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Shaunodon on 10 April 2021
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Dallinor said:
Shaunodon said:

The success of those titles is moreso linked to the success of the system. All the people that bought in to the mass hype campaign during the early years of the PS4 needed something to play eventually.

It's much like how the unprecendented success of new series entries for Nintendo on the Switch are closely tied to the booming success of the system. Even Pokemon Sw/Sh which had minimal effort put in and I'm assuming a reasonably low budget to match, is still going to end up as one of the best-selling games in the series.

Absurd productions costs are just a by-product of the current industry 'standards', mostly for the higher-specced systems, but hardly any of that equates to higher quality titles outside of technical aspects. Almost all the highest-selling exclusives for the current and likely next generation will be Nintendo titles and their production costs are nowhere as absurd.

Sony's philosophy for console manufacturing and game distribution has helped mold the current market. If anything, they've recently been leading the charge in making the industry more forumlated to a specific standard, because that's exactly what they've done with their recent console designs and associated services. Everything about their transition from the PS4 to PS5 reeks of it. They're likely already planning out the ideal time to move on to PS6 while watching for what little things they could've done better this time, but there won't be any thoughts of great risk or innovation until they're absolutely forced to. When Gamepass becomes a serious enough threat to challenge their market share, that's when they'll consider rolling out a truly competetive service to match becaue that's how they operate.

You'd think so, but:

For example:

Best selling Uncharted on PS3- 7.8% of PS3 owners own.

Best Selling Uncharted on PS4- 12% of PS4 owners own.

Best selling GOW on PS3- 5.5% of PS3 owners own.

Best selling GOW on PS4- 17.3% of PS4 owners own.

The reality is, outside of pure hardware growth the software is also showing massive growth. In terms of critical success, they've also now been consistently hitting GOTY contenders year after year.

GOW PS4 has sold almost half the entire series total, on just one platform.

Sony establishing themselves as a premier publisher, releasing some of the most polished and best games in the industry likely played a much bigger role than the notion of some unquantifiable hype campaign created by a software drought.

The PS5 has an unusual design, nothing like the PS4 when they went for off the shelf PC parts and played it very safe in the wake of the PS3 fiasco. It's far more customized and alien that the design of the Xbox. They invested in SSD and controller tech over raw power, and despite lower specs it seems to be punching above its weight. They take plenty of hardware, software and service risks. 

If they waited until Gamepass 'challenged' their market share without adjusting their services, it would be too late.

Of course they're planning their move to the PS6, we know they begin R&D immediately after each console launches. If Sony are good at one thing, it's timing.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons will have outsold every other AC game within the year, yet I don't believe it's considered the clear-cut best game in the series.

That software drought, particularly of Sony published exclusives is helping contribute to those high concentration of sales in fewer games. PS3 had two original GoW games plus two remastered collections while PS4 has managed half. That plus the change of direction and gameplay for GoW on PS4 helped it appeal more to the mainstream, being more of a 'blockbuster' title.

Again though, as you've said there were less exclusives being put out compared to PS3, but with more systems being sold and more owners they would naturally be more highly concentrated; Uncharted 4 never had to compete with two other original games in the series potentially cannibalising sales. And without as much variety or choice for owners in general, they would naturally have to flock to the games that are most recommended.

But that lack of choice and variety for personal preferences is why so many people are becoming vocal about the direction of PS lately. Especially when many of their blockbuster titles feel derivative.