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[ProtoByte]

I don’t agree with that at all, most of my favourite games are multiplatform.

Exclusive doesn’t mean the game is automatically better.

The average scores for exclusives from Sony and Nintendo are/were noticeably higher than multiplatform games. Xbox used to be in that realm too. I really don't think it can be argued that their quality of game has reduced significantly since the middle of the Xbox One era. Before that, their first parties suffered in the late 360 era the second they started focusing on Kinect.

Is it a coincidence that the cadence and quality of Sony's major first parties has gotten worse as they pursue a more multiplatformist strategy? It can't be argued that the enthusiasm for the platform right now is low. The only reason they're closely behind the PS4's momentum and not dramatically behind is because Microsoft continues to debase itself.

I would say the clearest decline in quality is the lack of cutting edge games on graphical or design levels as compared to the PS4, and definitely technical polish. The latter gets OBJECTIVELY better because you're dealing with 1 SKU, maximum 2. Hell, the cult classic PC games were better for being exclusive to computers at the time.

 

[onQ123]

Well, for starters companies like Nintendo and Valve don't, and have plenty of successful ones.

I'd even say SIE wanting to release *all* of their GAAS on Steam is a mistake; sure, be more liberal with those on average, but using a few as incentives toward pulling people to your own platform is needed, too. Even on a platform like PC, you see Epic retains Fortnite exclusive to EGS, Valve retains DOTA 2, Counterstrike 2 etc. as Steam-exclusive, etc. Anywhere you can maximize MTX add-on content sales through your own channels to get as much money off them as possible will be preferred, even if it's just with a handful of GAAS among your catalog.

SIE's PC strategy has been haphazard in part because they don't have a storefront of their own on PC to maximize leverage through. As to Herman's idea that porting non-GAAS to PC will entice those players to get a PS5 to play the sequels...well that would've been more sound if they didn't spend the last four years porting almost all of their current-gen releases to PC with shorter-and-shorter windows. There are a lot of PC gamers on Steam now who just inevitably expect SIE games to get ports, so they actually have less reason to get a PS5 or prioritize getting those games on a PS5, because of that.

It's a problem SIE created themselves with their porting cadence, both in frequency and number, especially the past two years specifically. That time could've been spent getting those PC ports to a PS PC launcher instead where benefit tie-ins to the console could've been more strongly leveraged & enabled, and getting the PC gamers who got the titles through that launcher more embedded into the PS ecosystem. As-is, I think SIE are in an awkward spot with that, and either it'll stabilize, improve (i.e conditioning of that cadence lapses and weakens), or accelerates & gets worst.

Valve don't even want to make new games for it's own platform lol

 

[havoc00]

Phil Spencer predicted this all hes like Quasimodo

 

[Punished Miku]

Valve don't even want to make new games for it's own platform lol

This is why I'll be happy supporting other stores besides Steam. Imagine taking 30% of sales for the whole industry and turning it into nothing but hats and more yachts. When that passive store income goes through any other store, a portion of it is making game budgets better.

 

[bundylove]

I don’t agree with that at all, most of my favourite games are multiplatform.

Exclusive doesn’t mean the game is automatically better.

Ok let me rephrase this.

We are talking about exclusives.

If you go back in time, a lot of exclusives were third parties for good or for a while on given platform.

Gears , halo ( yes it was suppose to come to ps2 as well originaly but microsoft put down big bucks), silent hill one, resi series, bioshsock for 360 i mean the list is endless.

And those third party exclusives became a big success and now you see them continue to evolve on multiple paltforms.

But they all had their start on one single or max 2 platforms.

If we take this away, when will anyone take the risk to do something new? By going exclusive at least you had a selling feature that you can only play it on one platform which drove sales and interest. Was also mkney hated by sony or microsoft to soften the blow.
But mix it in with everything else and it will be just another game next to a 1000.

I am sorry gaf but my explanatiins are very limited due to only using my phone and due to always being on the go or due to being bottlenecked by everyone around me who dont give me 10 minutes alone time.
So this is the best i can explain myself

 

[onQ123]

This is why I'll be happy supporting other stores besides Steam. Imagine taking 30% of sales for the whole industry and turning it into nothing but hats and more yachts. When that passive store income goes through any other store, a portion of it is making game budgets better.

At least the other publishers don't have to feel like it's unfair competition from the platform holder

 

[Danjin44]

Ok let me rephrase this.

We are talking about exclusives.

If you go back in time, a lot of exclusives were third parties for good or for a while on given platform.

Gears , halo ( yes it was suppose to come to ps2 as well originaly but microsoft put down big bucks), silent hill one, resi series, bioshsock for 360 i mean the list is endless.

And those third party exclusives became a big success and now you see them continue to evolve on multiple paltforms.

But they all had their start on one single or max 2 platforms.

If we take this away, when will anyone take the risk to do something new? By going exclusive at least you had a selling feature that you can only play it on one platform which drove sales and interest. Was also mkney hated by sony or microsoft to soften the blow.
But mix it in with everything else and it will be just another game next to a 1000.

I am sorry gaf but my explanatiins are very limited due to only using my phone and due to always being on the go or due to being bottlenecked by everyone around me who dont give me 10 minutes alone time.
So this is the best i can explain myself

If we are talking about actual exclusives like Sony’s internal team then I kinda I agree since my interest for Sony’s first party games all time low.

(I personally still very much enjoying Nintendo’s exclusives)

For me multiplatform devs like Capcom, Atlus/Saga and FromSoftware has been carrying entire gen.

This is why I’m still enjoying games despite both Sony and Microsoft were kinda of letdown this gen.

 

[bundylove]

If we are talking about actual exclusives like Sony’s internal team then I kinda I agree since my interest for Sony’s first party games all time low.

(I personally still very much enjoying Nintendo’s exclusives)

For me multiplatform devs like Capcom, Atlus/Saga and FromSoftware has been carrying entire gen.

This is why I’m still enjoying games despite both Sony and Microsoft were kinda of letdown this gen.

But again those third parties had their start as an exclusive gane developed for sony or xbox or who ever.

What you see now is just the fruit of that.

Now ask yourself where any if your games would be if they would not have started as an exclusive on a third party system.

Its all connected.

But for this to understand you would had to be there from the beginning.
I was 4 years old rocking a 2600 and c64 then nes, gameboy, genesis etc.

Look at the history of your beloved third party games.

Hell From started its big carrier on ps one. Though never like kings field it still paved the way for souls games. Hell demon souls was a ps3 exclusive and is a sony exclusvie till this day. And now look how far they came. Just an example

 

[JaksGhost]

He's speaking in present tense meaning it's the strategy they are already doing. Every time he talks to investors it's the same speech he's been giving for the past 3-4 years Both Helldivers 2 and Concord released on PC at the same time as PS5. He didn't say will be released but they currently are which is true.

Service titles are released on multiple platforms

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

So PC and Switch 2.

 

[bundylove]

Thanks for keeping it concise but Ive owned every Nintendo console since NES. The days of fat profit margins on hardware are probably behind them. Everything you said also applied to Sony like 5 years ago and now they are putting everything on Steam. The industry has changed and exclusives are dying.

Wrong on so many levels. But given your comments... yeah not much going on up there

 

[BennyBlanco]

Wrong on so many levels. But given your comments... yeah not much going on up there

What exactly is wrong with that statement? Fanboys were saying for years that Sony games would never come to PC. Now they have done like 25 ports in the last few years. Bean counters disagree with your boomer mentality to exclusive software.

Back in the day; it made sense to make exclusives for something like ps2 because it was unique hardware. Now everything is x86. Nvidia isn’t giving Nintendo any bargains because they don’t care and are literally printing money at this point. I don’t think Nintendo will fold and stars the ports in the next few years but they will at some point. China money is hard to ignore.

 

[ProtoByte]

It's pretty easy to ignore since it ignores just about everything western that isn't gacha slop or League of Legends.

 

[Mortisfacio]

That quote about enticing players to play the sequels on Playstation is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. It takes a level 50 clown to come up with stuff like that. Peak Hermen Hulst.

Yah, I have no intention of buying any future PlayStation consoles. I play PC at my desk and in my living room. I play steam deck and I haven't enjoyed a Nintendo title since BotW in 2017, so I'm pretty much PC exclusive at this point.

 

[BennyBlanco]

It's pretty easy to ignore since it ignores just about everything western that isn't gacha slop or League of Legends.

Gaming execs have been saying for years that they are chasing new markets in Asian but I guess you know better

 

[REDRZA MWS]

The only reason they're not releasing games on Xbox right now is because of the low sales of software on Xbox.

Software sales are low on Xbox consoles because the consoles are being outsold by Sony like 5 to 1. Yet, whatever the install base numbers are for Xbox series consoles, and going forward, I’m pretty damn sure Sonys big 1st party games would sell at a good ratio to how many xbox consoles are in homes.

I’m a gamer not a “fan” of one particular company over another. I’m honest in saying MS hasn’t made games people want to play, mostly. I’m glad they are going UE5 for whatever is next for Halo, and I’m looking forward to Gears E Day, mainly because it looks a shit ton better than Gears 4 or 5 from getting away from the woke shit and bringing Gears back to its gritty roots. As to your original point, the Xbox series x is a very capable console, it doesn’t sell anywhere near PS5 because PlayStations 1st party studios are far and away better.

Hopefully with the acquisitions over the last few years we will see better output and better quality here from MS on both console and PC.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The only reason they're not releasing games on Xbox right now is because of the low sales of software on Xbox.

They arent releasing games on Xbox because it's still their main competitor in terms of console games of similar power and type.

If software sales were the key factor, Sony wouldnt be releasing many of their PC ports which many get hardly any sales. Lego Horizons is the latest game which peaked on steam at 600 people. There's currently 40 people playing on Steam.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

The only reason they're not releasing games on Xbox right now is because of the low sales of software on Xbox.

Right that market isn't feasible.

 

[playbignbox]

Sony is copying several decisions that MS made and was criticized for in the last generation, it's just a matter of time until all games (including single player games) arrive on PC day one. And after that you already know what the next step will be.

 

[onQ123]

Software sales are low on Xbox consoles because the consoles are being outsold by Sony like 5 to 1. Yet, whatever the install base numbers are for Xbox series consoles, and going forward, I’m pretty damn sure Sonys big 1st party games would sell at a good ratio to how many xbox consoles are in homes.

I’m a gamer not a “fan” of one particular company over another. I’m honest in saying MS hasn’t made games people want to play, mostly. I’m glad they are going UE5 for whatever is next for Halo, and I’m looking forward to Gears E Day, mainly because it looks a shit ton better than Gears 4 or 5 from getting away from the woke shit and bringing Gears back to its gritty roots. As to your original point, the Xbox series x is a very capable console, it doesn’t sell anywhere near PS5 because PlayStations 1st party studios are far and away better.

Hopefully with the acquisitions over the last few years we will see better output and better quality here from MS on both console and PC.

Xbox has released some games that people want to play lately

They arent releasing games on Xbox because it's still their main competitor in terms of console games of similar power and type.

If software sales were the key factor, Sony wouldnt be releasing many of their PC ports which many get hardly any sales. Lego Horizons is the latest game which peaked on steam at 600 people. There's currently 40 people playing on Steam.

Lego Horizons? please set down lol that game most likely only exist to sell the lego sets and the audience is most likely on tablets rather than Steam but you're ignoring HellDivers II which sold millions on Steam.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Xbox has released some games that people want to play lately




Lego Horizons? please set down lol that game most likely only exist to sell the lego sets and the audience is most likely on tablets rather than Steam but you're ignoring HellDivers II which sold millions on Steam.

Aside from H2, all their games sell a tiny fraction of what it does on PS. They still port them.

https://steamdb.info/franchise/PlayStation+Studios/

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Admitting to "releasing GaaS" ?

 

[onQ123]

Aside from H2, all their games sell a tiny fraction of what it does on PS. They still port them.

https://steamdb.info/franchise/PlayStation+Studios/

These ports are basically free money on PC

 

[lh032]

Nintendo doing this? Lmao, keep dreaming. Not a single fail from Nintendo made this happen, this is some weird pc wet dream.

Could happen , not in the near future though .
Nintendo has good record of controlling the budget since they don't prioritize visual .

 

[kruis]

That quote about enticing players to play the sequels on Playstation is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. It takes a level 50 clown to come up with stuff like that. Peak Hermen Hulst.

The absolute only thing that would entice PC/Xbox/Nintendo owners to buy a Playstation was its library of top rated exclusive games. Take that away and there's no reason to own one. Going multiplatform is the end of the platform, not today but someday in the future absolutely. It's a brand suicide in slow motion.

Sony is really lucky that Xbox's brand suicide is going much, much faster than their own. PC and Nintendo Switch are the only competition on the hardware front.

 

[Generic]

The absolute only thing that would entice PC/Xbox/Nintendo owners to buy a Playstation was its library of top rated exclusive games. Take that away and there's no reason to own one. Going multiplatform is the end of the platform, not today but someday in the future absolutely. It's a brand suicide in slow motion.

Sony is really lucky that Xbox's brand suicide is going much, much faster than their own. PC and Nintendo Switch are the only competition on the hardware front.

"The absolute only thing that would entice PC/Xbox/Nintendo owners to buy a Playstation was its library of top rated exclusive games."

But Sony barely releases good games anymore.

 

[Radical_3d]

But again those third parties had their start as an exclusive gane developed for sony or xbox or who ever.

What you see now is just the fruit of that.

Now ask yourself where any if your games would be if they would not have started as an exclusive on a third party system.

Its all connected.

But for this to understand you would had to be there from the beginning.
I was 4 years old rocking a 2600 and c64 then nes, gameboy, genesis etc.

Look at the history of your beloved third party games.

Hell From started its big carrier on ps one. Though never like kings field it still paved the way for souls games. Hell demon souls was a ps3 exclusive and is a sony exclusvie till this day. And now look how far they came. Just an example

Yes. It’s as simple as once there was a mentality for having a “curated” catalog along with the rest of the games. Those projects, first or third party, were given more resources and more time to breath because the goal wasn’t to make money but to make your platform look better. That way of thinking is gone and with it the quality of the games and the interest of many gamers.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Not surprised, been saying this on GAF forever now. It’s just a numbers game and SNY investors are increasingly reliant on video game sales. With the increase in production costs, this was inevitable.

Sony is not trying to expand into many new businesses nowadays, just squeeze what they can out of their cash cow.

It’s a shame they never got into the semiconductor space. They really messed up with that one.

 

[SweetTooth]

This strategy is reasonable, GAAS day and date on PC.

SP should be locked to PS platforms indefinitely. Its not like they are lighting the charts on Steam

 

[Cakeboxer]

SP should be locked to PS platforms indefinitely. Its not like they are lighting the charts on Steam

But they could with day1 pc releases. Sony markets their console AAAs like crazy with tons of money and effort, that's the main reason they sell so well. But when ported to pc the marketing budget is like 0. Also many pc players focus on new releases only and don't want to play old console games.

 

[Schmendrick]

That is... Old news?
Their GAAS strategy was always multiplat. For that category of games it's the only viable option anyway.

 

[Midn1ght]

SP should be locked to PS platforms indefinitely. Its not like they are lighting the charts on Steam

Spider-Man Remastered, God of War and Ghost of Tsushima did really well on PC.
Why keep these locked when they can make extra money?

Nobody's buying a PS5 to play the first GOW and for those who want the game, they can grab a second hand copy for 5 bucks.

Also the math is easy. AAA game budgets are in the hundreds of million now but the console audience isn't growing, staying at 100-120 million even with a gen full of quality exclusives like the PS4. Keeping their SP games exclusive isn't gonna make the PS5 a 200 million seller.

Also the idea that PC gamer would buy a PS5 to play a few exclusive games does not work. You know what I did during the PS4 gen to play these exclusives? I waited 5 years, bought a second hand PS4 and few games I wanted to try, also second hand, basically making zero money to Sony. This gen, they're getting my money on PC.

 

[LordOcidax]

That is... Old news?
Their GAAS strategy was always multiplat. For that category of games it's the only viable option anyway.

I think that the news here is that they are making more clear that the GAAS games are going to arrive to others system and not only pc. And for SP games now the strategy is going to be, what is better for Sony and the fans =

 

[Cakeboxer]

That is... Old news?
Their GAAS strategy was always multiplat. For that category of games it's the only viable option anyway.

So where is Helldivers 2 Switch/Xbox if it was ALWAYS the strategy?

 

[TrebleShot]

This is all good and well, but lately the joke is Helldivers 2 and Marvel Rivals dont have cross progression so people will buy on one or the other not on both in most instances.

 

[SweetTooth]

Spider-Man Remastered, God of War and Ghost of Tsushima did really well on PC.
Why keep these locked when they can make extra money?

Nobody's buying a PS5 to play the first GOW and for those who want the game, they can grab a second hand copy for 5 bucks.

Also the math is easy. AAA game budgets are in the hundreds of million now but the console audience isn't growing, staying at 100-120 million even with a gen full of quality exclusives like the PS4. Keeping their SP games exclusive isn't gonna make the PS5 a 200 million seller.

Also the idea that PC gamer would buy a PS5 to play a few exclusive games does not work. You know what I did during the PS4 gen to play these exclusives? I waited 5 years, bought a second hand PS4 and few games I wanted to try, also second hand, basically making zero money to Sony. This gen, they're getting my money on PC.

To answe the bolded: to keep the "strategic" long term value of your brand. You want to keep customers in your system not devalue your brand by offering your product everywhere.

 

[Parazels]

What games? I remember only Destiny 2.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

To answe the bolded: to keep the "strategic" long term value of your brand. You want to keep customers in your system not devalue your brand by offering your product everywhere.

Nobody in his right mind would trade brand value for short-term marginal profit unless the brand is on the verge of bankruptcy. What Sony is doing is criminal and probably in bad faith, so the heads of SIE get a fat bonus check while hurting the brand long-term.

Nintendo will never do stuff like this because their games would lose half their value on the first day they did.

 

[SJRB]

There is no escape. No one is safe.

 

[Midn1ght]

To answe the bolded: to keep the "strategic" long term value of your brand. You want to keep customers in your system not devalue your brand by offering your product everywhere.

What if your "brand" and current customers base aren't enough to sustain the cost of AAA development?
Lower the quality or scale of your games? Release less games? Shut down half your studios? Rise the price of consoles, games and subscriptions?

Also, as a fan of the brand, would you agree with a digital only ecosystem to fully support your favorite brand?

I'm not trying to ignore the value of an ecosystem that has quality exclusives, I'm just saying that at the current cost of AAA gaming, it becomes harder and harder to do so.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

What if your "brand" and current customers base aren't enough to sustain the cost of AAA development?

Lower the budget, obviously. There's a limit of customers in the world on all platforms, so budgets can't grow permanently. If they don't stop the bleeding now, next they will produce 300M games that won't ever be profitable regardless of platforms or retail price. What's next, then??

This is the typical fallacy that politicians use to squeeze people into paying more taxes.

GOW 2018 had a budget around 50M. Ragnarok is +200. That game isn't four times as big or better. It's time to rethink the whole thing but executives are very comfy with their gloated teams and huge annual bonuses.

 

[DenchDeckard]

The only time I will believe this is if helldivers 2 comes to xbox.

 

[Panajev2001a]

So where is Helldivers 2 Switch/Xbox if it was ALWAYS the strategy?

It is on PC, Switch could not really handle it (it would have been a costly distraction for the developer), and Xbox is a small user base (in terms of out of GamePass sales, Sony does not really want to boost GamePass nor wants to offer the game as a F2P).

 

[Panajev2001a]

The only time I will believe this is if helldivers 2 comes to xbox.

It is on PC though and PC is an Xbox .

 

[LordOcidax]

What if your "brand" and current customers base aren't enough to sustain the cost of AAA development?
Lower the quality or scale of your games? Release less games? Shut down half your studios? Rise the price of consoles, games and subscriptions?

Also, as a fan of the brand, would you agree with a digital only ecosystem to fully support your favorite brand?

I'm not trying to ignore the value of an ecosystem that has quality exclusives, I'm just saying that at the current cost of AAA gaming, it becomes harder and harder to do so.

Agree with you, also Nintendo had be warning the videogame industry for years about this issue, almost no one listened and now they are starting to look like geniuses and their strategies are paying off. Sony and Microsoft using the same strategies that sooner or later lead to release the games everywhere due the high cost of production and only have 1 big exclusive game per studio every Gen. It’s not sustainable anymore for the majority of cases…

 

[GrayChild]

So... is everything a PlayStation now as well?

 

[LordOcidax]

It is on PC, Switch could not really handle it (it would have been a costly distraction for the developer), and Xbox is a small user base (in terms of out of GamePass sales, Sony does not really want to boost GamePass nor wants to offer the game as a F2P).

Switch 2 and Series S/X Helldivers 2 version is going to happen, it’s matter of time.

 

[Mr Moose]

No shit, we've known this for years when they first said it.

 

[PeteBull]

Why wouldn't you release GaaS on multiple platforms?

Exactly, its in sony's best interest to find more suckers to invest their valuable time and hard earned money into this shitty genre of games xD

 

[EDMIX]

lol....don't get excited. They have been saying this for some time.

Havent we known this a long time?

Edit-



Thought so

^ This part.

It seems those of us who understood those statements already know they've stated this regarding those GAAS games, as Marathon was already revealed for PS, XB, PC etc.

I don’t agree with that at all, most of my favourite games are multiplatform.

Exclusive doesn’t mean the game is automatically better.

Agreed. That really, really depends. Like was the game only able to be made by a small team focusing on 1 device? Lots of situations are like that where a team does better focusing on 1 platform vs 6 or something, but that is deeply team dependent as we've seen lots of amazing titles made by massive teams that work on many planforms at once.

So a title can be exclusive because the team wishes to focus all of their efforts on 1 platform like a Uncharted, The Last Of Us, God Of War, GT series etc

A title can be exclusive by default of the team also not having funds or the luxury to bring to many platforms at once or mismanaged etc So I think people hear "Exclusive" and they think of the highest quality Sony or Nintendo title, but I feel with the right teams, those publishers would still bring massive AAA titles to many platforms regardless, it would just take longer or something.