First off I would like to say I am pleasantly surprised you have a Youtube channel and you are also on this site. Second after watching your entire video I would also like to state that I hope you do not see me as a Sony defender at all, call me a theorist, but i think the Stellar Blade and the whole Rebirth thing not as a publicity stunt or a smokescreen or Sony going back on it’s ways. But I see it more as a test due to their profits being down despite having high revenue(putting it all in on GAAS, AAA blockbusters that cost 300 million to make, but also need to have 8 million sales otherwise it’s a flop, 4 Billion on Bungie) compared to Nintendo and Microsoft(Source
https://archive.is/x12PQ ), I believe NOJ/Totoki is placing a bet that Fanservice does indeed sell and if Stellar Blade does well they have an argument to bring the branch back to Japan, also keep in mind that due to how badly Sony is performing profit wise, a tug of war fight going on right now between SOJ and SOA for ownership of the HQ and where it should go behind the scenes just a week or two ago with Marathon being an example.(Source
https://archive.is/N7UDZ yes it's Reddit but it can also be found on Gaming Insider).
Also add on to the fact that if you look at Famitsu Sales weekly, Sony is under performing for obvious reasons due to the policy changes, and it does not take Nostradamus to figure out that Switch is the highest selling console in Japan and beating out the DS and is gaining a monopoly on Japan while on the other end PC Sales have skyrocketed with rumors that the userbase size of PC Users of Japanese origin is about the same as Switch if not more while also taking away from the Gacha and Cell Phone market which is reportedly been falling. Sources are here about what I am talking about.
https://archive.is/fberY
The PC gaming market in Japan has exploded yet again, this time increasing from 131.3 billion yen to 189.2 billion yen in 2022, a 43% increase.(here is a hint of how huge PC Gaming is in Japan right now) only market to not decline while everyone else did sells wise.
https://archive.is/k9DU1
Are Japan’s console and mobile game markets shrinking in favor of PC games? Developers discuss (Essentially yes and they will be all going on PC next year some that were Fanservice Gacha are going to be making games on PC due to anyone not in the top 5 is basically going to bomb instantly)
This does lead to Sony freaking out and knowing that if Switch and PC gain dominance in Japan, it is gameover for them as a company, as most developers will skip their platform and censorship in favor of PC/Switch which is why you are seeing Galaxy Rush on PC and certain other odditie that seem very much not like Jim Ryan's moves, it's because Sony needs to prove these Fanservice Japanese games sell money or at least the theory i am rolling with. Also to end off on a lighthearted note I did find the comment about Forbes absolutely hilarious, they deride Steam they desire curation, but then Steam comes up with a better Store Algorithm for those buy certain games, has 18+ games mostly and play them and weight them against everything else in the store. Plus there is a slider for niche and popular games as well. While Sony ends up having less and less games on it’s store due to being against 2D Games, Indies, Smaller companies and Japanese creators while Valve and Nintendo have been welcoming and reaping the rewards as a whole for just allowing more games to exist and more opportunities to grow. Literally i believe if we look at Valve and Nintendo's profits and compare it to Microsoft and Sony even combined, it would be no contest. Limiting options limits profitability and anything else is a gaslight and disingenuous bad faith arguing to the contrary.
It is funny that these people desire to put everything in a gated walled garden and being exclusionary everything must be checked and censored while pretending to be “diverse” and “inclusive” with their cloak and dagger technique which does not work out when not everyone has the same taste in games. People wish for variety of game genres from Action, Fighting Games, Dungeon Crawlers, Shoot Em Ups, Arcade Games, Visual Novels, Simulators, not just like you mentioned “Cinematic Over The Top Action Generic Grown Up Narrative” game. This stuff has poisoned the mind of gamers along with censorship as a whole.
Honestly the best two images I can use to describe the whole Sony and Censorship, Cinematic and Action is this one and the Iwata one that talked about the graphics race being unsustainable due to budgets rising and needing more sells to offset those budgets overall.
One last thing, thank you for recommending everyone go to PC and Switch. I do find it funny people talk about physicals because Sony's PS5 does not support playing on Discs without online, but Switch's Cartridges do support play without online, i even played Smash Ultimate when i bought it from Retail. Also if Steam falls there is GOG as well which keeps Steam in check and is basically the same thing. As for Mangalawyer no joke that guy is a lolcow and thinks everything is ESG or says based Japan but then likes Korean and Chinese stuff(even somewhat praises the CCP line). People like him should not be given the time of day at all and are highly hypocritical and are not true audiences who have been around much like we have since forever. They are grifters who use our culture for their own personal gain.
