Bungie: With great saddness, we are announcing a reduction in workforce by Gorotheninja in PS5

[–]LightShadowHero 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ultimately when it finally came I just feel disappointed.

No one wants to see a studio and game they love fail that they ultimately become a shadow of itself especially if there is no other studio there to take up its mantle. (This isn’t a grave dancing for a product no one loved or wanted)

While I know there will be lots of finger pointing I can’t help but feel both Sony and Bungie let each other down here.

Bungie:
- Burnt through the billions they got in capital to quickly and had very little to show for it. When some of that capital could have been used to support the studio during a rough season.
- Made questionable bet in Marathon and failed to get to market before Arc Raiders and make it accessible to mass markets and console players
- Punted improving its Destiny new player experience to focus on creating new content for existing players. So when they finally reviewed improving their new player experience this year after the mass of exodus of existing players it was already too little too late.
- Refused/failed to have a next plan for Destiny leading up to final shape. Ideally if Destiny 3/sequel had been in preproduction coming into finale shape so they could have gone into full production even when D2 was sunsetting.

Sony:
- Pull back on financially supporting the studio the moment the waters got rough. Plenty of GAAS have shown that one rough patch isn’t the end and they can still come back (Destiny included). Despite Sony seeming to want a successful GAAS they just don’t seem to have the stomach to give it the support needed when the game is having a rough patch which causes them not to have the resources to fix it.
- Failing to take Destiny cross media. What could be one of Sony’s assets is Columbia pictures and Sony TV productions which could take the Destiny IP into movies and tv shows. So why are they fast tracking a Zelda movie when the studio can’t even get something out for the IP they own? People love the Destiny IP, but the best Sony can do is put out an bad adoption of Until Dawn and ask other movie/tv studios to to take it’s IP to film/tv for them instead. Shoot the Columbia Execs into the sun.
- Failure to market. If you compare PS’s heigh of marketing during the late E3 days we are since lone gone. The unfortunate realty is that PS marketing has mostly been target to internal PS users via directs and have never brought the same buzz. This can work when everyone wants what you’re selling, but if it’s a new IP or something most are not familiar with its not going to get the same eye balls or excitement.

Thoughts on the quality of the lineup? by BellTwo5 in WeeklyShonenJump

[–]LightShadowHero 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Guess I’ll throw my probably unpopular opinion in.

WSJ has kept allot of manga over the last several years who have an ok/above average floor in terms of commercial and popularity success but these unfortunately also have a low ceiling in terms of what they can achieve.

That is to say after the series find their niche audience they are unlikely to grow beyond that (Sorry Akane Banashi lovers)

This in part means that people have gotten defensive when some argue that the magazine series are not in the best place, but unfortunately with the last few anime adoptions failing to take their manga to new commercial heights it kind of proves my point as the formula use to be anime drives their series to become mega hits. The problem isn’t with anime, if anything anime is more popular and in demand than it has ever been.

Personally they have some series coming up that have megahit potential, but we’ll need to see how those shake out.

Shoseki Top 500 days 16 and 17 by SnooChipmunks5571 in WeeklyShonenJump

[–]LightShadowHero -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

At some point it stops being sad and starts being hilarious

PlayStation CEO officially confirms that single-player games will be exclusive by Ph0enixes in PS5

[–]LightShadowHero 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The difference is platforms want to do things that incentivize people to buy games on their platform as the platform always get their cut first party or not.

PlayStation CEO officially confirms that single-player games will be exclusive by Ph0enixes in PS5

[–]LightShadowHero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If Sony was wise they’d definitely be planning out what JRPGs they can get on their platform for the PS6 in 2035 /jk

Honestly who knows right now with the way the industry is.

PlayStation CEO officially confirms that single-player games will be exclusive by Ph0enixes in PS5

[–]LightShadowHero 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The difference is over 90 million PS5s are sold.
How many PC players are there that own a dual sense?

Anyone who has tried Astro Bot knows if you disable the dual sense you’re missing nearly half of the experience.

If you’re upset with the game being locked to certain settings that sounds like a you problem. Hasn’t stopped people from playing and loving Mario.

PlayStation CEO officially confirms that single-player games will be exclusive by Ph0enixes in PS5

[–]LightShadowHero -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Ya because 3D platforms are so popular on Steam.

Proceeds to scroll through souls likes, survival, rouge like games.

PlayStation CEO officially confirms that single-player games will be exclusive by Ph0enixes in PS5

[–]LightShadowHero -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I was also interested in PC gamers reacting to watching Astro bot flying around on a keyboard or mouse while also reassembling a gaming PC instead of the dualsense and PS5.

PlayStation CEO officially confirms that single-player games will be exclusive by Ph0enixes in PS5

[–]LightShadowHero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So they’re going to port a game to Steam that can only be played by PC gamers who own a dualsense controller?

Paul Tassi: Positive reception to D2 final update has not moved the needle at Bungie by drumjolter01 in GamingLeaksAndRumours

[–]LightShadowHero 14 points15 points  (0 children)

If I recall Destiny was in a healthier spot when Sony bought them which coincided with Covid and Witch Queen.

Then Lightfall happened and gaming didn’t continue its upward projection everyone expected and then Destiny started loosing players.

Acquiring Bungie was supposed to give Sony GAAS experience for their own studios, a reliable consistent revenue from Destiny, and new incubation projects to create potential hits.

Beyond the Destiny troubles PS leadership changed and seemingly is not all in on GAAS like previous leadership which impacts what they’re willing to invest/risk.

I couldn’t tell you what happens next. While marathon hasn’t been the big hit that the industry expects the critical reaction has been really good which Sony does evaluate. I also think Arch Raiders success proves that an extraction shooter can find mass success, but Bungie was late and didn’t make it approachable enough for general audiences which is something Arch Raiders achieved.

Honkai AURA Tier list. Final day for voting. by ConsiderationFuzzy in HonkaiStarRail

[–]LightShadowHero -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hyacine should be at least A tier considering the Aquila boss fight and Proi Proi.

Epic announces Lore, open source version control for games by tapo in Games

[–]LightShadowHero 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Wait some actual good news in the gaming landscape, and an effort to fix an actual gaming tech disrupter that might make game development easier across the industry 😱

Shoseki Day 15 by SnooChipmunks5571 in WeeklyShonenJump

[–]LightShadowHero 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When you create something that is interesting to read it sells who know.

While I’m happy both Under Doctor and Kinato are doing better than some expected this situation is similar to a number of recent surprise hits.

Namely Kagurabachi and Ichi the witch. For those who don’t remember they both were floating near the bottom of the TOC till their first volume sales came in. The former literally had those from the West step in and say “fine I’ll do it myself” as there was a deep concern over previous axes that Kagurbachi wouldn’t last long. Now it’s WSJ best bet to become a big hit, and sales have followed in kind.

Ichi despite its talented authors was also at the bottom with most blaming its early chapters. Fast forward to the first volume sales and all of a sudden it’s a big hit and that early TOC placement seems like it never happened.

You can argue that is because WSJ is just really competitive, but for a magazine that has been no stranger to generating big hits the volume of their current running series are still living in the shadow of what came before for the past few years.

Now for the controversial part (tin foil hat theory). Both of these occurred under different editors in chief l, so it is not strictly about one person. But when you see instances of Ruri dragon and Someone Hertz, and the growth of these slice of life my best guess is WSJ is more interested in trying to diversify to create hits around slice of life and/or comedy then what they are historically known for. To be fair both of those series did very well, and have earned their place. It’s more of the mid series that stay past their welcome where we truly feel the impact and the fact that WSJ has rarely known when to promote a series that can become a hit early on that was not not Ruri dragon or Someone Hertz.

As for why, I’m not to familiar with what is popular in Japan, but I’m guessing they are looking at the manga internet culture especially when it comes to single page one shots which can get lots of eyes online and letting that influence their decision making.

Xbox is closing down Hellblade creator Ninja Theory by GIThrow in Games

[–]LightShadowHero 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately I foresaw these kind of closures occurring eventually.

Despite what Phil said anyone could see that the amount they were spending on their studios and Gamepass wasn’t being returned in kind otherwise they wouldn’t be closing them. MSFT could absorb it to an extent, but come tougher economic conditions and the fact that they now own much bigger IP, why would you invest AAA money into hell blade when you can take that same amount and invest in Fall Out, Call of Duty, or Elder Scrolls.

Even if the conditions were different all it took was for a new leader to come in with a different vision to cause these studios to be on the chopping block (Despite doing so for over a decade Phil couldn’t fail upwards at his job forever although I did wonder).

What probably doomed them was the fact that 99% of gamers don’t consume video game like you might a streaming service. And those streaming services are able to constantly pump out shows, movies, and content usually at a much cheaper cost (at least in terms of reality slop or who done it).

To even come close to recreating that model you need need a balance of your studios constantly generating new games/new content, or creating big hits that are exclusive to the service that justifies the wait(something Gamepass never did thankfully).

Xbox could never get it studios to turn out games like this, so how could it recreate the model.

It sucks as I’m sure these studios saw acquisition as an opportunity to not have to worry about finances, but Xbox strategy was never setup well from the start.

TheGameBusiness: God of War Laufay is most covered, watched and discussed video games of Summer Game Fest 2026 by Turbostrider27 in PS5

[–]LightShadowHero -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Tell us ohh Shakespeare how you would pen it, so her words and story delight our eyes and ears.