MLB The Show on PC finally?
Think there was a rumor/leak (or maybe a job listing?) basically confirming this was happening, from a few weeks back.
I definitely remember
@Mibu no ookami talking about it multiple times.
It's long been my opinion that
timed exclusivity is going to make a comeback next-gen.
My theory is the reason it's not happening much anymore is due to lack of offers, not lack of takers. No coincidence that Sony and Nintendo are both showing record profits in an era where timed exclusivity is at its lowest.
Epic already tried doing tons of exclusivity deals and it's not helped their storefront get any real traction against those like Steam or even GOG. And I don't think the lack of timed exclusives this gen is down to lack of offers; remember, SIE tried getting timed exclusivity on stuff like Crimson Desert, but were turned down. That's probably not an isolated case, and it's been rather odd to me that outside of some Final Fantasy & smaller Square-Enix titles, almost all of SIE's timed exclusives this gen have come from relatively unknown & smaller studios. A major shift vs. just the gen prior.
I don't think keeping their own 1P titles exclusive or timed-exclusive to a PS PC launcher is going to get much blowback towards SIE, since those are games & IP in which they own one way or another. But if they try lapping up tons of 3P timed exclusives, basically pulling an EGS but in hyperdrive, they're going to get a
LOT of resentment and pushback from PC gamers, for sure. It won't go over well for SIE if they try a similar strategy in that space, IMHO.
Quite frankly, SIE would have to compete on features. Like, genuinely outmaneuver Valve and other PC storefront platforms in terms of QOL and features. Doing that and then leveraging the strength they have in the home console space could in turn benefit their PC storefront. There will be some form of cannibalization, but as long as most of it is lateral, then that's not too bad for them. Rather than gunning for 3P timed exclusives, if it's an argument about bolstering their PC storefront, SIE would be better off ensuring as much of the console library is also accessible on their PC launcher/storefront. Ensuring that the library of both 1P
AND 3P titles is the same on console & PC storefront ensures SIE don't lose 3P sales to non-SIE storefronts on PC, meaning they strengthen the crossbuy effect between their PC storefront and the console.
Another potential benefit for gamers, if that were to happen, is that SIE would finally bring some much-needed QOL and user-side feature improvements to their console, and maybe even do things like remove the online paywall. It'd be immensely stupid of them to try getting feature parity with something like Steam for their PC storefront, only to still have most of that stuff missing from their own console. At that point you're better off ditching a PlayStation console and going to PC. Sure maybe you also keep your 3P purchases on SIE's storefront, but you're probably not buying their peripherals as much. You're likely not a need to subscribe to PS+ in that scenario either (if it's even present on the PC storefront). And naturally, SIE lose out on the revenue of a console purchase, which has implications of its own.
Maybe the games have been less than they should be, ie they suck.
Well that objectively isn't true since their games have sold quite a few millions on their own hardware.
Meanwhile you have stuff like The Banana Game selling millions on Steam. Maybe we're in an alternate timeline where screensavers are the true next step of immersion?
I think the only way Sony could beat bigger than Steam would be merging their PC and their PS PSN stores & launchers into one with full crossbuy for all games avalable on both stores.
Counting their console and PC userbase combined would help them start competing with Steam with pretty close numbers and to grow from that. This would also help them to neutralize Microsoft's gaming store in PC and the consolized PCs.
Merging the console & PC storefronts still presents a situation similar to what Microsoft face currently: your console games won't be natively playable on the PC side unless you're either running an emulator (or compatibility layer) or there is a bespoke port of that game on the PC platform for the storefront.
Yeah in theory they could count the console & PC storefront bases together for bragging points to shareholders, but it means little in substance if there's the level of library incompatibility I just pointed out. It'd also seem like a very reactionary measure against what MS is trying to do; half-measures to artificially bolster numbers for bragging rights is Microsoft's M.O, but not something SIE would waste time doing unless it represented something meaningful for actual customers in their install base.
Basically: I would not see SIE combining headcounts across the two bases unless a clear majority of the shared software library were natively accessible across both.
