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Do people still doubt a PC PlayStation Storefront is coming?
- Thread starter Mibu no ookami
- Start date
Elysium44
Banned
What matters surely is profits, not number of sales, nor percentages in isolation and without context. You can earn more profit selling to more people yet paying a fee to Valve, than you would selling to a lot fewer people but paying no fees. You don't seem to be seeing the wood for the trees.
Guilty_AI
Member
What? No lmao what are you even on about. You act as if what matters is not giving money for valve no matter the cost and not making actual money.
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Minsc
Gold Member
Have you seen the PS5 UI? That's almost the worst UI I've used in my life.
Blood Borne
Member
Ironically, I think the only person that can compete with Steam is Nintendo.
Not that they’ll eat into Steam’s numbers, but will comfortably have a sustainable and profitable PC store alongside Steam. Kinda like how they’ve managed to carve themselves a segment in the console market, they can indeed replicate that in the PC store market as well.
Not that they’ll eat into Steam’s numbers, but will comfortably have a sustainable and profitable PC store alongside Steam. Kinda like how they’ve managed to carve themselves a segment in the console market, they can indeed replicate that in the PC store market as well.
Omnipunctual Godot
Gold Member
This would be absurdly stupid. Microsoft has its own store that's integrated into Windows, and it still ended up putting its games on Steam. They need to focus on doing the things they do best and stop putting out half-baked products only to abandon them years or even months later.
EverydayBeast
ChatGPT 0.1
It’s normal now to have your game on multiple platforms it use to be exclusive, in the last few years games have gone to PC.
Pejo
Member
Man, I get that it's not a fun thought for fanboys that their exclusive stuff is coming to PC. I really do get it. But the goalpost moving and nonsensical stuff that comes out of you guys sometimes...
Just a few years ago it was "Well you can't play X game on PC at all! lol!". Then it became "Well you're gonna have to wait at least a year to play X game on PC, and by then the hype will be dead!". Now it's "Well Sony should obfuscate shit for people on PC that want to play the games.... BECAUSE. They're not the real PS fans!" It's kinda sad that people feel like they have to constantly try to make the experience worse for PC gamers or else they feel like they're being slighted or losing something by playing on Playstation. What does a console PS player lose if a game releases day 1 on Steam? Not a thing. I promise I won't come rip the Dualsense™ out of your hands and throw it on the floor laughing.
It doesn't even make business sense to Sony to have to develop, test, and maintain a PC Storefront that with 99% certainly won't have the featureset of Steam. For that 30% cut, they just make games, and release games. No customer support, no hosting downloads, etc. On top of that, according to this article, Sony had THREE first party exclusives release in 2023. One of which was a VR game (Horizon), one was DLC to Horizon 2, the other being Spider Man 2. I realize the back catalogue may get ported over in the future, but even still, that's less than Uplay offers and I think Uplay is one of the worst storefronts out there.
I would love for Sony to make some sort of Trophy integration, and promote crossplay/cross save type functionality, but again I think it's a numbers game for them and they are judging where they can draw the line to maximize profitability. Especially with that new bean counter CEO (who I actually like so far). Neither of those things require a storefront though, and I think it'd be foolish for them to even attempt it where Microsoft and their near endless coffers failed several times.
Just a few years ago it was "Well you can't play X game on PC at all! lol!". Then it became "Well you're gonna have to wait at least a year to play X game on PC, and by then the hype will be dead!". Now it's "Well Sony should obfuscate shit for people on PC that want to play the games.... BECAUSE. They're not the real PS fans!" It's kinda sad that people feel like they have to constantly try to make the experience worse for PC gamers or else they feel like they're being slighted or losing something by playing on Playstation. What does a console PS player lose if a game releases day 1 on Steam? Not a thing. I promise I won't come rip the Dualsense™ out of your hands and throw it on the floor laughing.
It doesn't even make business sense to Sony to have to develop, test, and maintain a PC Storefront that with 99% certainly won't have the featureset of Steam. For that 30% cut, they just make games, and release games. No customer support, no hosting downloads, etc. On top of that, according to this article, Sony had THREE first party exclusives release in 2023. One of which was a VR game (Horizon), one was DLC to Horizon 2, the other being Spider Man 2. I realize the back catalogue may get ported over in the future, but even still, that's less than Uplay offers and I think Uplay is one of the worst storefronts out there.
I would love for Sony to make some sort of Trophy integration, and promote crossplay/cross save type functionality, but again I think it's a numbers game for them and they are judging where they can draw the line to maximize profitability. Especially with that new bean counter CEO (who I actually like so far). Neither of those things require a storefront though, and I think it'd be foolish for them to even attempt it where Microsoft and their near endless coffers failed several times.
JimboJones
Member
This would probably be the only thing that would even make me bother to use it.
bender
What time is it?
I doubt they will given how easy it is to study the success of non-Steam storefronts. versus the estimated cost of standing up your own. Sony just doesn't have enough titles to justify this. Even if they had something akin to Microsoft's Play Anywhere, I don't think that's enticing enough for most PC enthusiasts to spend money there as I don't think there is that much overlap. Sony is trying to grow their audience and the PC audience is on Steam. It would cost them much more in development, infrastructure and lost sales doing their own thing than it would to just pay Valve 30%.
ZiggyPop1991
Member
They will probably release on steam. Just at a later date.
Mortisfacio
Member
If Sony were to make their own PC storefront, I won't use it. I'd like to play the next God of War game day 1 on competent hardware, but not enough to use a non-Steam store for it. I'd rather just not play the game(s).
Seyken
Member
As a mainly console player, I think it's the smart thing to do. Not only because that's the only way we'll probably see day one 1st party titles on PC, but many of you are only thinking about Sony fighting head to head against Steam and maybe trying to poach the existent Steam users to a potential PC PS Store.
But I see it also as a way of keeping people in its ecosystem. Right now if a console player becomes a PC player, you instantly lost that guy to Steam and their revenue. But what happens if that guy migrates to PC and sees that all his trophies, games, etc from his console are still available there too? Would Steam still look that attractive, or would he maybe consider staying within Sony's ecosystem?
And that's how it starts. From there, if they can build a reputable Store, with good deals and features, they are the only company nowadays with the power to eventually try to go head-to-head with Steam.
But I see it also as a way of keeping people in its ecosystem. Right now if a console player becomes a PC player, you instantly lost that guy to Steam and their revenue. But what happens if that guy migrates to PC and sees that all his trophies, games, etc from his console are still available there too? Would Steam still look that attractive, or would he maybe consider staying within Sony's ecosystem?
And that's how it starts. From there, if they can build a reputable Store, with good deals and features, they are the only company nowadays with the power to eventually try to go head-to-head with Steam.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
And Epic only charges game companies 12% cut. You’d think with that juicy savings every PC game maker would flood Epic first to max out profits and then go to steam and gog later. Nope unless Epic does a giant partnership deal.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
The irony is palpable.
Again this would be true if they didn’t sell 3rd party titles as well.
Keep up.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
3.3 million when your prices are higher than average pc games is really good.
What you forget to mention is that.
1 Sony is selling old games
2 most other pc titles get much more deeply discounted in order to reach higher numbers of sales
CamHostage
Member
It'd be interesting if this happened, but as been broken down a few times already in this thread, not much is in Sony's arsenal to really make this work.
If they had done this in the first place several years ago when they first started making PC ports, maybe, but now they would have to transition their PC consumers off Steam onto their store, and I don't think PC PlayStation gamers are so in love with Horizon or Uncharted that they'd jump. (And even if Sony pulled their 1st Party games from Steam for their store, that's not enough PC product to sustain for long; can a storefront really operate with just like 3 games a year? Will 3rd Parties want to be involved with yet another storefront and a different level of percentage when Epic and its much smaller cut didn't do sales strong enough to leave or go light on Steam?)
That's the only viable selling point coming to mind for gamers to use a PlayStation store instead of Steam. (And even then, unless you're playing on a Deck or other PC portable, what would gamers do with a PS5 version of a game if their more up-to-date/expensive PC probably runs it better?)
Selling PS1/2/3/PSP/Vita games on a PC PlayStation store would be compelling, but they don't even do that much anymore on their PlayStation PlayStation store.
If they had done this in the first place several years ago when they first started making PC ports, maybe, but now they would have to transition their PC consumers off Steam onto their store, and I don't think PC PlayStation gamers are so in love with Horizon or Uncharted that they'd jump. (And even if Sony pulled their 1st Party games from Steam for their store, that's not enough PC product to sustain for long; can a storefront really operate with just like 3 games a year? Will 3rd Parties want to be involved with yet another storefront and a different level of percentage when Epic and its much smaller cut didn't do sales strong enough to leave or go light on Steam?)
That's the only viable selling point coming to mind for gamers to use a PlayStation store instead of Steam. (And even then, unless you're playing on a Deck or other PC portable, what would gamers do with a PS5 version of a game if their more up-to-date/expensive PC probably runs it better?)
Selling PS1/2/3/PSP/Vita games on a PC PlayStation store would be compelling, but they don't even do that much anymore on their PlayStation PlayStation store.
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Sinfulgore
Member
It's not though. In 2023 Horizon Zero Dawn for PC, the game that sold 3.3mil units, was consistently on sale multiple times throughout the year for under $15. It's impossible to know how many people bought it at that price but Im going to guess more people bought it at that price than at $50.
PC games do go on sale often but that's more of a reason why Sony having their own PC storefront is a bad idea. Sony doesn't make enough exclusives to have their own storefront. A storefront needs people buying games consistently to be profitable and a Sony PC storefront wouldn't have that. No one is going to buy third-party PC games through a Sony PC storefront.
ResilientBanana
Member
I figured they would when they started releasing PC games. I’ll still pay more money for the Steam version though.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
Why does EA have games on Microsoft's storefront on PC?
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
It took 5 years for the Witcher 3 to hit 12 million units on PC and it was day and date on PC.
It had its biggest day on steam 5 years after launching
The Witcher 3 Had Its Biggest Day Ever On Steam
It received a massive "next-gen" update 3 years later.
The life of a game on PC is way different than console, but people want to compare console sales trajectory with PC for some reason.
Sony knows that when they release Horizon Forbidden West, the sales of Zero Dawn will spike on PC. When they release the Horizon show on Amazon Prime and if it is successful, both games will sell more again.
Horizon wasn't on Steams best sellers list in 2020, but it was on the list in 2021 and 2022. In fact Sony has had several games on the steam best sellers list in 2023, 2022, and 2021 and they just kicked off the year with Helldivers... PC sales are often a marathon and not a sprint.
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
I don't think there's any way Sony wouldn't have success with their own PC store front, if implemented correctly and if given enough time to gestate. If you have amazing exclusive games, like Sony does, the gamers will simply click a different store front. It's not that hard. There's no $500 paywall behind it like there is with a console.
Games of the caliber, launching day and date, with Trophy integration, Cross-Play, PSN+ (will need to drop online pay), and Cross-Buy would not be enticing? Sony drops the next Bloodborne or something that's exclusive to their storefront, gets 10/10 scores like Elden Ring, and suddenly those gamers won't have the energy to click a different button on their desktop?
I don't believe it. The other storefronts failed because of UI/integration and lack of compelling content. Sony first party is a big enough driver to be compelling. And it also makes it easy for those considering migrating to PC to carry over their library. But again - they need to executive it well, and Sony isn't known to do that on all things the same. Sometimes it's great (like their console development/launches), and sometimes not so much. They also need to be willing to have lasting power and not just give up on it if it's not a massive needle mover at first. It just needs to be something they continue to offer with the PS5, PS6, PS7...eventually it has institutional clout at that point.
I also think they probably should not offer their exclusives on Steam at all.
Games of the caliber, launching day and date, with Trophy integration, Cross-Play, PSN+ (will need to drop online pay), and Cross-Buy would not be enticing? Sony drops the next Bloodborne or something that's exclusive to their storefront, gets 10/10 scores like Elden Ring, and suddenly those gamers won't have the energy to click a different button on their desktop?
I don't believe it. The other storefronts failed because of UI/integration and lack of compelling content. Sony first party is a big enough driver to be compelling. And it also makes it easy for those considering migrating to PC to carry over their library. But again - they need to executive it well, and Sony isn't known to do that on all things the same. Sometimes it's great (like their console development/launches), and sometimes not so much. They also need to be willing to have lasting power and not just give up on it if it's not a massive needle mover at first. It just needs to be something they continue to offer with the PS5, PS6, PS7...eventually it has institutional clout at that point.
I also think they probably should not offer their exclusives on Steam at all.
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poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
If they can replicate the success of the Switch with Switch 2 and keep it from getting hacked and almost perfectly emulated.
Sinfulgore
Member
There are no EA games on the Microsoft Store.
I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here. My point was that sales on PC aren't the same as consoles. Console game sales are mostly front-loaded so most people who bought Spider-Man 2 paid $70 for it. So it selling 10 million copies in three months brought in way more money than Witcher 3 selling 12 million copies over 5 years. Witcher 3 even came out in a time when Steam sales weren't region-locked so you could buy it brand new on release day for $18. Even if sales for Horizon Zero Dawn spike on PC when Forbidden West releases, it won't make Sony much money because you can buy that game on PC right now for under $9. Hell Divers 2 hasn't even been out a month and it's already down to $31. When it comes to PC gaming you need to look at the price people are paying for their games and not just the units sold.
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Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
Would have sworn i saw madden on there, but not seeing it now.
My point is it is about overall revenue. Why do you think games drop to so cheap on PC? If you can sell a million units at 20 dollars a pop, that's 20 million in revenue less steam's cut, which gives you 18 million dollars.
18 million dollars goes a long way towards recouping development costs. If you sell 3 million copies at 20 dollars a pop that's 60 million less 48 million. If your PC port can recover half or even a quarter of your development costs, it is well worth it.
Selling 10 million copies at 5 dollars is still 50 million, 40 million after steam cut.
Maybe you think these amounts aren't significant, but they especially add up over the course of a portfolio and generation.
Then you still have games that do/will sell at full price and will continue to get new leases on life with sequels and discounts.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
If/when Sony replicates the template for the Switch, they're going to eat Nintendo's lunch.
When you compare the advantages the DS had over the PSP or the 3DS over the Vita, when you start utilizing the same games for handheld and console, that's going to advantage Sony, given their improvements in 1st party developments and their superior 3rd party support.
Sony has way more leverage than Nintendo across gaming.
I do think that they would have more leverage uniquely on a PC storefront though because of their game catalog. I think that once Sony eats into their handheld revenues, they'll be forced to look at revenue from PC.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
This is where I think Sony buys FromSoftware/Kadokawa and makes Elden Ring 2 exclusive on their storefront.
I don't think people consider why things fail just that they failed and assume that because others have failed anyone and everyone will fail.
I keep hearing the same arguments that Sony doesn't have enough titles, ignoring that they'll have 3rd party support, someone everyone else has struggled with.
I think the first party support for Sony is bigger collectively than Epic, Microsoft, or CD Projekt. I think it's bigger than any individual publisher today.
Roronoa Zoro
Gold Member
If it has trophies and crossbuy I'll start PC gaming
Fabieter
Member
No it wouldn't they could control the third party key market that way. They still should do steam releases but people are forced to pay the highest price if they want to get the games on steam.
Sinfulgore
Member
PC games don't really drop in price much, its third party resellers that sell codes cheap. Horizon Zero Dawn is $50 right now on Steam but through third-party key sellers, you can get it for $8 right now.
PC game devs do make a lot of money on their games over time but what you are asking of Sony is different. For Sony to build their own PC storefront they would have to spend millions every year just to maintain it and that doesn't even count how much it would cost to build it. They also have to pay to incentivize gamers to use their storefront like Epic does, offering free games, discount codes, etc. There is a reason why Epic is losing millions on its storefront and even with Fortnite the Epic game store's monthly active users is nowhere near Steam. In 2023 Epic Games Store was able to peak at 36.1 million daily active users, do you think a Sony PC storefront could get anywhere close to that? EA and Ubisoft storefronts never could. Remember even with those numbers Epic is still losing money on their storefront and is still way behind Steam's daily active user count. For a PC Storefront to survive it needs millions of daily active users buying games often and Sony won't have that. Sony's first-party games are almost all single-player games with no replay value so what games would they have on their Storefront that could keep millions of gamers actively logging in daily?
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
A lot of assumptions that you laid up there.
Let's break down where you get things wrong:
- While Horizon is currently 50 dollars, the cheapest it has been officially on Steam is 12.49. It's never been 12.49 on PS Store to my knowledge. This routine deep price cuts are largely unique to PC and it is the primary reason why PC games do high numbers in unit sales, but less in revenue than Console. That being said as I mentioned before, that can still go along way towards recouping development costs.
- The costs involved in running a PC Storefront for Sony is going to be cheaper than most companies. They're already running a storefront that is on PC. The PlayStation website. The cost to add skus is negligible. What you're referring to is the cost to create and maintain a PC launcher.
- The revenue saved from not giving Steam a 20% cut of their software sales would more than make up the costs of running a launcher. The revenue from Spider-Man 2 alone could probably cover this.
- Sony doesn't need to copy Epic's failed model.
- If I were Sony, I would bundle PS+ Premium with Crunchyroll and offer 1 free PC game per month. That's going to get a lot traction than buying a multitude of games every month.
- Ask yourself if Epic, EA, or Ubisoft could launch a console tomorrow with only their games selling it.
- Sony has a massive advantage of being able to leverage 3rd party support from their console.
- Sony's first party games are all single player games? What's the top game out right now? It's Helldivers 2, which checks notes... is multiplayer.
- MLB the Show... multiplayer. Gran Turismo... multiplayer. Fairgames multiplayer, Concord, multiplayer, Destiny, multiplayer, Marathon, multiplayer, the rumored Twisted Metal Game, multiplayer, the Horizon MMO, multiplayer...
- Sony actually has a long history with multiplayer. Just because they leaned into their success with single player games with the PS4 doesn't mean they can't do multiplayer. The biggest reason they focused on single player was because the PS3 was so behind the 360 when it came to online play.
- MLB the Show... multiplayer. Gran Turismo... multiplayer. Fairgames multiplayer, Concord, multiplayer, Destiny, multiplayer, Marathon, multiplayer, the rumored Twisted Metal Game, multiplayer, the Horizon MMO, multiplayer...
Your arguments are baked into thinking that a company has to follow the same model as another company that has already failed or that two companies using the same model are guaranteed the same results and that dominant market leaders always stay dominant.
Sony can also be successful by embracing gaming on Mac, something Steam has really struggled with.
Success for Sony on PC might just mean expanding PS+ subscribership or converting unpaid Crunchyroll users to paid.
By the end of the decade I guarantee you that sony will have a home console, a handheld, and a PC launcher.
If they are going to use VR to push the store they waited too long, they needed to do it before quest 3 now someone can get that and have standalone and pcvr.
I'm not sure how Epic and Tencent are too small to compete with steam, but if Sony don't let you buy keys from alternative places they wont do any better than eaplay or uplay. Another thing everyone continues to ignore is valve only takes 30% up to 10 mil revenue, it's 25% to 25mill and 20% after 50 mil.
If epic struggle with giving away free shit and having fortnite and rocket league (now) exclusive to egs along with all the other stuff they moneyhat (get a pass on aw2 seeing they did actually fund it) I'm not sure what Sony do actually need to do to succeed, bloodborne and demon souls remake exclusive to their store could be a pretty good way to onboard some pc users.
I'm not sure how Epic and Tencent are too small to compete with steam, but if Sony don't let you buy keys from alternative places they wont do any better than eaplay or uplay. Another thing everyone continues to ignore is valve only takes 30% up to 10 mil revenue, it's 25% to 25mill and 20% after 50 mil.
If epic struggle with giving away free shit and having fortnite and rocket league (now) exclusive to egs along with all the other stuff they moneyhat (get a pass on aw2 seeing they did actually fund it) I'm not sure what Sony do actually need to do to succeed, bloodborne and demon souls remake exclusive to their store could be a pretty good way to onboard some pc users.
Raonak
Banned
It won't convince existing steamy bois who are already deeply embedded in their system of choice.
But the "PlayStation" brand is a legitimate household name.
This isn't EA, rockstar, ubisoft or epic. This is something even non-gamers have existing knowledge of.
And unlike them, sony literally has experience with running a successful storefront and an existing network infastructure.
If they make a good product, then there's a very small portion of new pc gamers that would use it.
Especially if it harnessess the use of timed exclusives.
Nintendo's the only other gaming brand that big, and they obviously aren't gonna do it.
Frankly, steam as an application is very long in the tooth now. It's bloated and ugly.
But the "PlayStation" brand is a legitimate household name.
This isn't EA, rockstar, ubisoft or epic. This is something even non-gamers have existing knowledge of.
And unlike them, sony literally has experience with running a successful storefront and an existing network infastructure.
If they make a good product, then there's a very small portion of new pc gamers that would use it.
Especially if it harnessess the use of timed exclusives.
Nintendo's the only other gaming brand that big, and they obviously aren't gonna do it.
Frankly, steam as an application is very long in the tooth now. It's bloated and ugly.
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3rd parties aren’t going to put their games exclusively on a Sony PC store over Steam, and nobody will buy the games there if they’re on Steam. Publishers would be skeptical about the upside, since it’s more work for a relatively small amount of sales.
There are some 3rd party titles on Windows store, including those with PC GamePass access. Hasnt changed the picture dramatically.
‘Bigger’ in terms of what? Quantity? I’m skeptical
Even in the event that scales through regulators, I doubt they’d be that silly to torpedo sales.
Elysium44
Banned
Horizon Zero Dawn is $19.99 on PSN and frequently discounted to $9.99.
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Sinfulgore
Member
lol your entire argument is based on your own assumptions. The only company that could launch a successful console with only their exclusives is Nintendo. Sony is nothing without third-party games which is why the top played PS5 games are almost all third-party games.
Sony does not have a massive advantage in leveraging third parties. It doesn't matter what Sony would offer third parties because no one would be buying Dragon Age 4, GTA 6, Madden, Elden Ring 2, etc on PC through a Sony PC storefront. You don't seem to understand this.
The top games right now based on player count or money are probably Fortnite, GTA V, or Call of Duty. Hell Divers 2 isn't anywhere near the level of these games and has already dropped below Apex Legends' concurrent player count on Steam. All those upcoming multiplayer games you mention don't matter, Fortnite will have a bigger audience than all of them, and if Fortnite being exclusive to Epic Games Store can't help them compete with Steam there is nothing Sony can do to stand a chance.
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
They already do that now with the PlayStation store. Making PC an extension of that is a meaningless cost
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Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
My argument is that they'll be successful, my argument is that they have every opportunity to be successful and that it makes sense to attempt it.
You keep arguing that they won't have 3rd party games, when their leverage dictates that they would.
You say no one would buy these games through a Sony PC storefront, but in reality you don't know that. Again, there are millions of new steam users every year. What were they doing before this? Why did they select Steam? You've got to really deep dive into these things rather than just make blanket statements.
Helldivers is still growing out of its server issues, the game is a couple weeks old and continuously getting more players. Are you going on record that Helldivers will never surpass Apex Legends on Steam?
EGS doesn't have enough games. Same thing with Microsoft and Minecraft. EGS actually has Genshin Impact as well. The problem with EGS is that their model doesn't work and it doesn't work because they lack the leverage to garner support from 3rd parties without losing a ton of money to do it. They can offer low royalties on the PC games but that is it. Sony can offer low royalties on PC games AND low royalties on console games.
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
They don’t need them to be exclusive. They just need to be available. Preferably cross buy with console versions.
The cost for third parties to make them available is meaningless. They already have a “PC version” made and already have a PS5 version, stamp the UI features into the PC games on PS store and call it a day, it’s not that complicated
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Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
Why didn't Octopath Traveller release on PS4?
Is Microsoft's success in a space a strong indicator for Sony's success in a space? 95% of games release on both Xbox and PS, why is PlayStation outselling Xbox more than 2:1? Why are software sales significantly stronger on PS?
Bigger in terms of overall sales, diversity of users, and number of titles.
What would you say if I told you that only 14% of Fortnite players play on PC... Would that diminish how much you value Fortnite as a method of driving storefront use?
Some of the biggest games on PC aren't on Steam: Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft..., but what these have in common is the storefronts that they are on don't have a lot of 3rd party support.
There is zero chance there would be any regulatory pushback from Sony buying Kadokawa/FromSoftware. It's entirely too small to matter to any regulator. So Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft can all have success off steam but Elden Ring can't? Interesting.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
I don't think crossbuy would be a thing, but I could be wrong there. I could see how that could help Sony, but I don't see how it helps other publishers. I think it largely results in lost revenue.
There are a lot of reasons why publishers don't love EGS even though it is competition for Steam. Sony needs to navigate that, but people who assume everything that is true of EGS would be true of PSN PC, I think are wildly mistaken.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
I was talking about Zero Dawn Complete edition.
Elysium44
Banned
That is the one I was referring to as well.
Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition
Price drop in official PlayStation Store store for Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition
psprices.com
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MayauMiao
Member
And ‘3rd party support’ is cited in the post I responded to as something other storefronts suffer from.
Cross-buy would be interesting, but most big 3rd party publishers aren’t interested in that.
Definitely not bigger in number of titles going forward, and ‘bigger in terms of overall sales’ probably requires much earlier ports to PC from console. Their late release strategy hasn’t exactly resulted in stellar sales numbers.
That may change when their GaaS games release day one
But this leads to another point. Sony’s doing day and date with PC/Steam for live service games because they want a big community ready made. See Helldivers 2 for example. It would be counter intuitive to then negate all that work and move these games exclusively to a much less popular storefront.
market cap is greater than $2bn, I believe. It would have to run through the regulatory roulette.
Zathalus
Member
$9.99 is the cheapest Zero Dawn Complete Edition has been discounted to on PSN. Down to $7.99 if you have PS+.
Your original statement of 'routine deep price cuts are largely unique to PC' has not been true for a very long time. PSN has monthly deals where games are massively discounted all the time. 50%-90% off isn't exactly uncommon anymore.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
I still don't see an argument that shows why 3rd party publishers wouldn't jump at royalty deals with Sony to support a PC store.
Sony is going day and date on PC because there is a larger userbase on PC, but I don't think your argument holds water. They could also put the game on Xbox if ALL they wanted was a larger community. They release it on Steam because they don't have a PC storefront yet, that doesn't mean they will continue to support Steam post PC Storefront.
I'm not sure where you got this 2 billion dollar number in regards to regulatory roulette. Also From itself isn't worth 2 billion.
Maybe, I haven't seen the consistent deep cuts as much.