LBP3 sucked but its still a title they pushed at e3 and Sackboy is a game they're pushing now. We're talking about first party games that Sony is promoting, how much they appeal to people and therefore sell is less important. Astro Bot isn't really that big but its another platformer. Sony are still pretty good with platformers. Its not their main focus but they make platforming games and that's diversity. Its probably the level you want them to make other genres.generally i agree with you. one of the things i love about sony is they seem content to let development teams work on what they want to work on. you can really see the passion for their games in the work they complete. I wouldn't force changes on any of the studios but at the same time i think sony should influence or suggest they work on types of projects that give playstation studio's overall a more well rounded output. honestly this wasn't a problem on ps2 or ps3. only on ps4 do i think first party got a bit to "samey".
Driveclub had a botched launch but quickly became amazing once it was fixed and in the end after incredible post launch support its the best racing game ever imo. Also its not a sim, its closer to arcade. Racing is still big and 2 racing games on the whole gen for PS4 is actually not great from Sony but its okay I guess.
And yeah I'll agree on Days Gone, Bend are the one studio I'd say sure do something new because I really couldn't care less for Days Gone and it didn't review very well. Their other big studios are all pretty much amazing at what they do. Bend are not.
Horizon would be worse if it went more into RPG stuff for my taste, it was pretty much at the limit already.
Basically my argument is that Sony's devs are almost all amazing at what they do and have a reputation now. It wouldn't make sense for them to change and I don't want them to. They should create new studios and buy new studios if they want to go into new genres, or let their smaller studios grow and try more stuff. Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Santa Monica, San Diego, Sucker Punch, Guerrilla, Polyphony, Media Molecule are all already doing what they do best and its varied enough. They finally built up their reputation with PS4, it'd be a shame to risk it or not use it by doing something totally different.
Naughty Dog could mix it up a bit if the new San Diego studio replaces them on Uncharted style games. Media Molecule could try actually making games again. Japan studio do lots of unique stuff already but could mix it up more. PixelOpus could grow a lot and do something unique like Concrete Genie on a bigger scale. Bend should stop with the generic zombie shame.
basically i'm saying get more studios but don't get studios that feel like ND or SM. In summary:
- force MM to make games and not game engines. they make amazing games. to not make even 1 game for all of ps4 is such a fudgy waste. ..and yes i'm intentionally not counting dreams because from everything i've read it had almost no campain from MM.
- put bend on a new IP and not days gone 2.
- acquire new studios that WANT to work on big (mid-teir) games that aren't soo dark and first person shootery. Kena or R&C-esque games are my target here. high quality AAA that aims to look more like "pixar" than dark and dystopian and super high detailed graphics. dark games are stressful and sometimes i just want something more light-hearted. also these would be cheaper to make overall which would mean games more than once every 5 years. astro bot was great. so far i'm really impressed with sackboy a big adventure. but add in knack, rachet and clank, and lbp 3 we we are talking 6 games in the entire generation and 3 of them were crud.
- acquire or start about 5 high quality low-tier developers. i really, really miss the psn titles from the ps3 era and early ps4 era. they've given up here but some of my favorite titles include: echochrome, pixal junk shooter 1 and 2, sound shapes, escape plan, flower, journey, unfinished swan, hohokum, and fat princess.
