Terrible news imminent about PlayStation's future?

Nobody has said for certain just exactly what's coming, but it's Sony PlayStation related and news will be dropping soon.

From David Jaffe's Twitter:

Sad, frustrating, potentially super disrespectful news dropping tomorrow about Playstation if my sources are correct. I talk around it in this members only video but in less than 24 hours I'm sure the journalists will get hold of it and tell the tale. It's not a lock but these 2 sources (both work at Playstation) have never once been wrong in sharing what they share.

If it's true, man...let's just say: no matter what you do, never ever buy the idea that your work is your family and the company is your life.

And IF true, I don't have the details as of why but I can imagine, then man, I tell ya: the Sony we all came up with is mostly dead.

Doesn't mean the new Sony is bad AT ALL (loving Spidey2) but it just means...yeah...sad times :(.

https://x.com/davidscottjaffe/status/1716278151192727602?s=20 😳

Keep your ears to the ground in coming days.

I've heard murmerings of things from massive rounds of layoffs, maybe studios closures, radical new pivot for the PlayStation brand and market. But, perhaps all just speculation, just word is whatever the major news is about to drop, I am sure we'll know what it is when we hear it.

Anybody think they have a handle on whatever it is, feel free to chime in.

Didn't the guy have a fallout with Sony? Even if story's true I doubt it'll be that bad.

Best case scenario is that now that Ryan is going away, they canned all 5 live service titles that they were making, and because of it, have to fire a bunch of devs. But that wouldn't make sense if he says "I don't have the details as of why but I can imagine, then man, I tell ya: the Sony we all came up with is mostly dead.".

And what kind of issues can this even be when they're printing money? I bet you its just Shuhei Yoshida leaving, and Jaffe is making a big deal out of it lmao.

Btw bring mah boy Ken Kutaragi back, the real boss.

Seems the shaping story taking place is cuts across the board. None of the major studios seem unscathed.

There also seems to be reports of multiple smaller studio closures.

Perhaps both do point to a radical new pivot for the PlayStation brand.

But I wouldn't put it past Jim Ryan on his way out to make PlayStation look like the victim to give the FTC the ammo it needs to screw up the ABK merger, that'd be some scorched earth tactics right there. And/or perhaps he's super pissed if he didn't voluntarily plan his departure in coming months. Maybe this is his gambit to keep his job and private jet.

Maybe the only other catalyst to such a big move could be on JFTC side who was supposedly investigating Sony's anticompetitive practices in Japn and the pending sanctions on them could have dire consequences for their place in the worldwide market, just a guess though.

@hardwenzen: "Best case scenario is that now that Ryan is going away, they canned all 5 live service titles that they were making, and because of it, have to fire a bunch of devs."

Good guess, I can see that. But Jaffe seems to refer to the PlayStation we use to know, so, maybe not too. I saw mermerings earlier they wanted to shift more to a more online brand focus with these moves, in that case it would be the exact opposite.

@me2002: "Didn't the guy have a fallout with Sony? Even if story's true I doubt it'll be that bad."

Maybe he just got burnt out. Development cycles seem very taxing on everyone. And I bet more so when you're a creative lead and have to shoulder so much responsibility. Maybe it just wasn't for him.

But he seemed fine working with Sony when he started his own studio afterwards. That doesn't reflect any animosity.

Sony can't just wake up one day, mostly abandon everything for what they're known for (especially nowadays, where everyone is sick of those unfinished lived service titles. literally all of them are getting crucified on the socials, and that can't be good for Sony's PR), and begins milking online multiplayer titles. They have conditioned their whole playerbase to expect quality singleplayer titles. If they're crazy enough to just officially announce that they're shifting for live service titles almost exclusively, that would be a faster suicide than the Xbox brand in 2013. They can't be this stupid.

Thats cool, but when will we get more games? One a year is insulting.

There are no shrooms in this world that could allow me to see the world in the way David Jaffe sees it.

@hardwenzen: "Sony can't just wake up one day, mostly abandon everything for what they're known for (especially nowadays, where everyone is sick of those unfinished lived service titles. literally all of them are getting crucified on the socials, and that can't be good for Sony's PR), and begins milking online multiplayer titles. They have conditioned their whole playerbase to expect quality singleplayer titles. If they're crazy enough to just officially announce that they're shifting for live service titles almost exclusively, that would be a faster suicide than the Xbox brand in 2013. They can't be this stupid."

Well, perhaps when Bungie jumped on board they started networking among Sony's corporate leadership and really started to assert influence over established leadership. Seems they were reported instrumental in keeping Naughty Dog's live service title held back. There were also news of layoffs there at Naughty Dog couple weeks back. Perhaps some internal coup going on.

Or maybe this was in the making for a while and we never saw it. All their strategic investments for last few years have been on either PC porting, devs who do remasters and PC porting, and devs who make online games. And many of their devs who do signature first party games have been working on PC ports, and they haven't been too interested in making a PC-console ecosystem (i.e. shared entitlements, cross-system progression). Even someone quoted Jim Ryan (not sure when he said it) saying PS5 might be Sony's last console.

Perhaps they're going third party 🤯

The minimalists seem to be saying this is primarily focusing on teams that deal with visual art design, animations, etc. Not sure how paramount it would be if true, but Sony has a consistent internal strength in these regards and if they're crucial in coordinating projects and their quality control, perhaps this would be a major change. Perhaps someone higher up found this to be burdensome (costly and time consuming) in project output and will be exchanging quality for quantity.

Word was these cuts were started earlier this year and some stuck around only to be slowly phased out.

Maybe this is possibly why we've seen Spider-Man 2 looking kind of ass compared to first, and things like TLOU on PC running like shit. And if these people knew they were on track to losing their jobs I don't imagine it would encourage them to put out their best work, and I can't imagine they could even if they wanted as their synergy dissolves as their teams start thinning out.

If this is case, well, it's not nearly as bad as people speculate, but also not anything to sigh relief over either. This could, like Jaffe suggested, mean a major change to the PlayStation people come to expect, that stressed the image of quality.

And if this is the case, and if fans care, maybe now is the time to maybe make a stink about the Spider-Man 2 quality issues if they do exist, rather than feign the blind eye of "I don't have issues, all a bunch of FUD", because only the power of the SFD spartan phalanx could compel Sony to reverse course and perhaps it's not too late to change course.

It's not as bad as Blizzard, but the Sony "we all came up with" has been slipping for around a decade.

The news is, Bobby Kotick is going to replace Jim Ryan. XD

We only have to worry when Michael Pachter announces "exciting news immenent about Playsatations future"

Because if he does then well... Everything will go to hell over at Sony HQ for sure.

Oh god this would make me facepalm and laugh at the same time.

So, they are going full live service and fully woke? That would be devastating news indeed. Although, Jaffe is a little woke himself ever since his child came out as trans. So, he would not be against the fully woke.

Most likely layoffs or studio closures based on...

"If it's true, man...let's just say: no matter what you do, never ever buy the idea that your work is your family and the company is your life."

Super concerned

@BassMan: what is "woke" ?

Likely another case of Blizzard/Riot. At least Sony has put out enough quality, so they wont be as hurt by it as Blizzard has been.

regardless of whether this is a mountain out of a molehill (looking at joffe's tweets since the one in the op suggest it might be) i'm coming round to the idea that, based on sony's direction post ps5, im no longer their target demographic.

as soon as things start to click at ms and they start releasing more universally acknowledged high quality aaa games, and with the sheer volume of marquee studios they own the law of averages says those days will come sooner or later, i'll either upgrade my pc or get an xbox. even if somehow sony pull a hail mary and manage to turn the ship around

A lot of companies are having layoffs. Nothing surprising there.

RIP🪦

The MS/ABK deal was the final straw, Phony is most certainly doomed now!!! ;o

Bout time. lol :P

Would like them to get back to resistance always liked that series. The cod deal won't harm them short term but who knows long term they need a response.

It's Jim Ryan's farewell "surprise", like the guy that farts and exits the elevator before the door closes.

I hope this just a sensationalized rumor.

lolol :P

This is "old" news that is now being publicized. I initially thought it was a new wave but it is the same wave that has been ongoing for some time. It started around summer and it has caused a shake-up in specific studios. At least the folks I know are fine... for now.

That would be too entertaining, actually. As a cow, i would accept this news😂

This phrase here, “never ever buy the idea that your work is your family and the company is your life.“ leads me to believe that it will be layoffs.

Another 12 months of no games?

Checking out some of the news now and yeah it’s firings/layoffs. This Connie Booth sounds like a pretty big release. Been around at Sony since 1989 and credited on a whole bunch of games. Perhaps Microsoft could hire her and others. 🤔

They're gonna put a bunch of their games on Xbox/Nintendo? :D

Let's hope not!

Connie Booth, wasn’t she in Fawlty Towers 🤔?

Two massive execs leave Sony in a very short period of time.

At the same time next to no games are coming out.

Jumping a sinking ship for sure.

Imagine being with the same company for 34 years. Jesus Christ.

I am at 25 years with mine this December.

Pathetic.

Look at the state of Sony right now.

- Drought year (waited all year for a 10 hour title)

- PS+ price increase when they literally just started these new tiers last year. Whose idiot idea was that?

- PSVR2 lackluster sales. Sony overvaluing their brand by releasing an overpriced VR headset when they knew VR is niche. They didn’t know this was gonna be an L?

- PS Portal, what were they thinking? We already have remote play. We can do this on our phones, tablets, PC…why would you think a $200 remote player that you gotta have your PS turned on to use would be worth it? Then you went and made the peripherals proprietary. Why?

- PS Slim. Since when do we make a slim model and raise the price?

- Pathetic remakes/remasters. Spiderman 1? TLOU1? Now we’re hearing TLOU2? No really, what’s going on at Sony?

What this appears to be is a bunch of anti-consumer decisions on products nobody wanted to begin with. I’m done. My PS5 will be my “first party exclusives” device and I’ll just wait till any new stuff I haven’t played is on sale and patched. I’m not giving Sony $70. And I think I’m finally gonna cancel my PS+. I already reduced my Premium to Essential, but I’m just gonna cancel it altogether.

Been with my company for 26 years. I have been with my company for over half of my life, but I enjoy what I do and I am in line to take the business over after the current owner retires, so it has paid off.

PlayStation is doomed..

Ouch, doesn't sound good.

It is not layoffs. 🥳

Nailed it. You enjoy what you do.

PlayStation layoffs hit Dreams developer Media Molecule

Well rip