Cliff Notes – Games Inbox: What was in the State of Play Japan
-
Disappointment with State of Play: The recent State of Play Japan livestream was largely viewed as underwhelming, featuring minimal exciting announcements, including a second beta for Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls and DLC for Elden Ring.
-
Concerns Over PlayStation 5 Strategy: The strong sales of the PlayStation 5 may hinder the development of new exclusives, as Sony appears to be prioritising cost-effective strategies over innovative game releases.
-
Bloodborne’s Omission: The absence of any mention of Bloodborne during the event has left fans frustrated, with speculation growing that the franchise may not receive any updates or remasters in the near future.
Games Inbox: What was in the State of Play Japan?
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls has another beta (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
The Wednesday letters page thinks the PS5 selling so well is bad news for gamers, as another reader hopes for a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake.
Nothing Direct
So that State of Play Japan livestream was a big fat nothingburger. I’m sure most people weren’t expecting anything else but I really am sick of these endless Direct style shows that seem to have no reason to exist, except to get people hyped up and then disappointed.
The mic drop at the end of this was… DLC for Elden Ring Nightreign. I’m not sure what could possibly have been less exciting than that. No offence to the game but you don’t put on a 40 minute preview show and have that, a (second) beta for Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and a bunch of late ports be the highlights.
I guess the whole thing was to advertise the new Japanese-only PlayStation 5 console but could they really not have found something else to talk about to make it worthwhile? Or, you know, not make it 40 minutes long. Considering some of the important things that have been announced with an out of the blue blog post it seems crazy they went to all this trouble for absolutely nothing.
Xane
The very old blood
I can’t help but notice that not only was the latest State of Play completely pointless but it didn’t have Bloodborne in it, again. The second it was announced, and especially because it was Japan themed, I saw everyone online immediately speculating about a remaster or a remake or a sequel or… anything!
I wasn’t surprised it was nothing but I am disappointed. Most of what Sony does nowadays doesn’t seem to make sense, at least to a veteran fan, but the completely refusal to acknowledge Bloodborne exists in any way is the most baffling thing I think I’ve ever seen them do. We still don’t even have a PlayStation 5 patch! I’m now convinced that we won’t see anything until the PlayStation 6, and I wouldn’t even bet on that.
Lobren
Expert, exclusive gaming analysis
Business decision
The PlayStation 5 selling so well is pretty much the worst news there could be for anyone wanting Sony to change their current approach. There is now no reason at all for them to make more exclusives. They might stop making live service games so much but now they’re just going to make nothing at all, because apparently that’s been going fine, and is obviously much more cost effective.
It’s a pretty clear cut bottom line: do nothing, make more money. I do believe we’ll get more exclusives over the next few years, as Sony slowly comes out of their live service phase. If it takes five or more years to make a game then it only follows that we wouldn’t see any shift in policy for at least that, but even then it’ll never be back to the way things. It just wouldn’t make business sense.
Clacker
Building expectation
Just seen that there’s a new Lego Zelda set coming out next year, which I’ll probably never be able to afford but, well… it’s nice to want things. But apart from the teaser trailer looking super cool I couldn’t help but notice that it seems to be Ocarina Of Time. You’ve got what looks like old school Zelda in the background, plus Ganon looming over Link and Navi. Plus, the line, ‘Do you realise who you’re dealing with?’ seals it.
Obviously, Ocarina Of Time is one of the favourite games in the series, but you would’ve thought for Lego they’d go for the modern game. So what if… this set, which isn’t out till next year, is for the remake everyone has been talking about lately? I know that’s just fan wishful thinking, but it’s not like this news makes it less likely!
Onibee
Digital goods
Cash for shinies you say?! Well knock me over with a feather dance, blow me over with a gust! I have shinies, got a blue Psyduck, a golden Magikarp, a slightly darker grey Munchlax, and a purple Dratini, that may or may not be a green Dragonite by now?! Among others…
Any takers, drop me a message, Pokémon Home will let you store them before Nintendo gets around to adding them to various games. Remortgage your homes, take your gold to Cash Converters… I’m joking, of course. Or am I?
big boy bent, shiny wrangler
Serious fun
There are lots of troubling things to do with GTA 6, from Rockstar’s union busting to the game’s no doubt excessive violence, but as cynical as I try to be I can’t pretend I’m not super excited about it.
My one concern though is that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. Dan Houser leaving as head writer is actually a bit of worry, as I think he was behind a lot of the British style satire and sarcasm. It’s still being made in Scotland, at least to a degree, but my concern is that it’ll now have more American writers and overlords.
As good as other parts of it have been my favourite thing to do in any GTA game is to just drive around, smashing into things, and listening to the radio stations. For a lot of the time, I don’t need GTA to be anything but that and yet sometimes it overcomplicates itself and gets in the way of the fun.
San Andreas and GTA 4 were the worst for this, so I think they’ve got it out of their system now, but there’s really no way to know based on the trailers, and reason to be worried given how many people have left over the years.
GTA has never been serious or grounded, despite what some fans seem to think, and I hope that Rockstar remember that, while they’re simulating everything to the nth degree.
Korbie
End of the beginning
I feel so sorry for the ordinary people working at Bungie. It seems to me I’ve been hearing about bad management for basically as long as they’ve existed and now they’re being written off as a bad purchase by Sony, which is surely going to be the beginning of the end of the developer.
They’ll be shut down and all the good developers moved to other parts of Sony, probably within the next few months. I imagine Destiny 2 will be shut down at the same time, if not before. What a sad end to a great developer.
Hammeriron
Five more years
My interpretation of the line about the PlayStation 5 being in the ‘middle of its lifecycle’ is that it confirms the idea that there will be no PlayStation 6 exclusive games. Everything will be cross-gen and the difference between the two will probably be no more than between the PS5 and PS5 Pro.
It’s what we’ve all been expecting, to some degree or another, but I’m not even that worried about it. For one, it’s a good excuse not to get a PlayStation 6. I don’t mean that in a snarky, offended fan kind of way but just that it’s going to be expensive, I haven’t got the money, and now I’ve got a good excuse not to spend money on one.
I don’t think it will actually matter all that much to Sony though. As far as I understand the way a console maker makes money from consoles is making other publishers pay fees to put their games on them. That’s still going to happen whether you’ve got a PlayStation 5 or 6, so it kind of doesn’t matter to Sony which you have.
All the PlayStation 6 is doing is tempting a new wave of people that didn’t get the PlayStation 5 and need some kind of incentive to buy a new console. Other than that they’re just selling the same games to everyone, regardless of what they have.
Lucis
Inbox also-rans
Lumines? Now that is a name I have not heard in a long time ago. And Meteos? I had no idea they were by the same guy!
Tobz9
I have been playing Ball x Pit non-stop for three weeks and now I’ve beaten it. I literally don’t know what to do with my life anymore.
Austin
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.
Comment now
Comments
Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google
Add as preferred source
