Would you like to see more genre diversity at Playstation Studios?

[supernormal]

I think they should let their teams work on the projects they want and are passionate about. That's how we get those quality exclusives. Also, do people ONLY play exclusives or something? You've got tons of other great, amazing, games in varying genres available on the system.

 

[Deleted member 923]

To answer the question seriously though: yes. I want them to make a fighting game, specifically a Fate one. Lord knows TM won't get off their arses and do anything and I want that fighter. Also more multiplayer games in general. Bring back SOCOM, Warhawk and Resistance.

Nintendo is all anime games now.

Zelda
Fire Emblem
Xenoblade
Pokémon
Astral Chain
Animal Crossing(has an anime movie!)
Mario(had an anime movie!)
Tokyo Mirage Sessions
ARMs(Tezuka style Anime)

Even when they publish third party games
Dragon Quest
Daemon X Machina
Bravely Default

ALL ANIME

Spoiler

AND IT'S GLORIOUS

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That's why Nintendo stays winning!

 

[Mass_Pincup]

To answer the question seriously though: yes. I want them to make a fighting game, specifically a Fate one. Lord knows TM won't get off their arses and do anything and I want that fighter. Also more multiplayer games in general. Bring back SOCOM, Warhawk and Resistance.

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Seeing Playstation announce a big budget Fate game would be so funny.

 

[GarthLordOfTheSith]

Yes. I'd especially like to see Sony bring back their JRPG's. Also a new game with a similar setting as Resistence would be nice. Or even a reboot of resistance.

 

[learning]

I think they should let their teams work on the projects they want and are passionate about. That's how we get those quality exclusives. Also, do people ONLY play exclusives or something? You've got tons of other great, amazing, games in varying genres available on the system.

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For me, I like Naughty Dog for instance. I am really interested in what they would deliver if put on an unfamiliar genre/project. It would be great to see that talent work on a new problem! Or maybe they take one of their existing franchises as a springboard to give them the groundwork and fan support if risk is a concern. Imagine getting another game as influential as Uncharted 2 but with a completely new genre/approach. That sounds exciting to me! :)

 

[Terraforce]

I agree. I didn't mean to imply that NaughtyDog should make it but more that I'd love for them work on something new

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Agreed. Even if they went back to Jak, it'd be nice to see them work on a smaller or a title different from their usual style.

Honestly a lot of the genre diversity across the board topics like this one seem ill informed to me. What would be a better topic of discussion would be genre diversity within specific studios. What Sucker Punch is doing with Ghosts is along the lines of what I'd like to see. Give me interesting new directions from Naughty Dog and Santa Monica.

 

[TheRulingRing]

Hell yes I do.

I want more first person and more multiplayer games from their tentpole exclusives.

People will inevitably point to some one off or smaller games to say "see Sony does this" but I want them to be AAA games that have their full might of resources.

 

[Windrunner]

Oops, how did I forgot that? I always think of shooters when I read FPS.

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It's okay, I will never object to anyone interjecting with some love for Spec Ops The Line.

 

[Eggman]

I always find it odd when people act like games are similar because they share a camera angle. GOW played nothing like Horizon or Spiderman or Ratchet or Uncharted, or GoT.

There is plenty of variety in their exclusives, sharing a camera angle doesn't make them similar. The only real alternative in AAA games is first person view.

The only thing I think they should make is another SOCOM. But really how many more multiplayer focused games do we need?

 

[Budi]

I am amazed this thread is even allowed, as its quite dishonest in its base. PlayStation 1, 2 , 3 were always about third party games, beside GT, most first party games were not even AAA games. The first big games sold what 4-5 million at best. And the games we are asking for now either bombed or sold poorly. Now that Sony have actually gotten some big time selling games this Generation, suddenly, they are all the same. This trolling notion is not new and it needs to stop.

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I mean look at the poll, you think over 70% of people giving their opinion are just trolling? And it's not like Era generally would be perceived to have animosity towards Sony. I think it's quite the contrary. Majority of people here are Playstation owners and most probably are pretty satisfied with their platform choice, but that doesn't mean they couldn't be hoping for more. Maybe they're FPS, RTS or JRPG fans etc.

 

[yurr]

Bring back Warhawk Sony. Can't stand how they completely gave up on MP focused games.

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Me too but I see why. The investment on MP is harder to justify these day when player pops just end up going back to their longtime favorites within months sometimes weeks.

 

[OutofMana]

I think their output has been pretty great, but I'm all for some of those studios trying something else. Guerilla went from FPS to third person action RPG.

 

[supernormal]

For me, I like Naughty Dog for instance. I am really interested in what they would deliver if put on an unfamiliar genre/project. It would be great to see that talent work on a new problem! Or maybe they take one of their existing franchises as a springboard to give them the groundwork and fan support if risk is a concern. Imagine getting another game as influential as Uncharted 2 but with a completely new genre/approach. That sounds exciting to me! :)

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That's what TLoU was to me. A new IP they wanted to work with. Maybe it doesn't "fit" because some people might see UC and TLoU as just two flavors of TPS, but they're totally different games and what they do have in common allows ND to flex their strengths. I don't think I'd ever want anything other than a shooter from Remedy because that's what they love making, and yet their last 3 games have been completely new IPs totally different from each other while still in the "same" genre.

 

[Oregano]

To answer the question seriously though: yes. I want them to make a fighting game, specifically a Fate one. Lord knows TM won't get off their arses and do anything and I want that fighter. Also more multiplayer games in general. Bring back SOCOM, Warhawk and Resistance.


That's why Nintendo stays winning!

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They really identified TALENT

 

[ClockworkOwl]

Eh, I'm not sure. I voted yes, but after reading some replies in this thread I'm starting to doubt myself.

First, let's make it clear that I skipped the PS4 and will likely skip the PS5 because I have no interest in the games that Sony develops or publishes. They're just not for me. Would I like Sony to make games more to my tastes like they did back in the PS1/PS2 era? Sure, but catering towards me probably isn't a good business move. Sony has an extremely large audience with critically acclaimed games that sell beyond well. Taking a studio off the next God of War or Horizon to make a new Arc the Lad is a waste of money. Maybe they could farm out some of their IPs to indie devs to round out their library, but there's little business incentive to do that.

 

[fiendcode]

But isn't Mario a spin-off from Donkey Kong?

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Yep. Also PlayStation's a Nintendo spinoff.

 

[DigSCCP]

That is technically what they are.

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In a reductive way ? Yes, it's.
Basically if you want to put that way every game that is not : first person, 2D, or platformer, strategy, turn based, sports and racing will fall into this category.
I mean technically you are not wrong but I fail to see how in a diversity discussion being reductive - when 3rd person adventure games can be so different and fit in so many different genres - at this point make any sense.
It would be the same if we put CoD, Metroid, Deus Ex and Fallout as games of the same genre because of its perspective. In this case actually they would be even closer since their combat is gun based while in the examples posted they are not remotely close...but we don't see people comparing these titles as of the same genre.
But ok if people want to be reductive just to "prove" a point why not, right ?

 

[Psrock1]

I mean look at the poll, you think over 70% of people giving their opinion are just trolling? And it's not like Era generally would be perceived to have animosity towards Sony. I think it's quite the contrary. Majority of people here are Playstation owners and most probably are pretty satisfied with their platform choice, but that doesn't mean they couldn't be hoping for more. Maybe they're FPS, RTS or JRPG fans etc.

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The idea the company that pushes VR like no other lacks diversity is hilarious. The narrative that all big AAA PS4 games are the same is false as well.

 

[Budi]

The idea the company that pushes VR like no other lacks diversity is hilarious. The narrative that all big AAA PS4 games are the same is false as well.

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So I guess you wouldn't like to see bit more genre diversity from Sony first party? Would you like to see less?

 

[learning]

That's what TLoU was to me. A new IP they wanted to work with. Maybe it doesn't "fit" because some people might see UC and TLoU as just two flavors of TPS, but they're totally different games and what they do have in common allows ND to flex their strengths. I don't think I'd ever want anything other than a shooter from Remedy because that's what they love making, and yet their last 3 games have been completely new IPs totally different from each other while still in the "same" genre.

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Cool! Sounds like their current strategy works for you! :)

 

[AAION]

They do plenty of "less hollywood stuff" people just conveniently ignore them.


This seems to imply there's a lot, so I don't see why you didn't just post what they are missing if that's the case.

Action, Adventure, Platforming, Music/Rhythm, Creator, Shooter, Sports, Puzzle, Fighting, Roguelike. I'm sure there may be some weird obscure genre they don't have under their belt but they do have a vast majority of them covered.

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Well, I was kinda having an internal debate because genre discussions are really messy. Keep in mind my list is limited to my own knowledge and not exhaustive. We can get into things like subgenres: we say JRPG as distinct from RPG - that would be missing from Sony's genre list we could include: CRPG, Tactics RPG/SRPG (Xcom family and Fire Emblem-esque respectively), MMORPG (Traditional like WoW and looter shooter style like Destiny). The monster hunter RPG like Pokemon, Monster Hunter, Digimon, Yokai Watch, TemTem could also be distinct. Things like sports are tricky too because if you're looking for genre diversity someone interested in football is not necessarily interested in hockey, or cricket, or whatever even if those would all be grouped under sports. It seems unfair to hold that against any publisher though. A more meaningful divide is between arcade sports games (Mario Strikers, NBA Jam, extreme sports games like Tony Hawk and SSX) and more sim sports games (MLB The Show, Madden). Since SingStar is dead we can say rhythm games.

Theres also a bunch of genres that have a more PC origin that aren't represented. Sim games, which cover a WIDE variety of things between all the theme park sims, various job sims like Euro Truck Simulator and Football Manager, and weird things you can't really place like Kerbal Space Program. The whole survival sim thing that's big now like The Long Dark and The Forest. Immersive sims like Deus Ex and Prey. 4X games like Civilization and Stellaris. RTS games. Stealth games (as opposed to games with stealth in them). Deck builders. MOBAs. Battle Royales (some don't consider this a genre though). Visual novels (you could count David Cage games here, but those are more adventure imo). Some games are difficult to classify- there's been this rise in factory games like Factorio and Space Engineer. The puzzle game genre is huge as well, but I'm not well versed in it.

That's about all I can think of, and I'm sure its only a fraction. Though I did get pretty granular, I wouldn't say any of these genres are particularly obscure like something like geoguesser. A quick peak at Steam's top 100 games shows a diversity far greater than any publisher out there and shows how successful these weird obscure genres can be.

edit: shit I forgot about ARPGs, autochess, and metroidvanias.

 

[Deleted member 16908]

They are all in 3rd person and you go on an adventure in them, that means they're 3rd person adventure games it is known.

(Also outside of my tongue in cheek response a metroidvania is definitely an action/adventure game).

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I never thought of it that way, but you're right. Metroidvanias are totally action/adventure games. The adventure is in unraveling the map.

 

[Psrock1]

So I guess you wouldn't like to see bit more genre diversity from Sony first party? Would you like to see less?

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What makes the PS4 so special is the software support, it literally has everything and most are affordable too. I have never had so many games. I can't think of a genre its nissing really, maybe a game like halo wars. great game.

 

[BrunOz]

yeah, Sony should make a new Bloody Roar.

 

[Gay Bowser]

I think they should let their teams work on the projects they want and are passionate about. That's how we get those quality exclusives.

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I don't understand how people keep setting this up as a false dichotomy between genre diversity and "letting the teams work on what they want." Those aren't mutually exclusive.

It's also surprising to see so many people uncritically adopt Sony's marketing message as gospel. I mean, it's truly extraordinary how often "what the developers are passionate about" lines up with "established IP that Sony thinks will sell."

And, to top it all off, we have this transparent dodge:

Also, do people ONLY play exclusives or something? You've got tons of other great, amazing, games in varying genres available on the system.

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"Sony's output is just fine! And even if it's not fine, it doesn't really matter because third parties!"

I swear to god, y'all, Sony can handle a little criticism. This is not the first thread we've had like this, it will not be the last, and the poll seems to indicate that there maybe is something to the idea that Sony could stand to spread their wings and explore increasing the variety in their output. They can certainly afford to.

It's okay to want things from the companies that we pay to provide us with entertainment. We can have expectations.

 

[More Human than Human]

I think they already have plenty variety, very few of their games play the same.

 

[WordsAndDreams]

I totally agree that Sony hasn't given some of their games the best chance to succeed, but their whole philosophy is based on diversity, which is what always makes these threads and conversations so frustrating. Because it's always, "Well VR doesn't count", or "I don't like sports/racing games", or "Indie/AA don't sell enough to matter", or some other reason to dismiss specific games someone doesn't like. But to me, that just proves how diverse Sony's games are because for most people only a fraction of Sony's lineup appeals to them. Not because the others are bad, but because they're constantly trying to make things for different audiences and tastes.

This wide net, unfortunately, is both their greatest strength and weakness. Generation after generation Sony has proved they aren't afraid to let IP end or go on hiatus so they can focus on completely new things. But that also means there's a constant stream of people wanting the old thing over the new thing, that is until the new thing becomes the old thing and we add it to the stack of games people say Sony has forgotten about.

Someone is always bringing up how Sony used to be great with games like Siren, or Jak, or The Puppeteer, and I guarantee people will do the same with stuff like Concrete Genie and Gravity Rush next-gen. But those wouldn't exist in the first place for people to hold on to so dearly if Sony wasn't committed to funding new ideas, which to me is the definition of diversity in video games. If Guerilla just kept making Killzone, we wouldn't have gotten Horizon. And one-day Horizon will end for something else. Maybe it will be an MP shooter and fans of that genre will be happy. Just be prepared for a group then lamenting how Guerilla is being wasted on doing another shooter.

Also, shout-out to Everybody's Golf and Blood & Truth, we didn't deserve you.

 

[arbitrary function]

I'm far more interested in their output like Parappa the Rapper over the endless "I'm a man and I have a gun and we think we're hollywood" games

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Preach.

 

[WhtR88t]

If it would mean getting less of what we've been getting then no. I want to see the sequels to God of War, Horizon and Days Gone.

If it can be done without the expense of continuing their current output then sure, more games and variety the better.

 

[Chaystic]

I think they already have plenty variety, very few of their games play the same.

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This.

 

[Terraforce]

Well, I was kinda having an internal debate because genre discussions are really messy. Keep in mind my list is limited to my own knowledge and not exhaustive. We can get into things like subgenres: we say JRPG as distinct from RPG - that would be missing from Sony's genre list we could include: CRPG, Tactics RPG/SRPG (Xcom family and Fire Emblem-esque respectively), MMORPG (Traditional like WoW and looter shooter style like Destiny). The monster hunter RPG like Pokemon, Monster Hunter, Digimon, Yokai Watch, TemTem could also be distinct. Things like sports are tricky too because if you're looking for genre diversity someone interested in football is not necessarily interested in hockey, or cricket, or whatever even if those would all be grouped under sports. It seems unfair to hold that against any publisher though. A more meaningful divide is between arcade sports games (Mario Strikers, NBA Jam, extreme sports games like Tony Hawk and SSX) and more sim sports games (MLB The Show, Madden). Since SingStar is dead we can say rhythm games.

Theres also a bunch of genres that have a more PC origin that aren't represented. Sim games, which cover a WIDE variety of things between all the theme park sims, various job sims like Euro Truck Simulator and Football Manager, and weird things you can't really place like Kerbal Space Program. The whole survival sim thing that's big now like The Long Dark and The Forest. Immersive sims like Deus Ex and Prey. 4X games like Civilization and Stellaris. RTS games. Stealth games (as opposed to games with stealth in them). Deck builders. MOBAs. Battle Royales (some don't consider this a genre though). Visual novels (you could count David Cage games here, but those are more adventure imo). Some games are difficult to classify- there's been this rise in factory games like Factorio and Space Engineer. The puzzle game genre is huge as well, but I'm not well versed in it.

That's about all I can think of, and I'm sure its only a fraction. Though I did get pretty granular, I wouldn't say any of these genres are particularly obscure. A quick peak at Steam's top 100 games shows a diversity far greater than any publisher out there and shows how successful these weird obscure genres can be.

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It's always going to get into really dicey territory when you bring up subgenres. Obviously no publisher in existence will ever cover every single subgenre. That's not what I meant when I said they covered every genre because that would be impossible.

Although tbf even of the genre you did list, First party developed and published PSVR titles cover a good number of those.

 

[ClickyCal']

I don't understand how people keep setting this up as a false dichotomy between genre diversity and "letting the teams work on what they want." Those aren't mutually exclusive.

It's also surprising to see so many people uncritically adopt Sony's marketing message as gospel. I mean, it's truly extraordinary how often "what the developers are passionate about" lines up with "established IP that Sony thinks will sell."

And, to top it all off, we have this transparent dodge:



"Sony's output is just fine! And even if it's not fine, it doesn't really matter because third parties!"

I swear to god, y'all, Sony can handle a little criticism. This is not the first thread we've had like this, it will not be the last, and the poll seems to indicate that there maybe is something to the idea that Sony could stand to spread their wings and explore increasing the variety in their output. They can certainly afford to.

It's okay to want things from the companies that we pay to provide us with entertainment. We can have expectations.

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All of the teams behind the big aaa games are passionate and want to work on them. None of these games are mandates at all.

 

[twdnewh]

For sure. Can't blame them though, cause their games are selling.

 

[Gay Bowser]

All of the teams behind the big aaa games are passionate and want to work on them. None of these games are mandates at all.

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They're literally forming a new studio for the express purpose of continuing Uncharted.

But sure, I'm sure U5 wasn't a mandate and that new studio could have potentially made a JRPG or something.

 

[Deluxera]

Fortunately I am not like most of you and I am actually allowed to play other games than Sony first-party, so this question doesn't matter to me.

Also people stil don't get that the purpose of first-party game is to sell systems. Sony is not there to cater to each specific niche but to make stuff that appeals to the general mainstream audience.

 

[ClickyCal']

They're literally forming a new studio for the express purpose of continuing Uncharted.

But sure, I'm sure U5 wasn't a mandate and that new studio could have potentially made a JRPG or something.

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That is just making assumptions of details we don't know at all yet.

 

[ApeEscaper]

We need platformers back it's near non existant from them nowadays

Knack doesn't count and Astro Bot is exclusive to PSVR not many PS players can play it

Also Forza Horizon similar game should be made

 

[Kamaros]

Isnt sony the most diverse publisher today?

 

[Dyle]

I think they'd benefit a lot from having more multiplayer or service games. They were much better about it last generation and I think it was a major factor in the PS3's late generation success

 

[DigSCCP]

They're literally forming a new studio for the express purpose of continuing Uncharted.

But sure, I'm sure U5 wasn't a mandate and that new studio could have potentially made a JRPG or something.

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To try to stand a point you had to make an assumption based on absolutely nothing and that ironically it's a common practice at basically every big publisher except Sony.

 

[Jade1962]

I don't understand why Sony or any company needs to make "x" game or genre? Developers should make the games they want to make. To me it's like asking Drake to sing opera. There is no shortage of games in every genre outside of sports games that require licenses. Find the developer and publisher that best suits your needs as a player.

 

[Hideo GOATjima]

Yep, Until Dawn, Detroit Become Human, Ratchet and Clank, Knack (yes seriously) were some of my favorite sony exclusives this past gen

I'm checked out from Sony 1st party atm, bored of the blockbuster cinematic Third person games, which is weird to say as I was hyped as hell for TLOU back in 2013 haha.

Some guy on here described Sony first party as having a pipeline for these games with just a different aesthetic and I have to say I agree

But tbqh though, Sony third party exclusives have been what I traditionally expect from them, stuff like P5 and SFV is why I get PS consoles. First party exclusives is why I get Nintendo

 

[WordsAndDreams]

They're literally forming a new studio for the express purpose of continuing Uncharted.

But sure, I'm sure U5 wasn't a mandate and that new studio could have potentially made a JRPG or something.

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We have no real information on what that studio is working on. Some people think it's Uncharted, but that's purely speculation.

Regardless, Quentin Cobb is supposedly running that studio, and he previously worked on Uncharted at ND. I doubt he doesn't have passion for that series.

 

[Ser Ignatius]

They could use some more diversity in the aaa sphere but I do give them big props for putting out probably the most unique ip of the gen with Dreams.

 

[AAION]

It's always going to get into really dicey territory when you bring up subgenres. Obviously no publisher in existence will ever cover every single subgenre. That's not what I meant when I said they covered every genre because that would be impossible.

Although tbf even of the genre you did list, First party developed and published PSVR titles cover a good number of those.

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To me the hard part is where do you say something is a subgenre or its own genre. When we're talking about diversity things can be vastly different even within the same genre. Anyways, this is where I'm going to have to ask for a list from you, because I don't see where first party titles cover a good number of the genres I mentioned, especially the more PC categories. They certainly don't cover enough to say that JRPGs are the only genre missing

 

[| TrusT |]

I have no plans to pick up a PS5 because the last four-five years have been dominated by third person open world narrative driven games. Not something I care for.

Let's hope the reputed show in June has more diversity.

 

[Agent X]

I voted "yes" in the poll, for the reason that more diversity is always welcome. I can't fathom why anyone should vote "no" here.

That said, I feel that Sony is already one of the most diverse game publishers out there, and their quality is generally high as well. There's always room for even greater improvement...thus the reason for the "yes" vote.

Eeeeh, take out VR and PS Network projects that they publish and their output is by far the least diverse of the big 3.

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Uh...wow, now that is some serious stretching.

"Yeah, let's just eliminate their entire VR slate, and all their smaller-scale downloadable games, and now they don't look so 'diverse' anymore."

I've seen other similar sentiments in this thread.. Some people want to downplay niche games, VR games, or any games that aren't full-priced AAA blockbusters...as if those games don't really count. The fact that Sony gives the green light to so many of these games with different scope and scale is actually proof of their diversity.

 

[KrigareN-]

A Sony JRPG could probably do at least 5 million units.

IDK what they're doing.

 

[poklane]

Really the only genre I want from Sony that we're currently not getting is a kart racer.

 

[nachum00]

bring back Tomba