PlayStation Studios Development

[BananaKing]

I think the issue with puppeteer was that it was overshadowed by a crazy year it Sony first party and the PS4 launch.

I think if they made it a cross gen game and launch title on PS4 it would sold a lot better.

PS4 early exclusives didnt score that high, being a high scoring exclusive at launch would have helped the game a lot.

[kitler53]

I think the issue with puppeteer was that it was overshadowed by a crazy year it Sony first party and the PS4 launch.

I think if they made it a cross gen game and launch title on PS4 it would sold a lot better.

PS4 early exclusives didnt score that high, being a high scoring exclusive at launch would have helped the game a lot.

1stly,..  I looked up a Sony first party games list to see for myself.    it's crazy to compare how many games Sony released in 2013 compared to 2023/2024.   ... especially when you discount these years for junk like TLoU/Horizon/until dawn remasters.  


2ndly,.. yeah.  launching cross gen or even next gen exclusive would have likely helped it out.  TLoU was a good swan song title.   puppeteer was not. 

[Horizon]

No Japanese studio games probably matched Astro Bots initial 1.5 million sales or they wouldn't have been shut down.

Lots of murmurs about certain Sony studios recently:

Insomniac readying to show Wolverine
Guerrilla readying for Horizon online release next year
ND's new game been in dev for 4 years
Santa Monica's hiring continues apace
Bluepoint supposedly working on a new IP

I expect we'll see a lot of new stuff announced next year

[the-pi-guy]

No Japanese studio games probably matched Astro Bots initial 1.5 million sales or they wouldn't have been shut down.

According to the Insomniac Leak:
The Last Guardian: made 16.5 million revenue on 718k units
Gravity Rush 2: made 10.8 million revenue on 493k units


The revenue numbers seem low. Seems the average game's revenue was around $22.

Astro Bot made more than the top 2 Japanese studio games combined last gen.

[nnodley]

According to the Insomniac Leak:
The Last Guardian: made 16.5 million revenue on 718k units
Gravity Rush 2: made 10.8 million revenue on 493k units


The revenue numbers seem low. Seems the average game's revenue was around $22.

Astro Bot made more than the top 2 Japanese studio games combined last gen.

That actually helps put those sales in a better light when put that way.

even though dev costs are probably way higher now though.

[BananaKing]

1stly,..  I looked up a Sony first party games list to see for myself.    it's crazy to compare how many games Sony released in 2013 compared to 2023/2024.   ... especially when you discount these years for junk like TLoU/Horizon/until dawn remasters.  


2ndly,.. yeah.  launching cross gen or even next gen exclusive would have likely helped it out.  TLoU was a good swan song title.   puppeteer was not.

Yeah 2013 was a crazy year. They had a shot ton of AAA games and a next gen launch, and some bunch of AA games and some Vita games.

GT6 was the last big exclusive that year for PS3. So they really didn't need puppeteer just to release something late in the year on PS3.

I think their reasoning was that they have knack for PS4. So why have puppeteer as well

[the-pi-guy]

That actually helps put those sales in a better light when put that way.

even though dev costs are probably way higher now though.

I just realized my comparison is misleading, it's digital only.

[kitler53]

lol this one really got to me.



this thread is an xbox thread right?  of course it is..

[Horizon]

I just realized my comparison is misleading, it's digital only.

Doubt physical would make much difference tbh. TLG might have got close to 1.5m but probably not at full price.

[darkknightkryta]

Point I was getting at with Japan studios is that they were being starved for funds.  Whether the rumour that it was because none of the directors wanted to make big blockbusters is true or not (Gravity Rush's director was hinting at something like this), we'll never know.  But how much better would Gravity Rush have sold if it had better marketing?  Probably better, though I'll concede not super better, but I'm sure it would sell as much as Astro Bot.  Even Astro Bot, how well did the first game sell?  Second game sold well, but not even amazing and Sony is making out that it sold 10 million like their other tent-poles.  I'm sure a few of the older ps3 games probably would have sold as well if they had Astro Bot's marketing.  Even now, how hard is it to patch up and re-release Pupeteer and what have you on PS4/PS5?  Or PC?  I think they'd be pleasantly surprised with Gravity Rush PC port sales and Bloodborne PC sales if they existed.

Tinfoil hat me honestly believes they starved Japan Studios so they could shut it down and move the headquarters out of Japan to support their tent-pole games that was coming out of Naughty Dog and Santa Monica.  Hell, the arrogance I read about how they'd purposely can Japan only releases because it didn't align with their beliefs (Senran Kagura literally dying and Naruto having to censor Minato's arms...).  Now it turns out western development is in a seriously rough patch (I say this nicely as I think its currently the drizzling nuggets) and they need Japan Studios back.  Why else would they be pushing Astro Bot, despite selling ... I don't even want to say bad, but bad compared to their behemoths?

P.S. I honestly believe Astro Bot and Helldivers 2 sold as well as they did due to us being starved for games in those genres.  Astro Bot just being a good game and Helldivers being an average game in a genre that doesn't have anything out, or has seen a release in a long time.

Either way, I do believe Sony needs to look at the entirety of their development pipeline.  They gambled, what, a billion dollars on these GAAS games and it looks like none of them are releasing?  When people are complaining about Sony's GAAS strategy, the defense is "They're studios still working on single player games.", no their studios weren't and now they're 3 years out at the very least while Japan Studios would have been filling in the much needed gaps.  Whether from internal games or 3rd party partnerships.  Stellarblade currently comes to mind to what Japan Studios used to do more or less, and yes I'm aware they have a studio setup for it, but Shu's probably going to retire soon and I'm sure their Japanese publishing arm needs their talent back to carry on.

[Legend]

Point I was getting at with Japan studios is that they were being starved for funds.  Whether the rumour that it was because none of the directors wanted to make big blockbusters is true or not (Gravity Rush's director was hinting at something like this), we'll never know.  But how much better would Gravity Rush have sold if it had better marketing?  Probably better, though I'll concede not super better, but I'm sure it would sell as much as Astro Bot.  Even Astro Bot, how well did the first game sell?  Second game sold well, but not even amazing and Sony is making out that it sold 10 million like their other tent-poles.  I'm sure a few of the older ps3 games probably would have sold as well if they had Astro Bot's marketing.  Even now, how hard is it to patch up and re-release Pupeteer and what have you on PS4/PS5?  Or PC?  I think they'd be pleasantly surprised with Gravity Rush PC port sales and Bloodborne PC sales if they existed.

Tinfoil hat me honestly believes they starved Japan Studios so they could shut it down and move the headquarters out of Japan to support their tent-pole games that was coming out of Naughty Dog and Santa Monica.  Hell, the arrogance I read about how they'd purposely can Japan only releases because it didn't align with their beliefs (Senran Kagura literally dying and Naruto having to censor Minato's arms...).  Now it turns out western development is in a seriously rough patch (I say this nicely as I think its currently the drizzling nuggets) and they need Japan Studios back.  Why else would they be pushing Astro Bot, despite selling ... I don't even want to say bad, but bad compared to their behemoths?

P.S. I honestly believe Astro Bot and Helldivers 2 sold as well as they did due to us being starved for games in those genres.  Astro Bot just being a good game and Helldivers being an average game in a genre that doesn't have anything out, or has seen a release in a long time.

Either way, I do believe Sony needs to look at the entirety of their development pipeline.  They gambled, what, a billion dollars on these GAAS games and it looks like none of them are releasing?  When people are complaining about Sony's GAAS strategy, the defense is "They're studios still working on single player games.", no their studios weren't and now they're 3 years out at the very least while Japan Studios would have been filling in the much needed gaps.  Whether from internal games or 3rd party partnerships.  Stellarblade currently comes to mind to what Japan Studios used to do more or less, and yes I'm aware they have a studio setup for it, but Shu's probably going to retire soon and I'm sure their Japanese publishing arm needs their talent back to carry on.

Wait, someone else on this forum thinks sony has had a drought of games this gen!? I thought I was alone.

Yeah I have zero preference for eastern games over western games, but I just want more games and more good games. They are taking so much longer to make and the quality is not going up.

[the-pi-guy]

Wait, someone else on this forum thinks sony has had a drought of games this gen!? I thought I was alone.

Yeah I have zero preference for eastern games over western games, but I just want more games and more good games. They are taking so much longer to make and the quality is not going up.

Lol, this has been a big reason I've been complaining about the AAA push so much this year.

I think this gen started off very strong, but it's been falling behind last gen more and more. And I don't even think last gen was particularly good.

[the-pi-guy]

Even now, how hard is it to patch up and re-release Pupeteer and what have you on PS4/PS5?  Or PC?  I think they'd be pleasantly surprised with Gravity Rush PC port sales and Bloodborne PC sales if they existed.

Sony doesn't want to do a simple patch or direct PC port for any of their games. Even Horizon got a remaster. Days Gone is supposed to be getting a remaster as well.  

Why else would they be pushing Astro Bot, despite selling ... I don't even want to say bad, but bad compared to their behemoths?

Because it's basically like their 5th highest rated game ever, and it was a small budget title that basically outsold everything from Japan Studio last gen, and probably made more than the Last Guardian, and it will likely continue to sell a few million more copies.

"They're studios still working on single player games."

The issue isn't that these studios have wasted time working on live service. Except for ND, most of these live service titles are new growth (Firesprite, Haven, Firewalk, Bungie).

One big issue is that Sony has cut out a lot of partners, they're no longer working with Quantic Dream, Ready At Dawn, Other Ocean (MediEvil) just from the PS4 era. And they lost a few more PS3 era studios like SuperBot, United Front Games.

Geurilla has basically put out more games this gen than last by partnering with other studios.

But aside from them, across the board these studios are struggling to put out games. The days of putting out a Dark Souls or Uncharted sequel in 2 years or potentially less even are gone. It basically takes 6 years now. You can't get excited for sequels anymore.

[BananaKing]

Why does from software have to make games that are so fudgy difficult without an easy option? I've reached the end of the game, and I'm stuck at two bosses I need to do in order to play the DLC.

And it's quite infuriating how unfair an annoying these bosses are. Why do I need to spend hours to farm, when from can just make a mode where it's not as difficult? And why are some of the difficulty spikes so high in these dang bosses?

It's infuriating. I spend 175 hours in the game, I want to finish it and move on, and come back for the DLC later. Ive loved the game so far, but this is really souring my opinion on the game

Also why the fudge isn't there a pause bottom.. like seriously....

[kitler53]

Why does from software have to make games that are so fudgy difficult without an easy option? I've reached the end of the game, and I'm stuck at two bosses I need to do in order to play the DLC.

And it's quite infuriating how unfair an annoying these bosses are. Why do I need to spend hours to farm, when from can just make a mode where it's not as difficult? And why are some of the difficulty spikes so high in these dang bosses?

It's infuriating. I spend 175 hours in the game, I want to finish it and move on, and come back for the DLC later. Ive loved the game so far, but this is really souring my opinion on the game

Also why the fudge isn't there a pause bottom.. like seriously....

because from doesn't make good games anymore.

i defended the early games for not having difficulty settings because the games were not actually difficult.   they were like puzzles where 1 approach could be impossible but another approach and you could slaughter things with reckless abandon.   

from has lost all of that and things are just straight up difficult now.   long gone are the days of just learning where an ambush will come from or that a boss is massively weak to fire or that there is a "safe spot" from which you cannot be hit.  

i suggest you just go back to the 2 really good from games (demon's souls, darksouls 1) and abandon eldin ring.   the game was hyped but the game sucks.  i couldn't even finish the main game because it just straight up wasn't fun anymore.