The current console generation (PS5/XSX) bitterly disappointing???

[ED-209]

So the next generation is apparently due out in a couple of years now.

What a pile of shit the current one has been, I can't think of one title that's actually shown anything impressive and most of the games that have come out recently have been available on their predecessor anyway.

Then there's the fact you couldn't get one for the first 2 years.

Worst generation ever - or maybe I'm just getting old.

 

[BillJ]

I own a PS5, a Series X and S. I've had a blast. Lots of great games out there, and with backwards compatibility, lots of great games to catch up on.

 

[ED-209]

Cool but “with backwards compatibility” so they aren’t this generation.

 

[JoseNoodles]

So the next generation is apparently due out in a couple of years now.

What a pile of shit the current one has been, I can't think of one title that's actually shown anything impressive and most of the games that have come out recently have been available on their predecessor anyway.

Then there's the fact you couldn't get one for the first 2 years.

Worst generation ever - or maybe I'm just getting old.

The gaming industry as it is currently working is becoming unsustainable for a number of reasons:
Too much emphasis on "Triple A" games that publishers place unreasonable high sales expectations on so that even if they make millions, they're still considered flops.
Live Service games that demand too much of players time, not factoring in that many players have lives (jobs) outside of the game, and that some will tire of playing games where they are grinding for the sake of grinding.
Massive layoffs going on the gaming industry, caused in part by some game publishers gobbling up developer studies and then shutting them down due to the incompetence of the failson executives who run these publishers, many who will sure as hell fire people at the bottom before they take a pay cut. The Embracer Group fiasco is a good example of this.
Publishers/Developers still trying to make VR a thing.
Publishers/Developers still trying to make the NFT/Web 3.0 scam economy a thing.
Publishers/Developers still trying to make online-only gaming a thing.
Publishers/Developers still trying to push out half complete games at full retail price. (looking at you Bethesda)
Publishers/Developers trying to make $70 dollars the new retail price standard.
Publishers/Developers still trying to push pre-order/DLC nonsense that inflates the price of the now $70 games to $100 or more.
Publishers/Developers still trying to push micro-transactions and other gacha mechanics. (See live service games above for more info)
Maybe too much focus on open-world games that don't really make good use of the real estate, and become filled with the same repetitive quests/tasks at the expense of the main campaign and other developer crafted content. (again looking at you Bethesda)

So yeah, I can see why some people are disappointed with the current generation of gaming. I can't imagine an industry that is more outwardly greedy and contemptuous of its clientele. Well maybe the film/television industry, but I feel that at least they pay lip service to some sense of decency, and they have to deal with union strikes every once in a while.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

I can only speak about the Playstation side since it's the one I'm most familiar with but yeah, I also feel weird about the whole announcement of the next console gen being not that far away already. Never had this feeling with the PS4. I think what hurt the PS5 the most is not the performance or anything, it's the fact that it wasn't readily available for such a long, long time. For the life of me I will never understand what possessed Sony to release a new console in the middle of a pandemic when it was clear that things were a mess due to repeated lockdowns all over the world and that therefore new consoles couldn't be produced and/or shipped at the speed that was needed. They should have gone down the Nintendo road - release a comforting game like Animal Crossing: New Horizons for current gen and everbody will buy it and play it.

I managed to get a PS5 at an outrageous price at some point but not everybody was a stubborn/determined (I think what a lot of us gamers are forgetting that there are WAY more casual gamers than die hard gamers, and casual gamers neither pay outrageous prices for a new console nor do they spend entire nights scouting websites on which new PS5s are rumored to appear in stock) and a lot people decided to keep their PS4 around for as long as possible, which is another thing that hurt Sony's sales I'd say. I myself still use my PS4 for some games because I just like the controller better. It's not as heavy and some games require fast button smashing and somehow the PS5 controller is slower at registering the input than the PS4 one. (I have several PS5 controllers, so it's either Old Man Me or the controllers, lol.)

Of course people can now buy PS5s everywhere and whatnot but eh. The momentum and mutual excitement that comes with a new gen console has been lost or was never there in the first place because for WAY too long a time only a small elite of gamers could get their hands on a PS5. I'm pretty sure Sony very much regrets releasing the PS5 when they released it, and I guess the instinct is to say "eh we'll try again with a new console soon", which is what's creating the whole feeling of "eh the PS5 will be replaced in a few years already anyway".

There ARE good games for the PS5 now tho. However, the whole gaming industry is bit of a mess right now (see that "why is everything a mess" post above, good points all around) so yeah, it all really does feel somewhat... disappointing.

 

[John Clark]

I can't speak for myself, but my mate usually gets the consoles a few years after they've released. I'm not sure he's got the PS5 yet, but does have the xbox one x.


To some extent, I know if any of the games are "online always", even for single player, it's decreasing his interest a lot as he's on pay as you go wifi.

(On the other hand, he does keep getting older consoles as and when he can).

 

[JoseNoodles]

I can only speak about the Playstation side since it's the one I'm most familiar with but yeah, I also feel weird about the whole announcement of the next console gen being not that far away already. Never had this feeling with the PS4. I think what hurt the PS5 the most is not the performance or anything, it's the fact that it wasn't readily available for such a long, long time. For the life of me I will never understand what possessed Sony to release a new console in the middle of a pandemic when it was clear that things were a mess due to repeated lockdowns all over the world and that therefore new consoles couldn't be produced and/or shipped at the speed that was needed. They should have gone down the Nintendo road - release a comforting game like Animal Crossing: New Horizons for current gen and everbody will buy it and play it.

I managed to get a PS5 at an outrageous price at some point but not everybody was a stubborn/determined (I think what a lot of us gamers are forgetting that there are WAY more casual gamers than die hard gamers, and casual gamers neither pay outrageous prices for a new console nor do they spend entire nights scouting websites on which new PS5s are rumored to appear in stock) and a lot people decided to keep their PS4 around for as long as possible, which is another thing that hurt Sony's sales I'd say. I myself still use my PS4 for some games because I just like the controller better. It's not as heavy and some games require fast button smashing and somehow the PS5 controller is slower at registering the input than the PS4 one. (I have several PS5 controllers, so it's either Old Man Me or the controllers, lol.)

Of course people can now buy PS5s everywhere and whatnot but eh. The momentum and mutual excitement that comes with a new gen console has been lost or was never there in the first place because for WAY too long a time only a small elite of gamers could get their hands on a PS5. I'm pretty sure Sony very much regrets releasing the PS5 when they released it, and I guess the instinct is to say "eh we'll try again with a new console soon", which is what's creating the whole feeling of "eh the PS5 will be replaced in a few years already anyway".

There ARE good games for the PS5 now tho. However, the whole gaming industry is bit of a mess right now (see that "why is everything a mess" post above, good points all around) so yeah, it all really does feel somewhat... disappointing.

Yep, Sony dropped the ball massively. Amazingly, despite the advantage this gave Microsoft with the Xbox Series S/X, they also seemed to have struggled. They've recently backtracked on their stance on Xbox exclusives, meaning some of their IPs will now appear on the PlayStation. It seems like the undisputed king of this generation will be Nintendo with the Switch.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I'd say they've been disappointing, but not so much from a tech standpoint. I think it's mostly been on the software side of things. I think the tech itself is fine. I think the issue is compounded by several factors. First, there was the disruption during Covid, with the chip shortage affecting various industries, making the current console generation difficult to obtain until the last two years. That had to significantly affect the bottomline of the console manufacturers and affect the trajectory, and we saw that by more games being offered for both generations for a longer period of time when it should normally have been a transitionary phase. But witness the Cyberpunk 2077 problem, a game that was clearly designed for the current gen, but something they had to make available on the last gen once the writing was on the wall that nobody would be able to obtain new consoles, which then turned out to be a mistake given how badly it ran on those consoles.

So, in a way, I feel the current generation has grown in two ways that are out of step with each other. To say we're now in the late cycle feels wrong, but technically they're correct in terms of the hardware, but on the software side of things, it feels like it's still in its infancy, like we haven't had the chance to really take advantage of the hardware and really push it to its limit. And then you have the fact that there are very few titles exclusive to the current gen.

Add to this the fact that games are more and more expensive and take longer to develop, which is part of why we haven't seen much into generational exclusives this time around, and it's crazy to think that the GTA series could be going two generations without a new release, as it was originally released for the PS3/XBox 360, if indeed they're looking at it being a release for the next generation.

Add to the fact that there are rumours of a PS5 Pro, which I feel won't happen, but it's easy to get the feeling that the hardware hasn't really shown us what it can do, and that we're not ready for a new generation. Maybe they need to stop thinking of the consoles in terms of 7 year life cycles, especially this generation, and just let it be for the next while and just wait for the software to catch up. The problem with the idea of a PS5 Pro that everyone has, is that unlike the PS4 which had to have a hardware update to add 4K HDR due to those things becoming more commonplace during the middle of the generation, this time around, there really isn't much to hold onto the idea of a Pro update, especially when we really need more software/games. Waiting until a PS6 for those 'features' seems like the more sensible thing to do. The cycles I think will have to start to slow.

I only just got my PS5 at the tail end of November. I had been entirely comfortable just continuing with my PS4, as my backlog is still huge, but my friends had all moved on to the PS5 and were playing BG3, and If I wanted to play with them, I had to get on the bandwagon. And while I'm thankful for the backwards compatibility, I still really wonder what the heck I was missing.

The best thing this generation has going for it have been the load times and the SSDs you could add for more space. I don't even have a 4K HDR TV to take advantage of most of what it has to offer. And that's another thing too. I have a feeling those who can actually take advantage of the newer tech is at an increasing minority with each generation.

 

[Timby]

Worst generation ever

Says the guy who couldn't stop gushing over RoboCop: Rogue City.

 

[ED-209]

I enjoyed more than one game on literally every other console I’ve owned. Honestly I can only think of a couple of games I’ve really enjoyed this generation.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I enjoyed more than one game on literally every other console I’ve owned. Honestly I can only think of a couple of games I’ve really enjoyed this generation.

See, in my case, I'm still playing more PS4 games, even when there are PS5 versions available. I don't feel the upgrade prices are all that reasonable in most cases. It feels like we've barely started getting exclusives for this current generation.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

See, in my case, I'm still playing more PS4 games, even when there are PS5 versions available. I don't feel the upgrade prices are all that reasonable in most cases. It feels like we've barely started getting exclusives for this current generation.

Same here, I still play the PS4 versions of most games because I don't see any point in upgrading. If it was free, then sure, yeah, but most of the time it's not. And my TV is ten years old, it can't display anything 4K either. I've played both versions of Horizon Forbidden West, PS4 and PS5, and I didn't notice THAT much of a difference. It's all nice and shiny to have a console for the latest graphics but if you don't have the TV to go along with it there's no point in chasing after all the remastered stuff they're throwing out.

Yeah, I'd say they've been disappointing, but not so much from a tech standpoint. I think it's mostly been on the software side of things. I think the tech itself is fine. I think the issue is compounded by several factors. First, there was the disruption during Covid, with the chip shortage affecting various industries, making the current console generation difficult to obtain until the last two years. That had to significantly affect the bottomline of the console manufacturers and affect the trajectory, and we saw that by more games being offered for both generations for a longer period of time when it should normally have been a transitionary phase. But witness the Cyberpunk 2077 problem, a game that was clearly designed for the current gen, but something they had to make available on the last gen once the writing was on the wall that nobody would be able to obtain new consoles, which then turned out to be a mistake given how badly it ran on those consoles.

I was one of those affected by the Cyberpunk 2077 disaster - the game was absolutely unplayable on my base PS4. It was awful. It looked awful. Everything was awful. I did notice that it had an interesting story, but the constant glitches and loading issues and whatnot (you couldn't even drive around in a fast car without crashing the game, it was painfully obvious that the game was NOT designed to run on PS4) made it impossible to feel ANY kind of immersion. I thought I'd seen it all with the butchered No Man's Sky release, but Cyberpunk beat that one by a zillion miles. At least No Man's Sky had been somewhat playable even if it didn't have even half of what had been promised. It had a content issue for the most part, but Cyberpunk had a performance issue, which was far, far worse.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I was one of those affected by the Cyberpunk 2077 disaster - the game was absolutely unplayable on my base PS4. It was awful. It looked awful. Everything was awful. I did notice that it had an interesting story, but the constant glitches and loading issues and whatnot (you couldn't even drive around in a fast car without crashing the game, it was painfully obvious that the game was NOT designed to run on PS4) made it impossible to feel ANY kind of immersion. I thought I'd seen it all with the butchered No Man's Sky release, but Cyberpunk beat that one by a zillion miles. At least No Man's Sky had been somewhat playable even if it didn't have even half of what had been promised. It had a content issue for the most part, but Cyberpunk had a performance issue, which was far, far worse.

Man, what a fiasco that was! Did you eventually play it on the PS5?

I can understand how it would have happened too. Developer has big AAA release ready for the new console generation, but problem! Players aren't able to procure new consoles due to the scarcity issue, which is something that's never happened before. And this being a Christmas release, it's really important for them to get it out there. What to do?? Publisher was likely in panic mode and ordered the developers to kludge together a 'current-gen' release knowing full-well it it would run like crap. But their backs were against a wall. And players were hungry for the next CD-Project RED release after the success of The Witcher 3 made them a well-known mainstream developer.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

Man, what a fiasco that was! Did you eventually play it on the PS5?

I can understand how it would have happened too. Developer has big AAA release ready for the new console generation, but problem! Players aren't able to procure new consoles due to the scarcity issue, which is something that's never happened before. And this being a Christmas release, it's really important for them to get it out there. What to do?? Publisher was likely in panic mode and ordered the developers to kludge together a 'current-gen' release knowing full-well it it would run like crap. But their backs were against a wall. And players were hungry for the next CD-Project RED release after the success of The Witcher 3 made them a well-known mainstream developer.

No, I took advantage of the fact that I had bought the physical version and that CDPR had offered refunds for those if you sent them back. And now I'm not gonna spend any money on it again. If it ends up for free as part of the PS Plus Essential thingy I'm gonna get it and play it on my PS5, but I refuse to give them ANY money for the game ever again. I'm still WAY too miffed by what they did. I also couldn't blame Sony for taking the game out of the PSN store. I mean it literally crashed your PS4 when you were just driving around. I have no idea how it managed to make it past the compatibility tests Sony are supposed to be doing with games before they allow them to be offered in the store in the first place.

I know I should have gotten suspicous when literally NO footage of the game on a base PS4 was released before they threw it at the public. But then, like you said, this was a big developer with a good track history AND the game had been in development for YEARS, way before the PS5 was ever even announced, so I figured they'd actually developed it with the PS4 in mind. No such luck tho. It didn't even run properly on PS5 when it was first released tho. People complained about quite a lot of glitches and crashes there as well (although they could at least PLAY the game, unlike us PS4 folks). I think what they really had in mind as the perfect medium to run the game on was PCs tho, not consoles. But they seem to have fixed the PS5 version by now. PS4 tho? As far as I know, it still looks and runs awfully.

I do agree that there must have been pressure from the publisher to throw the game out on last gen as well. But hey, at least other developers who were in the same predicament of "oh no, we have a new game here and it should be on the PS5 but we can't put it there exclusively just yet because way too many people still own a PS4" learned from this mistake and at least tried to make their games presentable on PS4. For example, Techland really stretched things with Dying Light 2, that one was extremely glitchy on a base PS4 as well but it was at least playable. (It got worse with each update tho.) Pretty sure they didn't want to fall into the same trap their fellow Polish developers over at CDPR had fallen.

 

[Owain Taggart]

No, I took advantage of the fact that I had bought the physical version and that CDPR had offered refunds for those if you sent them back. And now I'm not gonna spend any money on it again. If it ends up for free as part of the PS Plus Essential thingy I'm gonna get it and play it on my PS5, but I refuse to give them ANY money for the game ever again. I'm still WAY too miffed by what they did. I also couldn't blame Sony for taking the game out of the PSN store. I mean it literally crashed your PS4 when you were just driving around. I have no idea how it managed to make it past the compatibility tests Sony are supposed to be doing with games before they allow them to be offered in the store in the first place.

I'm guessing Sony must have waived the usual compatibility tests given that the shortage had put them all in a strange never-before-seen situation and it was just too muchj seeing the $$$ during the Christmas season. If I were the developers, I would have made a deal with Sony to give anyone who bought the PS4 version, even if they'd already gotten a refund, a free copy of the PS5 version. Seems only fair.

But yeah, the developers had a good track record, and at that point they weren't in a position for people to second-guess them, and people did really believe they'd deliver, just like they delivered on The Witcher 3. But, ironically enough, they are now in that position where everything they release now will be questioned.

Interesting thing is that after the Witcher 3, they said they were done with the franchise and wouldn't return to it. But because Cyberpunk did so badly, they've had to quickly pivot and announce plans for multiple Witcher games. Now, those must have been quietly in production before Cyberpunk released, but it's interesting to see how quickly they had to revert back to a franchise that is pretty much a safety net to them.

I think what I'm most interested to see is their Witcher 1 remake, as I see the most potential in that. The original game is super janky and nowhere near what The Witcher 3 is like, and the original game was an XBox exclusive (on consoles), rather than multiplatform like The Witcher 3 was. But at the same time, I'm rather nervous after the Cyberpunk Fiasco that they'll be able to pull it off effectively.

 

[BillJ]

And now I'm not gonna spend any money on it again.

Just grab a used copy. Best of both worlds.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

I'm guessing Sony must have waived the usual compatibility tests given that the shortage had put them all in a strange never-before-seen situation and it was just too muchj seeing the $$$ during the Christmas season. If I were the developers, I would have made a deal with Sony to give anyone who bought the PS4 version, even if they'd already gotten a refund, a free copy of the PS5 version. Seems only fair.

But yeah, the developers had a good track record, and at that point they weren't in a position for people to second-guess them, and people did really believe they'd deliver, just like they delivered on The Witcher 3. But, ironically enough, they are now in that position where everything they release now will be questioned.

Interesting thing is that after the Witcher 3, they said they were done with the franchise and wouldn't return to it. But because Cyberpunk did so badly, they've had to quickly pivot and announce plans for multiple Witcher games. Now, those must have been quietly in production before Cyberpunk released, but it's interesting to see how quickly they had to revert back to a franchise that is pretty much a safety net to them.

I think what I'm most interested to see is their Witcher 1 remake, as I see the most potential in that. The original game is super janky and nowhere near what The Witcher 3 is like, and the original game was an XBox exclusive (on consoles), rather than multiplatform like The Witcher 3 was. But at the same time, I'm rather nervous after the Cyberpunk Fiasco that they'll be able to pull it off effectively.

The only advice I can give is to not pre-order any new game they make. Wait until reviews are in. No matter how much you want to trust CDPR.

 

[Owain Taggart]

The only advice I can give is to not pre-order any new game they make. Wait until reviews are in. No matter how much you want to trust CDPR.

Oh absolutely. As a matter of fact, I have a personal policy of not pre-ordering games. Over here they're already expensive enough as it is, even more so with the prices having recently risen. They were already $70-$80 before the rising prices, but are $90-$100+ now, $120-$150 for special editions. It's just not worth it. Just as an example, The Crew: Motorfest's top-tier edition last I looked was listed at $150. Inflation sucks.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Baldur's Gate 3 is my GOAT, but I play it on PC. Still, huge gem. I don't see a generally lower quality than previous generations. I think AAA games have become more and more 'Graphics over gameplay' and with progression focused more on grinding and stats than skill. But especially if you count games that came out on both PS4 and PS5, it's not like an instant downturn happened overnight.

I have trouble seeing $70 as a lot to pay for a video game as it's literally what Chrono Trigger cost new before 30 years of inflation, we have just been spoiled for so long. $70 is only a lot if you also have to pay for additional DLC and server fees to get the full experience.

 

[aquova]

I got a PS5 within the last year, and I do think overall I'm pleased with it. There are a number of games released for it that I've enjoyed. I also caved and bought the PS subscription (the middle tier) and I've actually really pleased with the subscription. They offer a surprisingly robust selection of free stuff through it, and for me, it quickly paid for itself (although they've since raised the price, so I might have to re-evaluate this once my year is up)

I will admit that over the last generation I've gone from overwhelmingly console focused to now primarily gaming on my PC. The PS5 is mainly reserved for exclusives and newer titles that I know won't run as well on my GPU. I think if the generation were to end now, I'd be pretty disappointed, given that I just bought the thing, but I suspect that it won't be for 3 more years until they announce the PS6, and then probably another 2-3 until it's worth moving over, as it was for PS4->PS5