS4, not anything Jim Ryan did right or Xbox did wrong.

To write off some of the concerns people have because it’s selling out everywhere is the wrong attitude to take, in my opinion.

 

[johnjohn]

PlayStation's future just looks dull at the moment.

 

[Kagey K]

PlayStation's future just looks dull at the moment.

It’s nothing that can’t be fixed, but I understand why certain people feel this way right now.

The games they loved on Playstation are coming elsewhere, but there is nothing coming to fill that gap.

All the time you thought it was Sony, but it was Sega or Atlus or Square. Until it wasn’t.....

 

[Heisenberg007]

Capcom, WB, Square, Kojima, Sega, Kadokawa or someone comparable..... one of those or there is no point.

Bluepoint would be fine if they had a longterm contract for MGS / some Konami IP's but without some valuable IP's, they should forget it.

We speculate almost every week what would be a good purchase for Sony. In the meantime, Sony be like:

I have no idea why they haven't purchased Bluepoint yet. Should have also struck the deal with Kojima, Level-5, HouseMarque by now. And if they were feeling adventurous and interested in nurturing new studios, they should have also purchased Ember Lab, Camouflage, and Neostream.

I'm still interested in seeing what their response to Gamepass is (as Jim Ryan hinted at). I believe we will hear more about their subscription services this year. I'm not particularly interested in subscription services, but I still want to see what they come up with. Sony's first-party games are the ones I enjoy the most (Rockstar games being second), so it could turn out to be interesting for me.

Other than that, I have no idea what they are planning, apart from organic growth which is a good thing, but won't do much if MS acquires half of the industry. The top 5-7 first-party Sony studios won't be able to shoulder the burden on their own. They'll need support.

 

[longdi]

i hope jimbo continues to work his magic on playstation branding. ignorance is bliss

 

[Keihart]

i hope jimbo continues to work his magic on playstation branding. ignorance is bliss

 

[Outrunner]

Who the fuck cares about communities on PS4

 

[Jaguar Victory]

Putting your fanboyism aside y'all have to acknowledge that he just has a shit aura for someone in charge of "fun". He reminds me of when they bring in corporate folks to run a sports front office. Just gives off a weird vibe.

 

[reksveks]

Just waiting for the Sony funded remakes of certain Japanese IP's and the story to change.

Not saying those remakes will be good though.

 

[Freeman76]

This is so true. He is the opposite of Phil Spencer. Just shows how important good leadership is, even a company as huge as Sony is effected as a whole by poor decisions from one man. Why is nobody challenging this prick?

 

[Memorabilia]

If the acquisition of Bluepoint was intended to be a direct response to MS, then I agree that it would be pathetic. However, I do see value in not letting them get away. I’d make them into my IP partnering studio and maybe give them the opportunity to create an IP if they can grow a little.

I’d love to see WB, if they get the IP with it. I’d have no problem sharing a certain royalty with them if they can get some ownership of the IP on their consoles or some kind of perpetual license based on a one time payment that allowed a mutual option to end the IP agreement at some point.

Realistically, Sony doesn't have the resources to make a $4B+ purchase.

 

[vivftp]

... such an embarrassing thread full of even more embarrassing posts.. smdh.

 

[michaelius]

What decisions can we pin on Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst?

Current direction of cutting AA gaming and going all in on blockbuster AAA games seems like his idea.

This is so true. He is the opposite of Phil Spencer. Just shows how important good leadership is, even a company as huge as Sony is effected as a whole by poor decisions from one man. Why is nobody challenging this prick?

You mean Phil "I have unlimited funds and I still can't deliver single good game for my new console launch" Spencer?

Even if I don't like Jim Ryan decisions it's pretty obvious which one of them is more competent and succesfull.