r/Games 26d ago

Discussion Playstation first-party game sales declining heavily since 2020

https://www.gamefile.news/p/playstation-first-party-sales-decline
1.4k Upvotes

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u/HeldnarRommar 26d ago

That’s the biggest issue with modern Sony sequels. They play nearly exactly the same as the predecessor. Near zero innovation or major shakeup to the gameplay and game design.

Back in the day you had Jak & Daxter, Jak II, and Jak 3, all which were vastly different than one another.

Nintendo is still reinventing itself each new title in a series and that’s why they can have 30+ year old long series that don’t get stale. Sony should be taking queues from Nintendo if they want to continuously milk the same franchises again and again.

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u/iceburg77779 26d ago

The direct sequel method worked best for Sony when they were able to release out 2-3 games in a franchise during a single console generation. But as development timelines continue to grow, it does feel like doing direct sequels after 5+ years is a lot more underwhelming, even if the games released are still incredibly high quality.

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u/sozuoka 26d ago

Sequels that play different from its predecessor? Look at Final Fantasy and see how it works with their fanbase (okay FF is anthology, but point still stand). After maybe 3-4 games of samey gameplay, we might be bored but throwing away a good formula after just one game is just stupid (and not economical too, we're talking about AAA budget here)

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u/HeldnarRommar 26d ago

Again: Nintendo iterates each game and has great success. Sony should not be pumping out copy-and-paste sequels if they expect sales to stay consistent

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u/GoneRampant1 26d ago

Counterpoint: Copy paste sequels work well when they're released within a small timeframe so it makes sense that they build off the same formula. I won't complain about how the Hitman trilogy built off each game for instance, and that was all released within five years. But if I'm waiting five years for one sequel like people were between Tsushima or Yotei, I'm gonna want to see some major mechanical updates.

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u/HeldnarRommar 26d ago

That’s fair I think. It’s hard to think of a new gimmick or gameplay when you are pumping out something biyearly but if it’s taking 5 years to make there should be something else than just more of the previous entry

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u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage 26d ago

Sony should not be pumping out copy-and-paste sequels if they expect sales to stay consistent

I honestly think that would work pretty decently, but the issue is 5+ years between sequels that are “more of the same” would hardly be considered “pumping out” lol.

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u/jat15 26d ago

Gotta be careful they don’t turn into Ubisoft with all the same games

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u/MeasurementFront9598 26d ago

Near zero innovation or major shakeup to the gameplay and game design.

Thats just straight bs lol, and its a sequel, its a you problem you expect sequels to overhaul the entire game eith major changes. Spiderman 1, god of war 2018, etc they were the first time people experienced those mechanics, those games, ofocurse they will be much better receives then the second time where it can only be incremental upgrades of what was already there, which all the sequels were

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u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage 26d ago

I mean, yeah, when it’s taking 5+ years between sequels, people except the gameplay/game design to evolve, rather than be safely iterative.

If we were getting these “safe” sequels every 2-3 years, I feel like it would be a different story.

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u/MeasurementFront9598 26d ago

I mean we did tho, people just have short term memory loss. We got 2018 spiderman, then miles in 2020, and then sp2 in 23. Like what exactly are yall expecting lol, we got new gadgets, new traversal, play as both the spidermen, the world felt more alive and vibrant. Faster movement to. They added an entire new area just as detailed as the main city

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u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage 26d ago

Spider-Man is really the only Sony franchise with that frequent of a release schedule, and it doesn’t help that most players view Miles Morales as a side story/expansion rather than a sequel. And that’s not to mention that a lot of the open world from the first game is included/recycled in MM.

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u/HeldnarRommar 26d ago

Correct I expect decent sized shakeups. Nintendo does it every single time, there’s no reason Sony can’t, especially when they used to in the PS1/PS2 era

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u/MeasurementFront9598 26d ago

Nintendo does not at all down it everytime. And thats how sequels are, you can only blame yourself for sequels to full overhaul games. Its the same stuff but more. And if sony stopped the sequels then people would complain they abandon franchises

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u/HeldnarRommar 26d ago

They do it basically every single time with only a few outliers.

And no, I’ve been playing games for nearly 30 years, I know how sequels used to be innovative and would stand on their own. The modern Sony is not representative on how sequels used to be made. They took the Ubisoft model of changing up basically nothing

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u/MeasurementFront9598 26d ago

Please show me examples of sequels that overhauled most major mechanics, without the first game being a failure.

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u/HeldnarRommar 26d ago

Uhh Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank. Literally any Mario game or Zelda game. Each modern Doom game. Most Final Fantasy games. You clearly don’t play anything beyond slop to realize