Sony has placed its China Hero Project front and center at Chinajoy, and its leader provides some interesting insight about it.
'If the big companies dictate what games can be created, I don't think that will advance the industry.' -Shihei Yoshida
🙄 same guy who said 80$ is a steal lol and according to him M$ shouldnt put good on a services🤣 wtf
Subscription services have f***ed the movie industry and it's work force, caused massive studio buyups by companies like Disney consolidating huge parts of the industry under one roof and have creatively sterilised the IP's they've gobbled up. The same thing is happening to gaming, MS being the main greedy piggy.
I get what he's saying, but I don’t think we need subscription services to see a lot of the problems he's pointing out. All we really have to do is look at the gaming industry over the last two console generations. Even without subscriptions, the big AAA publishers have already been moving in a direction where almost every game feels like it's built from the same template. It’s all about streamlined, safe design choices that are meant to appeal to the widest possible audience. At this point, you could probably ask an AI to make a AAA game from a certain publisher and it would spit out something pretty close to what they’re actually making.
Now, about the whole “walled garden” thing... that’s not some future problem, it’s already here. Consoles have always worked like that. Their entire business model is based on controlling what gets released on their platforms. Sure, maybe they’re not as locked down as the extreme examples people bring up, but the end result is similar. If you’re not making the kind of game the platform holder wants, you’re probably not getting through the door. We’ve seen it with Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, even Valve does this in its own way with Steam. So yeah, the issue isn’t new or exclusive to subscription services.
Would a subscription-only future make that problem worse? Sure, it definitely could. But I don’t think we’re heading in that direction anytime soon. Unless physical hardware truly becomes a thing of the past and everyone switches to streaming games, I just don’t see subscriptions becoming the dominant model. They’ll stick around as an option, but I doubt they’ll take over completely.
Now, what will take over completely is digital media, and that’s a whole different issue that’s going to hit us a lot sooner. PC and mobile are already basically 100% digital, and that makes up around 70% of the gaming market. The remaining 30% is consoles, and even there we’re seeing the shift. Sony’s removing the disc drive from boxed consoles, Nintendo is releasing just one super expensive 64GB cartridge for their new system, which means almost all third-party publishers will end up going digital and Microsoft is mostly digital already. You either get a digital-only or a physical box with disc that only acts as a activation key. So yeah, that future’s already knocking on the door and the damage will be enormous.
Right, because then you can’t sell individual games at $80, which is an incredible value for the consumer!
Xbox's handheld ambitions continue unabated, but the focus is shifting towards improving Windows 11 for third-party handhelds — for now. The Xbox Series X 'Melrose' successor is safe, with development continuing at full pace.
Funny to see the alt already damage controlling and having a meltdown with multiple accounts in the comments already.
Sad for MS if true, a dedicated handheld would go down a lot better than a rog ally 2 with an Xbox sticker on it I think.
Capcom has removed GFWL from PC versions of Lost Planet 1 and 2 as well as other titles on Steam alongside support for online features.
TLDR: China Hero Project is 21 games 14 are still in development. And PS5 is seeing big sales gains over PS4.
And the Final Fantasy quote is about them wanting to have a long term relationships with Chinese developers like they have with Square Enix who has been putting games on PlayStation for 20 years.
Bao Bo:
CHP has been in existence for seven years, and has announced a total of 21 selected titles.
Seven of these titles have been released, and 14 titles, including the multiplayer open world ARPG "Unending Dawn" , the single-player adventure "Loulan" , and the martial arts action RPG "Brocade-Clad Guard" announced at CJ2024, are currently in development by the supported developers. We are currently in the final stages of developing these third-term selected titles.
Bao Bo:
I think it has been quite successful. That's because the changes in the Chinese game market in recent years have been a big tailwind. To be
honest, during the first and second phases of CHP titles, consumer game consoles were hardly popular in China. However, recently, the PlayStation platform has rapidly penetrated the market, and the number of people playing has increased dramatically, and Chinese gamers have naturally been able to touch it.
4Gamer:
Which is stronger in China, PS5 or PS4?
Bao Bo:
I don't know the exact market share, but as far as I know, PS5 is overwhelming. This is because, as I just said, during the PS4 era, consumer game consoles had not yet taken root in China, whereas in recent years, it has become the norm for new people to start with PS5.
Good goals
If sony want the Chinese market they will have to sell their soul and creative freedom to get it 9/10 games they produce would not stand up to scrutiny for release
They choose the games that had most enjoyment to give support to. Most was souls like apparently. People should read the interview its good. Sony going in on China was good move hell Korea and India as well. Even if the games fail its a starting point.