Not surprised that Sony was down. Average person's purchasing power has plummeted (inflation may have slowed, but it has not reversed). And Sony just jacked up the cost of owning a PS5 by 20 bucks a year unless you have no interest in multiplayer, and PS+ essential games are generally trash. They've also done a shitty job at getting people excited for future games. They've still got the best lineup (IMO) and are my platform of choice. But it's not all roses.
Yeah, true, tho PS+ Essentials games aren't generally that bad. It's not XBL Games with Gold levels bad, and sometimes it's better than what Game Pass gets in a given month. They probably still need to do more to add value for that price jump though, for sure. The movie stuff is a good start, but ultimately it's got to be something game-related too.
I think the pandemic and the mechanical hard drive made it very difficult to maintain the PS4 as a platform, but PS5 as a platform is definitely going to be a thing.
I think we're going to see a different type of console market, especially if Microsoft isn't around to compete in it.
We're going to see diminished returns on graphics and we're going to see that the PS5 is far more scalable than the PS4 was.s
Sony can release a handheld PS5 towards the end of the decade and continue to sell games that are available on the main console. When you look at PC, we don't even really look at it in terms of generations.
If you think back Gameboy launched in 1989 and the Gameboy Advance launched in 2001... The Gameboy Color was essentially a mid-gen refresh, but the GameBoy platform ran for 12 years.
A handheld PS5 probably extends the PS5's life cycle by another 5 years. So anywhere between 10-15 years, maybe even longer. Who is to say that a PS5 handheld doesn't get its own mid-gen refresh.
PS6 would be the start of a new platform and as you said, could start off quite expensive. That's also why the PS5 Pro is really important. It needs to be able to stretch the life cycle out.
Well whatever Sony does with PS6, I just hope it also involves integrated VR. Vr is amazing technology but it's probably too price-prohibitive as an optional add-on experience for most people. What Sony are doing right now with the PS Portal, however, could be leveraged in a future VR headset with further improvements to the PS.Link and Remote Play technology, and just generally better wifi by the time PS6 comes to market.
They could potentially make a scalable range of VR headsets where the only costs are in the lenses and display, and any built-in audio functions. Literally all the processing could then be handled by the PS6 and streamed in through the headset. Hopefully by then they'll also allow a wireless option. The goal would be that they can make an entry-level headset cheap enough to bundle in with all systems without leading to a big jump in MSRP, but also making sure the PS6 itself delivers a suitable performance upgrade that can last the gen, over the PS5 & Pro.
The VR headset has to become as ubiquitous as the controller, and Sony are arguably in the best position to do it, so we'll see where things are within five years or so.
Sony is starting to experience a bit of that Nintendo result.
- It was the biggest game for PlayStation 5 at launch
- Sequel to a game that has sold 30+ million units across PS4/PS5/PC
- Spider-Man 2 just came out and people want more Spider-Man
This game, God of War Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7, and Spider-Man 2 will sell for the rest of the PS5 life cycle.
Ragnarok is still selling. Just imagine if they can make a successful tv show, but again, that is why Sony does remasters and remakes. They don't get a ton out of selling God of War 2018 for 20 dollars a pop. Ragnarok is 70 dollars and it is still charting... I could see a God of War 2018 remaster and a God of War 1 remake.
Something is giving Gran Turismo serious legs on PS5, whether that be VR, the game updates, the Gran Turismo movie, or all of the above.
Of games that are 40 dollars or more on the PS Store, Sony has 3 games in the top 24. The Last of Us Part 2 remaster pre-order is 31st and going for 50 dollars rather than 40 dollars. The remaster might also push sales of the Part 1 remake up as well, especially if the show wins some awards in January.
The clear disappointment for Sony will be Horizon, but again, that could turn on its head of the show is a success.
True, and FWIW Horizon is the youngest of all those franchises. So I think it's natural it's the softest sales-wise in relation to them, but with time and more software variety I think it'll have a lot of room to grow in its own right.
I think it will be closer between ps5 and x series in december.
MS are doing some crazy sales, sony so far has had some sales but not to the level that MS has gone to.
Price doesn't mean much if the value perception isn't there in other ways (software, services, brand appeal etc.).
Outside of maybe a somewhat lower price there is little to pull someone from a PS5 to a Series X. The services are largely the same, they share around 90% of the same software library, but the PS5 has more ecosystem-encompassing peripherals (PSVR2, Portal, DualSense Edge, Pulse headphones etc.) and exclusives you actually can't get anywhere else (Spiderman 2, GOW: Ragnarok, GT7 etc.). Xbox has less ecosystem options in ways that add to the ecosystem, and all of their games are also on PC.
If December numbers are disappointing hardware-wise, MS's last-ditch effort is to go bonkers with Game Pass & Xbox, and as many subscription perks with 1P software in the service as possible. The way things are tracking, 2024 is going to be the year that decides Xbox's fate as a video game console. If it doesn't manage to recover and grow, we're going to see a monumental shift in priorities for Xbox and gaming as a whole at Microsoft going forward.
But in a lot of ways maybe that would be for the best. I've mentioned some reasons why earlier in the thread. Console diehards would maybe have a hard time adjusting, however.
. If the hardware still doesn't move, and Game Pass can't move the hardware, and there's a 1% chance (at best) that Microsoft ceases Day and Date with PC to give Xbox that push...then going full-tilt 3P publisher to prioritize B2P sales is the only real option left.
