• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

PS5 and its WRPG problem.

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
A few year ago, Shawn Layden gave an interview where he defended Sony pigeonholing themselves into third person action adventure games pointing out that he does not want to be in competition with his third party partners. IIRC, it was in context of launching more online shooters.

But now Sony has found themselves in a position where they will not have THE biggest WRPG on their next gen system. Not only that, they had already lost Obsidian a year ago, and with MS investing in Avowed and Fable, they have 3-4 AAA WRPGs that Sony simply has no reply to.

Looking at Sony's first party studios, only GG have any real experience with open world games with RPG elements, but Horizon always felt like an action adventure game with dialogue trees than a real role playing game. Sony's lack of new acquisitions this gen has now left a gaping hole in the WRPG genre as their sole big acquisition was Insomniac, another action adventure developer. Aside from CD Project, which sony simply cannot buy without MS outbidding them, their only hope is Bioware which again cannot be bought.

With Prey, Dishonored, Doom, Wolfenstein also going to bolsters Microsoft's shooter lineup, Sony will now have to shift away from action adventure to have some shooters of their own. But things are looking much more rosy here since GG, Insomniac and Naughty Dog have a lot of experience with shooters. Hopefully this forces Sony to greenlight some KZ or Resistance reboots or better yet new IPs.

Sony will have to turn their new Uncharted studio into a WRPG studio, and maybe have Sucker Punch take Ghosts of Tsushima into full on RPG territory. Otherwise I am struggling to see what other acquisitions they can make at this point.

This is why you dont rely on third party studios, Shawn.
 

Kumomeme

Member
wow now immediately suddenly sony has wrpg weakness thanks to the MS acquisition eh?

i believe what they need to do is add more variation to their 1st party portfolio and make sure each of the game hit hard in industry even if it just 1 or 2 games. Quantity no necessary good things. Even Nintendo could make huge effect with their BOTW. They already has strong 1st party portfolio. They need to keep expanding that.

Just let MS strive to what their 'excel' now and Sony should strive on other aspect they excel at too.

Also sony not necessary need to counter by buying another wrpg studio. They could boolster their 1st party output, or invest in jrpg field instead.
 
Last edited:

VAVA Mk2

Member
A few year ago, Shawn Layden gave an interview where he defended Sony pigeonholing themselves into third person action adventure games pointing out that he does not want to be in competition with his third party partners. IIRC, it was in context of launching more online shooters.

But now Sony has found themselves in a position where they will not have THE biggest WRPG on their next gen system. Not only that, they had already lost Obsidian a year ago, and with MS investing in Avowed and Fable, they have 3-4 AAA WRPGs that Sony simply has no reply to.

Looking at Sony's first party studios, only GG have any real experience with open world games with RPG elements, but Horizon always felt like an action adventure game with dialogue trees than a real role playing game. Sony's lack of new acquisitions this gen has now left a gaping hole in the WRPG genre as their sole big acquisition was Insomniac, another action adventure developer. Aside from CD Project, which sony simply cannot buy without MS outbidding them, their only hope is Bioware which again cannot be bought.

With Prey, Dishonored, Doom, Wolfenstein also going to bolsters Microsoft's shooter lineup, Sony will now have to shift away from action adventure to have some shooters of their own. But things are looking much more rosy here since GG, Insomniac and Naughty Dog have a lot of experience with shooters. Hopefully this forces Sony to greenlight some KZ or Resistance reboots or better yet new IPs.

Sony will have to turn their new Uncharted studio into a WRPG studio, and maybe have Sucker Punch take Ghosts of Tsushima into full on RPG territory. Otherwise I am struggling to see what other acquisitions they can make at this point.

This is why you dont rely on third party studios, Shawn.
Killzone and Resistance were both mediocre at best. I had all 3 Resistance games and series gradually got worse after 1. Was entertaining but nothing that will be remembered by the end of the next gen.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
wow now immediately suddenly sony has wrpg weakness thanks to the MS acquisition eh?
of course. I have been asking for sony to diversify forever now and all I would hear from Sony fans was that well, they have third party games like cybperunk and starfield. Even after MS bought Obsidian. Well now they dont.

Killzone and Resistance were both mediocre at best. I had all 3 Resistance games and series gradually got worse after 1. Was entertaining but nothing that will be remembered by the end of the next gen.
nah, i loved Killzone 2 and 3. Resistance was mediocre but R3's campaign was phenomenal. regardless, i said it would be better if they made new IPs. I think kz, resistance should both be retired.
 
Last edited:

HarryKS

Member
of course. I have been asking for sony to diversify forever now and all I would hear from Sony fans was that well, they have third party games like cybperunk and starfield. Even after MS bought Obsidian. Well now they dont.


nah, i loved Killzone 2 and 3. Resistance was mediocre but R3's campaign was phenomenal. regardless, i said it would be better if they made new IPs. I think kz, resistance should both be retired.
Send them an email.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
This acquisition really did turn a lot of people's brains to mush.
I want you to take a break brother. Refresh yourself and come back stronger, we need you at your best.
I dont understand these posts. There is nothing inflammatory or ridiculous in this post.

At worst it's reactionary, but i dont see the point in making the thread tomorrow or a week later as if im waiting to call back a woman after the first date.
 

Dthomp

Member
That's why Sony should focus on JRPGs like they did in the PS1 and PS2 era, because Microsoft clearly has no advantage in that segment.

Unfortunately Sony went the SJW way and is censoring most games from Japan.
I guess that's why most japanese devs develop for the Switch. Another mistake from Sony.

It's not likely, but I would love for this move to make Sony reconsider their views and cause them to strengthen their relationships with those JRPG companies. I don't view this as a major loss outside of possibly TES, which I honestly believe will be multi still cause that's way to much money left on the table to be on one console and PC. I mean what did the Outer Worlds do for anybody?
 

LOLCats

Banned
there are tons of multiplat wrpgs on playstation. and no way any mainline fallout or elder scrolls is going to be relegated to only consoles by xbox, worldwide sales wouldnt make sense.

besides beth rpgs are best on PC (dont shoot me).
 
Last edited:

PhaseJump

Banned
OP is over here playing 3D chess against himself, calculating maneuvers in a console war that isn't happening.

Xbox will publish games on Playstation.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
I usually associate western RPGs with PC tho and JRPGs with PS or Nintendo. 🤷‍♂️
 
It's true that Microsoft has bought 5 big western RPGs (Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland, TES, Fallout and The Outer Worlds), but there's still a ton from other devs. Divinity, Witcher, Cyberpunk, Diablo, Path of Exile, Kingdom Come and god knows what else.

But I kinda agree that I wish Sony would invest in their own western RPG. I would love to see one from them.

Well I haven't seen any censorship in recent titles, I mean upcoming 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is not censored.
Then you haven't been paying attention. Aokana had some CGs modified (Aokana has been delayed, but PQube has already warned buyers about the censorship), Yu-Gi-Oh has had some card artworks censored in the west, LoveR Kiss has boob jiggle reduced and skirts are more stiff on PS4 (fully intact on Switch and upskirt peeking no problem there as well)... all games that came out recently.
 
Last edited:

GreyHorace

Member
Eh.. I'm not even sure I'll get a PS5 on the next gen. Still enjoying my PS4 and the backlog of titles on it that I've yet to play.

And if Bethesda rpgs become exclusive to the Xbox, I wouldn't mourn the loss too much. Granted, I enjoyed playing Skyrim on the Xbox 360, but I have no fondness for the Fallout franchise. I played the first Fallout game a long time ago on PC but have desire to play the Bethesda entries. So long as WRPG studios such as Larian and CDProjektRed remain independent, I'll have my WRPG fix when I need it.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Then you haven't been paying attention. Aokana had some CGs modified, Yu-Gi-Oh has had some card artworks censored in the west, LoveR Kiss has boob jiggle reduced and skirts are more stiff on PS4 (fully intact on Switch and upskirt peeking no problem there as well)... all games that came out recently.
I guess I haven't been paying attention, it seems Sony mostly censoring smaller Japanese games, and I'm guessing Atlus is not letting them censor 13 Sentinels.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Or, to frame it another way, MS has a huge glut of games in a genre that simply doesn't have a lot of breakthrough hits.

Think about how many WRPGs this gen have been real mainstream hits, like 4 million+ sellers. We can count them on one hand. Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Dragon Age Inquisition and... That's really it. 3 games, in 7 years of this console span. With Cyberpunk coming up.

Elder Scrolls and Fallout are definitely a huge gets, it's a big win, but now MS finds themselves mostly competing with themselves for a genre with a limited audience. They have way more WRPGs in development than it seems like there's a market for. Especially for new IPs like Avowed, or longshots like the Fable revival I think it's going to be hard for these games to slot in.
 
And this is why Sony need to compete and make their JRPG output really strong.

Regardless of whether or not the next Elder Scrolls or Starfield is exclusive or not isn't really the problem, the main problem here is public perception, which is that Xbox is now the place to go for the WRPG genre.

That's the perception Sony need to tackle and I think making an incredibly strong exclusive JRPG presence is the way to go here.
 
Sony has more than a WRPG problem. They have an overall value problem.

Why would anyone get a PS5 at this point? The only thing they have is the couple of exclusives they crank out.

Xbox has Game Pass, more exclusives, a better ecosystem, and better hardware to make all the third party games better.

Just YouTube Sonys single player stuff and put the money towards an Xbox.
 
Sony has more than a WRPG problem. They have an overall value problem.

Why would anyone get a PS5 at this point? The only thing they have is the couple of exclusives they crank out.

Xbox has Game Pass, more exclusives, a better ecosystem, and better hardware to make all the third party games better.

Just YouTube Sonys single player stuff and put the money towards an Xbox.

But watching a YouTube play through is frankly bullshit. What actual person prefers to watch a video of the latest biggest AAA Sony exclusive? No one.

Sony still has the stronger value proposition. Don't underestimate the market pull of the next Uncharted, God of War Raganok or the next From Software game. That's not something Xbox can compete with.
 
CD Projekt Red is probably good enough, they are the premier studio for that stuff now. Bethesda has completely tarnished their reputation, I am not sure if they are capable of competing honestly....this gen has been really bad for them.
 

bender

What time is it?
I do think Sony's AAA output it starting to feel a little like Ubisoft but instead of everything being an open world amalgamation, Sony's games are cinematic 3rd person action games. But:

-We still don't know if Microsoft is going to hold Doom, TES, Fallout from Sony platforms. That's a massive investment they've made and that would close the door on a ton of sales. The only thing comparable is Minecraft though Microsoft is under different management.
-Microsoft will never make inroads into the Japanese market. They'll still get support of larger, more popular titles (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest) but niche Japanese titles are less likely and will go to Sony/Nintendo.
 

SpartanN92

Banned
ACUZFvp.jpg
 
But watching a YouTube play through is frankly bullshit. What actual person prefers to watch a video of the latest biggest AAA Sony exclusive? No one.

Sony still has the stronger value proposition. Don't underestimate the market pull of the next Uncharted, God of War Raganok or the next From Software game. That's not something Xbox can compete with.
My concern 8s uncharted won't be uncharted it will be woketarded. I don't want to play as Nadine or Nathan's drakes daughter. Give me drake or no deal. I even expect Kratos to turn woke in the next series and they hand if off to his new daughter or some shit because of the sjw pandering of Cory barlog on Twitter. It wouldn't surprise me.

This bethesda news sucks though. I had a balance on ps3/ps4 with both jrpgs and wrpgs as I love both more than any other genres. Now I can't play elder scrolls in bed. Sure I can get it for my pc but who knows if it will support a dual core i3 @ 3.7ghx. I'm sure my 1660 super gtx will be fine but a new cpu would require a new mobo/ram/case and that's at least 500 to 600 minimum. Why I got the i3 I can still max out any game with it but for how long. Shit I'm maxing out mount and blade 2, to me that's crazy.

I wanted to stick with Sony again as I have 270 ps games {due to psplus) and the backwards compatibility meant I could move my launch Era ps4 into the basement and keep the ps5 in my bedroom. With the ps4 backlog interchangeable. If I bought an Xbox my backlog is meaningless and if my ps4 breaks then what?

I hate this aquisition. It added nothing to gaming all It did was steal games away. Similar to tomb raider from a few years past but worse. If this was all multiplayer games like anthem or gears I wouldn't care but single player wrpgs, fPS and strategy games are my bread and butter... But again I also love my demon souls. Arrgh... Wtf ms. If I knew tes6 and starfeild would be on ps5 I wouldn't be stressing.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Or, to frame it another way, MS has a huge glut of games in a genre that simply doesn't have a lot of breakthrough hits.

Think about how many WRPGs this gen have been real mainstream hits, like 4 million+ sellers. We can count them on one hand. Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Dragon Age Inquisition and... That's really it. 3 games, in 7 years of this console span. With Cyberpunk coming up.

Elder Scrolls and Fallout are definitely a huge gets, it's a big win, but now MS finds themselves mostly competing with themselves for a genre with a limited audience. They have way more WRPGs in development than it seems like there's a market for. Especially for new IPs like Avowed, or longshots like the Fable revival I think it's going to be hard for these games to slot in.

I wonder... How did the JRPGs fare this generation compared to the WRPGs.
 

Neolombax

Member
It will be fine. If the studios are smart, they would make their games timed exclusives. Bethesda has always had their titles multiplatform anyways, they have an already established fan base for their popular titles. The demand for the sequels is already there. Launch their games on the PS5 sometime later, GoTY edition maybe, and everyone wins.
 

TechS3ek

Neo Member
i am fully on board with this, SONY needs a proper and heavy ass shooter game specially a first person type. im honestly really tired of seeing every games that SONY is putting out is always an over the shoulder story driven game. SONY needs to diversify their catalogue of games. PlayStation really lacks a strong first person shooter, and even though im not a car racing fan, but they also needs a strong open world racing game like forza horizon, something as successful and strong.
 

oagboghi2

Member
That's why Sony should focus on JRPGs like they did in the PS1 and PS2 era, because Microsoft clearly has no advantage in that segment.

Unfortunately Sony went the SJW way and is censoring most games from Japan.
I guess that's why most japanese devs develop for the Switch. Another mistake from Sony.
Really, that's why? Because Sony covers up some boobs?

Not because the switch has completely dominated the mobile market, which by the way is really the only market over there.
 

oagboghi2

Member
I dont understand these posts. There is nothing inflammatory or ridiculous in this post.

At worst it's reactionary, but i dont see the point in making the thread tomorrow or a week later as if im waiting to call back a woman after the first date.
Dude, you're entire thread is retarded.

Did MS ban companies from making WRPG on the rival console while we weren't looking?
 

slade

Member
WRPG's are like JRPG's. You have one or two that sell good and the rest are just there. Personally, I don't see the need for Sony to invest heavily into WRPG's. Most games these days and Sony exclusives in particular come with light RPG mechanics anyway.
 

Piku_Ringo

Banned
i am fully on board with this, SONY needs a proper and heavy ass shooter game specially a first person type. im honestly really tired of seeing every games that SONY is putting out is always an over the shoulder story driven game. SONY needs to diversify their catalogue of games. PlayStation really lacks a strong first person shooter, and even though im not a car racing fan, but they also needs a strong open world racing game like forza horizon, something as successful and strong.

:messenger_tears_of_joy: HahahahahahahaGRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! :mad:

If these dumbfucks hadn't given someone like Evolution Studios the axe, maybe we could of gotten something along those lines in the catalogue in the future.
 

Vroadstar

Member
Sony has more than a WRPG problem. They have an overall value problem.

Why would anyone get a PS5 at this point? The only thing they have is the couple of exclusives they crank out.

Xbox has Game Pass, more exclusives, a better ecosystem, and better hardware to make all the third party games better.

Just YouTube Sonys single player stuff and put the money towards an Xbox.

Which your PC can provide. So really I think there is really no need for Xbox, a PC and PS5 and you got your fill of games no FOMO.
 
Which your PC can provide. So really I think there is really no need for Xbox, a PC and PS5 and you got your fill of games no FOMO.
In your scenario you're spending $500 for a PS5 to play the 3 or 4 worthy games on it. Thats not value. Thats idiotic. You can YouTube Sony games and not miss a single lesbian SJW tranny moment and save the money.
 
Last edited:

Elcid

Banned
What’s the problem? Most WRPGs suck and we don’t know if Elder Scrolls will in fact be exclusive to Xbox. Even if it did, who gives a shit? Sony has a ton of diversity in their catalog already. Xbox can enjoy some exclusives. At this point I don’t see any way Xbox can truly steal market share FROM PS5 BUT they can atleast get some of it from more people like me that would replace his Switch with an Xbox if they produce some quality exclusive titles (not available on PC).
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
I am surprised SIE Japan is not making there own AAA RPG instead of being satisfied with time exclusivity of Project Athia/FF XVI. The likes of FF X used to be a reason to buy PS2. Even PS3 had Tales of Xilia and Eternal Sonata.
Wait, I thought the complaint was that Sony already had too many 3rd person rpgs/walking sims?
Who inserted rpgs into that? This is not PS3 gen.
 
Last edited:

Vroadstar

Member
In your scenario you're spending $500 for a PS5 to play the 3 or 4 worthy games on it. Thats not value. Thats idiotic. You can YouTube Sony games and not miss a single lesbian SJW tranny moment and save the money.

Idiotic is buying a console for game pass, exclusives and better hardware, PC got that covered plus PS5, the best of both worlds.
 
Top Bottom