Hermen Hulst NO LONGER CO-CEO of PlayStation | Ubisoft CLOSE STUDIO amidst 185 LAYOFFS

Sony leadership shake-up means Hermen Hulst is no longer co-CEO of PlayStation; Ubisoft close their UK-based Leamington Studio and downsize others amidst 185 more job losses; and Microsoft's Phil Spencer says the Xbox Series S will continue to have its feature parity requirement with Series X for future developers.
Presenters: Ben Potter (@Confused_Dude) ) // James Jenkins (@Jenx_137)
Video Editor: James Jenkins (@Jenx_137)
#HermenHulst #UbisoftLayoffs #PlayStationCEO
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[@Sameeer_Saker]

Honestly that's absurd. Imagine how outragious it would be if the Series X had exclusive games. People would throw Xbox under a cliff like on the Xbone times. Developters need to stop pushing for graphics and optimize more. I cant even imagine how fucking hard optimization is, but the triple A market is going to implode if the big guys keep pushing polygon numbers as their game's big feature, instead of focusing on fun

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

This is absolutely correct, and something executives will never learn. The graphics arms race is an easy target while "fun games people want to play" is "abstract and a matter of opinion."

[@arihunta]

I find your guys' dismissal of the Series S so weird. Especially saying things like "the consumers will lose out" and it causes "annoyance among gamers that just want access to the same games as other people". The Series S brings games to so many more people! I really respect XBox for making a lower-cost console, and pushing devs to target it, in what's otherwise a very elitist industry. Consoles and console games are so stupidly expensive, but a Series S with game-pass is such a great deal for people that aren't spoiled Americans with fancy iPhones and lots of credit-card debt. Us in the third world are very grateful, and I'm sure Xbox is also glad to have our money.

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

This entirely ignores the reality of targeting the lowest possible specs means: more work for less pay for devs. This isn't some competition where the cheapest option always wins, we're not building space shuttles over here.

[@arihunta]

@@Alucard-A-La-Carte I don't quite agree--there's no reason why it should mean more work for less pay. Devs & dev studios get to decide whether to invest in targeting Xbox or not. Maybe they think it's worth it for the additional sales they'll get, and maybe they don't (like the Black Myth: Wukong folks). It's not a surprise that's been foisted upon them, it's how this console generation has always been, so it's something that they can plan in. One might as well say that the existence of low-end PCs means more work less pay for devs. And while I love game devs, targeting the hardware is simply part of their job, and they must suck it up. Whenever developing any software, you always need to work within your constraints. And I'm sure any dev who's _not_ working on hyper-hi-fidelity AAA nonsense won't find it _too_ onerous to port their game to a weaker machine. Those that _are_ working on the latest hyper-realistic games would also be fine if their studios were managed better and more humanely, but sadly this often isn't the case. I never bought a PS4 because it was too expensive--skipped out a whole console generation and stuck to my PS3. Had to wait until I was earning more, and bought a PS5, before I could play games like Hollow Knight and Oxenfree. That wouldn't have had to happen if there was a cheaper version of the PS4, and again, I'm sure the devs would've been happy to have had my money & sales when their games came out, instead of years later. The cheapest option _does_ win if it's the only one you can afford.

[@ianvanwyk3707]

The specter of Concord coming back to haunt Herman Holst. Sony is finally doing an about face after realizing the wild live service push wasn't such a good idea, and I am all for it.

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

Yeah, they'll lay off as many critical devs as it takes to break even after this!

[@xxmoonmassacrexx7218]

I appreciate them sticking with the s, I have a series x but the fact they sold the s as a next gen console I respect them sticking with it for the current generation cycle instead of just pivoting after they got consumers money based on the promise “it will play everything that comes out on xbox”

[@Crazy_Gamer_OG]

I don't think they or anyone expected this gen to advance as quickly as it has been, but also Devs aren't really optimizing their games well enough this gen, either. It's kind of odd, tbh. It's not like the S is weak or obsolete, especially since games are still coming out on the PS4 & the Series S is stronger than the PS4.

[@dftfire]

The Series S accounts for about 70-75% worldwide of all current Xbox sales for this gen (as discovered in the ABK buyout). If the Series S never existed and it was purely PS5 versus Series X, more people would have just gone for a PS5. Microsoft only have the presence this gen that they do because of Series S being such an affordable entry-point

[@tommygarrettphotography5553]

Controversial opinion... I like the series s news. I don't like how he said it, but studios should put limitations on themselves to reach as much hardware as possible right now. I'm sick of the race to get the highest graphics settings on power hungry hardware. AAA gaming is struggling and it's partially to blame on the focus on graphical power and not building a functioning game that people want to play. Make games smaller, make them cheaper, make them accessible to all budgets.

[@jackturner6266]

I hear where you're coming from but I think the issue comes from difficulty catering to different sections of the market. The switch for example is pushed out with relatively low spec games and suits the market you describe. The problem here is that there is also a huge market for those higher spec triple a games, and many people would have bought the series s on the basis it could offer that. We're not talking about ultra high end £5k graphics cards or something, but the machine sold to the middle section of the market is being pushed towards the lower spec end and holding back the higher spec end. Just my 2 cents

[@rocketboy1674]

You should be the Co-CEO at SIE cause you’re on fire! 🔥

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

This gets at the heart of the matter far better than Phil did, but it's worth pointing out that "targeting lower spec consoles" is a decent limiter, but it's by no means a "free" or "easy" one to reach. It still requires work, it requires hours, and it's less that it "drags down the ceiling" and more that it just makes games more wobbly and less stable overall. Mighty No. 9 had to target massively different hardware to keep up with all the promised features it had, and while that game was always going to be something of a disaster, one of the biggest problems it had was running stably across all those platforms. It feels like a lot of people are coming from a place of: "just get it running on the best hardware, then tune it downward," they have to put resources into developing every single version independently.

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

"We wasted all our budget on legal fees for our executive, but we promise to lay off as many devs as it takes to secure their bonuses!" Don't worry, the wealth WILL trickle down! A demented old man in 1988 promised!

[@jamesstacey8786]

Ofcourse they wont release X exclusive games. The S series is 3 quarters of their player base 😅

[@jamesstacey8786]

On another note. One reason developers choose handhelds still over the series s is becuase of Ram. Minimum now for any gaming you need at least 12gb. Steam deck has 16 while series s is stuck at 10. Huge difference.

[@dftfire]

Does seem crazy that games like GTA 3, VC and SA were able to run on a PS2 with 32MB RAM and 4MB vRAM, and yet now 24GB RAM is becoming the new "recommended" and 16GB the new "minimum", and 10-12GB of vRAM is starting to be recommended as the minimum. Is there honestly no way to reduce the size of game engines and textures now? 🤔

[@jamesstacey8786]

@@dftfire when they do reduce size its usually always the textures. That's why we've seen such an increase in data size.

[@Crazy_Gamer_OG]

Yea, they messed up with the lower RAM in the S. The fact the Series S has less RAM than the One X was a bad decision. It should have had at least the same 12GB amount. I still think it's also an optimization issue, tho. Devs are just becoming too accustomed to wasting resources & unoptimizing their games because they have so much RAM & VRAM to use now.

[@dftfire]

​@@Crazy_Gamer_OGThe survey for December 2024 says most people are using a GPU with 8GB vRAM (34.9%), then 12GB (18.5%) then 6GB (12.1%). Only 7.7% of people have 4GB vRAM, and around 15% have less-than 4GB. At least, that's what I'm seeing... 🤔

[@dftfire]

@@jamesstacey8786 I wonder if it is just textures? It would be interesting to see a breakdown of some recent AAA games showing what % each aspect, like textures, dialogue, music, engine code, models and so on, make up.

[@rs6437]

Triple Jump still unable to call a spade a spade when it comes to their love for Sony? Had the new been that Phil Spencer had been demoted, you would tear him apart but because it's Sony, it's not his thought about Concord, it's not his fault the PS5 Pro is priced too high and isn't selling, it's not his fault Sony had barely any 1st party titles coming out even though he is responsible for it!

[@Helloki11a]

BEN WHY ARE YOU YELLING?!!

[@epm8593]

Trying to be politically polite journalism.

[@aliensweathands]

👽

[@ChrisTomson]

The sooner Ubisoft goes under, the better

[@speedyd8150]

The music in the background makes this video unwatchable for me.

[@calumbird6639]

It really doesn't need music

[@Spacemutiny]

Phil Spencer is delusional. XBOX is garbage. PS5 or PC or gtfo.

[@Spacemutiny]

Phil Spencer is delusional. XBOX is garbage. PS5 or PC or gtfo.