Support NeoGAF

[Frostman]

Threads starting to take a weird turn. I still think people are looking into this too much, and yes I could be wrong.

The port isn't ready and they don't know when it will be. So the debate then is whether to stay quiet and announce a date when they are certain or announce a date/time frame and then risk having to tell us they aren't going to make the date.

It's tough. The game will come. Either way I don't believe Sony are involved because they don't need to be. They've had GR2 and Yakuza 0 for Jan, Nioh for Feb and Horizon coming up leading their marketing charge.

This is SE.

 

[timberger]

People should want a game to be successful, never-mind clambering for exclusives, good lord.

Having the game release on multiple platforms leads to a larger potential audience and potentially leading to a more successful game as it's exposed to more customers.

Just look at their Q&A from another thread: NieR: Automata Live Facebook Q&A (Thread)

But some people only seem to care about 'muh exclusives!'

Some of you keep acting like there has been anyone saying they want this game to be exclusive to PS4, butI haven't seen any posts stating that at all. Who are you even talking about?

And no, the guy saying he was fine with the PC version being delayed doesn't fit that description.

 

[Daeoc]

SE being SE, sadly.

 

[paperspace]

⁣

 

[ULTROS!]

This doesn't make sense.

Them delaying the game on PC will result in better sales because... PC-players will buy the game due to the (potentially positive) word of mouth from PS4-players?

I don't see how they need to spend a fortune to release and market the PC-version. I mean, simply releasing the game simultaneously is good enough.

I'd say them delaying the PC version to X date is a smart choice, but at the same time risky.

Let's say NieR: Automata gets glowing reviews and it releases 4-5 months apart. For those who are tracking the game, they will most likely get the PS4 version since it's readily available on March. When the PC version comes out, those will purchase it are those who prefer to play it on PC and those who are planning to double dip. It's a win for SE because more people will buy the game (that is if the game gets reviewed well) but not so for the PC side due to the sales transferring to PS4.

Compared to releasing it simultaneously, there will be only the PS4 and PC players, not much on the double dippers.

But the entire story changes if the game sucks. If they delay the PC port, not as much people will be buying it, compared to a simultaneous release, where it's going to be much more front loaded.

Edit: I don't what's this myth about double dipping or anything, but there are still double dippers so it's still additional sales. Who knows, SE might be thinking about the "double dipper" market compared to what GAF thinks otherwise. Just trying to think why SE isn't so keen on releasing it simultaneously.

 

[DalikSkywing]

This double dip myth has to go.

 

[potatohead]

SE not getting game ready for PC = blame Sony.

Interesting. Even though this is what SE does for all their games pretty much regardless.

The FF XV PC version is going to take a while too, just FYI guys.

 

[chaosblade]

SE not getting game ready for PC = blame Sony.

Interesting. Even though this is what SE does for all their games pretty much regardless.

The FF XV PC version is going to take a while too, just FYI guys.

For what it's worth, FFXV PC isn't officially announced even if it's obvious.

That said, I agree that this probably has nothing to do with Sony and is just SE being SE.

 

[Shadowhaxor]

Is it worth mentioning that my Square Enix rep said it was still coming, and that more info would come later?

At least they didn't say it was canceled.

 

[Corpekata]

How many of their other games that they do this for do they have a special video announcing the version for? Pretty much all of their late ports are dropped out of the blue, not directly teased or announced before the game releases.

Comparing this to say FF13 or w/e is either disingenuous or moronic. Most of their late ports are of ancient games in response to an obvious change in the market, not brand new games they announced versions of nearly 9 months ahead of time.

The only real comparable game is I am Setsuna.

 

[chaosblade]

How many of their other games that they do this for do they have a special video announcing the version for? Pretty much all of their late ports are dropped out of the blue, not directly teased or announced before the game releases.

Comparing this to say FF13 or w/e is either disingenuous or moronic. Most of their late ports are of ancient games in response to an obvious change in the market, not brand new games they announced versions of nearly 9 months ahead of time.

The only real comparable game is I am Setsuna.

Or FF9, which took two extra months on PC for whatever reason.

 

[fvng]

You do know that picture really isn't proving anything you said, a DRM got cracked, so what? It really doesn't mean that piracy is rampant at all.

what does DRM getting cracked have to do with piracy? is this a serious question?

This has nothing to do with DRM. Niche games can perform well on PC, and have done so for for quite some time, in spite of piracy.

It's not a question of whether it's rampant or not, its a question of whether it's possible. right now, there is no ps4 piracy. if you're going to board a ship with a small hole or one with no holes, which one are you getting on?

Literally nothing in this post indicates that RE7 didn't sell on PC due to piracy.

It's irrelevant. It's a variable they may not necessarily want to deal with.

There is no good reason for SE not to talk about their niche sequel to as many warm bodies on as many platforms as possible.

what was Rockstar's reason for the 2 year release between console GTAV and PC GTAV?

 

[paperspace]

⁣

 

[Mohasus]

if you're going to board a ship with a small hole or one with no holes, which one are you getting on?

This is a shitty question because it isn't about choosing one or the other.

I'd choose both boats.

 

[Poster#1]

I didn't know it was getting a PC release. Will wait for it.

 

[fvng]

This is a shitty question because it isn't about choosing one or the other.

I'd choose both boats.

fair point, not the best analogy, but my point is, it makes more sense to release the game on a console with 0% piracy, wait for the sales to flatline a bit, then release on pc where any potential piracy would have minimal impact.

 

[MUnited83]

what does DRM getting cracked have to do with piracy? is this a serious question?





It's not a question of whether it's rampant or not, its a question of whether it's possible. right now, there is no ps4 piracy. if you're going to board a ship with a small hole or one with no holes, which one are you getting on?




It's irrelevant. It's a variable they may not necessarily want to deal with.




what was Rockstar's reason for the 2 year release between console GTAV and PC GTAV?

lets see


Day One release on both PS4 and PC = More sales and more money. This is a irrefutable fact.
Delayed PC release= Less sales, less money.

fair point, not the best analogy, but my point is, it makes more sense to release the game on a console with 0% piracy, wait for the sales to flatline a bit, then release on pc where any potential piracy would have minimal impact.

The impact is minimal either way. But you actively lose sales by delaying it.

 

[GhostTrick]

fair point, not the best analogy, but my point is, it makes more sense to release the game on a console with 0% piracy, wait for the sales to flatline a bit, then release on pc where any potential piracy would have minimal impact.

If it made more sense, every publishers would do so:
They don't.
Why ? Because piracy hurting sales on PC is a long gone myth.
You actually lose more sales by delaying it, considering you're losing launch hype.

 

[Sad Affleck]

I'd rather see this game succeed on my console of choice because I couldn't care less about PC gaming.

You don't have to care about PC gaming to understand that a niche game like Nier Automata needs to sell as many copies as possible on as many platforms as possible if you want to play more stuff like it. More copies sold and a bigger established audience directly benefits you as a fan of the game even if you don't care about other versions. You couldn't care less about PC gaming and that's fine but it seems like you should care a bit less about your console of choice and a bit more about the actual games.

 

[fvng]

If it made more sense, every publishers would do so:
They don't.
Why ? Because piracy hurting sales on PC is a long gone myth.
You actually lose more sales by delaying it, considering you're losing launch hype.

lets see


Day One release on both PS4 and PC = More sales and more money. This is a irrefutable fact.
Delayed PC release= Less sales, less money.


The impact is minimal either way. But you actively lose sales by delaying it.

I would love to know what the actual reason is, maybe it's a cultural thing.. it would explain why Just Cause 3 had a simultaneous cross platform worldwide release and their japanese developed games have unclear release dates on pc

 

[JustSomeone]

I'd rather see this game succeed on my console of choice because I couldn't care less about PC gaming. With the obvious silence regarding the PC version, SE is clearly wanting as much sales for the PS4 as possible and I'm ok with that.

This game needs the sales from a pc version much more than pc gaming needs this game.

 

[ChryZ]

They better not fuck this up, I need my definitive version.

 

[AcceptableGhost]

Square Enix JP just being annoying as usual. At least the PC version will probably be solid since it's Platinum.

 

[Caayn]

I'd guess that Sony is gag holding SE from talking about the PC release. SE not even showing PC icons/logos in trailers is really strange however which makes me believe that SE doesn't really mind not showing anything.

 

[NEO0MJ]

It's not a question of whether it's rampant or not, its a question of whether it's possible. right now, there is no ps4 piracy. if you're going to board a ship with a small hole or one with no holes, which one are you getting on?

Then were publishers idiots for boarding previous gen consoles which were as leaky a boat as it could get 🤔
I mean unlike on PC where you'd need a good rig to run modern games well on past PlayStation consoles all you needed was a small mod and then you free to get any pirated game you want for cheap.

 

[JustSomeone]

lets see


Day One release on both PS4 and PC = More sales and more money. This is a irrefutable fact.
Delayed PC release= Less sales, less money.

I'm not sure. Many people who own both a ps4 and a gaming pc will prefer waiting for a sale on the pc version if they know there is one and skip the ps4 version.

 

[MUnited83]

I'm not sure. Many people who own both a ps4 and a gaming pc will prefer waiting for a sale on the pc version if they know there is one and skip the ps4 version.

Not at all. Data shows time and time again that most people actually buy on release window. People who are willing to wait for a sale would wait for a sale on PS4 too.

 

[Spence]

lets see

Day One release on both PS4 and PC = More sales and more money. This is a irrefutable fact.
Delayed PC release= Less sales, less money.

More margin on console games and people double dipping when it finally releases on PC, maybe they make more moneys that way.

 

[MUnited83]

More margin on console games and people double dipping when it finally releases on PC, maybe they make more moneys that way.

Nier is a niche as fuck game, not GTA V. The amount of people willing to double dip on it are not significant and not worth the lost of sales even remotely.

More margin on consoles? What? They get a bigger margin on PC.

 

[Durante]

The modern console industry revolves entirely around exclusivity contracts so why are there always so many rustled jimmies at the suggestion of a moneyhat? None of the platform holders is above it and re: the argument that it's a niche game - then it's also niche money.

Actually, Valve is.

 

[Caayn]

Actually, Valve is.

I think that it's fair to say that Valve is in an unique position where they don't need to invest money into exclusivity from third-parties due to their marketshare.

 

[Ascheroth]

Nier is a niche as fuck game, not GTA V. The amount of people willing to double dip on it are not significant and not worth the lost of sales even remotely.

More margin on consoles? What? They get a bigger margin on PC.

Nah, he's right.
Sony definitely has more margin on consoles.

Spoiler

Anyway, this damn douple-dipping justification is getting really annoying. This only has a meaning for a tiny subset of super popular games (GTA).

I'll tell you what happens if you release simultaneously. The games actually sell at launch, at full price, and they continue to sell in subsequent sales.

Here's an example:
Tales of Berseria released ~2 weeks ago, and it sold 60k times at full price. That's a 50$ AA JRPG and that's 2 million revenue (read: that's already without Valves cut).

Now let's compare this to Final Fantasy XIII, a late port that was sold at 16$ and came out 2 and a half years ago.
It sold 671k times in that timeframe. However, even if you are generous and disregard sales it made less than 4 times the revenue of Berseria. In truth Berseria has most likely already generated something between half and a third of the money of a mainline Final Fantasy game that had 2 years of sales, in just 2 weeks.

--
And to stay a little on-topic.
Yes, Squares japanese side is usually pretty bad when it comes to PC, but the general modus operandi was not saying anything about PC at all until they silently drop it a year later.
In Nier's case the game was already announced until they went silent. That's clearly a different scenario, so it's fair to assume something different than their usual fuckery could be going on.
I wouldn't be surprised if it pulled a Dragon Quest Heroes and just silently released a few weeks later, but then they better not complain in case the game is underperforming on PC.
If you try your hardest to hide the existence of a PC version until it eventually launches, most people won't actually know it exists, how surprising.
Which is a shame, because especially niche games would profit from having a larger potential target audience.

 

[paperspace]

⁣

 

[Bl@de]

You're telling me Valve is above money and hats? Pfft.

You're probably being sarcastic, but what exclusivity contracts are there between Valve and publishers/developers?

 

[Caayn]

You're probably being sarcastic, but what exclusivity contracts are there between Valve and publishers/developers?

 

[ViviOggi]

Actually, Valve is.

Sure, I was thinking platform as in proprietary boxes but especially now with VR it's fair to include Valve under that umbrella as well.

You're telling me Valve is above money and hats? Pfft.

I see what you did there

 

[duckroll]

You're probably being sarcastic, but what exclusivity contracts are there between Valve and publishers/developers?

It's a joke about hats...

 

[JustSomeone]

C'mon people, microtransactions are not nearly as offensive as exclusivity deals.
It's emberrasing that it even has to be said.

 

[Lime]

TFMA: I think the port is outsourced by Square Enix and PGI is only doing the PS4 version. That's why we aren't hearing much about the port because the primary development is already done and the outsourcing studio is still working on the PC version, perhaps with some difficulties

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

lets see


Day One release on both PS4 and PC = More sales and more money. This is a irrefutable fact.
Delayed PC release= Less sales, less money.

Lmao irrefutable fact. With niche games, it hardly is. Whats probably more important is actual advertising of the SKU, which is more likely in the launch window but not always true.

 

[MUnited83]

Lmao irrefutable fact. With niche games, it hardly is. Whats probably more important is actual advertising of the SKU, which is more likely in the launch window but not always true.

It is a fact, unless you think they will magically sell more by delaying it, which is backed up by no facts or logic whatsoever.

 

[duckroll]

TFMA: I think the port is outsourced by Square Enix and PGI is only doing the PS4 version. That's why we aren't hearing much about the port because the primary development is already done and the outsourcing studio is still working on the PC version, perhaps with some difficulties

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1339214

Any Updates on the PC Version? "We're working hard on it, but if I said anything, ninjas from SE would try to kill me, so I've got nothing to announce." - Takahisa Taura, Designer from Platinum Games

So you think they're lying about it to fans?

 

[Lime]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1339214

Any Updates on the PC Version? "We're working hard on it, but if I said anything, ninjas from SE would try to kill me, so I've got nothing to announce." - Takahisa Taura, Designer from Platinum Games

So you think they're lying about it to fans?

TFMA = tales from my ass Thanks for the source and correction, duckroll

 

[Chairmanchuck]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1339214

Any Updates on the PC Version? "We're working hard on it, but if I said anything, ninjas from SE would try to kill me, so I've got nothing to announce." - Takahisa Taura, Designer from Platinum Games

So you think they're lying about it to fans?

The thing is, that I have some infos about other S-E projects and the outsourcing argument would (sadly) actually make perfect sense.

 

[Abilidebob]

Problem is, when you delay a game enough for PC it's really stupid to charge full price for it. See the GG Revelator situation. If Nier is released 4, 5 months after console there's no way in hell I'll be paying 60 bucks, even if I love Platinum and Taro. Same with the FFXV port that will obviously come after a while. But at least I can't see SE being that stupid with pricing.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Problem is, when you delay a game enough for PC it's really stupid to charge full price for it. See the GG Revelator situation. If Nier is released 4, 5 months after console there's no way in hell I'll be paying 60 bucks, even if I love Platinum and Taro. Same with the FFXV port that will obviously come after a while. But at least I can't see SE being that stupid with pricing.

It's a PC game, so you'll probably be able to get it for 20-30% off the list price anyway.

 

[10k]

It's probably cancelled.

No that was the Dino Crisis reboot.

My guess is Sony is co-marketing the game so that means no PC talk until a certain date.

 

[Clear]

It is a fact, unless you think they will magically sell more by delaying it, which is backed up by no facts or logic whatsoever.

Turn that around: Where's the evidence that are going to sell more units by releasing it day and date with the PS4 version?

The plain fact is that this is an entirely untried franchise on PC, whereas it does have a significant history on console, Sony platforms in particular. Does it not make sense to leverage that existing fanbase ans relationship with a platform holder in order to get additional promotional consideration as a quasi-"exclusive"?

After all, this game is only getting a physical release on console, which by its very nature has specific marketing needs and is generally more timing-critical than just putting it up on a digital storefront like Steam.

Most of all though, they can far more easily afford to take a hit on the RRP on PC, as without the license-fee they are looking at deeper margins per-unit anyway. Which is ideal as PC is based on precedent, not the primary platform here, Japanese Playstation users are.

 

[ZoddGutts]

It wouldn't be so bad if they just gave us a timeable as to when I'll come out, instead we're stuck wondering as to when I'll come out, it could be 3 months maybe 6 months or at worst a whole year later. Very annoying not knowing as to when I'll come out.

 

[Kintaro]

Turn that around: Where's the evidence that are going to sell more units by releasing it day and date with the PS4 version?

Bandai Namco sales on PC day and date are really all you need. Since Dark Souls' success on PC, they have gone in hard on day and date on the platform. Traditional PS Namco IPs are now on PC same day. Tales of, Tekken 7, Ace Combat 7, etc.

When you treat all your customers fairly, they tend to treat you the same.

Personally, if Nier isn't on 3/7 on PC, I won't be mad. I just won't play it until it hits the platform at a nice discount for my patience. I'm not rewarding SE's attempts at double dipping people. Not like I'm hurting for shit to play. Far from it. I'll be playing Zelda.

Nier will barely be a blip after the Switch launch and with Ghost Recon launching the same day. =/