PlayStation Podcast returns with Pacific Drive and Helldivers 2 talk. And the gang says goodbye to an old friend.
Nirav from GL writes: "If the makers of a GOTY competitor that outdid sales and Game Pass expectations and owned by the richest company in the world cannot stay open - what hope is there for everyone else?"
***If the makers of a GOTY competitor that outdid sales and Game Pass expectations and owned by the richest company in the world cannot stay open - what hope is there for everyone else?***
None if you stay in an arena of corporate driven metrics. And this is what happens when you allow publishers to buy up massive amounts of studios and IPs. There's only so much internal competition and the focus in the end will remain on those who look best on a spreadsheet.
Players can be so driven by what is best for them and only see what is put right in front of them. But that's not what is best for them. They are being lied to constantly, as seen by Microsoft's ridiculous praise for Hi-Fi Rush and Phil's lies about Redfall prior to release and how big of a supporter of both studios he has been. But, instead of thinking "wait, this corporation wants me to think this way, should I be listening to them and believing them?" players eat it up and go "OMG, did you hear what they said! They're just like us and they know what's best for the industry."
And because of this single-mindedness of the majority of gamers, we are where we are now. Massive layoffs. Massive studio closures. Games that we were told were representative of the core values of said corporations shelved and studios behind them shuttered. The truth is coming to bear because the truth all along was only what the numbers in an excel spreadsheet told the corporate suits.
If you truly want what is best for the industry, what is best for developers, then you need to support Indie games, support developers that maintain control over their IPs and direction, support boutique publishers who only exist to help Indies make it out the door and don't own the IP. Stop supporting major corporations with your money or you devotion. Stop playing their games, and I don't mean video games, but their marketing, their double speak, their guy without a tie who says things you want to hear PR, their future of video gaming concepts as if we were hurting for new ways to play games other than installing/downloading and playing them, and especially any slogan from them that gives the impression that they are for you, the consumer. They are not. You're merely a value on a spreadsheet.
Sure, I'm the one drinking the koolaid. Keep believing in the corporations. They definitely have your best interests in mind. All hail the Big Green, For You Blue, and Nostalgia Red! All praise big corporations buying up other publishers. All praise the inevitable spreadsheet adjustments. For greed, not the players.
This should not be surprising to any of you. We have been saying for MONTHS that Game Pass is not sustainable and that these acquisitions will come at a massive cost to the industry. People refused to grasp the difference between buying and investing in a developer like Insomniac or Housemarque, and buying the entire publisher. People refused to accept that spending billions to acquire the biggest publishers in gaming means you have to RECOUP those costs, and you aren't going to do it without consolidation, focusing on core IP that sells, creating revenue streams via ownership and releasing on other platforms, and closing down studios that are superfluous to the budget requirements. You will not recoup those costs by investing in risky new IP or creative new games and studios.
No, people cheered Microsoft on like they were delivering GOTY titles to their door and pouring money into the industry to grow Indies and triple A projects.
You are getting what you deserve. You take the consequences of the practices you supported.
Layoffs happen. Some games don't succeed. Everyone has seen it happen. Happens even to the winners.
This, however, is goddamn shambolic and if you can't see it now then there's no helping you and you should keep enjoying the "value" of Game Pass while contributing nothing to this industry.
I've never seen the developer of one of the best games of the year get axed before.
Ninja Theory is next after Hellblade 2, I can see them going independent again. There's more to come from MS.
This is exactly it. There is more of this coming. MS runs from one bad idea to the next, and GamePass is an unsustainable train wreck that we get to watch in real time.
GamePass is stalled for subscriber growth, and all that they can hope for is to either A) Reduce the quantity of games (i.e. shutter game studios), B) Reduce the quality of games (to make more mediocre but lower budget offerings), or C) Raise prices on existing customers. Or some combination of those.
MS does not have a passion for the industry. The XBox project, from the beginning, was sparked from the fear that someone else would eat their PC market lunch by making a games machine that replaced the PC. THAT was the entire motivation for getting into the games industry.
They know what they are doing. If 'you' treat them like "good 'ol simple minded folk", then 'you' are relieving them from blame via ignorance. They knew that they were going all live service, streaming and mobile a long time ago, The Oracle tends to see the obvious. While companies patronize gamers like they are children, which most of them are, may be confused for stupidity, they are also not so stupid they don't understand the decisions that they are making toward the overall direction of their company.
*None of their games were even close to competing for GOTY. They paid for names to be mentioned.
Helldivers 2 now boasts twice as many PC players as PS5, emphasizing PC gaming’s increasing appeal.
I mean, it was available on Steam in far many more regions than PS is so it maths out there alone.
He is right. Mat from NPD already stated that the PS5 version BY ITSELF would have been the best selling game of the year. Its also the best selling PS5 game of the year as well. The game would have been a success regardless but Sony made the wise decision to put this on PC as well. This means that Helldivers 2 has sold more that twice as much as number 2 (MW3) in America. Its an unmitigated success on every platform it touches.
FYI. That data point will be shared come within the next 6 days. There earnings report goes out 5/14/2024. The always post their software sales. Expect to see an astronomical YoY jump in that area.
More mature people are on PC with disposable income.
Also people can enjoy the game without ps plus sub.
Game is good!
People are failing to realize that Sony sold the game on steam for all countries. PS5 consoles and PSN is not available worldwide. Also Sony delisted the game from 170+ regions a few months after launch. PS5 would be a lot higher if they made mandatory psn link for pc players as PC gamers are not down with more accounts linking like ubisoft and ea, AND the amount of PC players that would be pretty much blocked if their region doesn't support PSN.
The former president of Blizzard Mike Ybarra in a statement on Twitter says Microsoft Gaming CEO is hurting just as much as anyone else following the closure of three studios under Bethesda - Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Studios. Roundhouse Games is also joining ZeniMax Online Studios.
Yeahhh I doubt it's hurting a millionaire as much as it's hurting fans and people who lost their jobs
Mike Ybarra‘s defence of Phil Spencer is the dictionary definition of tone deaf. Even Alanah Pearce, who’s close to Aaron Greenberg and Phil called him out on it.
“Mike, I have a lot of fondness for Phil and don’t doubt he’s incredibly bummed about this, but CEOs can handle some “shots” amidst people having their lives destroyed. Your sympathetic posts should solely be directed at those who’ve lost their jobs.”
https://x.com/charalanahzar...
At this moment, even Xbox fanboys are starting to hate Microsoft. It's fu**up, after fu**up, after fu**up... that's the state of Microsoft gaming.
Purchasing developers left and right, then killing them off...
Phil was the worst thing that happend to Xbox. Might as well just shut down their gaming division and fu** off
I'm sure he'll be upset that those cheques contain a small percentage of money MS is still making from the closed studios games too. Next time someone purchases High-fi Rush or Evil within all that money is now just Microsofts, just think the former devs at Tango who made Hi-fi Rush MS's most highly acclaimed game in years will get nothing more.
MS are buying these publishers for the big IP's like Elder Scrolls and Call of Duty they have little interest in the ones that don't make huge profits... and firing thousands and closing studios looks good on the next quarterly shareholder report. Gotta protect the share price.
This is all coming from the executive who thinks we should have the option to tip devs... apparently so publishers can pay devs minimum wage. Will someone think of the C-suite executives!!!
That was from a former Blizzard exec. Did Phil make a comment on that also?
edit: Oh, it wasn't Phil who said this himself.
Yeah, the guy making $10m a year is hurting as much as those who have lost their jobs and are worrying about their future and supporting their family. /s
It takes a real lack of shame to even try put the Good Guy Phil™ spin on this. It's not going to work this time.
He's sitting around feeling sorry when he should of been doing everything in his power to get people jobs in other studios you're telling me after toys for Bob split from Activision there wasn't a opening in the call of duty mines for arkane it's just woah is me.
I think Jim is getting positive send-off since on mostly on his watch xbox turned into a multiplatform machine.