What is going on with Sony's first party this gen?

It is taking their studios forever to develop games this gen despite Sony boasting about how much easier and quicker it would be to develop games for the PS4 compared to the PS3.

Uncharted 4 and Bloodborne are top shelf games and Ratchet & Clank is a great reimagining of a classic. But besides those 3 games Sony's exclusive offerings this gen have stunk. It needs to be said. 3 great games in 3 years with 1 of those being a reimagining is not good output.

Driveclub was so bad it killed a studio. The Order sucked. Infamous Second Son was more of a tech demo than a complete game. It was a step back from Infamous 2 in nearly every way. It was short, lacked any kind of worthwhile side content, the city was small and empty and the cast of characters was cringe. LBP3 was a failure and killed that franchise after the first 2 were multi million sellers and both very well received by critics and gamers alike. Killzone Shadow Fall was pure shit after KZ 2 and 3 were both really solid games. The campaign was coma inducingly boring and the multiplayer was basically DOA.

For upcoming exclusives I think there are 3 that look great - Horizon, God of War and Spiderman. I have little doubt they will all be giant critical and commercial successes.

The rest though just don't look promising at all. Lets start with GT Sport. GT used to be the flagship franchise for the PS brand. This game has NO hype whatsoever from anyone. People just don't give a shit. How did we go from over 1000 cars to 137? Why does it not have a real offline career mode? Is PD that fvcking stupid that they think the 10 million people who bought GT 1-5 did so because they wanted to only play competitive online races and nothing else? This game will be a nail in the coffin for the franchise.

Next up is Days Gone. Does anyone even remember this game at all? Did anyone remember it 5 minutes after it was shown at Sony's E3 conference TWICE? Sure doesn't seem like it. This game looks generic as fvck and is completely unnecessary when Sony already has their premier studio likely hard at work on a sequel to TLOU right now. Why couldn't Bend have made a new Syphon Filter instead? Or at least a unique new IP? This game will add nothing to Sony's catalog.

Finally The Last Guardian. The game that has been in development hell for almost a decade. The game scheduled to release next month yet they won't even show any gameplay to the public. Either its going to keep getting delayed forever or it will finally release and be one of the biggest disappointments in gaming history.

So where did it all go so wrong for Sony's studios? Last gen we got new IP like Demon's Souls, Uncharted, Motorstorm, Resistance, Littlebigplanet and Infamous early on that would all go on to be staples for the entire gen. We haven't got any new IPs this gen that will actually become permanent franchises 3 years in. Horizon looks to be the first one that will actually have a chance to do so.

Why do you think the number of quality titles produced by Sony is down so much this gen compared to the previous 3?

My two cents is Yoshida is the problem. He greenlights a lot of obvious bad ideas and is getting in the habit of shutting down studios every time a game doesn't do so hot (Evo, Zipper, Liverpool).. Sony worldwide studios was in a much better place under Phil Harrison.

@NathanDrakeSwag: You can't rush art. Sony will deliver to us some amazing games, but we just need to be patient. Sony knows what is best for us, and if delaying a game by a few years means we get AAAA quality games, who am I to question them?

I've noticed you going after Sony pretty hard lately and it's about damn time, they've been like this all gen man and you're just noticing and getting fed up with this shit?

Sony this gen has been on auto-pilot, they're doing amazingly well because Microsoft shot themselves in the foot. They haven't accomplished anything to warrant their position aside from the early failures of the Xbox One, and because of their success they've been getting away with this bullshit left and right, but it all has a limit, and I see you reaching that limit.

About time some people started waking up to Sony's laziness. Good on you Nathan.

They have taken next to no effort this gen other than profit of MS's screw ups and ride the hype train that is still going for god knows why. They continue to have some of the most boring E3's in memory by showing nothing but a clip reel of trailers for games that are 2-3 years out and tell us nothing about the game itself.

For the third year running they have very little coming out the entire final quarter of the year which is the most important.

Video games are a form of artwork. A connection between the developer and the gamer. Giving a product to people that they want to use.

You can't rush art. You can't complain about art just buy what you like and move on bro.

what a pathetic argument by the cows

Sony showed great first class on the PS1/2/3.. suddenly with the PS4 they had the most successful launch from any console, and the arrogance came back, and you guys just suck it off.

It's been an awful gen for Sony, they are winning just off the hype e3 2013 generated.

They spent the first part of the gen remastering old games that they just released on the PS3.

The reality is that the PS4 isn't going to see a massive exclusive push as long as Microsoft and Nintendo are so far behind. Or maybe development is taking so long that they'll all end up at the end of the console cycle.

Lmao

Fanboyism is a bitch.

Completely agree. **** GT. The series turned into total shit.

@NathanDrakeSwag: You need to learn to count . You say only 3 games are worth , i see more than that.

Also you cant have 100 AAA games per 3 years , theres no console out there with that amount.

At least SONY tries to bring something new , even if it failed with games like ORDER or DRIVECLUB unlike other companies playing safe every gen.

Sony haters were saying the same about Sony last gen, that they were lazy, overrated, etc etc. I think we can leave the gen speak for itself, in the end Sony would have the highest rated exclusives like last gen.

Sure, because Nintendo played it really safe this gen.

I don't think it did?

Nintendo tries but tries with NOT AAA caliber production values in their mind. Sony on the other hand goes for these big AAA caliber games over and over again and out of some fails we get some great games that can really challenge the best games under their respective genres.

Some fine examples are games like God of war , Uncharted 2 , Shadow of collosus and more

I stated numerous times before Nintendo should focus also on more AAA caliber games like Zelda , main mario series etc. They really can because talent is there , the question is ..do they want to?

Days Gone actually looked pretty good.

Hopefully it has RPG mechanics, that would be amazing.

I bet State of Decay goes in the same direction. (adding RPG elements)

The Xbone offers no challenge, that's why Sony isn't even trying. Its really annoying if you ask me because this may repeat for the 9th gen.

Agree 100% TC about Yoshida.

Microsoft and Nintendo need to start challenging bloodborne, uncharted 4, mlb the show. These are all challenges the competition has yet to match either step or get out. (imo)

Closing 15 studios isn't how you beat sony and microsoft should know that by now. you need big blockbuster games since the NES days. This is turning into a slaughter.

You need a baseball game you need a rpg, you need a big story game this is all common sense in the console war. Who the hell is in charge at xbox even atari 2600 and gameboy had like 10 baseball games each what are you doing?

Everyone knows this stuff its time for xbox and nintendo to step into the ring do some battles or sony won't need any games since there putting out crap like quantum flop and star fox flop.

Well it is easier to develop a game when Ram is no longer as restraining as the PS3. Along with other upgrades.

This gen is still far from over. The PS4 hasn't even been out for 3 years. The PS3 was just starting to get a decent library about this point in its lifecycle when 2009 titles started dropping. Heck even multiplat offerings were lacking in the early PS3 days. And with investments in new IP's like Bloodborne, The Order, DriveClub, Days Gone, and the upcoming Horizon. Its not like Sony hasn't taken risks. An arrogant company contempt with low ball offerings and rehases, wouldn't be taking financial risks. And Bend studio, is a perfect example of a developer not taking the easy way out with making another SF game just yet.

Lol@the "art" comments. Such a cop-out answer.

Nathanfakeswag upset at Sony now lol, who would have thunk it. Sony too busy looking at everything MS is doing to emulate it than to sorry in making 1st party games right now. For the 2nd holiday coming up Sony has a weak lineup of game other than 3rd parties so I don't know what they are really doing.

If you want my opinion Sony's First Party isn't pumping out games like crazy pretty much because Games of the scale of like Uncharted 4 or that new God of War take TIME.

And They can Take their time too because they have 3rd Parties filling in the Gaps unlike say Xbox One and WiiU where those systems have to keep their flow a bit more constant cause they don't have the majority of 3rd Parties filling the gap.

It could also be a Budget thing too.

Personally I would actually ask what's going on with Nintendo's First Party. They used to be SUPER good, but lately they've been pumping out some low tier stuff like Mario Tennis Ultra Smash.

Some valid points, but I'm hyped for GT sport and Days Gone on top of the three games you mentioned.

Also this. What the heck has MS' first party been doing? They're doing way worse. It's no excuse but that's what happens in business when there's little to no competition.

This is true. The market needs a better competitor than MS but Sony has done good before even without competition with the PS2 so I still have hopes that they will deliver just fine this gen.

A huge chunk of the Playstation budget was spend to develop games for the PSVR. And lets be real here the Playstation fanbase never moan about Sony, they defend them like their life depends on it. So its not surprising Sony just does what it likes. Xbox fanbase when they are not happy are never afraid to tell Microsoft how they feel.

Not true. Playstation almost went out of business last gen. It was only until Sony started releasing more games that people started liking them again.

I don't see this gen it least.

Ahhhhh yes, I forgot PSVR is coming out this year, that's why they don't have any real 1st party games coming out this holiday other than TLG, they putting all their resources into that and most likely developement of the Neo.

Sony got sued last gen by their own fans rightly so when they took out OtherOS support. No fanbase is "nice" to their companies if they don´t deliver.

Nintendo didnt make Mario Tennis. Their last game was Kirby Planet Robobot which is the best Kirby i think ive ever played.

Playing Ratchet & Clank 2016 right now, maybe it's because I haven't touched one of these again since Crack in Time, but so far so good. It's polished as ****, it's just all around really fun to play. Mr Zurkon is love. Otherwise meh, was never much of a Sony first party person, always thought they were secretly kind of shit outside of Naughty Dog and a game here or there. Bloodborne for instance is great as a product of a third party dev, but Sony's internal teams?

I'm far more interested in the Japanese exclusives that the PS4 will get. Things like what KoF14 is, or Nioh. Nothing about the footage for Dreams, or God of War 4, or Days Gone even comes close to getting me excited. The Last Guardian I'll day one, because I believe in Ueda till the bitter end. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are fantastic games. But anything else from SCEJ? No thank you.

Sony has been sucking hard all gen bro.

Well they are doing better this gen than last gen at around the same time frame.

@iandizion713: really? You're pulling that? Might as well say Sony didn't make Uncharted 4 then.

@LegatoSkyheart: But Sony did develop Uncharted 4, so im not sure your point. Mario Tennis was a third party studio.

The dumbest argument of our time.

Mario Tennis regardless of your labeling is a First Party game. Always has been, Always will be.

@Zero_epyon: It doesn't matter if MS first party is doing good or not. The point is the X1 has a lot of great games not on PS4. You can't say the same for PS4. Look at this holiday for instance. X1: Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Dead Rising 4, and Recore. Hopefully Cuphead. PS4: TLG... ( maybe) PS4 sucks.

How so? Nintendo has never developed one. Its always been developed by a third party company.

Games should be released when they are ready, not in time to feed system war arguments. Between exclusives, multiplats and indies, there are hundreds of good games already available, anyway.

I actually really enjoyed Infamous SS just as much as the other two.

That said, you can't expect gold from every release. Perhaps your tastes in gaming are changing. Perhaps you've been spoiled. There have also been IPs changing dev hands. I know LBP3 wasn't as good as the previous two in stability alone. Still fun, but not as novel given that it is the third in the series.

@PAL360: Tell that to Sonys no mans sky. They said the game was gold, then later stated it would need a massive day one patch fix.

Sure, but not every game meet the hype, and No Man's Sky was always a candidate to fail many people expectations. That's the price for making something that ambitious.

Even though, i respect what Hello Games managed to make. It was said hundreds of times NMS would be a slow paced exploration EXPERIENCE, meant to be played solo. It's not exactly dev's fault that many kids, somehow, hyped it as a fast paced online shooter, with missions to do, NPCs to interact with, etc.

Sure, some promisses were not delivered (lack of planet rotation, fake suns, etc), but it doesn't change the fact they managed to do something very few, if any, devs even dare to try. Imagine if in games like Destiny or Mass effect, instead of entering in a map with a few planets (or small areas controlled by invisible walls) and be thrown to them via loading time, you could freely explore on foot, enter your ship, travel through space to another planet, enter its atmosphere, land and explore all of it in real time.

Again, despite its flaws, NMS is the game AAA devs should be taking note from for their sci-fi games.

@PAL360: Thats not the point, if your game is not ready, delay it. O wait, No Mans Sky was delayed wasnt it? Matter of fact, Sony delayed the game twice if im not mistaken.

So thats 2 delays, then the game goes gold, which is suppose to mean the game is ready, then Sony censored the internet for talking bad about it. One example, The Know got censored, a really popular Youtube channel, https://youtu.be/j1ZoBqfWxqk, then they had to do a massive day one patch.

It's exactly the point. I'm saying that NMS could be considered a complete game if you had realistic expectations. Also we all know that games are being improved all the time via updates, these days, especialy open world (universe, in this case) ones.

The better question is;

What's going on with EVERYONES first party this gen?

This generation as a whole has been very underwhelming for all 3 companies.

@PAL360: How can i have realistic expectations when they lie about so much content. Even the gameplay videos they showed was lies.

The thing is that MS and Sony have different strategies for releasing games. MS stacks the holiday season, giving them the perception of having a better lineup for the year. Sony seems to prefer staggering releases at the beginning of the year. There are a few more games releasing by the end of the year for Sony as well. TLG like you mention along with Gravity Rush 2 and VR titles like Rigs and Until dawn. This on top of the prior releases of this year which include UC4, Gravity Rush Remaster, Ratchet and Clank, the tomorrow children (released today) and MLB the Show. This is just first party and if you count third party, Sony also has NMS, SFV, Alienation and others. MS has only released Quantum Break and Ori for the entire year.

Ever hear the phrase "don't count your eggs before they hatch"?

Well, in the case of Sony and the PS4, everybody did.

They were like "we'll be releasing this and this and this" and they've only released a fraction of it.