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[IntentionalPun]

They featured it on the PS blog, on their youtube channel, and released a demo on PSN.

They have so many shit indie games on the blog.. every dev actually HAS to write a blog as came out last year in the great indie dev whining about Sony event... and every game HAS to have a trailer, and they ALL get posted on YouTube.

Sony is not quality controlling indie games.. PS4 is full of total crap.. total crap that is posted to their YouTube lol

 

[DarthPutin]

It's not Sony's job to investigate thousands of indies that might release on their platform. I am sure a lot of these advertisements end up being nothing, it happens even with big legit companies. Nothing extraordinary here except for gullible people who have only themselves to blame.

And if they did spend time and money investigating, they would then have to choose their words very carefully as not to be accused of harassing small time dev. Heck, their denials would just be worked into ARG fantasies by deluded. Hasan openly denied having anything to do with Kojima and it didn't help either.

Anyway, I refuse to believe it! Hasan represents everything that is good and pure in this world, he'd never let us down!

 

[IntentionalPun]

It's not Sony's job to investigate thousands of indies that might release on their platform. I am sure a lot of these advertisements end up being nothing, it happens even with big legit companies. Nothing extraordinary here except for gullible people who have only themselves to blame.

And if they did spend time and money investigating, they would then have to choose their words very carefully as not to be accused of harassing small time dev. Heck, their denials would just be worked into ARG fantasies by deluded. Hasan openly denied having anything to do with Kojima and it didn't help either.

Anyway, I refuse to believe it! Hasan represents everything that is good and pure in this world, he'd never let us down!

Exactly.. nobody is hiring PIs to investigate indie dev saying shit..

None of this matters in the long run.. game may come out, may be crap.. may not.. Sony has no problem with absolute shit games being released on Playstation.

 

[Clear]

Hmmm. Don't you think that if this was a scam, and if there were people close enough to the project to know it as a scam sufficient to bring that claim to a major outlet like Gamespot, they'd be willing to go on record with their names?

Like, why would they be skittish about identifying themselves as whistle-blowers if they knew this to be the case?

Doesn't really make sense to me.

 

[Klik]

It was actually featured on Playstation official Youtube and blog..

Imagine if game was opened for preorders when trailer came.

Let's say 1 month about 50.000-100.000 preorders, thats about 2-4 million $..

 

[CamHostage]

Sony had nothing to do with it.

Mostly. Sony ran the initial blogpost and also hosted the trailer on its YT page, which is a marketing service that I assume has a cost for licensed PlayStation developers as a promotional service (or maybe it's fully editorial discretion when stuff is pitched to the PS Community team? Not sure the approvals there.) Nothing unusual about that. And then they never promoted it again or had any involvement in the shenanigans of the now-nonexistent app. They did allow the app to be published though, which is unusual since it's a distribution app for additional content not included in the original product, so that'd a wobbly thing for Sony to allow on its platform (albeit I assume all the content would fall under "DLC" and need to go through approvals and payments anyway?)

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/04/07/abandoned-a-cinematic-survival-sim-hits-ps5-later-this-year/

Claiming platform owners are responsible for vetting the legitimacy of the production capacity of independent developers in the market we have now is unfortunately not the real world anymore. Microsoft can't even keep ripoffs of its own IP off of its Creator Collection digital shelf. Maybe Sony can learn from this and impose stricter conditions for using its marketing platforms, but I'm not sure how that would work? And Sony coming out in the middle of this, after the n'th promise of delivery of a trailer or further look that never happened, and going, "We are PlayStation, and you should no longer care about this Abandoned game because we think this Hassan guy is a liar," that of course wouldn't happen. I'm not sure there's a censure that exists for Sony to use, besides pulling down content and revoking the license. It just is what it is.

It was actually featured on Playstation official Youtube and blog..

Imagine if game was opened for preorders when trailer came.

Let's say 1 month about 50.000-100.000 preorders, thats about 2-4 million $..

That's the only viable takeaway IMO, that preorder structures need to be more secure and confirmed before offered.

That said, there were no preorders, so I'm not sure what the preorder policy is on PS, but maybe those structures are already there.

I'm still confused anyway why people lost their minds over a flyover of a UE landscape with some vegetation assets thrown in and an amateur VO (and I'm not sure why people are so furious about this "con" when the only thing you're out of pocket on is 1:39 of your life spent watching a Youtube clip,) but it's been a fun ride. I ain't mad at cha, Hideo... #teamreal

 

[IntentionalPun]

Hmmm. Don't you think that if this was a scam, and if there were people close enough to the project to know it as a scam sufficient to bring that claim to a major outlet like Gamespot, they'd be willing to go on record with their names?

Like, why would they be skittish about identifying themselves as whistle-blowers if they knew this to be the case?

Doesn't really make sense to me.

Probably embarrassment.

You'd have to be a complete fucking moron to get involved in this flat out obvious "scammer."

 

[CatLady]

Glad I'm not a Silent Hills fan so I never really followed this much. I read few posts in that mega thread occasionally. It all seemed like BS or a scam which apparently it was.

 

[tmlDan]

I dont think anyone wanted Hasan to be real, everyone wanted a kojima horror game - team real just wants our dreams to come true, please we beg of you lol

 

[IntentionalPun]

Mostly. Sony ran the initial blogpost and also hosted the trailer on its YT page, which is a marketing service that I assume has a cost for licensed PlayStation developers as a promotional service

A terrible assumption. They literally post every trailer on YouTube.. devs are REQUIRED to create a trailer.. it came out recently that indie devs are REQUIRED to write a blog post too.

Nobody is paying Sony to post Blog posts or trailers..

The only thing Sony charges for is prime placement on the PS Store.. which has an obvious reason for it, as the things you see quickly/with big "ads" on PS Store when you go to it on a Playstation is actually very limited real estate. Blogs and social media posts are the opposite.. they are about having as much content as possible.

 

[Borowski_1]

Suprised Pikachu

 

[Clear]

Probably embarrassment.

You'd have to be a complete fucking moron to get involved in this flat out obvious "scammer."

Nah, if he was convincing enough to con a major multi-national like Sony why would they be embarrassed?

At the end of the day this seems way to elaborate to be that simple. Objectively Kahraman could just say, "we ran into funding/development difficulties and the project has been put on hold", and noone would be the wiser. Shit like that happens all the time.

Projects getting cancelled after actual significant amounts of work being done is the reality of the business, so I'm not even sure that Sony would be that upset either way. Its just content, and ultimately it did draw attention, so the worst I could see them do is demand he return dev-kits or face legal action!

 

[IntentionalPun]

For all those thinking Hasan paid for a blog post.. it was revealed to be a REQUIREMENT to write one:



And indies complain it does nothing for sales.

Why Indie Publishers Are Fed Up With PlayStation - IGN

Multiple indie publishers are speaking out about Sony's lack of communication, sale restrictions, and the struggles of indie games to get noticed on its platforms.

www.ign.com

Aside from the storefront issues, those I spoke to expressed exasperation that there really weren't any other meaningful avenues to promote their games through PlayStation. When I asked publishers about the blog posts mentioned in the original thread and whether they were any help, Botea noted that his team had to proactively ask about it, and when they did, the deadlines made it unworkable. Logan said the blog process was "definitely one of the easiest processes among the partners" but also indicated that issues with deadlines and approvals for blogs could be challenging for developers on already-tight game release timelines. White told me that the blog was offered by Sony as "marketing support," but then said it was "an awful joke that does not convert to sales in ANY way."

People thinking PS blog is something gated behind pubs paying Sony is just odd... it's a blog.. designed to have lots of content.. Sony has the devs themselves write that content and they want as much content as possible on that blog.

And check Sony's youtube.. every single game gets their trailer posted there.. even total garbage ones.

 

[elliot5]

I'm SHOCKED

 

[Kamina]

How does that dude make money?

 

[rofif]

Of course it doesn't exist

 

[[Sigma]]

Shit kept going south in weird ways and on twitter playing out the way it did. The thing is though, people presented evidence that it was a scam. Yoshida responded at times to it because he and Hermen were tagged in it. More so with emojis and stuff so I figured Yoshida knew something everyone else didn't and knew it wasn't a show. But its very likely Sony knew but chose not to do anything about it which is a bad look imo if true

 

[IntentionalPun]

How does that dude make money?

He probably has a day job.. or lives with his parents.

He's not making money from games that's for sure.

Nothing he's done actually costs significant amounts of money... Unreal Engine is free... the assets he bought were often only a few dollars... he absolutely didn't "pay for a blog post", etc.

None of it takes a significant amount of time either... so.. plenty of time to have a normal job.

But jobless losers are hardly rare lol

 

[nikolino840]

For all those thinking Hasan paid for a blog post.. it was revealed to be a REQUIREMENT to write one:



And indies complain it does nothing for sales.

http://[URL]https://www.ign.com/articles/why-indie-publishers-fed-up-playstation

[/URL]



People thinking PS blog is something gated behind pubs paying Sony is just odd... it's a blog.. designed to have lots of content.. Sony has the devs themselves write that content and they want as much content as possible on that blog.

And check Sony's youtube.. every single game gets their trailer posted there.. even total garbage ones.

But are all legit games.......how many of them are scam? Only abandoned?

 

[IntentionalPun]

But are all legit games.......how many of them are scam? Only abandoned?

And?

Sony isn't writing the blog posts.. they aren't looking at builds of games before they are submitted to certification (which logically happens after a blog post), etc.

Sony has 100s of indies creating games.. they aren't monitoring them for "scams".. that's honestly not their problem. Game releases people buy it or not.. game doesn't release? Who cares.. Sony isn't spending a bunch of money supporting the devs anyways.

 

[Clear]

He probably has a day job.. or lives with his parents.

He's not making money from games that's for sure.

Here's the thing though: the amount of attention Abandoned has generated is real and therefore of actual monetary value EVEN IF the project itself was fake.

Kahraman did a great job selling the idea, and therefore he actually has created something that could be sold on to another party for a nice profit. Where's the cash-out on this? Its just really strange.

 

[CamHostage]

A terrible assumption. They literally post every trailer on YouTube.. devs are REQUIRED to create a trailer.. it came out recently that indie devs are REQUIRED to write a blog post too.

Nobody is paying Sony to post Blog posts or trailers.

Didn't know the economics of their system, but that makes sense. It's editorial-driven marketing service rather than a revenue system. Noted.

That said, 21 new games came out on PlayStation Store this week alone (plus two re-releases, Snowrunner Premium and and VF5 Ultimate.) There's only 18 blogposts total on PS Blog (and that was during a State of Play flurry,) and most if not any didn't get featured in the weeks before launch or the announcement of the product. (I only see Silt and Behind the Frame ever having posts.) And then on Youtube, I only count four of those 21 new games having their trailers included in the video stream.

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/category/024029c7-f61b-4bef-a4d7-06270ed12b56/1
https://www.youtube.com/c/PlayStation/videos

So PlayStation seems to still have some control over whether a product does or does not get included in its social marketing services, and Abandoned did get through their filter. If their filter is just, "Does this game look cool? Is it in a popular genre like 'Horror' or 'Mystery' or 'Survival'? Does it have a stamp saying it's a PlayStation 5 exclusive? Will it click well?", then of course Abandoned got through. And maybe they'll think better next time. Or, maybe not? In worldwide publishing, you can't send a blogger over to every developer's office and demand he show you the prototype before you stick up a Youtube clip. If they pass the certification process and follow the rules, they're in the system.

 

[IntentionalPun]

So PlayStation seems to still have some control over whether a product does or does not get included in its social marketing services, and Abandoned did get through their filter.

Sure.

Abandoned also advertised itself as a PS5 exclusive, supporting the tech.. supporting the DualSense.. All things Sony people reviewing the blog post would have liked.

And the blog post instantly got attention.. meaning the public liked it, so why wouldn't Sony?

They may not approve everything but all indications are Sony requires these things and it makes no sense to charge for them. Sony isn't some influencer charging people to advertise products that don't otherwise make that person money.. they are posting marketing materials for products they themselves profit from... at VERY LITTLE cost to Sony... just having a small social media team that would be there anyways.

What you just showed is exactly why Sony can't actually monitor indie devs closely.. there is SO MUCH crap coming out on Playstation from an endless array of devs... and much of that stuff is asset flip garbage.

 

[spons]

I'm more surprised about a mainstream site like GameSpot publishing an actual piece of journalism than Abandoned not existing.

 

[Corndog]

I’m sure some people will still persist.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I'm more surprised about a mainstream site like GameSpot publishing an actual piece of journalism than Abandoned not existing.

"Kojima actually went as far as to scam people to keep the ruse going? BRILLIANT" - bitbydeath

 

[Corndog]

Sure.

Abandoned also advertised itself as a PS5 exclusive, supporting the tech.. supporting the DualSense.. All things Sony people reviewing the blog post would have liked.

And the blog post instantly got attention.. meaning the public liked it, so why wouldn't Sony?

They may not approve everything but all indications are Sony requires these things and it makes no sense to charge for them. Sony isn't some influencer charging people to advertise products that don't otherwise make that person money.. they are posting marketing materials for products they themselves profit from... at VERY LITTLE cost to Sony... just having a small social media team that would be there anyways.

What you just showed is exactly why Sony can't actually monitor indie devs closely.. there is SO MUCH crap coming out on Playstation from an endless array of devs... and much of that stuff is asset flip garbage.

Sorry, but I don’t buy it. Especially considering the controversy around this guy. How hard would it have been for Sony to verify he was legitimate?

 

[whyman]

We all knew this. The guy screams scam.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

They never showed gameplay for this game ..... Don't see why people get hyped for games that don't even show gameplay. This new generation of gamers are a different breed lol

I remember back in the day hype was the result of amazing gameplay that was shown, usually at E3.

 

[SentientStone]

"At the start of the 1700s, nearly a century after British colonization of America began, an epidemic swept through the area surrounding Toluca Lake, including the burgeoning settlement that would, in time, become known as Silent Hill.

With a large portion of the populace dead, the settlement was abandoned."

We all know it's coming. Let's not kid ourselves.
MGS Remakes and an abandoned town from an abandoned game teaser... they are all coming!

 

[Corndog]

Hmmm. Don't you think that if this was a scam, and if there were people close enough to the project to know it as a scam sufficient to bring that claim to a major outlet like Gamespot, they'd be willing to go on record with their names?

Like, why would they be skittish about identifying themselves as whistle-blowers if they knew this to be the case?

Doesn't really make sense to me.

Probably because Hassan is probably the only developer. So no one else has inside knowledge.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Sorry, but I don’t buy it. Especially considering the controversy around this guy. How hard would it have been for Sony to verify he was legitimate?

He is a real person with a real company registered in a real countries commerce division... he's released real software too (realllly shitty) to Android and Steam.

What makes you think Sony does any more than verify the above when one of thousands of indies submits themselves to the dev program? (BTW those are the things Sony says are required on the form you submit to the dev program..)

What exactly aren't you buying? You actually think this is still Kojima or something?

 

[bitbydeath]

For all those thinking Hasan paid for a blog post.. it was revealed to be a REQUIREMENT to write one:



And indies complain it does nothing for sales.

http://[URL]https://www.ign.com/articles/why-indie-publishers-fed-up-playstation

[/URL]



People thinking PS blog is something gated behind pubs paying Sony is just odd... it's a blog.. designed to have lots of content.. Sony has the devs themselves write that content and they want as much content as possible on that blog.

And check Sony's youtube.. every single game gets their trailer posted there.. even total garbage ones.

That’s not true, otherwise everyone and their dog would have a blog post.

 

[bitbydeath]

"Kojima actually went as far as to scam people to keep the ruse going? BRILLIANT" - bitbydeath

Doesn’t seem to be any scam involved here, money would need to switch hands for that to be true.

 

[Clear]

Probably because Hassan is probably the only developer. So no one else has inside knowledge.

The point everyone seems to be missing is that with that with a basic-bitch trailer, a shell of a preview app, and that Silent Hill baiting tweet is that Hasan got more attention than 99% of all indie devs will get in their entire careers.

Even if it was all just an empty facade, it was still a massive opportunity.

 

[BennyBlanco]

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I thought you were talking about that socialist YouTube guy at first when you said only the name "Hasan" in your title LMAO.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

I mean, reaching out to gaming journalism to make an article about how it's definitely a fake is no Joakim mogren. I mean joking matter. Joking.

#TeamReal
#HasanIsBae
#BaeIsKojima
#KojimaIsGod

 

[Urban]

Team real where you @!???

We’re in this bitch

 

[CrustyBritches]

He is a real person with a real company registered in a real countries commerce division... he's released real software too (realllly shitty) to Android and Steam.

What makes you think Sony does any more than verify the above when one of thousands of indies submits themselves to the dev program? (BTW those are the things Sony says are required on the form you submit to the dev program..)

What exactly aren't you buying? You actually think this is still Kojima or something?

I downloaded the apk for one of his old games and it was splash screen with message saying something like "stayed tuned, demo coming soon." No game.

Being an indie dev is hard and takes a shitload of time and money. For a project like Hasan was making, you'd be looking at at least $30K and 5000hrs of your time to create a quality demo. What he showed was like an afternoon of work with Unreal and some pre-made assets. That's what's lame about him. He just takes the money for himself without putting the necessary time, effort, and money required to make it happen. Just a hustler, not a developer.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I downloaded the apk for one of his old games and it was splash screen with message saying something like "stayed tuned, demo coming soon." No game.

Yeah there was a Facebook group for that game (not sure if it still exists) where he said some of the exact same bullshit he did for Abandoned. That's where people found some stolen art he was using too lol

I actually don't have Facebook right now but if it's still there here's the URL: https://www.facebook.com/TalesoftheSixSwordsGame/

 

[bitbydeath]

Team real where you @!???

It’s not nice to attack Kojima while he’s still sleeping.

 

[RNG]

Hasan working himself into a shoot.

 

[Barakov]

The building comes crashing down:

A Gamespot Exposé has new information regarding the 'Abandoned' x Silent Hill situation, basicaally it's all a scam:

 

[nikolino840]

I downloaded the apk for one of his old games and it was splash screen with message saying something like "stayed tuned, demo coming soon." No game.

Being an indie dev is hard and takes a shitload of time and money. For a project like Hasan was making, you'd be looking at at least $30K and 5000hrs of your time to create a quality demo. What he showed was like an afternoon of work with Unreal and some pre-made assets. That's what's lame about him. He just takes the money for himself without putting the necessary time, effort, and money required to make it happen. Just a hustler, not a developer.

Seems so easy in Dreams.....

 

[EruditeHobo]

Doesn’t seem to be any scam involved here, money would need to switch hands for that to be true.

Wrong again... it's still a scam, but the currency in this situation is attention.

 

[SpongebobSquaredance]

Who is Hasan?

 

[Lognor]

If it isn't real then what is this?! It sure looks real to me! This looks like GOTY material.

 

[envyzeal]

that's only a small part of a bigger plot

 

[killatopak]

If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve my best.