Sacred Symbols, Episode 145: Green Monster

=)

Colin Moriarty

I don't know if it's THAT... but I think it's something Sony needs to make sure doesn't happen.

Colin Moriarty

Hahaha such an awkward goodbye. Love it!

Mark Horner

If Kojima does not release his new game or next venture on playstation, it is a straight betrayal. His fans are on playstation for the most part. Sony needs to do something.

Joseph Cerini

I guess I missed that ! Good work !

I'm happy you're happy. We had to delay, but we'll have him on in a few weeks.

Colin Moriarty

LOL.

Colin Moriarty

Thread goes up very shortly for this week's episode.

Colin Moriarty

Me too. =)

Colin Moriarty

We hired Dustin someone underneath him in January, where have you been?

Colin Moriarty

I for one visibly celebrated when I learned Finn is going to be a future guest. Very exciting

PapaFlow

Petition for someone to make a Sony Defense Force logo in the style of the Space Force insignia

Henry Morgan

I always forget when the question thread is posted, I really wanna talk about Soulstorm.

John the Nabo

Hmm. I could probably cobble something together at some point./

Colin Moriarty

Colin can your minions please get some names of the podcasts that you’ve guested on? Am I just missing it? Be well.

BlindRiot

Man I hope Sony finds a way to put out these fires soon.

BlindRiot

Game Pass may be profitable if you count all of the collateral revenue due to game pass subscribers. DLC after base game is completed on game pass, game purchases after trial on game pass, plus MS doesn’t sell a game worth $70 other than flight simulator.

These stores compete directly with playstation NOW , they are just trying to funnel as many onto that service as possible . They don’t care about developers still trying to cash in on a dying platform , all of their preferred partners are on PS4 /5

Colin you have a golden boy in Dustin do not fuck it up, no more Dustinless episodes, and also hire him an assistant to take some pressure off of his other duties

Debate : I think Sony top brass made the decision to shut the psp/ps vita/ps3 stores early and without reasonable notice to both devs and their lower level staff. What is the reason to do it this way were their taking damage to the developer relationship that PlayStation have built up over the years?

Hozi

I am sure you are right, my argument was not that Game Pass is profitable, it was that the Netflix reference might be off. Like I said I have no idea if it is profitable, but Game Pass has other sources of generating money outside of the subscription fee, which to me changes the landscape a bit. Window's Central's Jez Corden stats he knows for a fact they are profitable, but I'm not sure how he would know that. https://twitter.com/JezCorden/status/1379575590169247749

KevinFausch

I promise you that Gamepass isn't profitable; I'm shocked anyone thinks that it is.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! I feel like we're in a good place with chemistry, too.

Colin Moriarty

It's very boring and very sterile, and they're fucking up.

Colin Moriarty

I don't think that's quite how it went. Maybe part-of-the-way, but someone somewhere was blindsided.

Colin Moriarty

PC gaming.

Colin Moriarty

???

Colin Moriarty

?

Colin Moriarty

There is no upside to what's happening with The Show, if you're Sony. Otherwise, they would have done this before they were forced to. Right?

Colin Moriarty

That's actually a cool idea. =)

Colin Moriarty

I haven't. My schedule has just been amok.

Colin Moriarty

No.

Colin Moriarty

They very well might, but I don't know why Sony would care about THAT above getting people to play games on their machine. It's a lose/lose/lose.

Colin Moriarty

I've hear Colin state that Game Pass is not profitable on multiple occasions, using Netflix as the example of why it's probably not. I think Netflix is entirely different though, with their service the buck stops with the monthly payment. Game Pass on the other hand has multiple other sources of revenue microtransactions, DLC, and game purchases - all of which Microsoft has stated has seen an increase because gamers inherently play more games when subbed. I have no idea if Game Pass is profitable, but isn't the Netflix reference a bit off?

KevinFausch

Great episode as always. The chemistry between the 3 of you seems to get better each episode. Anyway, writing in to chime in on the topic regarding MLB The Show. I want to start by providing a few pieces of information regarding baseball. They are aware of two huge problems with the sport and have been addressing them the past few years: the average age of a baseball fan is about 57 years old and they have a very hard time promoting stars. The best example is someone like Mike Trout from the LA Angels. Statistically, he is one of the best batters in MLB history but almost no one knows who he is. The third minor problem they have is that the sport is very regional. There are other issues but it is with the sport itself, such as 3+ hour games, fans are extremely regional, difficult for kids to pick up a bat/ball and play without a team, etc. What better way to reach a younger audience than through video games? I've heard multiple stories of how FIFA gained more fans from players picking up the EA FIFA games and learned about the teams and the players. For some reason, live MLB games would promote in game ads for RBI Baseball, but hardly ever for MLB The Show. Maybe it is because RBI is published by MLB or Sony has some sort of exclusively that I am not aware of. We all know RBI Baseball is nowhere close to The Show in terms of graphics, game engine, and overall polish. My guess is that MLB went to Sony and San Diego Studio and asked them why it is only available on Sony platforms and not on Xbox, Switch, and/or mobile to expand their reach as much as possible or else they would either end or not renew the exclusive license to them when the deal is up. I'm sure EA or 2k would love to get bid on it if that ever happened. MLB's main purpose is to reach as many gamers as possible. I doubt they give a crap about fanboys from either side. Xbox putting it on Game Pass further expands their reach and obviously looks bad for Sony but hopefully they are still able to make money on microtransactions.

Brian Lau

Not enough Shuhei Yoshida, No Kaz Hirai, No Shahid Ahmed... Mark Cerny seems to be barely around. Everyone who seemed to be interesting at Sony is kind of missing. They've dropped their indie devs, they've jerked around all their smaller internal devs, and refocused on just a handful of blockbuster producing studios. I'll have to see how long they can get away with being so boring. They still have a handful of studios that I like, but that number has been cut by about 40% as they've sliced studios off over the years. I've been hearing that they're not letting Bend make another Days Gone game either. If they keep at this, I can see the other consoles getting more purchases. (Still not getting Gamepass though, I prefer to have permanent access to my games.)

Kaz Redclaw

My feeling with the show on gamepass is as follows. MLB came to sony and said we want the show on more platforms. Sony said ok, but we don't wanna publish it on xbox, can you do it. MLB said ok. MLB knows nothing about publishing video games, so they went to Microsoft and said, "Hey, how about you cut us a check, and you can do the publishing work and do whatever you want with the game". Xbox said ok, cut that check, and here we are. And if this is what happened, sony screwed themselves.

Angel DeJesus

Dustin, don't know if anyone has helped you with your Outriders jank yet but try launching it in DirectX11 from the steam launcher and turn DLSS on to ultra performance if you have an RTX card. That solved all the jankiness for me.

Jay Bayles

The Three Sagrados Amigos!!!

ur ppnballs

I also like real Star Wars like spaceballs

Wayde

How is there no upside to having the game on multiple platforms? Sony is still getting the revenue from every game downloaded that it published and produced plus all the in game purchases which is where the real money is. Also after you done pay $15 a month for game pass you'll have paid more for that particular baseball game before the seasons even over it makes more sense if you're an avid baseball fan to just buy the game

Wayde

Man I’d kill for a vita means death shirt for tales of hearts.

MrMilk

Love the dynamic you guys have now. 😄 PS: Col, don’t forget the monthly Q&A 😛

NeO JD

Was there another Jesse Protocol that I missed?

Jose Horrach

i think you guys left out an important piece. Wouldn’t the show being on gamepass really help The Shows micro transaction numbers? Diamond Dynasty is their most popular game mode and this huge influx of players could do nothing but increase those numbers, which would go straight to Sony San Diego. Right? I canceled my preorder for gamepass and plan on putting the money I’m saving straight into diamond dynasty microtransactions

Ant Castillo

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

I don't think so.

Colin Moriarty

Yes.

Colin Moriarty

He shouldn't speak on the show at all, perhaps.

Colin Moriarty

That wouldn't be very nice.

Colin Moriarty

I'm not entirely sure I agree with your analysis. EA stopped publishing MLB games 16 years ago; 2K actually did have exclusive licensing in the period after. The Show was allowed because first party games were immune to the deal. When The Show was re-licensed in '12 and '13, 2K lost out. It wasn't a voluntary exit. You may remember that 2K went completely scorched-Earth and deleted the websites for the games, etc.

Colin Moriarty

+!

Colin Moriarty

About a third of the way through 2. I'll go back; just getting sidetracked.

Colin Moriarty

I only play as a bad guy for Trophies. =D

Colin Moriarty

We had to delay with him this coming week, but we'll reschedule for sure.

Colin Moriarty

Gotta make the choice that's best for you!

Colin Moriarty

Jaffe's on my to-contact list.

Colin Moriarty

LOL. <3

Colin Moriarty

You guys where on fire this episode. On point and acute, and I found myself laughing (mostly in despair) a shit ton. Definitely feeling the early PS3 vibes... possibly worse, it's hard to foresee, so much worrying stuff. Keep it up lads!

Bryn Findlay-Dykes

Colin maybe you have a bug to review games?

There’s No I in LLC

Colin - my friend - you’re experiencing a sunk cost fallacy with Wild Arms 3.

GameSimp

I like that Dustin says goodbye but that one felt forced. Should we reconsider him saying anything on the outro now...

FoxHopSmash

Can Dustin end the episodes by just saying, "Fuck you, Colin."?

PuppiesOnParade

Sony doesn’t have an exclusive license. Y’all are forgetting that all other devs abandoned their license bc Sony was killing them in sales. There use to be 2K baseball and MVP baseball. Both EA and 2K chose to cease development. This truly is a slap in the face bc Sony only became a defector exclusive license holder bc they had the best product. Now MLB is forcing their product onto GamePass. I think this is truly shortsighted by MLB. I like the show, but I would be perfectly okay w Sony canceling future games if this is how MLB will treat them. Then MLB would have no games to sell bc 2K and EA would need at least 2 years to development a replacement product.

Brian Presley

Can’t wait for Colin’s take next week with the Bloomberg article

Adamthm

How far did you get in your Danganronpa trilogy playthrough, Col?

Eugene Lanzoni

I find I tend to enjoy the “renegade” dialog choices more because they are fun and you never know what exactly you are gonna get but morally my first play-through is always the “paragon” option. It feels totally wrong to start off a new game with a evil play-through imo and I would question someone who’s go to move is to start off with the evil route lol

Adam

I seriously believe that this negative cloud over the perception of Sony will instantly evaporate once they release one or two big exclusives. Now if Horizon 2 for example releases with poor reception, then yeah things are bleak. Overall, I think Sony fans are a bit over worried about this year's set backs and Xbox's recent successes. PS5s are under ridiculous demand, PS+ is solid, new VR hardware is coming, and Sony has a good reputation with outputting well-received games. I think the biggest issue with Sony though is that they seemed to completely lost the handheld market to Nintendo. Now MS is stepping into it with xCloud.

Ngl, it’s been very depressing being a PlayStation fan this past year. So many negative things have happened, and now with The Last of Us getting remade AGAIN, Deathloop delayed, what is there to look forward to besides Ratchet & maybe Horizon 2? Sony needs to wake up or they’ll straight up lose. Doesn’t matter how many PS4s they sold last generation.

Brandon Soto

Correct. Excellent double-entendre, if I do say so myself.

Colin Moriarty

I think that was me that made the Punk Rock MBA comment. Haha. He referenced you guys in one of his videos and I nearly sharted my jorts when I heard it.

Madshibs

Green monster? Like the wall at Fenway?

Roger

I'm looking to buy a Series X with Gamepass, that'll be my new primary console. I have no reason to continually support PlayStation at this current rate.

Jorge Aponte

If you're able to get Jaffe on SS+ to talk about the Naughty Dog & San Diego news, that'd be a killer show. He talked about on his show with Mumbauer how he wanted you on that episode, Colin

Kendrick Luckenbach

PS Now, the best value in gaming. 😆 You guys are amazing! Keep up the great work!

Anthony J Sanchez