EpicRandy said:
True, for me, Ryan has done a respectable job all around, some might have felt disconnected from him since he doesn't really carry the gamer persona but I think he did what he had to do when he had to do it. The only actual caveat was all the faux concerns and blatant hypocritical position he displayed with the MS ABK acquisition, even though I understand why he did so it was still a petty show all around. Other than that there's no denying he achieved the goals he sought for PS5. IMO he even successfully positioned the PS5 to be able to entrench the classical approach to selling games one more gen rather than having to embrace an early switch to a less profitable (short-term) day-and-date release on subscription service strategy. And that's no easy feat when your main competitor is trying to change the very definition of success in this industry to just that. The only way he had to pull it off was to sell as many ps5 as possible early on and so he did even if it meant discounting the PS5 all the while it was still selling at a record pace by all industry standards. However, despite the fact he succeeded in doing so, I think a flip to day-and-date release in the subscription is unavoidable and will happen sooner or later and there's no denying that by entrenching a classical approach Playstation has left MS with a huge lead on this front. This may have the unfortunate consequence that Ryan's works may also be viewed as a hit on short-term profitability with limited ROI potential over the longer game and, as a consequence, having to heavily invest to catch up with the competition in this metric when they do finally flip. Now add the effect of ABK for MS and this future is pretty much guaranteed and should be quite obvious even to Sony BoD. If that's the case I think It might be a reason for his departure, don't think he was forced out in any way, he probably felt like his direction up to now might not be seen in the same light as before so he'll leave while at the top of his game. |
I do agree that with the ABK acquisition, he had to play a certain role. The thing is, a strong MS is a pain in the ass for Sony as they really do not want MS to be able to start to dictate the market. ABK makes MS much stronger and thus a pain to deal with if they gain any traction. You can tell by the initial email from Jim that they realized pretty quick what this move by MS was but once he sniffed push back from regulators, well he either had to embrace it to stop the merger or sit by and deal with the fallout.
As for day one release of First party games, yes the industry will go to that model but as long as Sony can keep a decent marketshare above MS, they will not have to move to that model for some time I believe. MS has to make up a lot of head way. I believe they need consistent AAA content from their studios that cannot miss like Redfall. At least 2 solid years and a significant gain in subs. Sony is not on the same level as MS when it comes to P&L on their server platforms and thus its just a more expensive investment for Sony.
