VideoGame_Discussion

The first one looked great and had some cool concepts and audio, but was an extremely simple game. By the end I was pretty bored. The bar for the sequel (to me) is pretty low. As a GP title I'm excited about it and think it'll get a lot of play from folks, but I don't know about sales. It looks like the focus again was on mo-cap and graphics, and without marketing $ being spent I can't imagine it's going to veer too far from the original.

It’s also kind of ironic when you think about how MS expects an exponential and exuberant amount of growth for these first party titles when they’re releasing day 1 on GP too the more I think about it. How can one quantify units sold when half the folks are just playing and renting/leasing these titles day and week 1 on GP? Are they tracking sales via new subs I wonder during the launch period of titles such as the upcoming Hellblade II or what? Like what method of tallying up said game sales is MS using and is it really that accurate I wonder with these titles releasing on GP day one? How do they trace hybrid sales?

Feeb wrote:

Couldn't agree more. The first game was made on a shoestring budget. It was always supposed to be a niche, arthouse type of game. But I figured with the way they pushed it at the start of the generation, it was going to have a bigger size and scope, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all. It's also a digital only game so you're limiting your audience even more and I feel like the vast majority of people will just play it on Gamepass and won't actually buy it.

Hopefully there'll be more hype once reviews come in and it'll generate enough buzz to sell well on Steam. Plus I think Ninja Theory's core audience is actually on PlayStation so maybe they'll port it over and it'll do well?

But it just speaks to the broader issue with the industry. The game has been in development for 6 years and we're worried it needs more time in the oven. We're just two generations removed from a time where we'd get whole trilogies in 6-7 years (Uncharted, Dead Space. Mass Effect, BioShock etc). Now we're lucky if we get 1 game from a series in a generation.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

That's the thing - we really don't know what MS expects. On the one hand they say a game has been a success by all measures, then on the other hand they just up and close the studio.

The fewer studios they have, the less content they can require be on day 1 GP, and with every surprise studio closure, resentment builds. I can guarantee you that the talented individuals now looking for work aren't going to be super keen to work on a gamepass game. And with the high dollar deals for that having dried up too, even fewer 3rd party studios are going to want to go that route.

Well I mean then eventually something has to give then right? Meaning MS can’t just expect constant exponential growth with GP subs. Look at video streaming apps like Max, Disney and Hulu. They’ve capped out and are now losing so many subs due to constant price hikes that they’re all pooling together I read to create some sort of triple play bundle deal between all 3 streaming services at one flat rate. It’s only a matter of time I think before that catches up with the game industry and their game streaming/sub services.

Covid sales were a red herring. They hid a trend by way of a freak occurrence. Also- across the board businesses, and particularly executives, are having a hard time realizing that those inflated numbers are not sustainable. In typical fashion- they moved the goalposts the wrong way- and they’re refusing to cede any revenue to reset the industry. Instead- they’re burning it down to keep paying the guys at the top. Times like these you realize it’s not about us or good games- it’s about Mr CEO getting paid and reporting good things to shareholders- because the next guy in line will do it if you don’t. If I had a dollar for every time someone in a leadership course preached “lead from your heart” and “live your mission statement” as well as .50c every time a leader didn’t do this- I’d be a happy dude.

Yeah some ppl sure miss those Covid numbers. I know my job does and I’m in manufacturing of disposable containers and during the pandemic our sales went up like 300% and now that they’re back to pre-COVID numbers the CEO is like what happened??? Uh the world regulated itself dude. That’s kinda what happens after a pandemic subsides.

Pretty much. Business dudes only seem to understand numbers. And it takes like a dozen of them to even do that.

Immortals of Aveum joins GPU today via EAplay. Anyone play it? It worth trying out?

Personally I'm just getting started in Evil West and looking forward to jumping into SW: Jedi Survivor next/soon. If IoA is worth playing, then it could get my attention after SW:JS.

I checked out the trial on PS+ a while back. It was pretty average. Not terrible, but not fun either. It boils down to a match the color magic combat game. While also being on rails. And the acting/story was pretty bad too.

Today Microsoft/Activision announced they have launched a new studio. After shutting a bunch down. Make it make sense. Lay off 1,900 people. Then hire new people for a new studio.

https://blog.activision.com/activision/2024/activi...

Or hire the same people back for less money.

MS has fully turned to the dark side. Their profile pic on Facebook is even red now. Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

I’m sure the decision to form a new studio predates the layoffs. Heck it may even predate the Activision/Xbox merger. But announcing it so soon after all the layoffs just goes to show that MS can’t read the room. I don’t know if it’s a lack of competent leadership or a PR department that’s just really, really bad at its job or both, but it feels like anyone with half a brain would know not to make this sort of announcement now. You have a showcase in a month. Announce it then and spin it as your renewed dedication to the industry or some bs like that.

From the leadership and PR angle, that Sarah Bond interview was really, REALLY bad. I won't throw all the blame at her feet, but it was just terrible. Btwn them and Ubisoft and Sony and GG2... nearly the whole industry seems like it's a hot mess.

Slickriven wrote:

I played about 3/4 through it. It's just ok. The core shooting gameplay isn't very satisfying so adding more and harder enemies as you go doesn't make it more fun. I mostly gave it a try to see an Unreal engine 5, and honestly it's not a super impressive example.

Sounds like that final redfall offline patch is going to come out afterall. I might check it out again after it does. They've released a lot of patches for it. And I guess it doesn't play as horribly as it did at launch.

Analysts are now saying based on financial reports, that the xbox is being outsold 5 to 1 to the PS5. There are no solid numbers because they wont release them. But they are using the quarterly reports to make the assumptions. The XS is being compared to the WiiU. They have similar sales numbers, or so they think. Thats not good.

Ouch. Wonder if they’ll start discounting the XSX like heck now to boost sales.

Archer wrote:


The ultimate insult.

It was a big boon for MS during the early pandemic. Seemed like that was the only console anyone could get.

Not to mention they lumped the series sales numbers when they did report them- correct?

Feeb wrote:

Yeah, both models are combined as one unit. But I'd imagine the S sells better than the X because its cheaper.

Anything that’s cheaper is going to sell better IMO. Especially with people and say parents with budgets that just get their kids the cheapest console that’s new and it’s by the same name and some parents probably didn’t give a crap so they’re like this is the new Xbox right? Yeah I’ll take the cheaper one. Merry X-Mas Billy. Also I did read in an article a few weeks back that even Sony is seeing a decline in PS5 sales and is looking for new creative ways to boost back up their sales numbers. I mean what did these corpo leeches expect? Once supply catches up to demand things will inevitably level out.

The problem with the series being lumped is that they are definitely not the same box- different than the ps5 and digital. It seems it would be more akin to lumping ps5 and ps4 pro.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Nah PS5 sales are perfectly fine. It's trending 7% ahead of the PS4. And that's despite the economy being crap and the PS5 still not seeing a price cut. At this point in the PS4 lifecycle, it was already $300 and the PS5 is still $500. Sony just needs to make more realistic sales projections and cut down the development costs. Which they seem to be trying to doing. I like the Japanese dude that's in charge now. Much better than that asshat Jim Ryan.

Also this generation is kinda meh and the PS5 is kinda mid. The fact that the Xbox is posting numbers this bad is worrying for competition in the high-end console space. Sony is coasting and still pulling away somehow. And don't get me started on the Xbox. Buying a bunch of devs and studios when they could barely manage the ones they already had. And someone please explain to me how Matt Booty still has a job. I swear that guy must have some dirt on someone because I have no idea how he is still employed. They change their messaging every two minutes and can't go 2 months without a PR blunder. It's always 2 steps forward and 5 steps back.

Archer wrote:

It's annoying that we don't have concrete numbers. And it's similar numbers JUST for the last quarter, right? Because I'm pretty sure the Series consoles have doubled the lifetime sales of the Wii U already.

I wonder how they could have posted numbers that bad last quarter, though. Maybe I'll do some research in the morning to see if there are estimates for lifetime sales quarter by quarter. Less than 1 million consoles shipped for a quarter is pretty dire, but I think we need to see that for multiple quarters before we can consider it a trend. Xbox has a good slate of games between now and the end of the year so I don't expect it to be this bad rest of year. If it is then RIP for sure.

Heavyd814life wrote:

Yes, the WiiU comparison is for just this previous quarter. Not lifetime.

Looks liked combined its sold almost 28M units as of February. So now around 30M. But these are all just best guess numbers.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1429647/xbox-c...

With the PS5 60M units its 2 to 1 lifetime still. 5 to 1 this past quarter and the last year. PS5 sold the same units of SX this quarter as xbox all last year. Again, not solid numbers. But if true, horrible.

Xbox had stronger sales number over covid starting years at the launch of the gen, when the PS5 was harder to find due to the chip shortage. But has drop way off since, over the last two years. 30M units almost five years into the life isn't great. Especially since the consoles life span is roughly half over. And sales will only continue to go down unless it has a very large price drop and a bunch of exclusives to get people to buy it. I think their biggest issues with xbox is PC having 1:1 with xbox. Nothing is exclusive to xbox. If its an xbox exclusive its also on PC. And PC also has a cheaper version of gamepass. They are losing numbers to their own company but not making the sales on the hardware end. They are also clearly losing numbers to Sony. But the whole PC thing hurts them too. Its not just the lame exclusives and the whole GP thing. I myself have thought a lot about not getting the next xbox console and just finally getting around to building a new gaming PC.

I had read a couple of days ago that PS5 is at 59 million units sold, not too shabby at all, but that PSN has 118 million active monthly users, which means half of them are still on PS4. Too many developers releasing last-gen versions of their games are giving people no reason to upgrade.

Yeah, its really strange that at this point in the cycle of the current consoles, that so many games are still coming out on the previous console. And even games that are only coming out on those consoles. Still lots of PS4 games that don't have a PS5 app version. Because they know you can still play it on PS5 I guess, so why bother. Same on Xbox. Doesn't have to be an XS version. And no one has announced any plans to make that stop. But I guess that is just another point as to why this generation feels so lame as Heavy pointed out above. No one really has any incentive to only develop for the current systems. The systems don't feel special or unique. They are just minimal hardware advances. We also don't have that many games on these systems that really showcase their potential. Almost five years into the life span. This whole generation feels weird.

I'm not sure I get this line of thinking on the PS side. I definitely think the PS5 provides more than a minimal hardware boost. Aside from improved graphics and boosts to fps (e.g., Destiny 2 on the PS5 can do 4K 60fps in PVE and up to 120fps in PVP), the controller (thanks to haptics and better rumble support) is much better. Playing Astro's Playroom when I first got my PS5 definitely felt next gen to me due to the haptic feedback. Probably the biggest change to me, though, is that the PS5 opened the door for the PSVR2, which is leaps and bounds better than the PSVR.

Archer wrote:

I think all of the current hardware- aside from switch- feels adequate. I don’t do the GPU war stuff though- but I understand others thinking they’re underpowered.

I would like it if they can finally stop jockeying us around with this performance / graphics mode in future console generations and just have most, if not all games run at 60fps or better while retaining graphical fidelity. I hope that's where we're headed next.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

You didn't understand what I posted (probably because I type so disjointed). I'm saying most people don't have a reason to upgrade. Neither system is doing anything to make people feel the need to rush out and buy the consoles. The games just aren't there for that. And the ones that are can all be ran on the last gen systems just fine. They are not taking advantage of the systems. And even the small amount of ones made for just these systems, mostly struggle to hit those metrics you posted anyways. The ones that truly take advantage are last gen games being up-scaled to the new systems. Like Destiny 2. Also no one uses the controller stuff. There are hardly any games taking advantage of that. Because games are mostly designed to also play on the PS4. So they just ignore that stuff. And PSVR2, as with PSVR and all VR is a very niche market. Most people don't care about that or even buy that stuff. Has it sold some PS5 units. Yes. But the number of people who own a PS5 and the people that also own PSVR is not that much. 60m consoles sold and only 2m PSVR2 sales. Same thing with last gen and that vr setup as well. Since the games still coming on the old system, the average person sees the new console as just a minor hardware upgrade. They think, why should I spend $500 when my current console still gets the same games and plays them just fine.

Archer wrote:

This. And what I've been reading about the PS5 Pro...that doesn't make a case for itself either. This whole gen has been weird with covid hardware shortages, cross-gen making it less necessary to upgrade, and peaks and valleys of new releases. Right now I feel we're in a huge lull.

Seems like there are more Genesis releases this year than PS5

benstylus wrote:

Dunno what’s coming up- but I’ve been playing my ps5 non stop this year. There is too much on my plate to keep up. I haven’t finished stellar blade nor started hell divers 2. Barely touched MLB the show and NCAA is coming in two months. I’ll be set.

But does Genesis have Animal Well? No? In the trash it goes.

Archer wrote:

I played it back in February, and most issues have been fixed...but certain things like long pauses booted you from the game exist. That should all be corrected with "single player pausing" and offline, etc. The game was fine - but not great. Worth a playthrough though. I am a big fan of Dishonored, Prey and Deathloop, so this was as a good, but they patched it from being a train wreck.

As I expected, the Hellblade 2 user reviews seem to be either zeros or tens with very little in-between. I'll probably check it out this weekend for the graphics...and because it's on GP.