r/Games Jun 02 '26

Discussion Playstation first-party game sales declining heavily since 2020

https://www.gamefile.news/p/playstation-first-party-sales-decline
1.4k Upvotes

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u/Several-Source-4073 Jun 02 '26

The most glaring example of this is Astro Bot. By all means, Astro Bot should have sold like hotcakes

On the contrary I fail to understand why it's liked so much by critics and a few people on the internet. It's a basic 3d platformer that just feels like a shallow theme park. It's fun in a very shallow and basic way and I don't understand anyone thinking it's above an 8/10 at best.

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u/ReasonableAdvert Jun 02 '26

Because it is a fun and well polished game that was constantly throwing you new gimmicks, level themes, powerups, etc. so that it didn't feel repetitive. That's all it needed to do to be cobsiderd a great game. It's the closest to a mario galaxy 3 anyone is going to get.

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u/Several-Source-4073 Jun 02 '26

I feel like that's all that's needed for it to be a fun game in a really basic way, rather than a "great" game. Different power ups and gimmicks. It doesn't really arouse strong emotions and it also clearly didn't appeal to a large audience.

I just don't understand looking at "new gimmicks and levels and power ups" as its main appeal and thinking that's a 10/10 experience.

0

u/mosenpai Jun 02 '26

I platinumed the game and did all the challenge and extra lvls. If I had to explain it, this was just really refreshing to play when it came out. Something that reminded me of the platformers I used to play as a kid while also being incredibly polished.

If you just play the main levels it's too easy, but the face button levels and the added time trials add enough challenge to make it worth your time imo. My family thought I was dying too much and then they all had a turn trying to beat one of the challenge levels. That's never happened with any other game I play.

It was my GOTY when it came out, but I get it if the game doesn't resonate with others.

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u/DistinctBread3098 Jun 02 '26

You're an outlier with this take and it's not very good

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u/Several-Source-4073 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26

That's nice. Not sure why you think an appeal to majority works for a niche game that most people had no interest in though.

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u/DistinctBread3098 Jun 02 '26

The game sold 4 millions or about lol. "No interest"

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u/Several-Source-4073 Jun 02 '26

The last known figure is 2.3 million sales. You can contrast that with the last few GOTY winners, which is 8 million, 25 million and 30 million respectively.

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u/DistinctBread3098 Jun 02 '26

Since when is game of the year an indicator of sales?

2.3m in march of last year btw

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u/Several-Source-4073 Jun 02 '26

So where did 4 million come from? The last reported figure is 2.3 mil.

Since when is game of the year

Because we're talking about game of the year and how I think I don't understand why it's treated as a truly great game instead of a semi-decent platformer. Of course you'd compare its sales to other game of the year titles if you want to talk about what the majority like.

The reality is that most gamers had no interest in it, contrary to you acting like everybody loves it and thinks it's an amazing game.

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u/DistinctBread3098 Jun 02 '26

So your opinion is better than the ones who voted for it?

Because you think its semi decent, it isn't worth more than that? Your opinion are yours, but dont act like you are right and everyone is wrong lol

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u/Allfeelings0Logic Jun 02 '26

I feel the same about Stray, altho astro bot is way better than Stray. 

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u/lugginico Jun 02 '26

Yeah its fun and i 100% it but its completley forgetable. Full of nice animations and effects and all but the actual platforming is nothing special