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[Men_in_Boxes]

Insomniac - widely considered PlayStations most efficient and valuable studio, doesn't seem to be doing as well financially as many expected. They're still doing fine but the studio seems extremely cognizant of the rough waters AAA faces in the not so distant future.

The recent hack / leak shows ballooning development costs, Marvel taking a considerable cut, and a studio working on not one, not two, but three multiplayer games...

Has this new information helped you understand PlayStations aggressive push into Live Service more or are you at the same spot you were prior to the leak? Trying to see if new information actually leads to better understanding from people.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Personally, I left the door open that there was a small (extremely small) chance that PlayStation might defund its Live Service efforts after the Deviation + Naughty Dog cancellations. Not anymore.

 

[bender]

Nothing that has leaked has been terribly surprising. Companies are going to go where the money is at.

 

[bitbydeath]

Does make it seem like Live Service is failing.
We’ll always have Fortnite!

 

[rofif]

nothing special. Just makes insomniac feel like a soulless business machine honestly but ever company is like that

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I'm not really surprised; they should do what's best for their business. If that's GaaS then it is what it is.

And I'm not really against GaaS in general as I do enjoy them myself from time to time (e.g. Diablo 4 was my most played game this year and prior to that I played lots of Destiny 2).

 

[LiquidMetal14]

When you are at the next board meeting you can let us know.

 

[SJRB]

I'm sure a lot of AAA-developers are experimenting with multiplayer, and I'm sure we'll never see 95% of those experiments.

 

[bender]

nothing special. Just makes insomniac feel like a soulless business machine honestly but ever company is like that

Their games have always felt like summer blockbusters to me. Enjoyable when you are experiencing them but forgettable soon after which makes the Marvel pairing a bit humorous and also the perfect fit. And considering they went through development doldrums prior to Ratchet(PS4)/Spider-Man(PS4), I'm happy they've found solid footing. They are a rock solid development house and could probably teach most other studios about production schedules.

 

[Puscifer]

nothing special. Just makes insomniac feel like a soulless business machine honestly but ever company is like that

My buddy that works there seems to silently enjoy his job, it's job security with this deal so I don't blame them for going hard in the paint.

 

[tmlDan]

I want live service games from them, especially if it helps sustain single player games ballooning in costs.

I already play honkai and Genshin and im sick and tired of fortnite and WZ and all the old ass GaaS games.

bring on new ones, please.

 

[themonk]

I love multiplayer I have a Playstation and a PC most single player games bore me… I love FromSoft games though.

I was really hoping to get more PVP games Sony made some great pvp games in the Ps3 era.

Sony is probably going to be pretty stale this generation with it’s remakes…

Guerilla is now the Horizon studio, Naughty Dog is the Uncharted/TLOU studio, SuckerPunch is the GoT studio, sony Santa Monica is the GOW studio, and Insomniac is the Marvel studio…. I’m going to hate this generation…

What’s crazy is the moment Sony decided to force me to pay to play multiplayer games they stopped making them….

 

[Fbh]

I don't own Sony stock, so no.
I like Playstation because of the type of games they make and not because of some blind brand loyalty. If the only way they see to move forward and make more money is to shift away from the types of games I like to focus on GAAS crap then the brand will just become irrelevant to me.
There's this whole narrative that "if they don't focus on GAAS in 10 years there might not be a Playstation anymore". But to me if in 10 years Sony is primarily making GAAS I don't really care if Playstation exists or not .

That said I think their general strategy of getting new studios to work on GAAS instead of forcing their established single player studios to work on GAAS is good, and I've never had much of an issue with that.

 

[EDMIX]

Well...not really.

I've always known how expensive it is to role out AAA games and a publisher would need to be fucking stupid to not have some online multiplayer games on deck to complete their line up. You simply can't get away with JUST having single player titles, but Sony historically has always had a hand in many genres and have strived to have some variety.

So I don't fault them for looking to have just as much as solid MP base as they do SP.

In fact, for generations their MP stuff has always played second fiddle to their single player stuff. It was always some add on or tacked on etc, but with how the industry is today, even the likes of EA are no longer doing this with modes.

BF 2042 ditches single player mode (the team is and has always primarily been MP focused)
Dragon Age 4 removes MP mode

So the days of just trying to force that funk are coming to an end, as to compete with some of these MP titles, you need a strong team, so the purchase of Bungie makes sense, the purchase of that ex-COD team makes sense, it means this no longer can just be an add on type thing.

For them to have quality MP titles, they need a team that has a strong history in that area, so they can have the best of both worlds.

Strong single player teams.

Strong multiplayer teams.

The amount of money those titles bring in is just too much to ignore for any major publisher and I see this push as something they should have established a long time ago

 

[Godot25]

Many people on this forum are just too ignorant to recognize it but the fact is that most successful publishers currently have healthy combination of live service cashcows that allows them to safely invest into singleplayer games without microtransactions.
EA has sports games and Apex Legends and thanks to them they are making Jedi Survivor, Iron Man, Black Panther, Dragon Age, Mass Effect and other Star Wars SP games.
Take-Two has GTA Online, Red Dead Online and NBA 2K and thanks to them they are investing into new BioShock, new Mafia game etc.
Ubisoft has Rainbow Six Siege and is trying to find their other golden goose.
Microsoft has Sea of Thieves, Halo Infinite, The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76 etc. which allows them to invest into their SP games.

It's clear that this is the most sustainable way forward. You just have to be shielded with that live service cashflow in case your SP game is not performing as expected because with 300 million budgets, one bad game can sink entire studio.
So it's pretty clear why Sony is chasing live service stuff. It's just moneymaker if you hit market with right game. Apex Legends made 2 billion since launch. According to this chart

Sony expects 1,7 billion revenue from 6 different games in span of 8 years. That's huge difference.

 

[Rockman33]

That’s one of the biggest problems with not owning the IP you’re making games for. Licensing is PRICEY.

Would love a sunset overdrive 2.

 

[The Fuzz damn you!]

Where’s the option for “PlayStation’s GaaS push always made sense to me”?

I don’t particularly like it. Games built around ongoing consumer spending will always find a way to tie that spending to the fun of the game. But the money is there, and this is Playstation is Sony’s golden goose. They can take the 30% from companies that are increasingly trying to squeeze that number down through appeals to regulatory bodies and by making efforts to offer their own platforms, or they can take 100% of fees from games they fully control. Sony is risk-averse, but they’ll still chase the risk If they decide that the risk is worth the reward.

 

[Punished Miku]

No. They honestly seem like a complete mess. 3x the budget on Spider Man 2. Constantly putting out the same game over and over whether its Ratchet or Spider Man (Sunset Overdrive). They seem like they're drowning and its all based on overspend on graphics and cinematics with minimal gameplay innovation. And they need more of your money to keep the wreck from collapsing. Selling Spider Man 3 in halves. Selling you Venom for another $60. Then milking GAAS. Looks like the Titanic scrambling in the dark. Now they lay off staff too. Good luck.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

No but it has made me appreciate 3rd party devs more that are shipping story driven single player AA and AAA games with worlds more interesting to me than what the Sony 1st party is putting out. Particularly Japanese devs. Without them supporting the PS5 my console would be collecting dust and I probably wouldn't pick up a PS6. I have no interest in GAAS and Marvel rehashes.

 

[Wastelander92]

The Spider-Man one sounded half-decent. It could've been a success imo.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

I dislike how expensive games are to the point where if one doesn't sell it can cannibalize a studio. They have little room to try new things since that would be a massive financial gamble.

 

[twilo99]

Apex Legends made 2 billion since launch.

Warzone and Fortnite must be even higher..

I will be curious to see how Overwatch did since that is considered a failed project.

Counter Strike and DOTA numbers must be insane as well

 

[T4keD0wN]

The leak doesnt explain a thing, it doesnt need to, anyone with a brain already knows the motivation behind every decision of every for profit company.

If anything the leak proves just how easily sustainable, safe and profitable single player games are compared to 99% MP ones, because the successful MP ones are anomalies, it also shines light on the 70$ price hike being completely unnecessary since games make so much money already.

 

[thegame983]

I'm not going to play worse games designed for whales so Sony can make more money for less effort.

 

[Meicyn]

Warzone and Fortnite must be even higher..

I will be curious to see how Overwatch did since that is considered a failed project.

Counter Strike and DOTA numbers must be insane as well

Hell, Genshin Impact pulled in nearly $2 billion in revenue on its own last year. A $15 horse mount microtransaction in WoW made more money than the entirety of Starcraft 2.

There’s a reason Ubisoft is bringing The Division back. They gave up on The Division 2 years ago because they didn’t hit initial sales targets, but years later they realized it’s still raking in dough. Now, that game is getting a new DLC in early 2025 with The Division 3 announced years before it will ever release.

Sony needs a solid GAAS title, just one, to give themselves a lot more breathing room. It’s not much different than Hollywood, the artsy-fartsy films some actors want to do get subsidized by blockbuster cash grabs like Transformers.

 

[themonk]

No. They honestly seem like a complete mess. 3x the budget on Spider Man 2. Constantly putting out the same game over and over whether its Ratchet or Spider Man (Sunset Overdrive). They seem like they're drowning and its all based on overspend on graphics and cinematics with minimal gameplay innovation. And they need more of your money to keep the wreck from collapsing. Selling Spider Man 3 in halves. Selling you Venom for another $60. Then milking GAAS. Looks like the Titanic scrambling in the dark. Now they lay off staff too. Good luck.

Crazy thing is the whiney single player third person gamer would whine and complain when a 24-30hr single player game would release with a multiplayer by saying “it takes away from the single player”…. Now we are getting 8-12 hr single player games to complete the main story…

 

[Represent.]

No. Just make shorter games. These idiots act like the solution is some sorta nuclear science.

 

[TGO]

No because all the information was outdated.
And before you say it.
If one piece of information is outdated, it's all outdated.

 

[ReBurn]

It made me want to change my password

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Wow, I didn't expect these poll results. The tide is definitely turning here. NEOGAF has the ability to learn. Awesome to see. I love you guys.

 

[NomenNescio]

I just want Part III with ABBY. They can GAAS the shit out of everything else, I don't care.

 

[Neo_game]

Not sure about the budget, may be it is the norm ? We can only know if we get the data from other companies. I think SE games like TR, GOG have impressive gfx and are pretty good games but sadly they did not do well financially. Many Ubisoft, EA games as well. Would love to see the budget of Microsoft games, they have big dev cycle and high budgets too. I think Halo had a huge budget, most of their games miss their target release as well. Hellblade 2, Forza, Fable is being in dev for many years already. IG are the best devs Sony has, it will help them sell consoles and try to bring more people in. Moreover those devs who are good in SP games if you ask them to make GAAS game they will probably suck. I tink NG had to cancel their after wasting many years in a project ?

 

[GHG]

Still doesn't make sense to me, and frankly I don't care what reasoning(s) they have for it.

Those games don't interest me and if them going down the GAAS route means them sacrificing focus away from the types of games I do like then I want nothing to do with it.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Insomniac seems to have it figured out, mixing smaller budget releases in between the big ones.

 

[themonk]

No. Just make shorter games. These idiots act like the solution is some sorta nuclear science.

So make 8hr games instead of 12hr games…..

Still doesn't make sense to me, and frankly I don't care what reasoning(s) they have for it.

Those games don't interest me and if them going down the GAAS route means them sacrificing focus away from the types of games I do like then I want nothing to do with it.

We haven’t gotten a Sony multiplayer game since the TLOU remaster…

Yea lets keep releasing sequels and remakes to 5 yr old games over and over again…. Lets just please one fanbase….

Why am I paying for PS+ if they aren’t making multiplayer games?

 

[{insert code here}]

They should really consider dialing back the budgets for some of their games. You can still have 2-4 studios making your big budget 3rd person cinematic action games that everyone loves. But they should also have a bunch of studios that make games with much smaller AA budgets.

With AA you can miss a few times and not tank the company. With AAA budgets how many 400M flops can Sony afford to have? Two?

 

[Robb]

Poll doesn’t make any sense. Needs a “No, I already realized how expensive AAA gaming was”.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I answered yes. But yes regarding which titles are planned as GAAS. Looks like Spiderman, Wolverine and Xmen Online.

If you look at the slides, it seems they want to blend together the superhero franchises into one cohesive online battler with MP 3.0.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

If PS5 sales are booming either way, Sony should invest in more Japanese niche titles like they used to have. Just my two cents.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Still doesn't make sense to me, and frankly I don't care what reasoning(s) they have for it.

Those games don't interest me and if them going down the GAAS route means them sacrificing focus away from the types of games I do like then I want nothing to do with it.

Can you separate personal preferences with strategy?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

 

[nial]

I personally don't blame them so much for doing so, as long as it's not what they publish only.
I mean, look at the big Japanese third-party publishers. Square Enix, Sega, Koei Tecmo, Capcom and Konami, all of them are banking on GAAS.

 

[simpatico]

These budgets are out of control and completely avoidable. The overhead these people are running is absurd. San Fran offices, yoga rooms, play pens, ski-ball lanes etc. Look at what Trepang2 and Atomic Heart did this year. Insomniac spends that budget on bespoke machta tea. Sure those games aren't as polished as a Far Cry, Spiderman or Assassins Creed, but goddam it's about 80% there for 1/100th the budget. I feel like they can fix this without selling us purple colored crowbars with +8% weapon stability.

 

[VeganElduderino]

I'm not subscribing to fuck all

 

[Masterri]

Their GaaS are going to flop, every single one of them. So no.

 

[LakeOf9]

I never asked for them to spend $300 million on making one game, meaning as far as I’m concerned, their live service push is an attempted solution to a problem that is entirely of their making.

So, no.

 

[Generic]

I only wanted The Last of Us Factions...

 

[LordCBH]

No. Normalize AA level games with the occasional AAA drop. As much as I laugh at the way Microsoft has treated their biggest titles, dropping stuff like Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment in between is the best move, regardless of the AAA quality.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

I like Spiderman and Wolverine looks cool, but I don't really see how that could be turned into a multiplayer anything.. But I don't play a lot of multiplayer stuff these days, so I'm not the target for those games I suppose. Seems crazy to work on so many, but I guess if you can kind of shoehorn on a multiplayer offshoot from your main development sink and make some cash, might as well?

 

[sigmaZ]

Sony has yet to learn the definition of insanity.