PhantomCross

@carygolomb Given that they want a handheld & a more powerful traditional console SKU, and (per MLID) it's targeting lower costs with the goal of quickly onboarding last gen users, I think they're going to try to price it less than $600 IF component prices come down & they can subsidize it.

The PlayStation 6 handheld is likely to cost around ~$600 in 2027 You may say that sounds very expensive but the reality is that the PS6 handheld can effectively do base render like Series S but also have next-gen PSSR (FSR5) It'll literally be untouchable at ~$600 for 2 years

@BurrellKy21086 @SamWalton78 @GameRant I disagree, but to each their own

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Sonys expectations are neither here or there (that no one knows anyway). It wasnt very high on the charts for a new entry

God of War: Sons of Sparta records an unexpectedly strong debut, giving Sony a notable early win for its lower-priced PS5 exclusive. gamerant.com/god-of-war-son…

@Tox715 @Zuby_Tech According to Cerny, he wanted to shave 100 microseconds off specifically to add the PSSR2 system toggle. If they couldn't reduce the time, he wouldn't be able to guarantee it would work

@Zuby_Tech 100 microseconds is nothing lol, not even worth talking about

Mark Cerny PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution Key Points: • PSSR is evolving rapidly latest version "PSSR 2" significantly improves image quality and stability. • PSSR 2 100 microseconds faster than the PSSR 1, frame drops should become slightly rarer. • PSSR 2 PS5 Pro system toggle "Enhance PSSR Image Quality" was requested by developers. • Patched PSSR 2 games tweaks some input data going into PSSR 2. • PSSR 2 PS5 Pro system toggle "Enhance PSSR Image Quality" can cause aliasing in a few scenes, e.g. instability in light sources. 99% of games run fine. • PlayStation Machine Learning evolving rapidly. • PlayStation & AMD co developed shared machine learning tech, not just adapt PC features. • PlayStation is working on machine learning based frame generation will create extra frames to boost perceived FPS and smoothness. It's not coming anytime soon likely 2027 or later. Could arrive on late PS5 Pro lifecycle or more likely next gen PlayStation 6 • Future tech like upscaling + frame gen will be jointly engineered with AMD, not copied from PC. #ProjectAmethyst #Amethyst #PlayStation5Pro #PS5Pro #WitnessPlayUnleashed #PlayStationSpectralSuperResolution #PSSR #PlayStation6 #PS6 #PlayStation #SIE @PlayStation @cerny @AMD @AMDGaming @amdradeon @LisaSu @jackhuynh

@BurrellKy21086 @SamWalton78 @GameRant IMO, I think each game has its own sales expectation, and the fact that this one was a lower budget title that got shadowdropped tells me Sony didn't have big expectations for it. If this were another traditional AAA entry, I'd agree with you though

@PhantomCross97 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant I said in comparison to those you mentioned. Nioh and high on lifes best games for example can barely outsell GoW worst games.

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant I haven't checked to see what it landed on, but I remember those early reviews being in the mid-low 70s range. I think the art style was immediately a turn off to many. It was rumored to be a 2.5D game since last year, but it wound up a flat 2D game going for a pixelated look

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Ok cool you didnt expect it to chart at all. From the reviews and early impressions, I expected to chart at a low position just from the name ip alone, and it did just that

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant I definitely expected RE9 to be huge & it didn't disappoint. Mario games tend to be system sellers, even for weaker spinoffs, so they kind of defy conventions. After seeing Nioh 3 (my current GOTY) sell 1m, I was sure it was going to be up there, but to my surprise this beat it

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Re9 is spread across 4 different platforms though. Mario tennis is on one platform in the smallest group at 11. Ps5 is the biggest group. So it doesnt add up

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant At no point have I, or the article, suggested it is a big success. I've merely said it had a relatively strong 1st month...maybe not to GoW franchise games, but to the gaming landscape in general. If I didn't make this clear, I wouldn't have expected it to chart at all

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant And it didnt become a big success. Maybe a small success to your standards. Havent heard sony say anything about it

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant To be fair, Capcom said RE9 sold 5 million in its 1st 5 days of release, but I don't know how much of that was by end of February. Still, other million sellers didn't chart, so if this lower quality/budget game sold 1/5 or 2/5 of that, that's pretty good [for what it is]

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Well u didnt wanna say it was closer to myhero academia which was a new entry because then it wouldnt sound so hot. That was GoW game back then like i said, today, with 90 mil install base you'd expect higher, bigger, better, it did not. This much we know, targets u do not know

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant I said it earlier, but I'm 100% with you that they shadowdropped it because they didn't see it being some big success. I think that's already an indicator that they had different targets for it. As many reports suggest, this seems like an experiment for putting cheaper titles out

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant If you think I'm saying it's close to RE9, you're reading me wrong. Ascension (a traditional 3D GoW game) sold 3m lifetime, 360k in it's 1st month, so if this cheap knockoff sold 1m+, then yeah thats better. You keep talking standards but you don't know what the sales target was.

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant 14th behind a bunch of the biggest forever live service games, a Nintendo Mario game, and RE9, as a game likely way cheaper to make than all of those, on a list excluding other games that announced they sold 1 million+ that month (like Nioh 3). Again, nuance exists

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant It didnt chart well. It charted 14th in Feb outsold by a game made in 2018.

@BurrellKy21086 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant I tee'd that up simply to point out God of War isn't the infallible franchise you suggested

@PhantomCross97 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant And those games suffered the same fate as sons of sparta. You tee'd that up as if sons of sparta was better

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant It's not praise, it just is what it is. But you're saying why it's notable: a cheap, outsourced 64MC game charted well (in February). Sony rarely sells Nintendo numbers unless it's their biggest AAA games, so I don't know if they're a good comparison. This is not one of those.

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Well since youre praising it at a low 14th and 64 rating you would def praise it if it was higher or beat a Mario game. Yes they shouldve, since most gow games rate 80s or higher and sale more. Ps chart lol thats irrelevant. Gow ip is the standard

@BurrellKy21086 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant If franchise alone determined sales, GoW: Betrayal and GoW: Ascension would be smash hits. This is an A-AA metroidvania that doesn't fit the standard conventions of the series.

@PhantomCross97 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Yeah those franchises will never outsale God of war. The ip total made billions

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Could've, should've, would've...of all the new games released on any platform, it was the 4th of 6 to chart last month (#14). On PS it was one of 2 new games to chart (#6 after RE9, CoD, & EA sports games). That's good What's standard when you release a game out of your element?

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Thats no excuse for it to be a bad metrovania though is it. They obviously could have made it good for one of their biggest franchises. And as a result rather than potentially landing a higher review score and higher position on the chart - it didnt. Thats not to standard

@BurrellKy21086 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant x.com/PhantomCross97…

@PhantomCross97 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant What other games cost a lot more that didnt chart?

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant None of God of War's games have ever been a 2D metroidvania either. If franchise name alone was enough to carry every game, Lego Horizon would've been a hit, ABK's later Spider Man games wouldn't have flopped, and every Sonic game would fly off shelves.

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant None of those franchises have ever bigger than GoW

@BurrellKy21086 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Because there are other examples of games that had notable results that cost a lot more to make and either didn't chart or charted below it. Circana chart ranks by money grossed for the month and as a game that launched halfway with no promo in it was a good result.

@PhantomCross97 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant You used words like strong and notable result in Feb. How would you know that at its position within feb?

@nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Well, fortunately it out-grossed notable new 2026 releases like Nioh 3, High on Life 2, Code Vein 2, Romeo is a Dead Man, Yakuza Kiwami 3, Avowed (PS5), Cairn and (then) 5 month old Yotei (which hasn't left the top 20), while being an A-AA game sold at a cheaper price

@PhantomCross97 @SamWalton78 @GameRant It any context its 14th next to old games from last year. Sold pretty bad for a new game within this list

@BurrellKy21086 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant Next month (and even this one) is outside of the context of what this article is talking about. Again, no one is painting this is some ongoing hit, but Circana data shows it was one of the 15 highest grossing games for February alongside other notable titles.

@PhantomCross97 @nio4537 @SamWalton78 @GameRant This never made a blip either youre just looking at feb. Next month it might not even be there