What should Sony's Acquisition Plans Be? *spawn*

[Shifty Geezer]

But no-one knows what is and isn't a good GaaS. Sony aren't the only ones who fumbled trying to cut in on the Fortnite action. Even Epic didn't know the formula when they got lucky, just taknig their fumbled GaaS Fortnite STW and hacking in a BR mode to ride the PUBG bandwagon.

The whole idea seems to be to cast your net wide on a load of different titles, lose a load of cash on failed projects, but win HUGE on the one that does win. What seems to have happened now with this latest terminations is the evaluation of ongoing projects and deciding their outcome isn't worth the necessary investment so pulling the plug to redirect the studios. Which strikes me as decent management.

Hypothetically, in 2024, Ryan was still saying, "We need GaaS titles!" Hulst checked out the studios, they showed what they had, he shrugged not knowing whether they were gold or not (because nobody does)...it's not like he's an expert on GaaS; hell even Bungie who supposedly are can struggle because it's such a difficult market...gave them the resources they needed to finish Ryan's plan, probably argued with upper management for more funds and time to make something decent, learnt all the money and time in the world won't net you a win, put out Helldivers 2 and was gobsmacked like everyone else...

...and now Ryan's gone, Hulst's hands are untied, he's free to make his own choices. Which means evaluation all the studios and their production, and giving them the opportunity to move onto something else profitable.

It's now we'll see whether Hulst is any good or not.

Just Googling, I'm going to nick this table. Plenty of decent output.

Game title	Release	Role	Additional notes
Killzone	2004	Managing director	n / a
Killzone: Liberation	2006	Managing director	n / a
Killzone 2	2009	Managing director	n / a
LittleBigPlanet 2	2011	Special thanks	n / a
Killzone 3	2011	Managing director	n / a
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale	2012	Franchise - Killzone	n / a
Killzone: Mercenary	2013	Managing director (under Guerrilla Games)	n / a
Killzone Shadow Fall	2013	Managing director	n / a
Until Dawn	2015	Special thanks	n / a
Tearaway Unfolded	2015	Support	n / a
RIGS: Mechanized Combat League	2016	Managing director (under Guerrilla Games)	n / a
Horizon Zero Dawn	2017	Managing director	n / a
God of War	2018	Special thanks	n / a
Blood & Truth	2019	Managing director (under Guerrilla Games)	n / a
Death Stranding	2019	Managing director (under Guerrilla Games)	Final role at Guerrilla Games
Dreams	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
Nioh 2	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
MLB The Show 20	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
Predator: Hunting Grounds	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
The Last of Us Part II	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
Iron Man VR	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
Ghost of Tsushima	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
Astro's Playroom	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
Spider-Man: Miles Morales	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
Demon's Souls	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
Sackboy: A Big Adventure	2020	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
Destruction AllStars	2021	Head of PlayStation Studios	As Worldwide Studios
MLB The Show 21	2021	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Returnal	2021	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart	2021	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Death Stranding: Director's Cut	2021	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection	2022	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Horizon Forbidden West	2022	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Gran Turismo 7	2022	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
MLB The Show 22	2022	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
The Last of Us Part I	2022	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
God of War Ragnarök	2022	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Horizon Call of the Mountain	2023	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
MLB The Show 23	2023	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores	2023	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Firewall Ultra	2023	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Spider-Man 2	2023	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
The Last of Us Part II: Remastered	2024	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Helldivers 2	2024	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
MLB The Show 24	2024	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Rise of the Rōnin	2024	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a
Stellar Blade	2024	Head of PlayStation Studios	n / a

 

[Nesh]

GaaS is an anathema for the industry and is killing like cancer.

These types of games demand as much money and time as possible out of our lives.

Successful GaaS games got players spending on them what could have been spent on other games.

Companies aiming for GaaS are puting a huge risk at losing hundreds of millions but at the same time succeeding, is potentially succeeding against other games they will produce.

Imagine if we are infested by countless of successful GaaS perpetually asking for time and money simultaneously from consumers.

In the past we finished a game, we had room to invest in another game. The industry allowed for more games to exist.

 

[iroboto]

GaaS is an anathema for the industry and is killing like cancer.

These types of games demand as much money and time as possible out of our lives.

Successful GaaS games got players spending on them what could have been spent on other games.

Companies aiming for GaaS are puting a huge risk at losing hundreds of millions but at the same time succeeding, is potentially succeeding against other games they will produce.

Imagine if we are infested by countless of successful GaaS perpetually asking for time and money simultaneously from consumers.

In the past we finished a game, we had room to invest in another game. The industry allowed for more games to exist.

F2P is the anathema. We’ve had tons of GaaS prior to F2P and the Industry was quite healthy.

F2P has killed gaming.
For F2P to be profitable it has to suck up as many players as possible and as much of your time as possible. It’s not about quality, it’s about bringing as much addiction as you can to players. We’d all agree if I gave you a Ferrari, people would say this quality. This is all I want. Then I gave you crack for free.

You’ll be spending up all your time as a crack addict. And that’s really what’s happening here, the top 10 most played games on all platforms are majority F2P all with FOMO, season pass littered with little rewards that if you complete your pass your next one is free combined with limited time skins. They keep you from leaving with the carrot that the next pass is free.

It’s not that quality games aren’t coming out,but after 10 hours with a new title, they have to go back to their crack.

That’s a sign that our gaming population is just largely addicted to games, it’s no longer about graphics, or story elements etc. quality no longer really matters, what matters is how big of a dopamine hit they get. it really is lately just becoming more primal. People playing games all the time isn’t all that different than people doom scrolling on their phone on instagram.

 

[Nesh]

F2P is the anathema. We’ve had tons of GaaS prior to F2P and the Industry was quite healthy.

F2P has killed gaming.
For F2P to be profitable it has to suck up as many players as possible and as much of your time as possible. It’s not about quality, it’s about bringing as much addiction as you can to players. We’d all agree if I gave you a Ferrari, people would say this quality. This is all I want. Then I gave you crack for free.

You’ll be spending up all your time as a crack addict. And that’s really what’s happening here, the top 10 most played games on all platforms are majority F2P all with FOMO, season pass littered with little rewards that if you complete your pass your next one is free combined with limited time skins. They keep you from leaving with the carrot that the next pass is free.

It’s not that quality games aren’t coming out,but after 10 hours with a new title, they have to go back to their crack.

That’s a sign that our gaming population is just largely addicted to games, it’s no longer about graphics, or story elements etc. quality no longer really matters, what matters is how big of a dopamine hit they get. it really is lately just becoming more primal. People playing games all the time isn’t all that different than people doom scrolling on their phone on instagram.

It is both F2P and GaaS. F2P is the vein of many GaaS games.
We had F2P for many years as well and didnt kill gaming. But F2P/GaaS have grown enough and together to be disruptive.
So yes it is GaaS and F2P.
You need that dopamine hit to keep people playing perpetually, pay for subscriptions, in game items, DLCs etc etc

 

[iroboto]

It is both F2P and GaaS. F2P is the vein of many GaaS games.
We had F2P for many years as well and didnt kill gaming. But F2P/GaaS have grown enough and together to be disruptive.
So yes it is GaaS and F2P.

In the day, GaaS was very popular on PC, but you still had to pay to play. They were a traditional model much like what you see with Diablo, WoW, FF Online, and say Fromsoft titles were you buy the expansion for players that want to continue. This was pretty healthy, as far as I can see, this style of base game + expansion was working fine with respect to the industry. It was healthy, we saw a lot of great games under this strategy. They made the base game and expanded on it, you were paying for more game.

The modern formula is to release content drops all the time, garbage content that doesn’t really expand on the game (See Destiny and Diablo 4) combined with fomo MTX to get players to keep buying shit they don’t really want or need. Today, MTX is the main driver for GaaS, and F2P is the feeder system. Because there zero barrier to entry, it’s so easy to be hooked, it’s also so hard to turn away once you’re locked into a game.

I don’t blame Sony for chasing to try to hit it rich with a GaaS title. They need something to keep driving people back to PlayStation.

MS has been chasing that GaaS title for a long time and unfortunately failed despite getting so close. So they just bought CoD instead. As long as WZ and COD are just continually bought each year they can rely on players coming to their platform in some manner.

These companies are just trying to survive. Sony is trouncing Xbox 9:1 I think now globally. Ask yourself, why, they have been following in the footsteps of Xbox? It just doesn’t make any sense right. Unless they both have come to the same conclusion, that the way the gaming market is changing is straight up killing their business.

 

[Scott_Arm]

There are people that only play counter strike or diablo 2 or the sims or stardew valley or Mario games or Skyrim or whatever. Good games generally eat up most of the industry. Minecraft, Fortnite are just good games. My only issue with live service games is they’re risky because they’re expensive to run.

 

[Seanspeed]

The whole idea seems to be to cast your net wide on a load of different titles, lose a load of cash on failed projects, but win HUGE on the one that does win.

I think that's what's crazy to me. In a time when AAA development has turned into 'play it safe', these publishers are now basically playing casino slots pouring mountains of money hoping they strike it big with a live service game, with no real clear idea whether they actually will or not or how to actually do it.

You're making it sound like if you just try enough, it's inevitable, but Sony already won a pretty nice slots grab with Helldivers 2. There's very little guarantee that they can strike again, and even bigger next time. It's straight up gambling at this point. Utter clownish greed. All while they ignore what was actually working extremely well for them. They were already on top, all they needed was to keep on keeping on. GREED.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I'm not endorsing it - that's the thought process for those involved and why it was undertaken. This left Hulst with a load of projects in progress when he took over that he either had to let simmer for longer or axe, and he was faced with that conundrum "what's if this is the winning one?" The fact he's terminated them instead of putting more money in actually points to the opposite of Charlietus's theory that Hulst was as recklessly keen on GaaS as Ryan.

That said, this is indeed how the industry operated since its beginnings. It was still gambling, just with a far smaller ante. 70% of games failed and lost money. The rest broke even or a little profit, except the rare huge titles that made so much they could cover the losses. GaaS seems to be dialling that up to 11, so the same principle but with far larger (and unsustainable) investments and losses.

 

[Seanspeed]

I'm not endorsing it - that's the thought process for those involved and why it was undertaken. This left Hulst with a load of projects in progress when he took over that he either had to let simmer for longer or axe, and he was faced with that conundrum "what's if this is the winning one?" The fact he's terminated them instead of putting more money in actually points to the opposite of Charlietus's theory that Hulst was as recklessly keen on GaaS as Ryan.

That said, this is indeed how the industry operated since its beginnings. It was still gambling, just with a far smaller ante. 70% of games failed and lost money. The rest broke even or a little profit, except the rare huge titles that made so much they could cover the losses. GaaS seems to be dialling that up to 11, so the same principle but with far larger (and unsustainable) investments and losses.

It was never raw gambling like this, let's not miss the point here. If we're acknowledging that nobody really knows if or why certain live service games will blow up to be hugely popular, then it's a very different thing to the idea of 'taking a chance' on any other given game, where the appeal can be more reasonably assessed. Not at all the same thing.

And no, the traditional model has not always been about games only rarely breaking even or making a tiny profit, except for rare ultra big games that make up for it all. Good publishers/studios can put out regularly moderately successful games and absolutely do not need one megahit to make up for everything else. Playstation, especially in the PS4 era, were basically kings of putting out regularly successful games, so the example is particularly poor in this situation. The idea of simply putting out good, compelling games is not 'gambling' outside the fact that any product(or service) anybody ever makes ever has risk. I used the slot machine analogy for a reason. It is basically pure gambling.