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Discussion Nintendo EPD or PlayStation Studios, who's the best first party group?

Which of these platform holder's first party game development groups is your favorite

  • PS Studios

    Votes: 6 2.7%
  • EPD

    Votes: 194 87.8%
  • Both

    Votes: 15 6.8%
  • Niether

    Votes: 6 2.7%

  • Total voters
    221

MagiCarbo

Bob-omb
When it comes to console exclusives, Nintendo and Sony Interactive Entertainment both have entire divisions, solely dedicated to creating and producing big, critically acclaimed games to sell consoles and win awards. But its important to establish what each of these divisions specifically are

Sony's game development arm, PlayStation Studios comprises of 18 global development teams including household names like Naughty Dog and Santa Monica Studio that have created some of PlayStation's biggest IP including Uncharted, God of War, Gran Turismo, Horizon, Ratchet & Clank, and more. PlayStation Studios games are known for their engaging worlds and stories, bombastic set-pieces, and innovative gameplay designed to make full use of PlayStation hardware. Sony has recently been bolstering the division with a series of new acquisitions dedicated to different functions, such as Nixxes for PC ports, Firesprite for VR, and Valkyrie for development support. The future lineup for PS Studios remains a mystery for now. With two Marvel licenses, Spider-Man II and Wolverine, along with a Horizon VR spin-off, Call of the Mountain, but little else in terms of announced projects. Still, PS Studios appears to be a well oiled machine.

Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development group (EPD) similarly oversees the global development of all Nintendo published games worldwide, comprising of nearly a dozen production units each developing multiple games at once. At the heart of its operations, is its in-house development infrastructure, responsible for all the big Nintendo properties such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Splatoon, Animal Crossing and more, with games routinely receiving critical acclaim and high sales. In addition to in-house development, EPD also develops games created by a variety of subsidiary and partner studios including Intelligent Systems, Game Freak, MonolithSoft, Platinum Games, Retro Studios, and more, all responsible for other big Nintendo properties such as Metroid, Fire Emblem, Kirby, Pokemon, and Xenoblade. Nintendo has also recently been beefing up EPD's development capabilities for the future, including construction of a second development center near its former HQ, as well as acquisitions such as Next level Games, known for Luigi's Mansion, and SRD, a longtime support partner, both joining the EPD family in recent years.
 
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EPD is obviously gonna sweep given that it’s a Nintendo-oriented forum, and I personally prefer their output as it lines up with my tastes more.

However, from a purely objective point of view, I think it’s a wash. Both are great. Nintendo has the edge in creativity, while PlayStation has the edge in timeliness for their larger titles.
 
They both great. And they both the best in their own expertises.
 
I vastly prefer Nintendo first party over Sony, but Sony has put out a lot of awesome games that mean a lot to me too over the years too like the Uncharted games and Shadow of the Colossus. Looking forward to Spider-Man 2 next year at least.
 
Playstation Studios probably, because that encompasses their entire first party. When they're just going up against EPD, you're leaving out HAL, Intysys, Retro, Game Freak, Next Level, etc.
 
Playstation Studios probably, because that encompasses their entire first party. When they're just going up against EPD, you're leaving out HAL, Intysys, Retro, Game Freak, Next Level, etc.
EPD encompasses all game development at Nintendo. It doesn't just create its own games, it also acts as the administrative body that studios like HAL, Game Freak, Monolith, etc. report to for various projects. PS Studios has produced games made by non-subsidiary teams as well such as Sackboy, Death Stranding, and Destruction All-Stars.
 
For me this was a more interesting match-up in the PS3 era. Not too interested in Sony's current focus on cinematic games. Nintendo as a whole (internal and external EPD) also releases vastly more titles (about 10 retail games a year on average), making them more interesting to follow. Sony undoubtedly releases quality titles though.
 
EPD encompasses all game development at Nintendo. It doesn't just create its own games, it also acts as the administrative body that studios like HAL, Game Freak, Monolith, etc. report to for various projects. PS Studios has produced games made by non-subsidiary teams as well such as Sackboy and Destruction All-Stars.

They oversee them, but they aren't the primary developers.
 
The only development team at Sony that was remotely interesting to be was Team Ico. I'd pick Microsoft over Sony, even
 
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Sony releases some great games here and there, but lately there has been a lot of games from them that just aren't for me. The recent God of War and Horizon for example. Not bad games by any means, they just don't grab me like Sony games used to.

Contrast, Nintendo has been knocking it out of the park with the Switch. Almost every game they release can be considered the best of their series or genre. The only negative I can say is that DK is being awfully neglected this console generation.

To give Sony credit, if this was the PS2 vs. GameCube era, Sony would win that one.
 
I don’t know the pedigree at Sony. Seems like they’re always firing and closing and forming studios.
 
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Both represent extremely capable/sustainable management designed to co-ordinate and oversee multiple studios of talented developers putting out high quality media over a long period of time, by necessity now given how long big projects take to make. At that point it just comes down to personal taste really, there’s so much quality software across so many capable studios that ‘best’ isn’t something you can really define without being a lot more specific. Nintendo isn’t better than Sony at the stuff Playstation Studios specialise in and vice versa.

Personally, I prefer EPD as Naughty Dog/Santa Monica’s big AAA action games do little for me whereas Fire Emblem and Zelda are more my kinda thing, but I can see why they are all so popular and acclaimed.
 
Always a bit tough to answer these kinds of questions because I’m not as familiar with Sony’s stable of IPs compared to Nintendo’s. If we consider PS2 and PSP, that’s a whole other argument. But for PS Studios vs EPD, I guess I have to go with EPD. I tend to enjoy Nintendo’s output more than Sony’s, especially in the PS4 era onwards.

I’ll also admit I fall into the trap of mostly only knowing about Sony’s prestige games. Stuff like Concrete Genie I have not played even though they look like they’d be up my alley. Still, when talking about bigger games, I’d still tip my hat to Nintendo, whose first party output has far less overlap compared to SIE.
 
Sony wins on narrative and production values. Nintendo wins on basically everything else.
 
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I guess it depends on what you like for games?

For me it boils down to this:

Cinematic games with narrative it's hard to go against Playstation Studios
But if you arent in to stuff like that, it's hard to go against EPD
 
EPD, no contest.

I haven't seen much, if anything, out of PlayStation Studios post-reorganization that tickles my fancy. Now if we were to put up EPD against Sony Worldwide Studios (which is what they were known as from about the PS era to give-or-take 2018), I'd say it's a more even match...
 
I personally vastly prefer EPD's output.

However, objectively, I think that PS studios takes this. The only reason I say this is because PS fans seem to be far happier with the current output of PS studios when compared to Nintendo fans and the output of EPD. Seems to me like PS studios are more keen on satisfying the demands of their fans.
 
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Probably shouldn't have asked this on a Nintendo fan forum ;p

Seriously though, both are amazing. They're better at different things and they both exceed expectations 90% of the time.
 
The only games that, for me, are at Nintendo levels used to be the Fumito Ueda's ones. But now he is not in PlayStation anymore. Do you think that his next project will be multiplat? I'd love to play his gsmes on Nintendo.
 
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In terms of production values Playstation's got this one in the bag. Most of the time when you buy a PlayStation game you know that you're getting a high quality product, even if the game isn't super exciting. Nintendo on the other hand is a bit more of a crapshoot. I always joke that Nintendo is an AA-publisher but it's pretty much true for most of their output.
 
As many in a Nintendo centric forum, I prefer Nintendo's output over Playstation's one, mostly since they cater to my tastes more.

However, I also think there are some things Nintendo is objectively better, like more variety in the kind of games they develop (especially in the current generation).
 
If "PlayStation Studios" was a thing back in the PS1 and PS2 era, grouping their many 1st Party offers of back of the day, it be certainly more of a competition.. but these days, Sony seems to be interested in just one type of game; they all look so samey, just with a different protag.

Nintendo, even if you're not into their franchises, at least offer variety.
 
If "PlayStation Studios" was a thing back in the PS1 and PS2 era, grouping their many 1st Party offers of back of the day, it be certainly more of a competition.. but these days, Sony seems to be interested in just one type of game; they all look so samey, just with a different protag.

Nintendo, even if you're not into their franchises, at least offer variety.
This just isn't true though? Sony makes a decent variety of games. It's just that a lot of their output is third person so it looks samey on the surface.
 
If nothing else, I'd argue EPD have had a bigger impact on the industry at large with their game design and innovations.

Sony has been pretty pivotal in the rise of the cinematic game, going all the way back to Ico and the first God of War, but EPD have been responsible for numerous industry changing games for decades now.

Nothing that Sony first party has done is on the same level as Mario 64, Galaxy or Ocarina. Even more recently, I'd say Splatoon has done more to innovate the shooter genre than Uncharted.
 
I voted both. EPD has such a great diversity of games, but PSS really knocks it out of the park with the games they are good at.
 
This just isn't true though? Sony makes a decent variety of games. It's just that a lot of their output is third person so it looks samey on the surface.
Of course, it's a surface level comparison.. but Horizon, Uncharted, Last of Us.. and even God of War now, that used to be a different flavor, all look pretty much the same.

At least they have a Ratchet game now and then.
 
If nothing else, I'd argue EPD have had a bigger impact on the industry at large with their game design and innovations.

Sony has been pretty pivotal in the rise of the cinematic game, going all the way back to Ico and the first God of War, but EPD have been responsible for numerous industry changing games for decades now.

Nothing that Sony first party has done is on the same level as Mario 64, Galaxy or Ocarina. Even more recently, I'd say Splatoon has done more to innovate the shooter genre than Uncharted.
Mario 64 and Ocarina I'll give you, but Galaxy and Splatoon have barely impacted the industry at all. Uncharted did that a lot more. If your innovation isn't replicated and doesn't impact the industry, it's just unique.
 
EPD sweeps cause we are all Nintendo fans here, but their variety and range is still impressive to this day.

In regards to Playstation Studios, chasing the success of The Last of Us with the need to make highly produced cinematic action games has basically ruined their 1st party to me. The variety of games in the PS3 era was incredible but now they've become the gaming equivalent of Marvel Studios with how formulaic their games are.
 
Why would you ask this on a Nintendo forum? It's obviously Sony, but the nintendrones here are blinded but their fanboy bias and have absolutely no objectivity.

Ok, now that your feathers are ruffled, it's EPD in my heart and that's all that matters to me 😊
 
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Mario 64 and Ocarina I'll give you, but Galaxy and Splatoon have barely impacted the industry at all. Uncharted did that a lot more. If your innovation isn't replicated and doesn't impact the industry, it's just unique.
Uncharted did very little that hadn't already been done by either Gears Of War, or Resident Evil 4.

Splatoon most definitely helped along a few recent developments in the industry, including

- The adoption of gyro controls for aiming/shooting. For the longest time, Splatoon was the postergame for gyro controls, and they're now widespread on Switch and PC shooters (the Steam controller and Steamdeck allow for per-game gyro tweaking)

- There was also a number of games post-Splatoon third-person multiplayer games that were clearly aping its style, including Ninjala, Knockout City and Rocket Arena.
 
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McFamilds, which sandwich do you prefer, Big Mac or Whopper?

I voted Nintendo, I like their games and hope more people on here give them a chance. Super Mario, Animal Crossing, Rhythm Heaven, Pokémon, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Smash, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Wario Ware are all must play GOAT franchises for me and I might even be forgetting some. Plus all the games that aren't long running franchises.
 
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Probably a biased place for this poll, but...

Sony's first party stuff has gotten so... "samey?"

Like they've been riffing on and expanding the Uncharted formula for like over a decade now. (That might be overly reductive...)
 
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This is an interesting question which is going to give very uninteresting poll results on a Nintendo forum. There's some decent discussion here but I think it would have gone better if it were framed as a comparison of the style and pros/cons of each, rather than a binary poll
OP I don't know what you were expecting when you made this thread
Basically this lol
 
I only like one current Sony series and that's Last of Us, and that's for story alone. So it's EPD
 
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