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[Eurogamer] Is Sony beginning to coast? With PS5 sales up and first-party releases down, gaming's eerie new normal takes shape

Lunatic_Gamer

Lunatic_Gamer

Member
State-of-Play-opinion-header.png


The article discusses the current state of the PlayStation 5 (PS5) generation following the State of Play event. Here's a summary:

- Current State of PS5: Despite the PS5 having its best quarter for sales, there's a noticeable decrease in Sony's first-party game releases. This is attributed to the cancellation of numerous live-service games that were part of Sony's earlier strategy under Jim Ryan.
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- Sony's Current Strategy: Sony's major studios like Santa Monica and Guerilla are quiet, with anticipated games like Insomniac's Wolverine, Bungie's Marathon, and Kojima's Death Stranding 2 still in the teaser phase. Instead of blockbuster reveals, there's a focus on remasters and third-party titles, which feels unusual given that the PS5 is supposedly in its prime.
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- New Status Quo: The gaming industry is seeing a consolidation around live-service games driving player spend, with Microsoft focusing on software provision and Sony becoming the primary console platform. However, this comes with a disconnect where big first-party game releases are less frequent.
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- Market Dynamics: Xbox has shifted towards a multiplatform model, which has reduced direct competition for Sony. However, this has not pushed Sony towards releasing more exclusive content; instead, it's seen as an opportunity to coast with third-party titles and live-service games driving player engagement.
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- Financial Performance vs. Game Output: While Sony enjoys financial success with high PS5 sales and player spending, the lack of significant first-party titles is creating an eerie new normal where big exclusives are less frequent, yet profitability remains high due to other revenue streams like microtransactions and subscriptions.
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- Future Prospects: Sony's lineup for 2025 includes "Ghost of Yotei" and "Death Stranding 2", with third-party deals like the upcoming "GTA 6" potentially bolstering the PS5 Pro's appeal. The article suggests that while Sony might not need exclusives as much with less competition, there's still a lingering sense that more could be expected from such a dominant platform holder.
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www.eurogamer.net

Is Sony beginning to coast? With PS5 sales up and first-party releases down, gaming's eerie new normal takes shape

With competition falling away, Sony lines up another quiet year - while still racking up the console sales. Are we happy with the new normal?
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

Pondering Which One GIF by Moncho
 
Banjo64

Banjo64

cumsessed
This isn’t coasting.

This is allowing your own development cycle to absolutely balloon in length and cost.

Combined with the erroneous decision to pour resources in to doomed GAAS titles we’re going to see a disastrous 3-5 years (likely beyond unless there’s a shift in philosophy) from Sony’s first party studios.
 
Killjoy-NL

Killjoy-NL

Member
RetroGamingUK said:
I wouldn’t say coasting

The live service strategy was, on reflection, poorly conceived and poorly executed.

As a result, due to cancellations, there’s now a gap in releases.

Time will tell if normal service is resumed in a year or two.
Click to expand...
It might not even be that. We have seen Sony doing similarly with PS3, where the first half they were restructuring their company, studios and development pipeline to what we've seen throughout the second half of PS3 and PS4.
 
RetroGamingUK

RetroGamingUK

Member
Killjoy-NL said:
It might not even be that. We have seen Sony doing similarly with PS3, where the first half they were restructuring their company, studios and development pipeline to what we've seen throughout the second half of PS3 and PS4.
Click to expand...

I think with every generation Sony release their best games in the second half of the generation.

I can’t think of a single PlayStation console with a stellar launch lineup/window, they’re the opposite of Nintendo in that regard.
 
coachmcguirk91

coachmcguirk91

Member
I hope this is a generation Sony will learn from. I don't mind the gaas pivot, but the implementation of it was terrible. Sony putting renowned 1st party single player studios on gaas was a very big mistake. Hopefully their gaas investment comes from investing in up and coming studios like Arrowhead

Also, Playstation gamers proved they won't buy cookie cutter sequels in the numbers their predecessors achieved. HFW and SM2 were both guilty of this. I hope lessons were learned why these games didn't sell as well, even with way bigger budgets

I still think the next few years has the potential to be incredible for Playstation. All of their major studios will be releasing games over the next 2-3 years. Their best studios, Naughty Dog, Santa Monica, and Insomniac, are all releasing new IP's. Xbox is pretty much leaving the console space and GTA 6 being a timed console exclusive will be huge for Sony
 
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Killjoy-NL

Killjoy-NL

Member
RetroGamingUK said:
I think with every generation Sony release their best games in the second half of the generation.

I can’t think of a single PlayStation console with a stellar launch lineup/window, they’re the opposite of Nintendo in that regard.
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True.

But Sony seems to be adapting to how the market is evolving.

Back with PS3, online gaming wasn't what it is today and Sony invested heavily in AAA blockbusters.

But during PS4, online gaming exploded and we now see a big part of the gaming community invested in live service games.
Sony is going to need to adjust their business to that, hence they now invest in an area where they are lacking.

Some older gamers might hang onto gaming as it used to be, but the market has changed.
 
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TGO

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
The reactions are predictable and that's why it will continue.
Eurogamer and well everyone else(this ain't the first article from a publication) are obviously in a "weirdo bubble" as someone here eloquently put it.
Same dismissive attitudes people had with the whole horse armour shit, and look where we are now.
The Pleasure said:
Remember when Eurogamer was 360 dick riding and rating ps3 exclusives lower because they expect more from Sony and the ps3? I member.
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That was every western outlet.
Sony was arrogant to them before they were actually arrogant.
The Playstation 2006 E3 Presser wasn't actually that bad outside of the CGI trailers that everyone was fucking doing anyway.
Kaz saying Ridge Racer like the Announcer from the game wasn't funny either, but it was something to mock so...
There was a lot of weird shit back then from outlets against Sony (arrogant or not) and I'm not surprised what those same people are like now.
Although wearing makeup was my last guess.
 
N

nial

Member
TGO said:
The reactions are predictable and that's why it will continue.
Eurogamer and well everyone else(this ain't the first article from a publication) are obviously in a "weirdo bubble" as someone here eloquently put it.
Same dismissive attitudes people had with the whole horse armour shit, and look where we are now.
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I think this may be your weirdest post I have read. Especially with the last part, I'm totally wondering what you are even trying to say.
 
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TGO

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Puscifer said:
Might seem crazy but there's other developers and publishers or there that make all kinds of games 🔥
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People look to Playstation to set the bar and to showcase the actual console with their games, that hasn't been the case.
But you are right, 3rd Party is killing it.
The problem is you don't need a Playstation to play 3rd Party games.
 
M

mdkirby

Gold Member
No, they simply fucked up by putting most of their studios on GAAS and after years of development realised that was a mistake and cancelled most of them, which is leaving at least of couple of relatively empty years on their release schedule, which they’ll have to fill with third party deals.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
If you assume a AAA title now takes 5-6 years to develop, do the math as to exactly how many titles you should reasonably expect from Sony's (or anyone else's) first party studios in a generation.

Its not a difficult calculation.

The hard part is maintaining that cadence and that level of quality.
 
TGO

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
nial said:
I think this may be your weirdest post I have read. Especially with the last part, I'm totally wondering what you are even trying to say.
Click to expand...
People are dismissing the article, regardless of reasons behind it being factually true.
this was expected given they dismissed everything else.
What's weird about that?
 
Woopah

Woopah

Member
They are not "coasting" they are dealing with the reality of increasing development time and a GAAS push which didn't go so well.

They are getting round this by partnering with external studios on first party games, which is completely legitimate and something Nintendo has been doing for decades.
 
Humdinger

Humdinger

Gold Member
You can't stumble and coast at the same time. Sony are too busy stumbling to coast. They'll coast later, after they finish stepping on rakes.
 
A

Atrus

Gold Member
Sony embarked on a failed live service strategy the fallout of which they’re handling mostly behind the scenes. Above and beyond that they have to adjust the new leadership with the mature studios they’ve run to ensure that the lunatics aren’t in control of the asylum so to speak.

It is all too easy for a successful studio or studios to become a victim of its success and dictate outcomes that doesn’t justify the investment. This is how you end up with a sequel turned into a musical that ends up as a commercial failure.

Sony’s biggest problem at the moment is ensuring that their own victory doesn’t defeat them.
 
N

nial

Member
TGO said:
People are dismissing the article, regardless of reasons behind it being factually true.
this was expected given they dismissed everything else.
What's weird about that?
Click to expand...
People are dismissing the article because it's your usual click farming FUD piece for these outlets. They literally start by pushing back against Guerrilla and Santa Monica, two studios that already released big games not too long ago. That and good spice of delusion as well:
the days of multiple, massive first-party games launching in a single year might be behind us
Click to expand...
I seriously want to know when (or how many times) this was the case.
BTW, your horse armor example is dumb and out of fucking nowhere.
 
Woopah

Woopah

Member
TGO said:
People are dismissing the article, regardless of reasons behind it being factually true.
this was expected given they dismissed everything else.
What's weird about that?
Click to expand...
People are dismissing it because the premise is flawed.

Massive games taking longer to make is a development reality and nothing to do with a lack of competition or Sony coasting.

Santa Monica and GG released games three years ago and so their next ones aren't ready yet. This would still be true regardless of how well the Xbox hardware sales were.
 
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N

nial

Member
Woopah said:
People are dismissing it because the premise us flawed.

Massive games taking longer to make is a development reality and nothing to do with a lack of competition or Somy coasting.

Santa Monica and GG released games three years ago and so their next ones aren't ready yet. This would still be true regardless of how well the Xbox hardware sales were.
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Heck, the article complaining about Wolverine not being shown much EXACTLY proves why you don't want to reveal those games too early. And it's not like Insomniac has been silent the entire generation, they have released Miles Morales, Rift Apart and Spider-Man 2 all during this time.
Looking at it this way, people were complaining a lot ( TGO TGO included) that Sucker Punch wasn't doing anything all this time, yet when they finally revealed their game at last, it was confirmed to be released just the next year.
 
Sooner

Sooner

Member
Eurogamer is one to be talking about "eerie new normal".

Sony and Nintendo dominating console videogames is not eerie or new.

"Eerie new normal" is your kid's second grade teacher telling your child they should decide what gender they wish to be. Something Eurogamer 100% supports
 
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Woopah

Woopah

Member
nial said:
Heck, the article complaining about Wolverine not being shown much EXACTLY proves why you don't want to reveal those games too early. And it's not like Insomniac has been silent the entire generation, they have released Miles Morales, Rift Apart and Spider-Man 2 all during this time.
Looking at it this way, people were complaining a lot ( TGO TGO included) that Sucker Punch wasn't doing anything all this time, yet when they finally revealed their game at last, it was confirmed to be released just the next year.
Click to expand...
It's also a completely normal way to market.

When Nintendo Directs happen, they generally don't include every single first party project announced. We shouldn't expect Sony to do this either.
 
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Loomy

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
This take always baffles me. Sony is in the business of making money. If they had games to release they would be releasing them. The reality is they don't have anything ready to release, so they're not releasing them.
 
S

Scrawnton

Member
I've owned a PlayStation system every single generation since 1999. The only piece of Playstaion hardware I didn't buy is PSVR2 (fool me once and stuff) throughout PlayStations history. This is just a disclaimer for what I am about to say next because it's gonna get eye rolls from certain posters on this forum.

The inability for a large portion of posters here (who are also probably on icon-era) to identify that PlayStation Studios is in a very bad spot right now is comical. Pure burying your head in the sand stuff. Console sales and the platform doing well as a whole is a cause for you guys to celebrate if you're into that stuff, but I think it's very healthy to discuss and for Sony to be called out for what could be or maybe already is a near collapse of their first party pipeline.

"Near" is doing some heavy lifting because some studios are on track (we think? What's the point of releasing GoY and DS2 if they are both MIa and GTA6 is this fall?). Sony has dropped some amazing games this gen but it's clear the gears came to grinding haunt for a lot of their studios and we are going to see the evidence of this for years to come.

Edit: Additionally, I'm also confused as to why Sony or Microsoft aren't adapting to each other at the moment in any meaningful way. With the completely collapse of Xbox, does it still make sense for Sony to still put games on PC or should they rethink that strategy and declare that their console is the only place to play their games since Xbox isn't a threat at all anymore. On the other hand, with Playstaion's pipeline being what it is, Microsoft could've been trying to take advantage of this by stopping their third party releases and propping up Sony's own release calendar and instead get back to their own hardware focus. It's as if both companies are being mismanaged in different ways and not reading the room quick enough.
 
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March Climber

March Climber

Member
You can tell it's a slow news week, when a journalist site takes something that they previously said (or other websites), re-write it as to not plagiarize, and post it like it's brand new info.
 
Woopah

Woopah

Member
Scrawnton said:
I've owned a PlayStation system every single generation since 1999. The only piece of Playstaion hardware I didn't buy is PSVR2 (fool me once and stuff) throughout PlayStations history. This is just a disclaimer for what I am about to say next because it's gonna get eye rolls from certain posters on this forum.

The inability for a large portion of posters here (who are also probably on icon-era) to identify that PlayStation Studios is in a very bad spot right now is comical. Pure burying your head in the sand stuff. Console sales and the platform doing well as a whole is a cause for you guys to celebrate if you're into that stuff, but I think it's very healthy to discuss and for Sony to be called out for what could be or maybe already is a near collapse of their first party pipeline.

"Near" is doing some heavy lifting because some studios are on track (we think? What's the point of releasing GoY and DS2 if they are both MIa and GTA6 is this fall?). Sony has dropped some amazing games this gen but it's clear the gears came to grinding haunt for a lot of their studios and we are going to see the evidence of this for years to come.

Edit: Additionally, I'm also confused as to why Sony or Microsoft aren't adapting to each other at the moment in any meaningful way. With the completely collapse of Xbox, does it still make sense for Sony to still put games on PC or should they rethink that strategy and declare that their console is the only place to play their games since Xbox isn't a threat at all anymore. On the other hand, with Playstaion's pipeline being what it is, Microsoft could've been trying to take advantage of this by stopping their third party releases and propping up Sony's own release calendar and instead get back to their own hardware focus. It's as if both companies are being mismanaged in different ways and not reading the room quick enough.
Click to expand...
Sony putting games on PC had nothing to do competing with Xbox. They did it to make extra money and improve their profit margins.
 
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