[Franky Family]

What does your list look like, what are the things that PlayStation must do in order to reach such greatness again, let's say for the PS6 era and that console's sake?

The original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 remain the GOAT years for Sony PlayStation, I felt like the PS4 did great work overall for its time, but now PlayStation has entered a disgraceful era and has doubled down on appeasing the woke crowd. How do they return to the past days of excellence? Or is it only downhill from here? What must they do?

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Make a budget console with a heavy focus on indies and AA-sized devs. Snapping up a publisher like Focus Entertainment or Annapurna, for instance, would be the route I'd take. PS1 and PS2 were mainstream consoles with a low price range. PS3 focused on power and look what happened. PS4 focused on affordability and restored Sony to greatness again. PS5 is angled as premium hardware which is why it's struggling. Sony needs to elbow into Nintendo's price range and fight their battles there.

 

[Yawnson]

1: Embrace Japanese studios again.

2: get out of California.

3: Make some budget remakes and sequels of games like Dark Cloud, Jumping Flash, and Tomba to win back hardcore gamers. This is a cost effective way to earn good will.

4: Keep pumping out the high end single player games they're known for, but while embracing point 2.

5: same as 3, but with 3rd parties, get some classic games that the psx is known for.

 

[Hostile_18]

Try and sell Bungie for a price not too far from what they paid.

Focus on their bread and butter third person story shooters. Also throw older fans a bone with a FPS Killzone.

Re-release older games on PS5 and PC i.e Bloodborne, Nathan Drake Trilogy.

PlayStation Kart featuring levels and characters from all their IP.

Bring back Layden, House and Boyes if possible. Keep Mark Cerny.

Focus on delivering a quality game first, then optional monetization post launch (i.e GTA 5).

Drop VR (sad face).

Tighter and closely monitored production pipelines.

Less political activism.

 

[Hostile_18]

1: Embrace Japanese studios again.

2: get out of California.

3: Make some budget remakes and sequels of games like Dark Cloud, Jumping Flash, and Tomba to win back hardcore gamers. This is a cost effective way to earn good will.

4: Keep pumping out the high end single player games they're known for, but while embracing point 2.

5: same as 3, but with 3rd parties, get some classic games that the psx is known for.

I know @Stilton Disco mentioned this also, but I don't agree. To me that's like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. America is the biggest market, and the Yen is super weak (hence the Japanese price rises this month). Nintendo doesn't compete in the same space, not really on a tech or ideological level.

 

[zero]

It's too late for the PS5. They would need to release the PS6 with a whole different mindset and attitude.

PS6 should release with Sly Cooper 5 as a pack in title. They should also make a new Puppeteer game. They need to get back to games that are fun and accessible like Astro Bot. There's nothing on Playstation for people who like Mario style games. Enough of this FromSoftware shit and indie roguelike garbage that all the gaming neckbeards and incels love.

They need to push VR and actually fucking mean it.

They need to shift more toward Japanese games again...UNCENSORED Japanese games.

They need to let people back up their goddamn save data.

They need to market the PS6 as the exact opposite of everything gaming has been in the past decade or so. No DLC. No micro transactions. No day 1 patches. No season passes

They need to release a big, first party title that gives the middle finger to the woke crowd. Like a 2024 Duke Nukem style game.

None of this will happen, because the world we currently live in is boring and predictable.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Sony didn't really do much during the PS1 and PS2 days other than have the correct tech for the time. Most of what we think of as PS1 'exclusives' were because devs weren't going to go through the bullshit to cram their game on an N64 cart. They did make a few deals during the PS2 days, but their install base was the reason for that library.

 

[HeresJohnny]

Return all primary marketing, development, and executive sources back to Japan. The west is too fucked.

 

[Arkam]

IMHO (from inside the belly of the beast), they need to make a massive directional shift.


Honestly, focus on AA games that have quirks. Projects that can be made in 2-3 years with teams well under 100 devs
Give us a new Cool Boarders
Make a F2P multiplayer only Twisted Metal (keep it super simple with minimal MTX. Use it as platform bait!)
Give us another Knack!
Reboot Jumping Flash
Give us a new Lemmings (then make a Mobile spin off)
Reboot G-Police



These should be the ONLY Open world first party games on their roadmap:
Days Gone 2
Ghost of Tsushima 2


Give God of War a Loooong break....then bring it back as a slasher
Kill off Horizon (or reboot sans Aloy)
Make a more casual Gran Turismo spin off (or at least a less pretentious one)
Avoid GaaS releases
Bring back SOCOM and make it a FPS that feels like SQUAD (hell hire that dev team to make it!)
Let the Last of Us IP rest for a gen
Kill off Uncharted
Stop publishing bloated Square games
Let Destiney die and have Bungie make a Tribes/Halo-like scifi shooter
De-Woke Insomniac and let the Marvel stuff rest for a bit
Abandon VR (until it can be wireless, cheap, comfortable and no fidelity issues)


If they follow this, they will do great. Or else...

 

[Hostile_18]

Let the Last of Us IP rest for a gen
Kill off Uncharted

These are the Sony projects I'm most looking forward to, not just for Sony actually but all of gaming. I think one more Last of Us to end the trilogy. Uncharted I could take another 20 games honestly, the scope of fun adventure games is massive.

 

[Calcium]

Make games that actual gamers want to play, not the imaginary modern audience, but real gamers. Shouldn't be too hard, but here we are.

 

[Stilton Disco]

The main thing would be to clear house from the top down in the Playstation management. There's too many activists placing champagne socialism above catering to their audiences desires. Every studio also needs their HR departments replaced and diversity hires fired.

Secondly, stop chasing every trend and trying to compete with third parties. Stick to making games the third parties aren't prepared to put a decent budget behind, that complement the COD's, Fortnite's and GTA's. Astrobot and Stella Blade are great examples, as are their usual third person narrative titles, but bring back the oddities like Hohokum, Folklore, Concrete Genie and Puppetee.

Get budgets under control. Smaller teams with specific visions, shorter games and smaller scopes. If they could make Uncharted for $20m then they could make similar bangers for that today.

Remember that power is not what makes a great console. The PS2 was the second weakest system of it's generation, and the Switch handed the PS4 it's arse. Affordability is more important than pixels.

Finally, stop porting games to PC. Yes, PC players will piss and moan about not being given everything they feel they deserve, but giving your customers a reason not to buy your product is stupid. Beyond that, it means competing with third parties and making every game have to be profitable.

They need to return to their first party games being adverts for their hardware, not needing to make profit on every one, or even most of them, and just being as good for whatever niche audience they're trying to get into the Playstation ecosystem as possible. These games were good because they got to exist outside the normal competitive environment multiplats exist in. I'm sorry, but that's just why exclusives came into being in the first place, and is the only way they can be good to this day.

I know @Stilton Disco mentioned this also, but I don't agree. To me that's like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. America is the biggest market, and the Yen is super weak (hence the Japanese price rises this month). Nintendo doesn't compete in the same space, not really on a tech or ideological level.

It's not about the money, it's about the people they'll be employing, and the state policies that they will have to be complying with. It is a den of vipers and no coincidence that the rot set in after the department was moved there.

Moving control out of the US entirely would be ideal, but even just moving it to Texas would be improvement. As long as they fire everyone first.

 

[Hostile_18]

To me the easiest and most valid points are those that are eventually the easiest to do. Narrow focus and give gamers what they want in terms of output. Listen to your most vocal and ardent fans. Any business worth its salt should be looking at reducing costs and cutting away the fat and looking at its production pipeline continuously, whether you make games or not.

 

[Rock And Roll]

Agree with @Arkam's main point, they need to change direction massively in terms of game development. As obnoxious as the political/woke shit is, even if that weren't in the games, they'd still have a problem. The problem is every game has to be open world/cinematic AAA buzzword yadda yadda which take multiple years to make. They've given up on smaller titles that they can get out in 2-3 years. So now they have huge gaps in their release schedules and all their games they release play like the last one. There's not creativity, it's generic.

Say what you will about Nintendo but they have their major releases (main Mario/Zelda/Kart/Pokemon/Animal Crossing etc...) every console and then fill up the schedule every year with smaller titles. This is what Sony needs to do. They have had a console out for almost 4 years now and they only released a game I would want to buy this week (which is a smaller title by their standards).

 

[Zefah]

Already been answered, but they need to become a Japanese company again.

 

[Franky Family]

Sony didn't really do much during the PS1 and PS2 days other than have the correct tech for the time. Most of what we think of as PS1 'exclusives' were because devs weren't going to go through the bullshit to cram their game on an N64 cart. They did make a few deals during the PS2 days, but their install base was the reason for that library.

I'm not getting what you're saying here. Isn't having the correct technology and marketing it like 80% of the game here? Create an excellent and marketable console, make sure the controllers are aesthetically pleasing or at least interesting and fun to use, natural to use and then the games if they're good will sell themselves. If you fail there, the entire generation is botched

Just look at the Wii U. I think Nintendo knew they messed up very early and the rest was history. It felt to me like the Wii U years were essentially lost years and even the library suffered because Nintendo knew they fucked up. They had to put out games for fans yet they didn't want to do it on the miss that is the Wii U, it was clear as day to me

You can't say Sony didn't really do much when they set the table for a feast and created one of the most unique gaming experiences in the history of this medium

 

[Hostile_18]

I guess one valid point is that none of the console manufacturers are exactly nailing it at the moment. Steam/Valve are putting everyone to shame. Perhaps they should drop games completely and focus on amazing service and value of the hardware.

 

[Arkam]

To me the easiest and most valid points are those that are eventually the easiest to do. Narrow focus and give gamers what they want in terms of output. Listen to your most vocal and ardent fans. Any business worth its salt should be looking at reducing costs and cutting away the fat and looking at its production pipeline continuously, whether you make games or not.

That is a fools errand. That is the path to making a game that is not approachable for new players. I have learned in my 20 years of game dev, that the players ask for the wrong things most of the time. And the hardcore players are the worst in this regard. Game development should be two parts, creativity and data driven.

The rest I agree with.

 

[Hostile_18]

That is a fools errand. That is the path to making a game that is not approachable for new players. I have learned in my 20 years of game dev, that the players ask for the wrong things most of the time. And the hardcore players are the worst in this regard. Game development should be two parts, creativity and data driven.

The rest I agree with.

Yeah that's valid, I guess I was thinking from the perspective of keeping the early adopters/most vocal happy and that will get the ball rolling with your platform. I guess priorities can shift depending on what point in a generation life span you are currently in. Serving the hardcore initially, to a more broader market as time goes on.

 

[Franky Family]

That is a fools errand. That is the path to making a game that is not approachable for new players. I have learned in my 20 years of game dev, that the players ask for the wrong things most of the time. And the hardcore players are the worst in this regard. Game development should be two parts, creativity and data driven.

The rest I agree with.

Strong disagree. The most dedicated fans are usually only asking for the recipe to remain somewhat in tact, the same base that made for their their favorite games to become their favorite games in the first place. Often times gaming companies feel the need to do a complete 180 from what made their IPs successful in the first place. Look what happens when Nintendo makes a SMB3 sequel essentially with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The results are clear. And that was a game the fans have been wanting for years. Nintendo finally uses that same type of model and it sells unprecedentedly, even for a Mario game

 

[Arkam]

Strong disagree. The most dedicated fans are usually only asking for the recipe to remain somewhat in tact, the same base that made for their their favorite games to become their favorite games in the first place. Often times gaming companies feel the need to do a complete 180 from what made their IPs successful in the first place. Look what happens when Nintendo makes a SMB3 sequel essentially with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The results are clear. And that was a game the fans have been wanting for years. Nintendo finally uses that same type of model and it sells unprecedentedly, even for a Mario game

Not going to argue that SMB Wonder isnt well received. But I have no idea if it was based on direct community feedback or not.

What I do know is that had a lower attach rate than many Mario games. Switch was at what 130m unit install base when it released...and sold ~5m at launch and 13m LTD? It would need some long legs to catch up to catch up the biggest selling SMB games. I mean just compare its performance to Odyssey... which featured that hat mechanic that no one asked for...but it worked.

 

[Franky Family]

Not going to argue that SMB Wonder isnt well received. But I have no idea if it was based on direct community feedback or not.

What I do know is that had a lower attach rate than many Mario games. Switch was at what 130m unit install base when it released...and sold ~5m at launch and 13m LTD? It would need some long legs to catch up to catch up the biggest selling SMB games. I mean just compare its performance to Odyssey... which featured that hat mechanic that no one asked for...but it worked.

Most fans of the Super Mario Bros. series are huge on SMB3 being at the top, among the best of the best. You constantly will see those who have played it in top five lists if not top three it'll be somewhere around there

Super Mario Odyssey sold about 12 million more copies than Super Mario Bros. Wonder (roughly 25 million compared to SMBW's 13 million) but Super Mario Odyssey is a 3D Mario game which usually pulls in more buyers, and it was a launch title for the Nintendo Switch. Super Mario Bros. Wonder released seven years into the Switch's time as well. I see what you're saying about innovation being the focal point in driving sales through the roof but this notion of disregarding the hardcore fans is not practical. The hardcore fans want all the bases covered in their games and have great ideas. Surveys are posted for fans for the very reason of delivering on what is desired in video games

PlayStation needs to listen to their oldest fans. Honestly everyone at this junction needs to take note of what Nintendo is doing and just copy them. PlayStation and Xbox are definitely going to be one foot in the grave if this nonsense continues for them. Xbox already is, but PlayStation is quickly following in their footsteps. Nobody respects their brand anymore, they pander to men who pretend to have pussies these days...

 

[Torrent of Pork]

I'm not getting what you're saying here. Isn't having the correct technology and marketing it like 80% of the game here? Create an excellent and marketable console, make sure the controllers are aesthetically pleasing or at least interesting and fun to use, natural to use and then the games if they're good will sell themselves. If you fail there, the entire generation is botched

Just look at the Wii U. I think Nintendo knew they messed up very early and the rest was history. It felt to me like the Wii U years were essentially lost years and even the library suffered because Nintendo knew they fucked up. They had to put out games for fans yet they didn't want to do it on the miss that is the Wii U, it was clear as day to me

You can't say Sony didn't really do much when they set the table for a feast and created one of the most unique gaming experiences in the history of this medium

I meant they didn't do much along the lines of securing exclusively deals, developing a lot of first party content, etc. Nowadays just dropping the hardware, and kicking back while expecting the cash to roll in is not enough anymore.

Devs were fed up with the memory limitations of the cartridge tech at the time, if Nintendo hadn't been so damn stubborn back then Sony wouldn't have stood a chance.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

I meant they didn't do much along the lines of securing exclusively deals, developing a lot of first party content, etc. Nowadays just dropping the hardware, and kicking back while expecting the cash to roll in is not enough anymore.

Devs were fed up with the memory limitations of the cartridge tech at the time, if Nintendo hadn't been so damn stubborn back then Sony wouldn't have stood a chance.

Also, PlayStation games were $50 while N64 games were 60, 70, even 80 bucks

 

[GreyHorace]

Honestly, focus on AA games that have quirks. Projects that can be made in 2-3 years with teams well under 100 devs

This. Make room for smaller games rather than AAA monstrosities. Console gaming is sorely lacking in variety nowadays.

These should be the ONLY Open world first party games on their roadmap:
Days Gone 2
Ghost of Tsushima 2

More Ghost of Tsushima is a good thing. I just hope to God the sequel Sucker Punch is making will live up to the first game and not be filled with woke shite. It's pretty telling that Sony have not released any announcement on it yet.

 

[ExpandKong]

I know @Stilton Disco mentioned this also, but I don't agree. To me that's like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. America is the biggest market, and the Yen is super weak (hence the Japanese price rises this month). Nintendo doesn't compete in the same space, not really on a tech or ideological level.

Gtfoutta California then and move to Texas like every other company still trying to make money.

 

[TaySan]

Sony Japan needs to take over again. They need to do a coup or something remove their Californian division

 

[HE1NZ]

Sony didn't really do much during the PS1 and PS2 days other than have the correct tech for the time. Most of what we think of as PS1 'exclusives' were because devs weren't going to go through the bullshit to cram their game on an N64 cart. They did make a few deals during the PS2 days, but their install base was the reason for that library.

This.

They might kick out all the wokies and get back to Japan, but the market has changed. They can never bring back those days by "focusing on AA titles" or stopping making PC ports or making Days Gone 2 lmao. Dpad have some dumb ideas.

Traditional walled off garden living room consoles are dying. Nintendo and Microsoft figured it out first and now have an advantage, while Sony woken up to it recently and in panic went to buy all those terrible live service games to see them crash and burn.

 

[HeresJohnny]

There are nearly 150 million Switch owners, and 117 million PS4 consoles in circulation. And even though it hasn't earned it, there are over 80 million PS5s out there. The console market is just fine, the way it's being treated by the consoles companies is what is terrible.

The insistence on politicization and seeking AAAA golden goose titles on every release is what is killing things. I look at it like baseball. There are hitters out there who want only to hit a grand slam every time they come up to bat. Those are not good baseball players. A good hitter plays the fundamentals; he advances the runners with maybe a blooper to left field, or a well timed bunt. He sees that the team benefits by manufacturing runs, not just having a bunch of glory seekers out there trying to make a name for themselves on every hit. Sony needs to play good baseball and stop trying to show off. Start manufacturing runs, start releasing games that aren't out to change the world and don't have anything political to say but are just fun.

 

[O-N-E]

Small to mid-size Japanese teams being supported and acquired.

Have those teams make new franchises that focus on fun and whimsy. Their guiding lights should be the classics of Zelda, Mario, Final Fantasy. They can deviate far in new and original areas, but that should be the spirit of what they're aiming at.

There are a lot of opportunities to hire directors from companies like Atlus, Level-5, Capcom, etc who are being misused or not used enough.

Get Hideki Kamiya. He quit Platinum. Give him a particular budget and a deadline. Creatively he can do what he wants. Projects like that.

Scout areas around the world that aren't infested by the mind virus and build up new teams of talented people. Poland comes to mind. Maybe Korea.

Have creative leaders from across the industry with a proven track record of quality and fresh games become a group of producers and consultants at the disposal of these teams. These are people that the dev teams will desire the guidance of, not someone they'll have to reluctantly entertain.

Stay the hell away from GaaS.

Do not put any weight whatsoever into the diversity of a project. Throw that whole concept into the trash.


...


All of the above is a fantasy of course.

 

[Rock And Roll]

This.

They might kick out all the wokies and get back to Japan, but the market has changed. They can never bring back those days by "focusing on AA titles" or stopping making PC ports or making Days Gone 2 lmao. Dpad have some dumb ideas.

Traditional walled off garden living room consoles are dying. Nintendo and Microsoft figured it out first and now have an advantage, while Sony woken up to it recently and in panic went to buy all those terrible live service games to see them crash and burn.

Imagine calling dpad dumb and then shortly after saying Microsoft figured it out and has an advantage lmaoooo

 

[Dr. Farnsgoth]

More Astro Bot

 

[HE1NZ]

Imagine calling dpad dumb and then shortly after saying Microsoft figured it out and has an advantage lmaoooo

They have PC presence, game pass and Call of Duty. They are ready to move away from exclusive hardware. Sony can't do it and Call of Duty panic led them to buy Concord and Fairgames.

 

[Franky Family]

They can never bring back those days by "focusing on AA titles"

They might have to, their AAA games are canned choco chip covered weenies. It only took one sequel in TLOU before we're forced to watch a butch dyke fuck a lesbian from the back. Horizon is butch dyke open world the game. What is it with Sony and these fucking masculine big boned women having to be main characters? I don't go to a museum to see painted pictures of morbidly obese mother fuckers in mumu gowns so why would I want to view pixels on my screen portraying women like roided out meatheads every game on PlayStation? AAA games across the board are missing the point imo but especially Sony. Xbox doesn't have any anymore so I won't even go there; they've squandered virtually every IP they have

 

[HE1NZ]

They might have to, their AAA games are canned choco chip covered weenies. It only took one sequel in TLOU before we're forced to watch a butch dyke fuck a lesbian from the back. Horizon is butch dyke open world the game. What is it with Sony and these fucking masculine big boned women having to be main characters? I don't go to a museum to see painted pictures of morbidly obese mother fuckers in mumu gowns so why would I want to view pixels on my screen portraying women like roided out meatheads every game on PlayStation? AAA games across the board are missing the point imo but especially Sony. Xbox doesn't have any anymore so I won't even go there; they've squandered virtually every IP they have

If they go publishing route, maybe. Their old business model of supporting system with exclusives won't work with AA. Astro Bot looks amazing but it won't sell consoles.

Politics don't matter here. Indie titles are usually even woker than AAA.

 

[regawdless]

Hire Phil Spencer

 

[Stilton Disco]

They have PC presence, game pass and Call of Duty. They are ready to move away from exclusive hardware. Sony can't do it and Call of Duty panic led them to buy Concord and Fairgames.

Of course! The most successful approach to having a console business is to fail miserably at it, so much so that you lose such a vast quantity of money and market share you have to stop making consoles!

And here I was thinking Nintendo were taking the right approach by selling the most consoles while making great games everyone bought, so they had that whole 'owning a profitable business' thing! Boy do I feel stupid now!

 

[HE1NZ]

Of course! The most successful approach to having a console business is to fail miserably at it, so much so that you lose such a vast quantity of money and market share you have to stop making consoles!

And here I was thinking Nintendo were taking the right approach by selling the most consoles while making great games everyone bought, so they had that whole 'owning a profitable business' thing! Boy do I feel stupid now!

Uh yes, Nintendo sold 150m Switches because of Zelda and Mario. Just like Wii U did... oh wait.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Uh yes, Nintendo sold 150m Switches because of Zelda and Mario. Just like Wii U did... oh wait.

Oh, Nintendo absolutely swing back and forth between genius and fucking retarded, but they at least consistently make good games that are successful in their own right, know their audience and maintain a healthy long term business strategy.

Also while the WiiU sold like dogshit, in the same generation they had the 3DS, which outsold the Xbox 360, and the Switch, which is going to be the most successfully console of all time.

The WiiU is like the 360, in that both are outliers in their companies usual performance in the gaming industry, it's just Xbox usual fails, and Nintendo usually succeeds.

 

[Hinedorf]

Sony has lost me 100% as a consumer with PS5. Haven't skipped any of their consoles until now. Literally the one and only thing they could do to get me to buy their console would be to have GTA6 as an exclusive.

IMO that is the one and only power play they could possibly do to completely shift the way things are going.