PlayStation’s podcast has just aired its newest episode and it has ignited quite a debate amongst gamers for a multitude of reasons to say the least. The PlayStation official podcast team is already picking the best games for 2025, a bit too early but we are almost there after all. One of the important aspects of the show is that the developers of Sucker Punch would be coming for what they describe as a “special Ghost of Yōtei spoilercast” – total dive into the Ghost of Tsushima saga with all the possible spoilers. You can catch it as soon as you follow their link.
To look at the other side, what’s the online reaction like? It’s a complete mixture of reactions that go from one extreme to the other and the gaming Twitter is reflecting that rather well these days. The announcement tweet from PlayStation about the launch of a new podcast episode, along with the responses to it, can be seen almost as a competition. While a considerable number of gamers are over the top with their excitement, one user named luckycharms is pondering whether new techniques of combat have been designed by Sucker Punch for Jin, referencing the breath-taking mountain setting revealed in the promotional image, thus making his spoilercast enticing. Another user Glitchy is also showing his excitement for the 2025 game selection but is already taking spoilers-dodging measures until he completes Yōtei himself, like a pro move.
On the other hand though, there is a different group of people that has a totally different perspective and their voice is heard loud and clear. The sheer number of posts that are nothing but negative comments about Ghost of Yōtei and at the moment of PlayStation’s predicament can be described as substantial. The game was denounced as “woke nonsense,” and “epic fail,” and was even referred to as “a heaping pile of dog poop” by different users. The opinion of user YeshuaMyKing12 was that PlayStation must “get rid of the woke era” and go back to making great games like the great ones in the past, even to the extent of labeling the PS5 era as a failure. User David simply commented, “No one is interested in that garbage FLOP. You are quite desperate to save it, aren’t you?” Ouch!
The game is a lot less than that—it has, however, the same story. As the online argument continued, it turned into a major criticism of Sony’s first-party games. A player Operator mentioned that the PS5 has been in the market for a pretty long time now and he said the problem was not with the hardware being complicated like it was with the PS3 before, but rather “DEI hires and game dev policies” that are driving the experienced talent away. His comments spurred a mini-discussion with another user Danny who claimed that game development just takes much longer in today’s technology and that Sony has really cool innovative games coming in the near future. Nevertheless, the feeling among the gamers is that the pace and possibly even the essence of PlayStation exclusives have changed.
Odd, that they are so soon doing a spoilercast. The title was not that long ago what, right? This means that Sony and Sucker Punch want to drive the interaction with the players that are interested in the story and in the universe, probing the lore and those great narrative moments. One follower even said that the Sucker Punch spoilercast is really “here’s the lore… now go cry.” I guess, it is valid if you have played the previous game; they have a way of hitting you right in the feels.
Through all the noise, there were a few odd but nice interruptions that were unrelated to the podcast topic. Someone was asking for help to get tech support regarding their account log-in, which is just Twitter in a nutshell. Another user, Chipmaster69, upon seeing the Sucker Punch name could not help but instantly switch to begging for a new Sly Cooper game using the Ghost of Tsushima engine. If I had to be honest? It isn’t the worst suggestion. It could turn out to be quite cool.
What then, is the takeaway from this commotion? The PlayStation Podcast continues to do its traditional role of trying to build community around their games and create excitement. For Ghost of Yōtei, it is transparently clear that the game has a very devoted fan base and an equally very noisy opposition. The dispute surrounding it is already a very good illustration of the larger conflicts over the status of the AAA gaming, “wokeness,” and the length of development. The gaming activity is continuous; whether you are for it, against it, or just watching it unfold and avoiding spoilers, Sony keeps the game alive in discussions across all the channels.
