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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Is 2021 Sony's Worst Year, First Party Wise, in the past decade?

LurkerJ on 02 September 2021

And it’s the year I bought a PS5 after skipping on the PS4/Xbone entirely. Releases like remastered Ghost and FF7Ri do matter for some, believe it or not.



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KLXVER on 02 September 2021

Yeah, its been a slow year for sure.



PotentHerbs on 02 September 2021

HFW took a lot out of Sony's 2021 lineup but I'd still rank it above 2014 & 2019. Returnal has a great shot to win Game of the Year tbh.

Overall launch year is still comfortably above the PS4 though.



Conina on 02 September 2021
JackHandy said:
Conina said:

PS2 launch was early March 2000.

GTA3 released late October 2001, so almost 20 months after launch.
MGS2 released mid November 2001, so over 20 months after launch.
GT3 released late April 2001, so almost 13 months after launch.
DMC released mid late August 2001, so almost 18 months after launch.
FF X released mid July 2001, so over 16 months after launch.
Twisted Metal Black released mid June 2001, so over 15 months after launch.
ICO released late September 2001, so almost 19 months after launch.
Silent Hill released late September 2001, so almost 19 months after launch.

None of them was a first year game (GT3 comes closest).

But if it makes you happy: just imagine PS5 was launched in your region this summer instead of November... then you can count every game until next summer as "first year game".

Over here, it didn't launch until the end of October, so for me (and everyone else outside of Japan), all those games were first year. It was truly amazing. 

Due to the later launch in other regions, developers had 8 - 10 more months to  develop these games compared to a worldwide launch.

This has to be considered. Developing games for a new console takes a lot of time.



Fei-Hung on 02 September 2021

Year isn't out yet and I think we've had decent amount of games for the first year:

1) returnal
2) ratchet

But then we have:

3) Ghost DLC
4) Deathloop
5) Kena
6) FF7I

They might not all be big AAA, might not be exclusive to the PS5, but it's still content and good content.

Let's not forget we had Demon Souls and Miles launching at the end of the year.



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DonFerrari on 02 September 2021
Conina said:
JackHandy said:

Over here, it didn't launch until the end of October, so for me (and everyone else outside of Japan), all those games were first year. It was truly amazing. 

Due to the later launch in other regions, developers had 8 - 10 more months to  develop these games compared to a worldwide launch.

This has to be considered. Developing games for a new console takes a lot of time.

I could go the same bizarre route as him and say it will be impossible for PS5 or any other console to pass the first year of PS2 in Brazil, because we could say it launched here like on year 5 of the console so the full library already existed =p.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

Eagle367 on 02 September 2021
Kyuu said:
Eagle367 said:

We're talking about 2021 and not remakes at that. So DS, Tsushima, and Death Stranding don't count. Tsushima is in no way cross-gen. And it's not a solid year in any way. Tell me a game for September, August and October? And even if you include everything, it's not a solid 14 months(more than a year if you count everything). For the first year, the only actually big game was Ratchet and Clank. I don't see any universe in which this year was "solid" for Sony. Xbox doesn't have the best year either but at least they can cap it off with Halo Infinite which is like a half a decade type of game.

Sony's 2021 lineup is "okay/decent" but nothing special. PS5's first year is very strong; by far the best in Playstation history unless PS2's 2001 counts (US/EU's first year).

PS5 is leading in quality (critical and community reception), quantity, sales and engagement. It's only losing in quantity of nextgen exclusives. The transition from CrossGen is unfortunately much slower this generation.

The rest is subjective.

But if you had a PS4, what's the reason to get a PS5? I wouldn't call that solid under any standard unless your standards are so low that anything is amazing to you and nothing is just fine. I don't see any reason for a PS4 owner to get a PS5 this year. I do see good reason for someone who didn't buy PS4 to get it though. That to me is not a solid year. PA5 doesn't even have that one big game like switch had Zelda:BotW and Xbox series will finally get Halo. The Wii U had a better first year and the better 14-15 initial months. This is just marketing selling the PS5, not the games. 



Just a guy who doesn't want to be bored. Also

Signalstar on 02 September 2021
Eagle367 said:
Kyuu said:

Sony's 2021 lineup is "okay/decent" but nothing special. PS5's first year is very strong; by far the best in Playstation history unless PS2's 2001 counts (US/EU's first year).

PS5 is leading in quality (critical and community reception), quantity, sales and engagement. It's only losing in quantity of nextgen exclusives. The transition from CrossGen is unfortunately much slower this generation.

The rest is subjective.

But if you had a PS4, what's the reason to get a PS5? I wouldn't call that solid under any standard unless your standards are so low that anything is amazing to you and nothing is just fine. I don't see any reason for a PS4 owner to get a PS5 this year. I do see good reason for someone who didn't buy PS4 to get it though. That to me is not a solid year. PA5 doesn't even have that one big game like switch had Zelda:BotW and Xbox series will finally get Halo. The Wii U had a better first year and the better 14-15 initial months. This is just marketing selling the PS5, not the games. 

But Breath of the Wild was on Wii U and Halo is on Xbox One? Do you not see the contradiction in the point you are trying to make?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1gWECYYOSo

Please Watch/Share this video so it gets shown in Hollywood.

JackHandy on 02 September 2021
DonFerrari said:
Conina said:

Due to the later launch in other regions, developers had 8 - 10 more months to  develop these games compared to a worldwide launch.

This has to be considered. Developing games for a new console takes a lot of time.

I could go the same bizarre route as him and say it will be impossible for PS5 or any other console to pass the first year of PS2 in Brazil, because we could say it launched here like on year 5 of the console so the full library already existed =p.

It's not really bizarre. The only region the PS2 launched in before October of 2000 was Japan. So for literally everyone else in the world (Australia, US, Europe etc.), the aforementioned games did come out first year. And by first year, I'm talking less than a calendar year.

Either way, today's industry is no where near what it use to be. Hell, there was a time when we got three main GTA titles in a span of four years. Think about that one for a second. If GTA6 launches in 2023, enough time will have passed between sequels to have equaled the same amount of time between the US launches of the SNES, N64 and Gamecube.

lol

Last edited by JackHandy - on 03 September 2021

Shaunodon on 03 September 2021
twintail said:
Eagle367 said:

But if you had a PS4, what's the reason to get a PS5? I wouldn't call that solid under any standard unless your standards are so low that anything is amazing to you and nothing is just fine. I don't see any reason for a PS4 owner to get a PS5 this year. I do see good reason for someone who didn't buy PS4 to get it though. That to me is not a solid year. PA5 doesn't even have that one big game like switch had Zelda:BotW and Xbox series will finally get Halo. The Wii U had a better first year and the better 14-15 initial months. This is just marketing selling the PS5, not the games. 

I think what you're posing is valid: PS4 owners don't appear to have many reasons to upgrade to a PS5 as of now. 

But I also think that this is missing very clear signs we are seeing atm:

1) The PS5 is outselling the PS4 in the same time period, and this is with Sony being unable to produce the quantities they want.

2) PS5/ PS4 sales split heavily in favour of the PS5 in initial weeks. 

Just because you don't personally see a reason to get a PS5, doesn't mean that many others don't either. Thinking that others have some arbitrary lower standard than you is just insulting. There are many reasons to own a PS5 now: that much is obvious to anyone. But of course, reasons differ per person. For many, the likes of Ratchet and Returnal are good enough; the improved versions of multiplat games are good enough; the user experience is good enough. 

There's nothing arbitrary about it. Like he said, the reason is very clear: marketing. How you choose to define that marketing-- maybe based on the promise of future titles which you trust because of previous expierience --is up to you, and whether you believe that justifies a purchase of expensive gaming hardware right now is also up to you. The only thing clear is that like the PS4 before it, PS5 is selling moreso based on the quality of it's marketing than the quality+quantity of what's actually available right now. That plus fortnite kids, sports gamblers, CoD drones etc.; it's not difficult to sell something to them when they already buy the same recycled games every year.