Games Inbox: Could Sony quit the games industry?-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

Can you imagine gaming without PlayStation? (Credits: Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/Shu)

The Monday letters page wishes everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year, as a reader hopes for an early January Switch 2 reveal.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

PLEASE NOTE: This will be the last Inbox of 2024, before we return to normal service on Monday, January 6. There’ll be plenty of exclusive features till then though, including our Top 20 of 2024 and preview of 2025. In the meantime, we wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Expect the unexpected
Although Xbox is the obvious choice to lose out next gen, if there’s only going to be Nintendo and one other, I don’t think people should be too quick to take that as a given. Remember that Microsoft is a vastly bigger company than Sony and they’ve poured so much money into Xbox at this point that I’m sure it’s become a sunk cost fallacy for them. That is, they think since they’ve spent this much, they shouldn’t stop now.

I think for Microsoft it’s just a waiting game. They can sit around and make money from Call Of Duty and the other Activision games, then when streaming is stable enough to go mainstream they’re going to totally dominate that tech and Sony won’t have a chance.

I don’t necessarily see that happening next gen but then I don’t know when Wi-Fi and whatever is suddenly going to become more reliable. I’m not saying it’s likely anytime soon, but I could easily imagine a future where PlayStation is pushed into third place and Sony just give up and leave the industry. Sounds implausible now but so did Xbox going multiformat a year or so ago.
Tacle

Before Oblivion
I’m not against an Oblivion remake but I do wish Bethesda would remake Morrowind instead. I’ve never properly played it, because by the time I found out about it, after Skyrim, it was already old, and I found it pretty much unplayable.

I often see older fans of the series saying it’s the best one, because it has deeper role-playing gameplay but it’s very hard to appreciate if you weren’t there the first time round, I think.

I guess the reason they’re not doing it is because it would be a lot of work, since the game is so old and there’s basically nothing they can keep. They’d probably have to change the UI and controls and everything else too. I wish they would though, I’d like to play it properly but after a modern makeover.
Carter

Sneak peek
If people are leaking the Pro Controller as well as everything else for the Switch 2, I don’t think Nintendo has any choice but to announce the console ASAP. Early January always seemed the sensible choice anyway, but now I think it’s one that Nintendo must take.

It’s a bit of a shame to have the design spoiled like this but, as a reader said, perhaps it’s best to get the fact that it looks the same out of the way first, as it is kind of disappointing. Not that I think they should’ve changed it for the sake of it, but you do always expect something different from Nintendo.

I’m glad that the secrets of the new buttons haven’t been spoiled though, or any of the new games, as that’s what most important.
Glottis

Warning sign
I’m not blaming gamers for that list of the best-selling games being so uninspired, but it really is not the sign of a healthy games industry. If nobody’s buying new games, then you’ve got to ask what is the point in making them?

You can tell publishers have already been asking themselves that, because that’s what doing nothing but live service games essentially is. I really don’t know how you turn things around now, because just playing the same game forever is how a generation of kids now think of games.

So even if Fortnite or Minecraft or whatever falls out of fashion something else similar will fill the gap and then everything else will still be left out in the call. The answer has got to be spending drastically less on making new games but does anyone really want the next God Of War or Call Of Duty to be made by AI?
Codfrey

Portable massive
RE: Kobold. I’ve been playing Throne And Liberty, which is a free-to-play MMORPG. It plays great on my ROG Ally, so I imagine it will be the same performance on the Steam Deck.

The game is open world and the quests are lot more engaging than I was imaging. While you will get the most fun by being in a guild, I’ve enjoyed my time soloing through the main story.
Wallace

X marks the spot
I’ve been playing games for over 40 years now and to this day I have to concede, I still struggle with X, Y, A, B or indeed the PlayStation configuration X, O, and the rest I can’t type in.

As the early 90s kicked in the SNES came out with its four buttons on the face of the controller. Each button was coloured differently, so that helped when knowing which button to press and also the Xbox controller. The GameCube controller was a godsend, as you could tell by feeling which button you where pressing.

I bought Bayonetta 3 on the cheap the other day and I just can’t get my head around the different buttons I need to press, incidentally I had the same problem with Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U.

I’m sure I would enjoy it a lot more if I knew what I was doing, instead of just button bashing and hoping for the best.

It’s actually really irritating that I can’t get my head around it, but I’ve been gaming long enough now to know what I’m doing?

Does anyone else have this problem? Is it a trait of dyslexia?

Having said that, I’m enjoying smashing monsters in Bayonetta 3 even if I am just ridding my luck.
freeway 77

GC: It sounds like you’re having more trouble than just forgetting which button is which? All the Bayonetta games have easily accessed tutorials you can practise in, which will teach you the basics and various combos.

Zero to hero
GC, you and your team have been doing this job from the good old Teletext days and I’ve never seen anyone ask this question, so here goes: is there any games you have reviewed and got a score lower than 3, then after a few updates and free DLC has gone above an 8 or do you just review games once and then move on?
David

GC: That is a peculiarly specific question. We can’t think of any DLC that has improved our view of the parent game that much. Cyberpunk 2077 is the most famous example of a game improving from launch but we’re not sure if that’s the sort of thing you mean.

The year that was
It’s been a heck of a year, with many ups and downs, but it’s still good to know the compassionate world of gaming is stronger than ever.

That compassion extends to the many job losses in the gaming industry, which this year’s Game Awards definitely stressed the importance of. The development teams are what gives us these great games and without the hard work and dedication of these people we would not be in this great situation of gaming choices.

The Game Awards made the point throughout the show, of the importance of respecting the designers and creators and how awful it is to lay these people off. It’s good to know there are people willing to help the unfortunate workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, with a means to get back onto the job ladder with suitable development careers for them.

The games in whole I feel have been great, as usual, with my favourites, interestingly, being DLC: Shadow Of The Erdtree and Alan Wake. But with Indiana Jones, Silent Hill 2, Dragon’s Dogma 2, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard still taking my time currently it definitely shows the top level of games available for us gamers. In fact, I had less time to play indie games because of the triple-A games available this year.

Next year looks to be good but surely not a 2024 beater, though if Death Stranding 2 is released, then surely this is going to be my game of the year for me! I feel announcements will be made regarding next generation consoles and maybe a Switch 2 release date. But we’ll see regarding all this, as I am in no rush whatsoever for this news.

But all is good regarding this year’s games. I wish GameCentral and GC’s awesome viewers the best Christmas over the holiday season and a very happy new year. May all your gaming wishes come true and stay safe and well. Here’s to 2025.
Alucard

Inbox also-rans
Just read that the creator of Dead Space pitched a new game to EA and was told no. After seeing that Silent Hill 2 didn’t seem to sell much are we ready to call this latest survival horror renaissance a failure too?
Zeiss

GC: We’re to sad to say that’s probably true.

Merry Christmas one and all! Here’s hoping for some Switch 2 and GTA 6 news as soon as possible next year!
Cranston

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

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