Should we expect even more Sony first party cross-gen games?

[Pai Pai Master]

Given how PS5 was marketed a little more than a year ago, it's pretty wild that almost all their big first party game's releasing in 2022 will be cross gen.

I wouldn't be surprised to see this extend another year, at least with some games.

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It's not that wild, these are cross-gen games that were targeting PS5's first year. The pandemic fucked them up like a lot of publishers. We'll see a few more by 2023 but definitely not after that point. It'll probably be a longer generation as a result of the pandemic too.

 

[mute]

I'd assume anything in development now is cross gen until we are told otherwise (And even then...)

 

[J-Skee]

Maybe from Pixelopus & San Diego Studio, but I can't see any other studio doing it after GOW & GT7.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Maybe from Pixelopus & San Diego Studio, but I can't see any other studio doing it after GOW & GT7.

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Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if that PixelOpus/Sony Pictures Animation game is cross-gen. I'm fine with a few more titles that have been in dev since 2018-2019 getting announced for PS4, the longer dev times because of the pandemic are perfectly understandable and it makes so sense to cancel last gen versions.

 

[CubeApple76]

I think the TLOU MP thing will be cross gen, MLB for a long time, maybe the rumored remake. Depending on how long till they come out, the Devotion studio and the Jade Raymond MP game may be as well I think, since for MP games the bigger the installbase the better.

 

[Modest_Modsoul]

Yes.

There are chances still for the next Spider-Man 2 would be cross-gen. 🙄🤷

Anything could happen.

 

[arsene_P5]

The PS4 has a 120 million userbase it's impractical to focus exclusively on PS5 when that userbase is unlikely going to decline anytime soon. So Sony is forced to develop their games as cross-gen until the PS5 is big enough.

Microsoft can get around this issue as they have Xbox Cloud Gaming support coming to XB1, so MS can release exclusive XB X|S games but without abandoning the XB1 user base.

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Nobody stops Sony from offering PS5 games in PS Now, so I don't get the explanation by you. Sony isn't forced to do anything.

Yes, absolutely. Until there's a substantial number of units in homes and the demand can be satisfied, I fully expect cross plat to continue. Frustrating as a PS5 owner but I also get it - you don't want to alienate those 100+ million users.

You'll still see some exclusives along the way though. It's a balance of satisfying the existing base while also keeping the demand hot with new titles you can only get on the premium console.

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I don't think we can just say covid or supply issues are the reason, since some of the decision (next gen vs cross gen) would be been made in 2017 to now. Who knew in 2017 how many issues there would be in 2020-2021? Of course as you said this whole issues could extend all of this. But I think games like Horizon for example were cross gen all along.

2022 yeah, 2023 I doubt it.

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I agree with the exception of MLB.

Hopefully not. It's bad enough Forbidden West, the next GoW, and GT7 are all still going to be shackled to nine-year-old hardware.

Think about it, we won't see what studios like Guerilla and Sony Santa Monica will be able to do without a boat anchor tied to their ankles until, what, 2026 or 2027 at least? Fuck.

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And by the time those could be PS6/PS5 games.

Sony has shipped more next gen only games than Xbox will have by 2023 and about the same next gen/last gen support as the Switch/3DS transition period

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You can look into the future? And do you mean with "shipped" shipped as of today (meaning Ratchet, Demon Souls, Astro, Allstars and Returnal)?

 

[Arex]

As long as people still can't get PS5 consoles with ease, then I don't really have problem with Sony also making their big games also available on PS4.

I think they'll just be doing this for their 10+ mil sellers till the PS5 is widely available.

 

[Naner]

What the fuck.

So, just so I'm clear, possibly until 2023, we'll have more second-party PS5 exclusives than first? Am I missing anything here?

1P: Astro, R&C
2P: Returnal, Demon's Souls, Deathloop, Kena, Ghostwire Tokyo, Destruction All-Stars, FFXVI, Forspoken

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What about Deathloop, Ghostwire and FFXVI makes you think of them as "second-party"?

 

[cowbanana]

I think cross gen will continue for 1-2 years.

 

[Sausage_Poison]

Yes. I'm expecting Factions and The Last of Us Remake as cross-gen games, 100%. Spider-Man is also highly probably a cross-gen game.

 

[SuperFakerBros]

Yeah, although I think, by that point, most of the active audience for games like that will have shifted from the PS4 to the PS5 so they could've gone on to have them be made with the PS5 in mind

 

[ghostcrew]

If you look at it logically, we can presume that Sony have a lot more games to announce for the near future. They have a hell of a lot of studios and they're not all working on GT7 and GOW. They have to have more stuff nearing release.

Do we think that they rest of them have all pivoted to solely PS5 releases, when their absolute biggest blockbuster/graphical showcases have decided to stay crossgen? Doubt.

They'll be making plenty of stuff that can happily release on PS4 as well. They've already shown that they're not laser locked on next gen only stuff. If God of War, Gran Turismo and Horizon can all manage PS4 releases, you've got to imagine that their other games in development can (for the next year or so)

 

[arsene_P5]

My money would be on Factions and MLB 22 being unannounced cross gen games at the very least. I could also see TLoU Remake being cross gen, but it would be kinda weird to have two TLoU 1 releases on PS4. So maybe that's next gen only. Where is the spiderman 2 being cross gen talk coming from btw? Any rumors? I am curious.

 

[Handsome James]

It's not that wild, these are cross-gen games that were targeting PS5's first year. The pandemic fucked them up like a lot of publishers. We'll see a few more by 2023 but definitely not after that point. It'll probably be a longer generation as a result of the pandemic too.

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Yea, obviously the pandemic has affected game development and impacted Sony, MS and plenty of other publishers. But we had no idea that GT7, HFW, and God of War we're cross gen games when they were revealed because Sony pretty much made it seem like they were PS5 only.

That strategy is only made worse by COVID delays.

And I wouldn't be so sure we don't see many more. Ryan and Hulst have spoken about turning out games on a quicker basis. Would not be surprised if a few new reveals we see next week are also cross gen. Of course, Sony could just keep on making them look like PS5 only games and tell us 9 months later in a blog post that they're cross gen

 

[Raigor]

At this point everything is possible lol

 

[monketron]

Given the spiralling costs of game dev, on top of the limited supplies for PS5 right now, cross gen won't be going anywhere for years. They'll throw in the odd PS5 exclusive to keep people sweet but I wouldn't expect Sony's output to switch to PS5 only till around 2023 at least.

 

[Glio]

My money would be on Factions and MLB 22 being unannounced cross gen games at the very least. I could also see TLoU Remake being cross gen, but it would be kinda weird to have two TLoU 1 releases on PS4. So maybe that's next gen only. Where is the spiderman 2 being cross gen talk coming from btw? Any rumors? I am curious.

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If I'm not mistaken, the rumor was "TLOU but with TLOU 2 visuals and gameplay", so in principle it could be on PS4.

 

[N64Controller]

Yup

If I'm not mistaken, the rumor was "TLOU but with TLOU 2 visuals and gameplay", so in principle it could be on PS4.

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Wtf they're re-re-releasing TLOU?

 

[JhOnNY_HD]

Given the spiralling costs of game dev, on top of the limited supplies for PS5 right now, cross gen won't be going anywhere for years. They'll throw in the odd PS5 exclusive to keep people sweet but I wouldn't expect Sony's output to switch to PS5 only till around 2023 at least.

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the limited supply doesnt stop ps5 of being the fastest 10 millions unit sold in history.

 

[Glio]

Yup



Wtf they're re-re-releasing TLOU?

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Yes, several reliable sources said they were working on a TLOU remake. Probably due to the HBO series.

 

[Temascos]

Outside of TLOU Factions and Remake I think they'll be moving their efforts to pure PS5 games (Unless it's more multiplayer focused, that would benefit from cross-platform play).

Especially since by the time the currently announced titles are out, PS5 will likely be at around 25 million sold through and not as much of a risk of not selling well.

 

[AndyMc1888]

Yes and it should be up to the devs to choose what they can hit but with number of PS4's out there it makes sense , Jim's we believe in generation nonsense was always nonsense

 

[monketron]

the limited supply doesnt stop ps5 of being the fastest 10 millions unit sold in history.

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Yes but when there are 100m + users still wanting to buy games on a PS4, why would you voluntarily say no to that? If supply is outstripping demand then you need to encourage people to switch to your new console using exclusive games, but when people are buying up every new console no matter what, you don't need to make those same sacrifices, so why would you turn down a truck load of money for no gain?

 

[JhOnNY_HD]

Yes but when there are 100m + users still wanting to buy games on a PS4, why would you voluntarily say no to that? If supply is outstripping demand then you need to encourage people to switch to your new console using exclusive games, but when people are buying up every new console no matter what, you don't need to make those same sacrifices, so why would you turn down a truck load of money for no gain?

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In less than a year PS5 reach the 10% of 8 years ps4 total user base with supply problems.

Looking back is a mistake

 

[Smokey]

Yep.
A lot of the cross gen blowback could've been easily avoided if Sony was clear in communicating in the beginning about their plans, but "generations matter" and all. Plus the need for internet brownie points.

 

[Gradly]

My belief is PS4 support will last 2 years since the launch of PS5 so roughly 14 months left 😬

 

[Iron Eddie]

Any games they expect to ship before the end of 2022 will be crossgen. Sony wants one more holiday season to tap into as many sales as they can.

 

[aloner]

Yes - and also I dont think its wrong or "elitist" for PS5 users to complain about the lack of real first party PS5 games, especially outside of America where they're paying more like $95 US for PS5 first party games that are just PS4 games. Believe anything PS5 exclusive for the most part will be VR or smaller experiences like Ratchet/Returnal/Astro for the foreseeable

 

[WhtR88t]

I feel like they felt like PS5 base would be much larger than it is at this point… so we'll probably see more cross gen as they try to grow the consoles base so making exclusives make more sense financially.

 

[Ocean]

I still can't believe Sony pushed "we believe in generations" as a key differentiator between them and their competitors, only to then latch on to the archaic old gen harder than anybody else.

 

[Smokey]

I still can't believe Sony pushed "we believe in generations" as a key differentiator between them and their competitors, only to then latch on to the archaic old gen harder than anybody else.

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Sony loves to throw out the "gotchas" against MS when they can (see PS4 sharing games), but this time it bit them with the "surprise" reveal of these cross gen games.

Even then the damage is constrained to these enthusiast forums. The general pop doesn't care.

 

[Iron Eddie]

I still can't believe Sony pushed "we believe in generations" as a key differentiator between them and their competitors, only to then latch on to the archaic old gen harder than anybody else.

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Jim Ryan is a business executive, his priority is to sell a product. Everything he says is strategic.

 

[Diogo Arez]

I really hope not, God of War will already suffer with that choice so I hope 2022 is the end of the cross period

 

[Ocean]

Jim Ryan is a business executive, his priority is to sell a product. Everything he says is strategic.

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I understand why they're assholes, but I don't benefit from that in the slightest so I don't have to like it or agree with it.

 

[Donniewahlberg]

I would guess so, yeah, and they should 🤷‍♂️ games and game engines are extremely scalable now and everything is being built on different varieties of the same tech. If there's no actual reason not to, give the games to everyone who can play them. Ofc when the design no longer matches the specs, drop the older hardware but imo there's no blanket rule or necessity for this stuff. I say this as someone who has invested in both next gen consoles, it doesn't take away from my enjoyment nor do I lack validation for my purchases as a result.

 

[Mugen X]

Expect it, the pandemic pretty much set development back at least a year.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

I would hope not but at this point I am really frustrated with how much Sony says that turn out to have a BUT... after building up expectations.

I want to eat crow but they are making it really hard.

 

[Iwao]

Yes.

Factions
TLOU Remake
MLB

Should all be expected to be cross gen.

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The remake could still be a PS5 exclusive, but basically these three are safe to assume.

Maybe also Pixelopus' new game.

Given how PS5 was marketed a little more than a year ago, it's pretty wild that almost all their big first party game's releasing in 2022 will be cross gen.

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At the same time these games were supposed to release in 2021, and the pandemic threw them.

I still can't believe Sony pushed "we believe in generations" as a key differentiator between them and their competitors, only to then latch on to the archaic old gen harder than anybody else.

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This quote was referring to PS5-only features, and these games will still make use of them. The reviews for both next-gen consoles emphasised that PS5 felt like a true next-gen upgrade because of these features, despite the lineup including cross-gen software.

 

[Iron Eddie]

I understand why they're assholes, but I don't benefit from that in the slightest so I don't have to like it or agree with it.

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Sony has been showing a cold shoulder this entire generation, it's become almost entirely now about maximizing profits. From it's next gen upgrade philosophies, to promoting $70 games to limiting PS5 Digital systems (and waiting until the very last second to announce its price against the Series S).

This quote was referring to PS5-only features, and these games will still make use of them. The reviews for both next-gen consoles emphasised that PS5 felt like a true next-gen upgrade because of these features, despite the lineup including cross-gen software.

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I don't buy it. Sony knew exactly what they were doing by making that remark. Back when the games were first revealed saying how games like Horizon couldn't be possible on last gen hardware. Even when I suggested Spiderman Miles would be cross gen I was instantly shot down.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, would have predicted games releasing in 2022 would be crossgen. It is of course very easy to suggest now that they meant controller features and such. This site can only go back so far with peoples history and what people were saying a year ago.

 

[CATM]

From the HFW update:



I'd like to believe that Sony are just covering their ass with clear-as-crystal language about what to expect for GoW and GT7 upgrades, but, gotta say this line makes me wonder if we're looking at not getting out of cross-gen until 2023.

Am I reading too far into it, or should we expect other studios to still be doing cross-gen stuff?

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They've alluded to this even before PS5 released.

"We have always felt that we had a responsibility to serve that [PS4] community for several years after the launch of PS5 and that it represented a huge business opportunity for us," Ryan says.

 

[aloner]

They've alluded to this even before PS5 released.

"We have always felt that we had a responsibility to serve that [PS4] community for several years after the launch of PS5 and that it represented a huge business opportunity for us," Ryan says.

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That doesn't usually mean that 99% of first party games (and all the big first party exclusives) are games for the previous gen...

 

[CATM]

That doesn't usually mean that 99% of first party games (and all the big first party exclusives) are games for the previous gen...

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99% is a huge exaggeration. There'll still be more first party ps5 only games.

 

[aloner]

99% is a huge exaggeration. There'll still be more first party ps5 only games.

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I mean we're most likely going into 2022 with 100% first party games being PS4 games (H:FW, GoW, GT7)... not really an exaggeration for what's coming.

 

[Neoxon]

We'll probably get a few more next year (Factions & MLB for sure, maybe the TLoU1 Remake), but cross-gen stuff will likely die down by 2023.

 

[Diarrhea Day-Lewis]

You can look into the future? And do you mean with "shipped" shipped as of today (meaning Ratchet, Demon Souls, Astro, Allstars and Returnal)?

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I'm not trying to be rude, I love my PS5, Series S and Switch. Of course I don't know.

Xbox probably does have next gen only games set for 2022 that they haven't announced but I don't expect more than maybe 2-3 games in addition to RedFall, Starfield. They'd have to release like 5+ next gen games that aren't unannounced just to match Sony's output and that assumes Sony has no new next gen games (which won't happen, because PSVR2 is 2022)

 

[Equanimity]

Probably. It's bullshit, but probably. I didn't spend $1200 to play shit that can still be played on PS4 and Xbox One. I'm sick of this.

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Increased visual clarity, additional graphical features and double the performance is a good start. Look at what you've got instead of what's missing.

Current-gen exclusives will be the norm by 2023, hopefully.

 

[RivalGT]

Dont most AAA games sell better on the newer systems... Most if not all crossgen games started life on PS4, so they are PS4 games, the games being on PS5 can be seen as a bonus.

The hardware being similar is also likely a reason why PS4 games are now on PS5, this wasn't the case PS3 to PS4, the PS4 never got games like GT6. It was the same with PS2 to PS3, the PS3 didnt get games like GOW2 at launch, they had to remaster the game years after it was out.

3rd party in this case were ahead, since working on multiple hardware became a big thing during the 7th gen consoles, engines were being built to work on more than 1 hardware, eventually they were built to scale down to make porting easier. Its likely the reason why 3rd party supported the PS3, and 360 longer than Sony and MS. Games like Killzone shadow fall, and Forza Motorsport 5 did not make it to the lastgen systems.

 

[inpHilltr8r]

Has anyone mentioned the pandemic and it's effect on development times of large projects that were well into production when it hit, yet?

 

[Joe White]

Yes, and it's truly great. There is zero, zilch, none PlayStation FOMO as long as our PS4 keep functioning.
Availability reduce waste.