This just feels way too soon to me, and not just because it's only three years old right now. The PS5 released in abnormal conditions and were nearly impossible to get due to shortages, only...
This just feels way too soon to me, and not just because it's only three years old right now. The PS5 released in abnormal conditions and were nearly impossible to get due to shortages, only becoming more readily available in the past year. As the article notes, it feels like the PS5 gaming scene is still basically in its first year rather than third. Hearing that they're already planning to wind it down personally discourages me even further from getting one.
Additionally, the fact that Sony has no plans for its major franchises this year is... equally concerning and mystifying. I feel like that speaks of a lot of troubling things behind the scenes, as the game industry is incredibly unsteady right now with the recent spate of massive layoffs. Clearly something is unsustainable with its current state, at least at the AAA level, but I'm still surprised Sony isn't releasing any major first-party titles.
With those two announcements combined, I'm just not sure how to quite interpret it yet.
I don't think that's reading into it correctly. First, on the "latter stage of life" comment. You have to read it with the context of where it was said; it wasn't a press release, it was an...
I don't think that's reading into it correctly. First, on the "latter stage of life" comment. You have to read it with the context of where it was said; it wasn't a press release, it was an investor call. The point is, basically, that people who want a PS5, have a PS5 by now, which is a lot of people by those sales numbers.
Monthly sales numbers are not going to continue to grow, and Sony is no longer going to pursue tactics to increase userbase numbers - they're going to sell PS5's at MSRP, for their full margin. They're saying that to investors - hey, our sales numbers aren't going to look as good, but that's just how it is, and those sales are going to bring in more net revenue.
They didn't say anything about winding anything down.
Secondly, on the games. It's not mystifying at all - Spider Man, Horizon, and God of War JUST had a game release. Those aren't Call of Duty franchises - what major Sony franchise would you really expect to come out with a new game this year?
Ghost of Tsushima is the last game for Sucker Punch, will be 4 years since that released in July. Similar release cadence to God of War (2018) to God of War Ragnarok (2022) or Horizon Zero Dawn...
Ghost of Tsushima is the last game for Sucker Punch, will be 4 years since that released in July. Similar release cadence to God of War (2018) to God of War Ragnarok (2022) or Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) to Horizon Forbidden West (2022). Naughty Dog has also been faffing about with the cancelled multiplayer thing and rereleases but their last real game was The Last of Us Pt 2 (2020) and before that was Uncharted 4 (2016). Bend is 5 yrs out from Days Gone (2019).
Not going to bring up Insomniac cause they're an outlier Spider-Man (2018), Miles Morales (2020), Rift Apart (2021), and Spider-Man (2023).
Sucker Punch and Bend are most egregious to me, was absolutely expecting both to either announce or release SOMETHING this year.
While adding in rogue like modes are nice, would have been a lot happier with an expandalone for Ragnarok coming out this year. Miles Morales scale would be great to cover the gap between long release times.
Not even mentioning the Sony Santa Monica Sci Fi IP that Cory Barlog (edit, forgot his name) spun up after running God of War (2018) and any other new IP projects that have been hinted at. Or how about the 12 live service games Jim Ryan was so happy about.
Who says they won't? What Sony said was They said nothing about new IP. Effectively the only thing the announcement meant was that there isn't going to be Ghost of Tsushima 2 - it doesn't even...
Sucker Punch and Bend are most egregious to me, was absolutely expecting both to either announce or release SOMETHING this year.
Who says they won't? What Sony said was
the company revealed it doesn’t plan to release any new titles in its major franchises for the remainder of 2024
They said nothing about new IP. Effectively the only thing the announcement meant was that there isn't going to be Ghost of Tsushima 2 - it doesn't even mean that Sucker Punch won't release another game, just that it's not a continuation of Ghost of Tsushima. Honestly I don't think anything Bend makes really counts as a "major franchise" to Sony, but ditto to them as well.
People are freaking out over what Sony said, but you're 100% correct. New IP takes time to cook and people are impatient. My main theory on this whole situation is that Microsoft really threw a...
People are freaking out over what Sony said, but you're 100% correct. New IP takes time to cook and people are impatient. My main theory on this whole situation is that Microsoft really threw a wrench in the entire gaming market with gamepass.
Sony was banking on live service to make up the difference but that's just not happening due mostly to how long it's taking them to make a live service game, now they've realized it's time to cut their losses and just make a few live service games instead of all of their games being live service, and now we have a large gap of no first party games. I truly believe Jim Ryan was correct when he said publishers hate gamepass, and Microsoft knows this, so they're just buying up the publishers to fill out gamepass.
I mean we're in year four of its lifetime, all previous generations were just around 7 years, and that's not including the Pro model variations. Latter stage of life cycle just means they will...
I mean we're in year four of its lifetime, all previous generations were just around 7 years, and that's not including the Pro model variations. Latter stage of life cycle just means they will begin serious development likely next year for a release in 2026 or 2027 for a next generation console, likely release a Pro version of current gen this year or next.
I don't really think it's reasonable to compare year 4 of the ps5 to any of the previous consoles -- it was incredibly difficult to obtain for a huge fraction of that time.
I mean we're in year four of its lifetime
I don't really think it's reasonable to compare year 4 of the ps5 to any of the previous consoles -- it was incredibly difficult to obtain for a huge fraction of that time.
True but did that make any difference? Last I read the PS5 had sold more than the PS4 by the same time frame. So the 5 should end up outselling the 4 during its lifetime specially if they drop the...
True but did that make any difference? Last I read the PS5 had sold more than the PS4 by the same time frame. So the 5 should end up outselling the 4 during its lifetime specially if they drop the price soon.
Covid did do a number on the game development though.
There were a lot of factors on the production side as well. Covid messed up supply lines which impacted getting components and delivering finished PS5s, and there was a global shortage of...
There were a lot of factors on the production side as well. Covid messed up supply lines which impacted getting components and delivering finished PS5s, and there was a global shortage of semiconductors which impacted all electronics.
Then once the already limited stock hit the market, scalpers entered the picture to swipe up whatever they could and make the shortage worse. So until last year, getting a PS5 for a reasonable price was practically a miracle.
While, yes, they had a rocky start. This is still a 5+ year old design, running on equipment made 5-8 years ago in development timelines. Foundries are shifting, and competition can arise at any...
While, yes, they had a rocky start. This is still a 5+ year old design, running on equipment made 5-8 years ago in development timelines. Foundries are shifting, and competition can arise at any time from any players. They have to stick to it, and if they delay developing a next generation version, they will run the risk of
Boring their hardware developers who will leave and take their knowledge with them (and friends)
Will set expectations that will stifle innovation
set them 5+ years behind the next curve of development. For every year they tack onto the primary manufacturing capabilities of the current gen, I could imagine it sets them back 2 years in manufacturing and development of the next gen.
Licensing terms are based on expected timeline from initial development, the longer a consoles lifetime is, the likely more expensive it is, and with decreasing sales it's not a good place to be.
Sitting on stock of years old hardware (that depreciated in quality as long as it sits) while you are producing new hardware is not good and is detrimental to the entirety of the line. This goes for the end product and the components.
Customers already bought the console, after X amount of time their consoles will start to fail and degrade in performance and you really do not want to force a large number of those to repurchase the same system in year 7, when you are planning on releasing the next generation in year 7-9.
tl;dr: It's an old design, even at this point, and that's a major liability.
Playstation unequivocally won this generation, but a delay will hurt them and they could lose the next one.
That's not really true. Otherwise there would have been some non-trivial player to crop up since Sega's exit 23 years ago. Nintendo took a different path, opting not to chase ever-increasing...
competition can arise at any time from any players
That's not really true. Otherwise there would have been some non-trivial player to crop up since Sega's exit 23 years ago.
Nintendo took a different path, opting not to chase ever-increasing fidelity...wisely IMO. The only real competition in the high-end space anymore is the Xbox, and that has failed time and again to get much traction outside the USA.
Valve has closest with the Deck, with estimates clocking in around 3-4 million units. Less than 1/10th the PS5.
Turns out people hate rebuying game collections, and keeping backward compatibility (much easier now) will generate lockin for another decade or more.
Sony announced its third-quarter earnings on February 14, and they weren’t exactly full of glad tidings for PlayStation fans. For starters, the company revealed it doesn’t plan to release any new titles in its major franchises for the remainder of 2024. Sony execs also said that its current-gen hardware, the PlayStation 5, is nearing the end of its life cycle.
According to Bloomberg’s coverage of the call, the company predicts PS5 sales will slow in the next fiscal year (that means from April 2024 until March 2025). “Looking ahead, PS5 will enter the latter stage of its life cycle,” Sony SVP Naomi Matsuoka said. “As such, we will put more emphasis on the balance between profitability and sales. For this reason, we expect the annual sales pace of PS5 hardware will start falling from the next fiscal year.”
This just feels way too soon to me, and not just because it's only three years old right now. The PS5 released in abnormal conditions and were nearly impossible to get due to shortages, only becoming more readily available in the past year. As the article notes, it feels like the PS5 gaming scene is still basically in its first year rather than third. Hearing that they're already planning to wind it down personally discourages me even further from getting one.
Additionally, the fact that Sony has no plans for its major franchises this year is... equally concerning and mystifying. I feel like that speaks of a lot of troubling things behind the scenes, as the game industry is incredibly unsteady right now with the recent spate of massive layoffs. Clearly something is unsustainable with its current state, at least at the AAA level, but I'm still surprised Sony isn't releasing any major first-party titles.
With those two announcements combined, I'm just not sure how to quite interpret it yet.
I don't think that's reading into it correctly. First, on the "latter stage of life" comment. You have to read it with the context of where it was said; it wasn't a press release, it was an investor call. The point is, basically, that people who want a PS5, have a PS5 by now, which is a lot of people by those sales numbers.
Monthly sales numbers are not going to continue to grow, and Sony is no longer going to pursue tactics to increase userbase numbers - they're going to sell PS5's at MSRP, for their full margin. They're saying that to investors - hey, our sales numbers aren't going to look as good, but that's just how it is, and those sales are going to bring in more net revenue.
They didn't say anything about winding anything down.
Secondly, on the games. It's not mystifying at all - Spider Man, Horizon, and God of War JUST had a game release. Those aren't Call of Duty franchises - what major Sony franchise would you really expect to come out with a new game this year?
Ghost of Tsushima is the last game for Sucker Punch, will be 4 years since that released in July. Similar release cadence to God of War (2018) to God of War Ragnarok (2022) or Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) to Horizon Forbidden West (2022). Naughty Dog has also been faffing about with the cancelled multiplayer thing and rereleases but their last real game was The Last of Us Pt 2 (2020) and before that was Uncharted 4 (2016). Bend is 5 yrs out from Days Gone (2019).
Not going to bring up Insomniac cause they're an outlier Spider-Man (2018), Miles Morales (2020), Rift Apart (2021), and Spider-Man (2023).
Sucker Punch and Bend are most egregious to me, was absolutely expecting both to either announce or release SOMETHING this year.
While adding in rogue like modes are nice, would have been a lot happier with an expandalone for Ragnarok coming out this year. Miles Morales scale would be great to cover the gap between long release times.
Not even mentioning the Sony Santa Monica Sci Fi IP that Cory Barlog (edit, forgot his name) spun up after running God of War (2018) and any other new IP projects that have been hinted at. Or how about the 12 live service games Jim Ryan was so happy about.
Who says they won't? What Sony said was
They said nothing about new IP. Effectively the only thing the announcement meant was that there isn't going to be Ghost of Tsushima 2 - it doesn't even mean that Sucker Punch won't release another game, just that it's not a continuation of Ghost of Tsushima. Honestly I don't think anything Bend makes really counts as a "major franchise" to Sony, but ditto to them as well.
People are freaking out over what Sony said, but you're 100% correct. New IP takes time to cook and people are impatient. My main theory on this whole situation is that Microsoft really threw a wrench in the entire gaming market with gamepass.
Sony was banking on live service to make up the difference but that's just not happening due mostly to how long it's taking them to make a live service game, now they've realized it's time to cut their losses and just make a few live service games instead of all of their games being live service, and now we have a large gap of no first party games. I truly believe Jim Ryan was correct when he said publishers hate gamepass, and Microsoft knows this, so they're just buying up the publishers to fill out gamepass.
I mean we're in year four of its lifetime, all previous generations were just around 7 years, and that's not including the Pro model variations. Latter stage of life cycle just means they will begin serious development likely next year for a release in 2026 or 2027 for a next generation console, likely release a Pro version of current gen this year or next.
I don't really think it's reasonable to compare year 4 of the ps5 to any of the previous consoles -- it was incredibly difficult to obtain for a huge fraction of that time.
True but did that make any difference? Last I read the PS5 had sold more than the PS4 by the same time frame. So the 5 should end up outselling the 4 during its lifetime specially if they drop the price soon.
Covid did do a number on the game development though.
A big part of it being hard to get was everyone stuck at home competing for the same form of entertainment.
There were a lot of factors on the production side as well. Covid messed up supply lines which impacted getting components and delivering finished PS5s, and there was a global shortage of semiconductors which impacted all electronics.
Then once the already limited stock hit the market, scalpers entered the picture to swipe up whatever they could and make the shortage worse. So until last year, getting a PS5 for a reasonable price was practically a miracle.
While, yes, they had a rocky start. This is still a 5+ year old design, running on equipment made 5-8 years ago in development timelines. Foundries are shifting, and competition can arise at any time from any players. They have to stick to it, and if they delay developing a next generation version, they will run the risk of
tl;dr: It's an old design, even at this point, and that's a major liability.
Playstation unequivocally won this generation, but a delay will hurt them and they could lose the next one.
That's not really true. Otherwise there would have been some non-trivial player to crop up since Sega's exit 23 years ago.
Nintendo took a different path, opting not to chase ever-increasing fidelity...wisely IMO. The only real competition in the high-end space anymore is the Xbox, and that has failed time and again to get much traction outside the USA.
Valve has closest with the Deck, with estimates clocking in around 3-4 million units. Less than 1/10th the PS5.
Turns out people hate rebuying game collections, and keeping backward compatibility (much easier now) will generate lockin for another decade or more.
One step closer to the promised PS9!