PlayStation has lost the whimsy in its published titles and I have the data to prove it

[PeakPointMatrix]

Cross checked with my whimsy meter and your chart checks out. Good job OP and agreed.

Anyone who gets angry at this thread needs help (and more whimsy).

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This will be a 20 page thread with people console warrioring by page 5 bet.

edit: just saw how many pages this thread after posting.

 

[Mass Effect]

it's true, which is why they are publishing this

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this game is never coming out :(

 

[Magic Mushroom]

I think Naughty Dog was a lot more fun in the PS3 era than they are today.

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Yeah, The Last of Us was a hoot!

Critiquing games is part of being an enthusiast. lol

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There's critiquing and being overtly negative. Seems some people rather bitch about games than play them.

 

[Mr. RPG]

Whimsy don't make money unless you're Nintendo. Sony finally learning.

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The amount of whimsical games peaked during the PS2 era though.

The market for these games has been dwindling for years. The PS3 era was the last one where these types of games thrived.

People's tastes have changed. I fucking loved Gravity Rush but there's only so many of us who care about these games anymore.

 

[Rowsdower]

Clearly we need Uncharted 5 to solve the whimsy problem.

Also more Astrobot.

 

[Mr. RPG]

Clearly we need Uncharted 5 to solve the whimsy problem.

Also more Astrobot.

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I'd love an Uncharted 5. :(

I'm still waiting.

 

[crimsonECHIDNA]

So where does Spider-Man fall within this data?
I feel like there are valid arguments for putting Spidey in both the whimsical and serious categories.

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Spider-Man? More like Sad Dad-Man!

 

[Liam Allen-Miller]

I can't speak for Oreshika so I will look into that as part of revisions.

Soul Sacrifice though is about fighting pain monsters with blood bullets and muscle swords.

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It's dark, for sure! But I think whimsical, too! You can visit a town made of cookies and fight Red Riding Hood!

Sony's whimsy died with Japan Studios.

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Ain't that the truth. :(

 

[sn00zer]

He does.

This thread is a really high effort shitpost from Sn00zer, and I love it for that.

Even if there is a grain of truth about mascot/comedy games becoming less popular overall.

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Me, shitpost? How dare thee sire. This investigation was taken on with the exact level of effort it deserved.

So where does Spider-Man fall within this data?
I feel like there are valid arguments for putting Spidey in both the whimsical and serious categories.

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Spiderman, no....Miles....maybe.

 

[Sparkedglory2]

Sounds like a problem of not having JapanStudio anymore

 

[Mechaplum]

I love how many people are trying to take this seriously.

Anyway, there's a graph so I'm convinced. If there isn't a 50+% chance of whimsy in the next showcase I'm selling my PS5 and cancelling Bloodborne. The game industry needs *balance*.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

What I used to really enjoy about PlayStation was that there was a mix. You had your big Uncharteds, Last of Us, Killzones, etc., but there were also weird, off-beat, sometimes even boutique titles to help give a balance. I've definitely been lamenting the lack of the latter in recent years.

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Yup. The grim, violent, miserable stuff only works for me if there's other stuff to counterbalance it. And I'm genuinely really tired of villain protagonists and grim, mean antihero types. I miss the days when Sony actually cared about putting some charm in their games. Now there's just Spidey, and Spidey can't hold the entire publisher up by himself.

 

[onpoint]

I'm not looking for a debate so we're all good there. Miles Morales can be one of those gray areas where times of it are and times of it aren't.

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I didn't mean debate with you sorry, I just meant the premise of the thread in general

 

[SilentObserver]

Me, shitpost? How dare thee sire. This investigation was taken on with the exact level of effort it deserved.

Spiderman, no....Miles....maybe.

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You think Miles is more whimsical than Peter?.......
Imma need you to expand on that line of thinking 🤔

 

[knightmawk]

Games as a whole should be weirder. I wanna feel amazed less than I feel emotionally battered. Hopefully Media Molecule and Asobi are still up to that task, RIP Pixelopus.

I understand why Playstation is making more Last of Us's and fewer Gravity Rush's, if you're winning why change your techniques, but still. More weirdos. God Bless Sony for putting a boot to Xboxs neck and creating a world where a trillion dollar company will back games like Pentiment and HiFi Rush. Silver linings.

Now I just need Pentiment and HiFi Rush to sell 10 million copies each and then Sony will go "Huh shit, maybe we should try that. Neil, we need a game about puppets. Whole game, puppets everything is puppets. Strings? No, that's a marrionete, we want puppets. Glove, rod, finger, your choice. All though, now that you mention it. Cory, we need a game about marionettes."

 

[Mr. RPG]

Games as a whole should be weirder. I wanna feel amazed less than I feel emotionally battered. Hopefully Media Molecule and Asobi are still up to that task, RIP Pixelopus.

I understand why Playstation is making more Last of Us's and fewer Gravity Rush's, if you're winning why change your techniques, but still. More weirdos. God Bless Sony for putting a boot to Xboxs neck and creating a world where a trillion dollar company will back games like Pentiment and HiFi Rush. Silver linings.

Now I just need Pentiment and HiFi Rush to sell 10 million copies each and then Sony will go "Huh shit, maybe we should try that. Neil, we need a game about puppets. Whole game, puppets everything is puppets. Strings? No, that's a marrionete, we want puppets. Glove, rod, finger, your choice. All though, now that you mention it. Cory, we need a game about marionettes."

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It has nothing to do with winning. The market for these games is just isn't there anymore.

 

[LightKiosk]

I didn't mean debate with you sorry, I just meant the premise of the thread in general

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No worries, my bad if I misunderstood you.

 

[Condwiramurs]

fuck yes, weekend era in full effect

 

[aidangs]

I will never forgive them for how dirty they did Gravity Rush.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I will never forgive them for how dirty they did Gravity Rush.

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Honestly I think Gravity Rush got more chances than a LOT of Sony franchises. They tried plenty hard, people just weren't into the concept.

Meanwhile Folklore got exactly one game, way too early in the PS3's lifespan to ever sell any copies, and they never tried again when sales picked up.

 

[Dolce]

gaming has been stuck in an eternal fight to be seen as "mature" for a long times and liking things for childran is BABBY

 

[texhnolyze]

It has nothing to do with winning. The market for these games is just isn't there anymore.

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When did Nintendo stop making whimsical games? And how about those indie and AA games released every week/month?

 

[sn00zer]

You think Miles is more whimsical than Peter?.......
Imma need you to expand on that line of thinking 🤔

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Miles game ends on a Kingdom Hearts esque final battle, is set during Christmas and has a spidercat. Nothing to do with the character specifically. Also both are currently in the no category but there have been questions in this thread about that game specifically.

 

[LightKiosk]

I will never forgive them for how dirty they did Gravity Rush.

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Gravity Rush is getting a movie as of last August. If any game has a chance of getting revived it's probably that one given they're reportedly reviving Twisted Metal as well to go with the show.

 

[Minions]

Can't say Y/N on Whimsy without defining Whimsy. This study is flawed. Time to form another graduate study.

 

[fiendcode]

Can't say Y/N on Whimsy without defining Whimsy. This study is flawed. Time to form another graduate study.

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It's like art or porn. You know it when you see it.

 

[Son of Sparda]

Honestly I think Gravity Rush got more chances than a LOT of Sony franchises. They tried plenty hard, people just weren't into the concept.

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I mean, they barely promoted GR2, even within their own conferences/showcases. It would've been a surprise if that game managed to sell well after how non-existent its marketing was tbh.

SE and Sega pulled a similar move for NEO:TWEWY and VC4 respectively and those games bombed as well. You can't just drop a full price game with barely any marketing and expect it to become a hit.

Not to mention that GR2 was released very close to RE7, Horizon Zero Dawn, Breath of the Wild and Nier Automata.

 

[St. Elmo's Fire]

.....its the whimsy.

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[HMS_Pinafore]

Digital foundry need to add a whimsy meter to their reviews.

 

[fiendcode]

I mean, they barely promoted GR2, even within their own conferences/showcases. It would've been a surprise if that game managed to sell well after how non-existent its marketing was tbh.

SE and Sega pulled a similar move for NEO:TWEWY and VC4 respectively and those games bombed as well. You can't just drop a full price game with barely any marketing and expect it to become a hit.

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VC4 crawled to a million at least. It didn't totally megabomba like Sakura Wars right after.

Digital foundry need to add a whimsy meter to their reviews.

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I'd also appreciate some funshading analysis.

 

[Son of Sparda]

VC4 crawled to a million at least. It didn't totally megabomba like Sakura Wars right after.

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Yea, they totally butchered Sakura Wars in comparison.

Man, thinking about VC4 just makes me frustrated. They released that game in the same month as Spider-Man and Dragon Quest 11 with barely any marketing and then went shocked Pikachu when it didn't sell. Sigh.

 

[St. Elmo's Fire]

I mean, they barely promoted GR2, even within their own conferences/showcases. It would've been a surprise if that game managed to sell well after how non-existent its marketing was tbh.

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Gravity Rush didn't sell well because it was Gravity Rush.
I like the game but it's niche af. It got the marketing it deserved. Trailers, blog posts and more. It was the game. Not the marketing. Xenoblade Chronicles has the hype and power of the Switch, Nintendo and the Nintendo fanbase behind it. And the games still only sell 2-3 million copies. And XC games are way less niche than Gravity Rush. You can give Gravity Rush 2 the marketing budget of Ghost of Tsushima and it still wouldn't sell 1+ million.

 

[Mechaplum]

Digital foundry need to add a whimsy meter to their reviews.

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Yeah, I can see it alongside their frametime meters and the graphs goes up and down according to the footage.

 

[knightmawk]

It has nothing to do with winning. The market for these games is just isn't there anymore.

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Winning wasn't the right word, fine. Why make something that only a few diehard fans want when Last of Us and Horizon are printing money? Is that better?

 

[SilentObserver]

I wonder how many people in this thread are aware that Sony is currently making a Gravity Rush movie.
Like, they clearly have plans for the IP.

 

[Son of Sparda]

Gravity Rush didn't sell well because it was Gravity Rush.
I like the game but it's niche af. It got the marketing it deserved. Trailers, blog posts and more. It was the game. Not the marketing. Xenoblade Chronicles has the hype and power of the Switch, Nintendo and the Nintendo fanbase behind it. And the games still only sell 2-3 million copies. And XC games are way less niche than Gravity Rush. You can give Gravity Rush 2 the marketing budget of Ghost of Tsushima and it still wouldn't sell 1+ million.

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I honestly disagree. The fact that Sony didn't even show a trailer for the game in their E3 press conference should speak volumes to GR's marketing. Hell, even 2 years after GR2's release, people couldn't tell who Kat was in a Paris Games Week contest:

View: https://twitter.com/GravRushCentral/status/1189636754933981184

So it's less that people didn't care for GR and more that they didn't even know GR was a thing.

 

[B-Dubs]

Can't say Y/N on Whimsy without defining Whimsy. This study is flawed. Time to form another graduate study.

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Sly Cooper had whimsy.

 

[Kaiserstarky]

I mean, they barely promoted GR2, even within their own conferences/showcases. It would've been a surprise if that game managed to sell well after how non-existent its marketing was tbh.

SE and Sega pulled a similar move for NEO:TWEWY and VC4 respectively and those games bombed as well. You can't just drop a full price game with barely any marketing and expect it to become a hit.

Not to mention that GR2 was released very close to RE7, Horizon Zero Dawn, Breath of the Wild and Nier Automata.

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There was a trailer for Gravity Rush 2 in the PlayStation Showcase at PGW 2015.

And it's not really a big surprise that the peoples who go to the PGW didn't know a game like Gravity Rush.

 

[HMS_Pinafore]

Yeah, I can see it alongside their frametime meters and the graphs goes up and down according to the footage.

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Horizon Forbidden West frequently drops down to 15 WPS. Sony, sort your shit out!

 

[St. Elmo's Fire]

I honestly disagree. The fact that Sony didn't even show a trailer for the game in their E3 press conference should speak volumes to GR's marketing. Hell, even 2 years after GR2's release, people couldn't tell who Kat was in a Paris Games Week contest:

View: https://twitter.com/GravRushCentral/status/1189636754933981184
So it's less that people didn't care for GR and more that they didn't even know GR was a thing.

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Yeah I have seen this. It's because no one bought it. It's a niche game.
Ask casual gamers who "Noah" is. They will think you're talking about the guy in the bible.

 

[NediarPT88]

It's ok, their new GAAS will have plenty of whimsy paid cosmetics.

 

[sn00zer]

I mean, I guess racing is a sports genre, but I don't think most people think of it that way. GT7 is undoubtedly a whimsical game, tell me any other racing game where you progress through the campaign by completing requests from a cafe?

And the Crash segment alone in UC4 makes it whimsical.

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This is interesting in regards to GT7 will consider it for reevaluation.

 

[Modest_Modsoul]

They could force a new whimsical game of Knack 3 when Cerny threatened not making PS6 if no Knack 3.

 

[Mechaplum]

Horizon Forbidden West frequently drops down to 15 WPS. Sony, sort your shit out!

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Last of Us 2 goes into the negative. "This is sad." John quips. Alex zooms into what amounts to a clicker's face. "I don't think DLSS 3 can fix this."

 

[sn00zer]

Ok so some potential changes incoming:
Wipeout series- will be changed to whimsical, aligning with classification of Jet Moto games
Tekken- 1 and 2 will be swapped to whimsical. Debating on Dark Resurrection as it is not clear how serious it is taking itself.
Gran Turismo 7- changed to whimsical due to cafe being primary mechanism for story progression
Twisted Metal PS3- Was accidentally deleted, will be included as whimsical. Black will remain not whimsical.
Motorstorm Apocalypse will be changed to whimsical.
Spiderman and Miles Morales will be kept as not whimsical.
Jak 2 and Jak X will remain not whimsical.
The Last of Us 2 will remain not whimsical and I advise those who think otherwise to use Google.

 

[Son of Sparda]

Yeah I have seen this. It's because no one bought it. It's a niche game.
Ask casual gamers who "Noah" is. They will think you're talking about the guy in the bible.

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If you show a group of casual Nintendo fans a picture of Xenoblade protagonists I bet at least a couple of them would be able to tell you which franchise this pic belongs to.

GR and Xenoblade weren't treated the same way marketing wise by their respective publishing company to begin with, so I'm not sure why you are making that comparison. When did GR2 close a massive Sony event? Because Xenoblade 3's announcement trailer was the final reveal for Nintendo's big February direct. Not to mention the fact that Nintendo did a big dedicated direct for Xenoblade 3 before its release.

One of these franchises is actually marketed well and has managed to find its own niche, while the other one has barely gotten any marketing.

 

[datwr]

Arbitrary changing some sport games to whimsical is just whimsical in itself.
Considering that all sports are whimsical anyway, why not just include them all?

 

[sn00zer]

Arbitrary changing some sport games to whimsical is just whimsical in itself.
Considering that all sports are whimsical anyway, why not just include them all?

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No.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

I miss Japan Studio so much. :(

 

[St. Elmo's Fire]

If you show a group of casual Nintendo fans a picture of Xenoblade protagonists I bet at least a couple of them would be able to tell you which franchise this pic belongs to.

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Because Xenoblade sold a little bit more. Because it's less niche than Gravity Rush. Still niche though.

GR and Xenoblade weren't treated the same way marketing wise by their respective publishing company to begin with, so I'm not sure why you are making that comparison.

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Because it's less niche than Gravity Rush (still niche though) got more marketing than Gravity Rush, has the hype and power behind Nintendo and the Switch behind it and XB3 will still only sell 2-3 million copies ltd.
Gravity Rush didn't sell because it's Gravity Rush. Give it the budget of the Ghost of Tsushima marketing and it will still sell like Gravity Rush.

When did GR2 close a massive Sony event? Because Xenoblade 3's announcement trailer was the final reveal for Nintendo's big February direct. Not to mention the fact that Nintendo did a big dedicated direct for Xenoblade 3 before its release.

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And XB3 still sold less than 2 million copies.

One of these franchises is actually marketed well and has managed to find its own niche, while the other one has barely gotten any marketing.

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You're right. XC3 is marketed well and has the hype of being a Nintendo 1st party game. And it's fighting to sell 2 million copies.
The marketing wasn't the issue for Gravity Rush. It's being Gravity Rush. My girlfriend tried to play Gravity Rush for 10 minutes. She likes anime and japanese games. She played 10 minutes and then dropped it because controlling the Gravity Queen felt like shit. The lack of marketing didn't doom Gravity Rush. The lack of PS5/PC ports didn't doom Dreams. Being Gravity Rush and Dreams doomed Gravity Rush and Dreams.