VizionEck

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— Santa Monica Studio Is Hiring (@SonySantaMonica) June 2, 2021

Hermen Hulst Q&A: What's Next for PlayStation Studios - PlayStation.Blog (https://blog.playstation.com/2021/06/02/hermen-hulst-qa-whats-next-for-playstation-studios/#sf246401757)

Where it makes sense to develop a title for both PS4 and PS5 -- for Horizon Forbidden West, the next God of War, GT7 -- we'll continue looking at that. And if PS4 owners want to play that game, then they can. If they want to go on and play the PS5 version, that game will be there for them.

So we have, currently, two very big, very narrative-driven games in development: Horizon Forbidden West and the next God of War. And for both of those, they're frankly affected by access to performance capture and talent. For Horizon, we think we are on track to release this holiday season. But that isn't quite certain yet, and we're working as hard as we can to confirm that to you as soon as we can.

And for God of War, the project started a little later. So we've made the decision to push that game out to next year, to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play.

A tad disappointing.

Delay is fine, PS4 port sucks.

What the heck was Playstation doing this gen? Hype everyone up for next gen exclusives only for them to not exist?

And you know, Bend Studio is working on a very exciting new IP that they're very, very passionate about. They're building on the deep open-world systems that they developed with Days Gone. So I'm really happy for Bend Studio.

Confirms part of Jason's story.  

We're building Team Asobi in Tokyo, a world-class studio that are developing a franchise for all ages with global appeal. Such a creative team.

Delay is fine, PS4 port sucks.

What the heck was Playstation doing this gen? Hype everyone up for next gen exclusives only for them to not exist?

Yeah man, I defended Sony after the Horizon and Spidey crossgen news against people who called them liars. But they're goddam liars, this fricking sucks. Why would you hide this news, any other reason outside of falsely inflating demand for your next gen console for as long as possible?

This is so disappointing and so shaming. Sony's bad communication strikes again.

God of War crossgen, fudge.

(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c1ed5faf628bb1370eca7bc17894d95dc0d501c8fc5be313b431296161e01300.jpg)

....

How much will a PS4 game actually sell in 2022? God of War 2 will be <10% PS4 version for sales. I don't really understand.

With Horizon and Spiderman, I thought a couple of games wasn't a big deal, and they were announced that way before the PS5 was even released.

It would have been better if they had something like, "we listened to you guys, we decided to make it cross gen" or something along those lines.


Instead it just feels like they were lying about it.

There are announced games that were secretly cross-gen that only recently dropped their last-gen versions so as a player you'd never know they were once made with last-gen versions in mind.

— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) June 2, 2021

With Horizon and Spiderman, I thought a couple of games wasn't a big deal, and they were announced that way before the PS5 was even released.

It would have been better if they had something like, "we listened to you guys, we decided to make it cross gen" or something along those lines.


Instead it just feels like they were lying about it.

It feels like they were lying about it because they were lying about it.

There are announced games that were secretly cross-gen that only recently dropped their last-gen versions so as a player you'd never know they were once made with last-gen versions in mind.

— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) June 2, 2021

Well the first part is battleship. "low availability" for the fastest selling console of all time. Next gen exclusives early on in a generation were never a problem before, why would they be now?

disappointing to be sure.  

...but as i can't play my ps5 for another few months i feel disconnected from the news.   

also, tbf, R&C is the only game so far that looks like it is using the power of the ps5 for more than just visuals.   it makes sense that if you can dial back the graphic fidelity and get it to run on ps4 that you'd do that.   for me the most disappointing part is that sony isn't making more games where the SSD is a requirement for gameplay not just a convenience for load times.

disappointing to be sure.  

...but as i can't play my ps5 for another few months i feel disconnected from the news.  

also, tbf, R&C is the only game so far that looks like it is using the power of the ps5 for more than just visuals.   it makes sense that if you can dial back the graphic fidelity and get it to run on ps4 that you'd do that.   for me the most disappointing part is that sony isn't making more games where the SSD is a requirement for gameplay not just a convenience for load times.

Exactly.

If GOW2 can run on PS4, it's good that more players can enjoy it. The issue is that last year once PS5 specs were locked in, they didn't settle on a design that was only possible with next gen hardware.

Ratchet is seemingly the only game that viewed the PS5 as something more than a PS4 Pro Pro.

It feels like they were lying about it because they were lying about it.Well the first part is battleship. "low availability" for the fastest selling console of all time. Next gen exclusives early on in a generation were never a problem before, why would they be now?

It's just one more example of modern Sony looking like they want to extract wealth from PlayStation without investing in it (outside buying 3rd party exclusives).

GOW delay expected but wow horizon might miss this year. I really don't see why GOW would be cross gen. Gt7 maybe

Some interesting details re: Horzon's development

- a lot of the game has been developed on PS4 and is still being playtested on PS4
- PS5 version has a different water rendering technique than PS4 + more details
- The hero lighting on Aloy is only available in cutscenes on PS4 pic.twitter.com/Xx8zDoIXpU

— Nibel (@Nibellion) June 3, 2021

Gran Turismo 7, after all, was outright advertised as a PS5 exclusive in December, although to be fair to Sony, I understand the decision to release a PS4 version was made only fairly recently. For Horizon Forbidden West and God of War, however, these games were always intended to release as cross-gen titles, I was told, but Sony did not mention the last-gen console during the announcement of either title.

Forget business sense, Sony's cross-gen U-turn is disappointing for PS5's potential | VGC (https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/opinion/forget-business-sense-sonys-cross-gen-u-turn-is-disappointing-for-ps5s-potential/)


GoW was supposedly always intended to be a PS4 game.
GT7 was supposedly a recent decision.

(Sony actually delayed the next God of War to 2022 months ago)

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) June 2, 2021

Some interesting details re: Horzon's development

- a lot of the game has been developed on PS4 and is still being playtested on PS4
- PS5 version has a different water rendering technique than PS4 + more details
- The hero lighting on Aloy is only available in cutscenes on PS4 pic.twitter.com/Xx8zDoIXpU

— Nibel (@Nibellion) June 3, 2021

Free climb is interesting. I watched the interview but I'm still not sure if they mean AC style or something else.

Free climb is interesting. I watched the interview but I'm still not sure if they mean AC style or something else.

Its gonna be something like AC or BOTW. You can climb everything anyways.

Also I'm feeling less disappointed about this news now. As I said about Horizon before, it would be a huge hype booster if GOW and GT7 were next gen only and would possibly result in some marginal gains in their quality (e.g. removal of shimmying through gaps in GOW) but its probably not that big, otherwise they would have cancelled the last gen versions. The games will still be as good as they were ever going to be.

Sony lying and being shady is the sucky part, but it is what it is. Horizon still blew me away with its graphics, GOW certainly will too. We just might not see some crazy gameplay leaps like with Ratchet, but that's okay, we're still getting good advancements like all the new traversal & massively improved melee in Horizon.

Sony always supported its older consoles after a launch of a new one. PS4 getting miles, horizon, GT7 and GoW is awesome for PS4 and its owners.

Yes, its a bit disappointing that GoW and Horizon theoretically can't take full advantage of the PS5. But they most likely never would have anyways. Early releases like killzone SF, infamous didnt really take full advantage of PS4. Yes, they looked great, but so does HFW.

I think if GoW was having trouble running on PS4 SSM would have dropped it and Sony would have agreed. But its most likely it could have been scalled down and SSM said why not? Or when production started SSM wanted to release on PS4 too, meaning the vision for the game was never compromised in the first place

Sony always supported its older consoles after a launch of a new one. PS4 getting miles, horizon, GT7 and GoW is awesome for PS4 and its owners.

Yes, its a bit disappointing that GoW and Horizon theoretically can't take full advantage of the PS5. But they most likely never would have anyways. Early releases like killzone SF, infamous didnt really take full advantage of PS4. Yes, they looked great, but so does HFW.

I think if GoW was having trouble running on PS4 SSM would have dropped it and Sony would have agreed. But its most likely it could have been scalled down and SSM said why not? Or when production started SSM wanted to release on PS4 too, meaning the vision for the game was never compromised in the first place

by my standards that stills means it was compromised because no one ever bothered to ask,..  "what can we do with the SSD that would have never been possible before?"

i'm really not sure what GT would do that couldn't be backported to ps4.  it's just graphics, framerate, and maybe a better physics engine but at the end of the day a racing sim isn't going to do anything true imaginative.  it's still going to be a car going through a road as fast as it can...

...but i think GoW especially could have done something impressive because GoW is known for BIG cinematic boss fights.  instead of the 20 year old mentality of a boss fight being a static room with a dude with a large health bar,.. GoW could done something truely new by blending the boss fight with the "set piece" or something.  i'm not exactly great on being innovative but i'll bet SM could have come up with something if they had just committed to ps5 exclusive.

--edit--
like, imagine that instead of this dragon fight:


...imagine the dragon takes flight when kratos is on his back and the fight takes place (in part) in transit from location to location throughout midgard.   

For real, y’all, this is some BULLSHIT!

You want to be mad at somebody for ANYTHING GOW related - the delay, ps4/5, trolls, subtitle size, Sigrun, whatevs - be angry with me.

I made the calls. I did this.

Don’t bother the team, they are all very good people doing great work. pic.twitter.com/D5rsvzFmgV

— cory barlog ???? (@corybarlog) June 4, 2021

For real, y’all, this is some BULLSHIT!

You want to be mad at somebody for ANYTHING GOW related - the delay, ps4/5, trolls, subtitle size, Sigrun, whatevs - be angry with me.

I made the calls. I did this.

Don’t bother the team, they are all very good people doing great work. pic.twitter.com/D5rsvzFmgV

— cory barlog ???? (@corybarlog) June 4, 2021

That's really gross.

Barlog is awesome but why do so many people have to suck.

geez, the internet is really a toxic place.

Disgusting.

But did he just confirm he is working on the GoW game? Because it was rumored/speculated he was working on a new ip

Also like I said, seems the development team from the outset decided they want to work on PS4, their vision for the game was never really compromised by releasing on PS4 it seems

Disgusting.

But did he just confirm he is working on the GoW game? Because it was rumored/speculated he was working on a new ip

We know SMS is working on a new IP.
The general belief was that Cory handed off the project to someone else, and from what I recall he's been kind of weird about whether or not he's working on GoW.  

But it seems like Eric Williams might be the person heading the new IP, instead of Cory.

Also like I said, seems the development team from the outset decided they want to work on PS4, their vision for the game was never really compromised by releasing on PS4 it seems

For me, I really like hearing that. It seems like it was probably Cory's call, not Sony's.  

Now that I've had time to process all this.

God of War, GT7 seemingly won't have the $70 price hike. And if these decisions are driven by the developers, that's great too.

I think it would be interesting to see what kinds of differences come between the PS4/PS5 versions. I'm hopeful that we see some things take more advantage of the platform.

Now that I've had time to process all this.

God of War, GT7 seemingly won't have the $70 price hike. And if these decisions are driven by the developers, that's great too.

I think it would be interesting to see what kinds of differences come between the PS4/PS5 versions. I'm hopeful that we see some things take more advantage of the platform.

I think that's way too optimistic.

MLB The Show is on both systems yet costs $70 on PS5 and $60 on PS4. If God of War 2 is not $70, then that price is dead imo.

Also it's great that this seemingly isn't a bad sign for the game itself, devs aren't in a battle with corporate, but the marketing and missed opportunity still stings. I really hope GOW2 is like Titanfall or Shadow of Mordor where the last gen version had little effect on the next gen version, but I expect it to be like Forbidden West with a PS4 version, a PS4 pro version, and a PS4 pro pro version.

I think that's way too optimistic.

MLB The Show is on both systems yet costs $70 on PS5 and $60 on PS4. If God of War 2 is not $70, then that price is dead imo.

It may be.  

I think that's the only first party exception. We already know Horizon is getting a free upgrade unlike MLB.  

Disgusting.

But did he just confirm he is working on the GoW game? Because it was rumored/speculated he was working on a new ip

Also like I said, seems the development team from the outset decided they want to work on PS4, their vision for the game was never really compromised by releasing on PS4 it seems

Yeah the rumours a while ago were that he left a summary of the direction of the next two games to his successor and he was moving on to new IP.

But maybe a year or so ago a verified PS employee on Era said in the PS studios thread something along the lines of "you guys know Cory is directing the god of war sequel right?".

Disgusting.

But did he just confirm he is working on the GoW game? Because it was rumored/speculated he was working on a new ip

Also like I said, seems the development team from the outset decided they want to work on PS4, their vision for the game was never really compromised by releasing on PS4 it seems

He could just be what Jaffe was doing on God of War 2 and 3, where he's working on the game, but not the main director or anything.  I think he [Jaffe] still has early concepts from God of War 3, before he left, in his notebook.

thank you, my friend.??

— cory balrog ???? (@corybarlog) June 6, 2021

thank you, my friend.??

— cory balrog ???? (@corybarlog) June 6, 2021

MS buys SSM confirmed