Sony Planning to Get Into Mobile Games With New Acquisition

[George Dawes]

No , strike force wipes the floor with it

Very clever game with lots of subtle ideas and interaction vs the same old yawn fest with supposedly updated graphics

I love Sony and psn but the ps5 to me is a total non event , really disappointing

Too big with crappy pads that break easily, the only advantage over the ps4 is it’s quieter and loads faster , that’s it tbh . I’ve got it hooked up to a 4K tv and tbh I really don’t see what the big deal is about 4K , hdr and all the other hyped up crap

I had more fun with my ps3 in the old days playing call of duty online

 

[diamond.g]

That is an interesting take...

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Getting great AAA games into macOS, you mean!!

I think it’s telling that companies are willing to spend big bucks to get their hands on developers who know how to develop for mobile, but no one is looking for macOS developers.

 

[diamond.g]

I think it’s telling that companies are willing to spend big bucks to get their hands on developers who know how to develop for mobile, but no one is looking for macOS developers.

yeah F2P w/MTX on mobile is where the money is, for sure. Clearly not as much on the Mac...

 

[jimbobb24]

Why would Sony do that? Mobile games not only tend to be pay-to-win garbage but awful quality as well. They need to stick to consoles

Because apple’s App Store made a shocking discovery - a non trivial amount of people love to pay to win. And that cash flow is way more than anyone guessed.

 

[diamond.g]

Because apple’s App Store made a shocking discovery - a non trivial amount of people love to pay to win. And that cash flow is way more than anyone guessed.

And they are super cheap to make (comparatively) so they get to keep more of the money!

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

No , strike force wipes the floor with it

Very clever game with lots of subtle ideas and interaction vs the same old yawn fest with supposedly updated graphics

Bro...you're deadass comparing a mobile turn based battle game filled with IAP, to the best Spider-Man game ever made, a game that sold over 33 million copies and will probably pass 40 million next year thanks to the PC port.

You're comparing this:

To this:

Strike Force is cool but don't even claim it's better than this masterpiece. 😂😂😂😂😂

I love Sony and psn but the ps5 to me is a total non event , really disappointing

Again: You have a massive catalog of big blockbuster titles at your disposal through the PS Plus Collection, and big PS5 exclusives like Returnal, Horizon Forbidden West, Demon Souls, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, God of War Ragnarok, The Last of Us Part 1, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Gran Turismo 7, and the upcoming Spider-Man 2, Insomniac's Wolverine, The Last of Us Factions, PSVR 2 and it's upcoming exclusives like Horizon Call of the Mountain, and more surprises in next month's PlayStation Showcase. You don't need to be scared of greatness.

Too big with crappy pads that break easily, the only advantage over the ps4 is it’s quieter and loads faster , that’s it tbh .

Ignoring raytracing, 60FPS and 120FPS on consoles, other Dualsense features like Adaptive Triggers, trophy guides, a massive library of high quality AAA exclusives, free games through PS Plus...

I’ve got it hooked up to a 4K tv and tbh I really don’t see what the big deal is about 4K , hdr and all the other hyped up crap

I had more fun with my ps3 in the old days playing call of duty online

Dog what's your PSN? I'm gonna check your trophies right now.

 

[ke-iron]

Now if only Apple partnered with Sony to work on controller mounts and getting great AAA games into iOS and iPad OS. The Apple TV could be a hit.

Ahh one can dream.

There is already a near perfect controller that comes with access to an app that offers console like experience . Check out the backbone controller. So my need to invest more into this.

 

[ke-iron]

Bro...you're deadass comparing a mobile turn based battle game filled with IAP, to the best Spider-Man game ever made, a game that sold over 33 million copies and will probably pass 40 million next year thanks to the PC port.

You're comparing this:

To this:

Strike Force is cool but don't even claim it's better than this masterpiece. 😂😂😂😂😂



Again: You have a massive catalog of big blockbuster titles at your disposal through the PS Plus Collection, and big PS5 exclusives like Returnal, Horizon Forbidden West, Demon Souls, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, God of War Ragnarok, The Last of Us Part 1, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Gran Turismo 7, and the upcoming Spider-Man 2, Insomniac's Wolverine, The Last of Us Factions, PSVR 2 and it's upcoming exclusives like Horizon Call of the Mountain, and more surprises in next month's PlayStation Showcase. You don't need to be scared of greatness.

Ignoring raytracing, 60FPS and 120FPS on consoles, other Dualsense features like Adaptive Triggers, trophy guides, a massive library of high quality AAA exclusives, free games through PS Plus...



Dog what's your PSN? I'm gonna check your trophies right now.

Sure those blockbuster titles you mentioned are great. But those games also don’t appeal to a lot of people, myself included. The only game on that list I would be interested in is horizon, I played the first one and it was amazing. The other games while they might be great, to me is just beating a dead horse. I’ve completely lost interest in games like Spider-Man and god of war, I think I’ve played enough of that in a short time span.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Sure those blockbuster titles you mentioned are great. But those games also don’t appeal to a lot of people, myself included. The only game on that list I would be interested in is horizon, I played the first one and it was amazing. The other games while they might be great, to me is just beating a dead horse. I’ve completely lost interest in games like Spider-Man and god of war, I think I’ve played enough of that in a short time span.

I mean these games won Game of the Year awards for a reason. You're severely limiting yourself not playing them.

 

[diamond.g]

Sure those blockbuster titles you mentioned are great. But those games also don’t appeal to a lot of people, myself included. The only game on that list I would be interested in is horizon, I played the first one and it was amazing. The other games while they might be great, to me is just beating a dead horse. I’ve completely lost interest in games like Spider-Man and god of war, I think I’ve played enough of that in a short time span.

What kind of games are you into? Mobile gaming doesn't lend itself to long play sessions that is expected/taken for granted with traditional games.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Sure those blockbuster titles you mentioned are great. But those games also don’t appeal to a lot of people, myself included.

• Ghost of Tsushima: 8 million copies sold as of January 8th, 2022

• Uncharted 4 A Thief's End: 20 million as of May 2021, with 37 million players

• God of War 2018: 20 million copies sold as of January 2022, and this isn't even counting the PC port

• The Last of Us Part 1: 20 million copies as of 2019. That number is gonna jump even higher when the PS5 remake comes out Friday
• The Last of Us Part 2: 10 million copies as of July 2022

• Spider-Man: 33 million copies sold as of June 2022 when the PC port was announced

• Horizon Zero Dawn: 20 million copies sold as of February 2022

PlayStation Studios games have a lot of staying power and are treated in the same regard as major blockbuster movies with how popular they are with the majority of people. And that's just Sony's 1st party games. I haven't even touched the popular third parties on PlayStation, such as

• Persona 5: 5 million by June 2021, and this was as the game was PlayStation exclusive, not counting it's multiplat release coming this October

• Final Fantasy VII Remake: 5 million by August 2020

I can go on but I think I made my point. Sure you can choose to ignore these games, but to say that they "don't appeal to a lot of people" is blatantly false. These games defined the PS4 generation and shaped the PS5, and why mobile gaming will never truly overtake traditional, as mobile gaming does not have the big blockbusters, and never will because of Apple's draconian rules, hardware limitations, and libraries.

 

[jimbobb24]

Yes the M series chips have made the Macs actually viable for proper AAA gaming, but hardware isn't the issue. The issue, is Apple. Apple hates game developers, and game developers hate Apple. Ever since OpenGL got divested in macOS Mojave in 2018, developers had a mass exodus from the Mac, made even worse with macOS Catalina killing off legacy support for 32 bit games. The Mac library of games wiped out in an instant.

The final nail though was Apple vs Epic, more specifically the testimonies within. Apple execs confused why consoles would be sold at a loss, Tim Cook not knowing who Valve or Steam were (despite having them as a main keynote speaker during WWDC 2016 presenting the defunct SteamVR for Mac,) and more baffling comments that showed how out of touch Apple truly is with the game industry. Comments that have been mocked and ridiculed across the internet, some even turned into Ace Attorney memes.

What do game developers want? macOS support for the Vulkan API. What do they get instead? "Use Metal or go somewhere else." Well guess what, they went somewhere else lmao. No one wants to learn a graphical API only available on one platform, a platform their games won't sell well to begin with who's platform holder actively hates them and puts restrictive rules on them. It's just like what happened with the PlayStation 3. The PS3 had a unique architecture and was complicated to develop on, on top of being overpriced initially, and draconian rules and bullish behavior from Sony, so most just ignored the platform and developed for Xbox 360 instead. So learning from this Sony made the PS4 they asked what developers wanted, and they wanted a system that was easy to develop for as possible. So Sony designed the PS4 with all their requests, and as a result they dominated the 8th generation, outselling Xbox One by 3 to 1.

If Apple wants to convince developers to make games for Mac (which tbh Apple doesn't lmao) then they need to make macOS a lot easier to develop for, provide incentives to do so, and give the developers what they want. Which lets be real, Apple will never do because they want control, and if they don't have a direct financial incentive they're not gonna do it. So Mac will remain the odd one out in terms of desktop gaming, even moreso now with the booming success of Valve's Steam Deck and SteamOS causing the rise of Linux Gaming to the mainstream.

PS3 sold 87 million units which was more than XBox360 84. Both had their lunch eaten by the Wii which sold 100 million. The PS3 did fine, had a long stay and had a huge library of amazing and popular games.

My point is that hardware and code problems (Metal) are not apples real problem. If there were gamers that would buy the games developers would figure it out.

Developers flock to iOS where they face apples same bad attitude and hardware issues because that is where the gamers are.

Could Apple do a lot more to promote gaming and make it easier? Sure but the issue has many factors and hardware and coding are not the biggest ones.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Let’s not confuse meme history with real history. PS3 sold 87 million units which was more than XBox360 84. Both had their lunch eaten by the Wii which sold 100 million. The PS3 did fine, had a long stay and had a huge library of amazing and popular games.

PS3 was not doing fine. Yes it did eventually outsell Xbox 360...at the end of it's life. They didn't overtake Microsoft until The Last of Us released in summer 2013, and by that time it's successor the PS4 was about to hit the market. Throughout the entire 7th generation Sony was playing catchup, they were losing billions on the PS3, even moreso when they had to cut the cost just to get it from $599 to $299. They were already doing a post mortem analysis of the PS3 three years after it released. So while by a few million did they sell more, most still consider Xbox 360 the winner, as games ran better on it, it had the better online component, and didn't have the uphill battle PS3 had. And this isn't even bringing up other hurtles the PS3 had, like when they removed the OtherOS functionality which caused a class action lawsuit from universities and laboratories who used PS3 superclusters, and the 2011 PSN Hack.

My point is that hardware and code problems (Metal) are not apples real problem. If there were gamers that would buy the games developers would figure it out.

But there aren't any games that gamers would buy because no one's making any on Mac because it's a nightmare to develop for it that it's not financially worth it to. No games, no gamers to buy Macs. Simple as.

This is the same argument Nintendo fanboys had to try to defend the Wii U, which suffered the same problems.

Developers flock to iOS where they face apples same bad attitude and hardware issues because that is where the gamers are.

Mobile games aren't comparable to proper traditional AAA gaming. These are short experiences designed to generate easy passive income. The amount of iOS titles are small in comparison to other platforms.

Could Apple do a lot more to promote gaming and make it easier? Sure but the issue has many factors and hardware and coding are not the biggest ones.

But it is though lmao. Since it's not financially viable for developers to put their games on Mac they don't. In the Intel era it was since they had OpenGL so they could easily make Mac ports just for a little extra. But now with OpenGL gone it's not worth it because Mac "gamers" don't buy their games. One indie developer shared his metrics and Mac sales of his game made up less than 3%. https://linuxgamingcentral.com/posts/linux-dev-sheds-light-on-sales/

Less than 9% of Steam users are on Mac. There's more Linux users than Mac users on Steam, and that gap is only growing thanks to the Steam Deck.

 

[ackmondual]

Everyone wanna get into mobile games. It's getting crowded!

Well, the gold rush peaked about 5 years back. From the beginning, large companies and corporations ignored the mobile markets thinking they weren't worth it. About 5 to 7 years that gold rush peaked. The same large companies who ignored the markets realized that mobile markets are here to stay, so they muscled in, and now make 86% of the profits (this figure was also roughly from about that time).

It really is a jungle out there. Even the wisdom of making a game for iOS over Android may not be enough when you gotta compete against the marketing $'s and other resources of larger companies. Hell, you'll be lucky to break even on your $99 per year developer fee.

If Apple wants to convince developers to make games for Mac (which tbh Apple doesn't lmao) then they need to make macOS a lot easier to develop for, provide incentives to do so, and give the developers what they want. Which lets be real, Apple will never do because they want control, and if they don't have a direct financial incentive they're not gonna do it. So Mac will remain the odd one out in terms of desktop gaming, even moreso now with the booming success of Valve's Steam Deck and SteamOS causing the rise of Linux Gaming to the mainstream.

Worth mentioning that as a Steam alternative, the Switch has filled that role quite nicely. No, it doesn't support Steam, but many games on Steam end up coming out for Switch. And those that don't... the tradeoff is you still have Nintendo's strong first party line up. Someone in my gaming group bought a Steam gift card for another, and it was awkward b/c he said ever since he got a Switch, he pretty much stopped playing on Steam.

 

[ackmondual]

The biggest PC games are all IAP hell , GTA online , Dota2 , League of legends , Counter strike , Fortnight , Apex , CoD and the list goes ON AND ON , basically pick any top game in twitch and its an IAP dominated game , that's the life we are in right now , its not mobile only , far from it , but I would agree that Mobile does have that public image while PC does not when it should.

IIRC, some of those games aren't that abusive. The one I'm familiar is Fortnight. You can pay for a season which lasts average 90 days. I don't know how many times ppl do that per year, but it's still relatively affordable for someone who spends a lot of time on it. Otherwise, the game is completely free to play.

Aside from those big name titles, there are plenty of others which aren't "IAP hell". If you go to indie games, PLENTY of them there do the "pay once and you're done", save for IAP for new content and expansions. Nothing says you can only play "the biggest PC games"

It wasn’t a huge success for Nintendo, except for Fire Emblem and Pokémon Go, but they still made decent cash. It didn’t interfere with their normal game development, although they had sent it out to DeNA to develop.

I'm still pissed that all the complaints about Super Mario Run got Nintendo scared off the "download and try for free, then pay $10 to unlock the full game" model. Instead, they've shifted to the freemium models.

 

[ke-iron]

I mean these games won Game of the Year awards for a reason. You're severely limiting yourself not playing them.

Those games no longer bring me joy, I’m tired of Spider-Man and god of war, not matter how good it is. I need something new, something fresh. This is the reason I loved horizon so much, it’s a whole new experience. So in my personal experience I’m not limiting myself, it’s the exact opposite. I’ll be limiting myself if I force myself to play those games.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Those games no longer bring me joy, I’m tired of Spider-Man and god of war, not matter how good it is. I need something new, something fresh. This is the reason I loved horizon so much, it’s a whole new experience. So in my personal experience I’m not limiting myself, it’s the exact opposite. I’ll be limiting myself if I force myself to play those games.

Well let's see there's:

• Ghost of Tsushima: An open world samurai simulator where you are Jin Sakai, a samurai on a quest to protect Tsushima Island from the 1st Mongol Invasion of Japan.
• Persona 5 Royal: A JRPG by Atlus where you live a double life as a student and a phantom thief in another dimension to fight the wicked. Regarded as one of the best RPGs of all time because of it's structure, characters, music, and how absolutely stylish and fun it is. (My profile pic is actually a character from Persona 5) This game's music is so good that university music professors use it for music theory and music producers do reactions to it. There's hardly a day where this game isn't trending on Twitter. It's that beloved.
• Returnal: A roguelite fast paced third person shooter. You are Selene Vassos, an astronaut crash landed on the planet Atropos trapped in a timeloop until you fight your way through the planet and learn it's secrets and all the countless alien races that followed in your footsteps trying to find the same thing you are.
• Astrobot's Playroom: A free platformer that's automatically bundled with every PS5
• Death Stranding: An open world action adventure courier simulator, set in a futuristic post apocalypse where the afterlife has crashed into our reality, causing everyone to become isolated and quarantined, and you must venture through this new world avoiding the spirits of the dead and bandits. (Wait a minute...this sounds familiar...Kojima you prophet)
• Stray: An indie console exclusive where you're a cat in a rundown cyberpunk city of robots. (It has a dedicated meow button~)
• Deathloop: A roguelike FPS by Bethesda that's basically a violent Groundhog Day where you have to kill the 8 masterminds in the span of a day to break the timeloop. Alternatively, you can play as the role of a hunter to invade and sabotage other players' sessions.
• Ghostwire Tokyo: An open world FPS also by Bethesda where a rapture has occured in Tokyo and yokai have invaded the city, and you must move through the empty megapolis trying to put a stop to it before it spreads.
• Demon Souls: The birth of the Soulsborne genre remade and better than ever. Needs no introduction.

I can go on. You got lots of something new, something fresh. At the very least, give Persona 5 Royal a try, for me. I love that game so much. It's changed my life and helped me through COVID, which is why I have it as my profile. You'll love it. If you want something new, something fresh, Persona 5 Royal will give you that.

 

[ke-iron]

Well let's see there's:

• Ghost of Tsushima: An open world samurai simulator where you are Jin Sakai, a samurai on a quest to protect Tsushima Island from the 1st Mongol Invasion of Japan.
• Persona 5 Royal: A JRPG by Atlus where you live a double life as a student and a phantom thief in another dimension to fight the wicked. Regarded as one of the best RPGs of all time because of it's structure, characters, music, and how absolutely stylish and fun it is. (My profile pic is actually a character from Persona 5) This game's music is so good that university music professors use it for music theory and music producers do reactions to it. There's hardly a day where this game isn't trending on Twitter. It's that beloved.
• Returnal: A roguelite fast paced third person shooter. You are Selene Vassos, an astronaut crash landed on the planet Atropos trapped in a timeloop until you fight your way through the planet and learn it's secrets and all the countless alien races that followed in your footsteps trying to find the same thing you are.
• Astrobot's Playroom: A free platformer that's automatically bundled with every PS5
• Death Stranding: An open world action adventure courier simulator, set in a futuristic post apocalypse where the afterlife has crashed into our reality, causing everyone to become isolated and quarantined, and you must venture through this new world avoiding the spirits of the dead and bandits. (Wait a minute...this sounds familiar...Kojima you prophet)
• Stray: An indie console exclusive where you're a cat in a rundown cyberpunk city of robots. (It has a dedicated meow button~)
• Deathloop: A roguelike FPS by Bethesda that's basically a violent Groundhog Day where you have to kill the 8 masterminds in the span of a day to break the timeloop. Alternatively, you can play as the role of a hunter to invade and sabotage other players' sessions.
• Ghostwire Tokyo: An open world FPS also by Bethesda where a rapture has occured in Tokyo and yokai have invaded the city, and you must move through the empty megapolis trying to put a stop to it before it spreads.
• Demon Souls: The birth of the Soulsborne genre remade and better than ever. Needs no introduction.

I can go on. You got lots of something new, something fresh. At the very least, give Persona 5 Royal a try, for me. I love that game so much. It's changed my life and helped me through COVID, which is why I have it as my profile. You'll love it. If you want something new, something fresh, Persona 5 Royal will give you that.

I’ve seen videos of ghost and returnal and I will buy those, I’ll also give persona a try. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[mike2q]

In 2021/22 mobile gaming had about 51% of of the market between iOS and Android with iOS being the largest part of that equation. PC had about 20% with consoles with the remaining 29% making the traditional market at about 49%. The problem is that mobile game developers make that money by studying compulsive addictive behaviors and using what they learn to capitalize on human weakness. It's not that the bulk of players pay any money, it's that the ones who do become obsessed and pay large sums in the same way compulsive gamblers do. They aren't creating classic stories, they're creating sounds and flashing animations that provide a dopamine response. There are some great mobile games out there but make no mistake, that is not where this massive revenue is coming from.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

I’ve seen videos of ghost and returnal and I will buy those, I’ll also give persona a try. Thanks for the recommendations.

But that's not all. If you really want something new, may I present: the Yakuza franchise, specifically Yakuza 0

Yakuza 0 is an action game, set in 1988, the final years of Japan's post war economic miracle, the Bubble Era. The 80s mentality of "Greed is good" is everywhere, as yen is thrown around like it's nothing. You play as two characters: The series' legendary protagonist Kiryu Kazuma, and fan favorite character Goro Majima, members of the Tojo Clan yakuza, both of which are caught in a conspiracy over the ownership of a vacant lot, a lot that the Tojo Clan want to build their ambitious real estate project the Millennium Tower. Throughout the game, you will face moments of calm, moments of grief, moments of laughs, moments of fast adrenaline fueled action, and moments that will make your heart cry. All this blood, violence, murder, and heartbreak...just for a vacant lot.

Yakuza is a legendary series. Japanese crime drama mixed with fun and content. It is loaded with things to do, from side stories of oddball characters, to minigames like karaoke, disco, mahjong, classic SEGA arcade games, and more to take a break from the action. And Yakuza 0 is the perfect starting point. This game is a must play through and through.

And it's available in the PS Plus Collection. Play it

 

[Le0M]

I mean these games won Game of the Year awards for a reason. You're severely limiting yourself not playing them.

Well, you can't really tell people what to like, can you?
I understand your position, but other people just find other games better than these you mentioned.

 

[Abazigal]

I mean these games won Game of the Year awards for a reason. You're severely limiting yourself not playing them.

For me, I just don't have the time for them. Or maybe I am just not willing to set aside the time for them for personal and family reasons.

I have a OLED Switch that I bought last year, which is still collecting dust in the drawer. Downloaded a couple of games, and I dunno - the energy and the enthusiasm just doesn't seem to be there.

Conversely, there's this game called "slay the spire" which I bought in 2020, and have clocked 660 hours to date (could have sworn I played a lot more than that, but that's what the app says). And the more I think about it, the more I realise that what appeals to me more these days are accessibility and convenience.

Think about it. People have their smartphones on them at all times. That's where mobile games shine - as short bursts when people have small pockets of free time available. Console / PC gaming require you to set aside a few hours at a time, and they demand all of your attention, and you almost always have to be at home to game.

I play "Slay the Spire" to kill time during boring zoom meetings. I play it when I am lounging on my sofa with YouTube running on my living room TV. I play it when I want to take a short break from work. The main features that allow me to play said game pretty much anywhere, anytime, simply don't work with console gaming. I don't need to devote 100% of my attention to it.

If I have half an hour to kill, I will fire up Battleheart Legacy in my iPhone. It doesn't matter how engaging or immersive those PS5 titles are. If it's not available on my phone, it may as well not exist. Maybe it sounds sad, but that's life right now for me, and I wager there are plenty more like me.

I think Apple is not wrong to focus on mobile-friendly titles with Apple Arcade, since iPhones make up the largest number of Apple devices in circulation, and that's what lets them appeal to as wide a user base as possible.

 

[NotTooLate]

Are all of those games (except GTA) free to play?

No , does it matter ? both in the PC/Mobile land we have IAP in paid games and free games , probably Mobile has more free games with IAP then in PC though.

 

[diamond.g]

No , does it matter ? both in the PC/Mobile land we have IAP in paid games and free games , probably Mobile has more free games with IAP then in PC though.

It was more along the lines of, developers have to get money from a free game somehow. It also turns out that folks appear to like paying for cosmetics (I think it is dumb, personally).

The games that you have to pay for (like Assassins Creed) where they still have paid micro transactions are irritating.

SIE doing mobile games now "inhouse" is going to be a way for them to bolster revenue. I 100% do not expect them to port games like God of War as is to mobile form. I would expect to see them do something like the Hitman/Laura Croft "puzzle" game with Kratos, or maybe an endless runner. I also expect all the MTX from these mobile games.