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Sony's President quote clarified, "multi-platform" means PS and PC NOT Xbox and Switch

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
I don't believe anyone with the time or money to be playing games doesn't have enough to buy more than one platform.
First off. You'd most definitely support people buying the PS5 as their only gaming platform.

But also it isnt about expense. It's about convenience. I prefer playing Playstation games on PC. I can buy a ps5 or ps4 if given enough time but why would I want to do that? There's nothing the PlayStation does hardware wise that can't be replicated on PC.

I don't care about corporate profits, though I can argue that with Helldivers 2, I can point out how a simultaneous PC PS5 release helped boost the games popularity and got them a lot more cash. Many PC only players on Twitter I see enjoying the fuck out of helldivers 2, those people would not have bought a ps5 for the game.

And I think you need to realize how little profit Sony would make from a PC gamer buying a PS anyways. 0 multiplat sales or ps plus sub money which is where Sony gets the majority of their revenue. Probably buying used games for deals. Especislly considering how frugal PC gamers tend to be. What fucking money is to be made from people who treat the Ps5 as an exclusives box only? A couple dozen dollars? Sony is getting a better deal porting these games to PC then trying and failing to convince happy PC gamers with 2k dollar rigs to make PS their primary platform.
Exclusives sell consoles. They always have. They always will. You stop exclusives, you sell less consoles.

You only need to look at the history of the hardware business to see how true it is.
They used to. Things are quite different now though, with the exception of Nintendo. Most people want a cod or fortnite box now.
 
Dev Cost + Marketing against revenue for a lot of PS Studios Games:
VISsfAr.png


credits to enpleinjour from IB forum.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
They used to. Things are quite different now though, with the exception of Nintendo. Most people want a cod or fortnite box now.
They're still selling PlayStations along with access to all 3rd party as well. Which is one of many reasons Xbox has been falling behind two gens in row, massively.

Sony's major exclusives are double digit sellers.
 

havoc00

Member
Sony doesn't publish them to other platforms, only to the PS4/5. The MLB pays Sony to make other versions and the MLB pays for the publishing and advertising to other platforms.
I still don’t think Sony was happy for it to go multi but the mlb forced them
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
They used to. Things are quite different now though, with the exception of Nintendo. Most people want a cod or fortnite box now.

They used to? Up to pretty recently, Sony has championed the exclusive console game. That’s why they’ve murdered Xbox in sales. Nintendo are selling a metric shit ton of Switches because of the exclusives.

And Yes, plenty of people want a cod or fortnite box…but it’s the exclusives that help them decide which box to get that has those games on it.

If Sony become known for putting first party games out on PC at the same time as console, they’ll damage Ps5 sales.
 
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RickSanchez

Member
Good grief, the amount of straw-grasping from both media and internet randoms is so much here......

Sony exec: "I want to make more profit", "I may put more games on PC", "Whenever the fuck i want"

Media: "gAmEs WiL cOmE tO pC sOoNeR"

Gaffers: "DaY oNe, fUcK yEa"
 
Sonys been great this gen for PC owners and terrible in terms of PS5. We still don't have a single next gen game from Sony after how long? Unless you count Demon's Souls and maybe Ratchet. They never followed through on the Unreal Engine 5 level of graphics that were "promised" and all the heavy hitters like Gt7, Ragnarok, Spiderman 2, etc have been letdowns in some way. Naughty Dog has been a shell of themselves too. Wtf man

Allow me to also point out that PC development also takes away time, resources, and quality level that comes from only focusing on Playstation in the past. We've already seen some damage from this shift this gen with rushed and underwhelming games compared to last gen. Remember when Sony planned to utilize the SSD/IO in revolutionary ways? That's been thrown out the door already due to having to plan around PC's that don't have the same specialized hardware design as ps5.

I get it from a business POV and I get why PC players are happy but many of us bought into PS5 at beginning of the gen are getting a raw deal.
 
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Killjoy-NL

Member
They don't consider PC direct competition, and it's been that way forever.

Sony published Final Fantasy VII in the US(the classic one), and there was a PC version alongside it. Also the deal they made with Eidos to have Tomb Raider as a PS exclusive didn't include PC. The first four games all had PC versions virtually day one..
Makes sense.

Overall, the PC and Console demographics are very different.

PC has already coexisted with consoles without any problems.
It's only within the console-market where competition is strong.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
They're still selling PlayStations along with access to all 3rd party as well. Which is one of many reasons Xbox has been falling behind two gens in row, massively.

Sony's major exclusives are double digit sellers.
The leaked slides were eye opening to me. Bloodborne and days gone selling more than 7 million. Even so called flops like dive club and Detroit selling almost 5 million.

It really is quite incredible how well almost all of their games sell nowadays.

CyHwuPz.png


I do think the ps5 sales of launch window are a bit worrisome but these are numbers from jan 2022 so roughly 14 months on the market for Demon souls and 6 months for ratchet and returnal when they were severely supply constrained.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
How many Playstation 1st party games even sell that much?
The marque ones that everyone uses in list wars? The ones that fanboys undoubtedly salivate at the idea of making it to Xbox or PC?

10-20+ million, more often in the mid-upper teens. Buy you already know this. Even the lower selling half still breaks the 8-9 million range handidly. Again, not something a lot of 3rd parties can claim. Pretty sure Spider-Man 2 has already outsold Arkham Knight and maybe even City already. Why do you think so many of them have pivoted away from single player fare?

First off. You'd most definitely support people buying the PS5 as their only gaming platform.
I'm fine with it, I guess? Also, if you only want to play on PC, and Sony accommodates that by putting their games on there, that's fine too. In fact, I would encourage more people to do it if that's what they want to, in large part because I think it's a bad idea for the long term, and that Sony needs to learn its lesson.

But also it isnt about expense.
Genuinely glad we cleared that up.

It's about convenience. I prefer playing Playstation games on PC. I can buy a ps5 or ps4 if given enough time but why would I want to do that? There's nothing the PlayStation does hardware wise that can't be replicated on PC.
Sure thing.

I don't care about corporate profits, though I can argue that with Helldivers 2, I can point out how a simultaneous PC PS5 release helped boost the games popularity and got them a lot more cash.
Respectfully, I think you know that that argument doesn't work.
Here's something I've hardly seen anyone say, even though it's absolutely true: Outside of a select number of (mostly) 1st person RPGs from studios or IP that have a history of being PC exclusive/vastly superior to the point of almost being a different game, single player games do not do as well on PC - proportionally or absolute. This is especially true of the type of 3rd person wide-linear action adventure game PlayStation is defined by.

There's no way of knowing just how many of the SP releases on PC were double dips, but common sense, anecdotal information and the relatively low sales indicate that it's probably a lot.

Given how much we hear and see about PC gamers being willing and able to wait for ports and price drops therein, I think the idea that releasing them on day one as opposed to year 2 or whatever is going to magically increase sales is untenable. The scores of games that do release on day one, being 3rd party multiplats, certainly do not benefit from that. Xbox 1st parties, before Gamepass, did not get a sales boosts in this way either.

Also, you not caring about corporate profits is cool and all, but we're literally in here talking about the business side of this. Fact is that profits are the only reason we get games at all, and incentive structures seriously impact the types of games we get.

Many PC only players on Twitter I see enjoying the fuck out of helldivers 2, those people would not have bought a ps5 for the game.
Probably not. So I think it's realistic to say that live service/primarily online titles, which increasingly live off playerbase and player count hype, are well placed on PC. After all, multiplayer is PC's main thing. In a roundabout way, it's not even really new behavior for Sony. Remember Planetside?

Single player fare does not work the same way.

And I think you need to realize how little profit Sony would make from a PC gamer buying a PS anyways. 0 multiplat sales or ps plus sub money which is where Sony gets the majority of their revenue. Probably buying used games for deals. Especislly considering how frugal PC gamers tend to be. What fucking money is to be made from people who treat the Ps5 as an exclusives box only? A couple dozen dollars? Sony is getting a better deal porting these games to PC then trying and failing to convince happy PC gamers with 2k dollar rigs to make PS their primary platform.
I tend to have a good sense of the weight of the numbers, and I would disagree with you here. There's no way to track this, but I can tell you anecdotally I know multiple people online and off who have beefy PCs and a console in the household, and still buy some number of multiplats on said console, and even pay (if not perpetually) for online. Between 3rd party exclusives (or really rare cases where 3rd party multiplats don't show up on PC anywhere near day one) and shoddy ports, it's not like there's never a reason to use a console in comparison to the PC.

But even disregarding that, think about what you've said.
As opposed to buying the console (which is often a profitable result for console manufacturers by this point in a generation; sans production issues, rhe PS4 was profitable 8 months after release), and buying the 1st party game where 100% of the revenue goes to Sony, they instead don't buy the console, (definitely not buying any multiplats or subscriptions ever btw) and purchase the game on Steam where PS games have to compete with generally lower Steam prices, and where 30% of whatever price is paid goes to Valve. I find it hard to envision a scenario where there's enough sales from people who would have never bought a PlayStation for its games before that makes up the difference.

At best, revenues increase marginally. Not to the point where it changes the situation from slim margins to super profits. In fact, profits might stay the same depending on porting costs (which would probably see a marginal increase the closer in parallel development of the console and PC versions are). Much more likely, you cut into profits in the long run.

They used to. Things are quite different now though, with the exception of Nintendo. Most people want a cod or fortnite box now.
This is a rather silly proposition. They used to back in the PS3 and PS2 era where they'd be lucky to break past 5 million copies lifetime sales for anything that wasn't post Uncharted 2 Naughty Dog, but they're not now when PS first parties are touching 20 million on PS4 alone lifetime and 10+ million on PS5 alone after 4-5 months, and when differences in hardware features both for development and use are slimmer than ever? How does that make sense? How is Nintendo distinct from PlayStation or Xbox here?
 
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Killjoy-NL

Member
This logic and the whole discussion is almost exactly like when MS was going to do always-online DRM and everybody was going "yeah, #SonyToo".

And Sony flatout said "we are NOT going to do that".

Just like now, MS will release games on Playstation and Nintendo and people go "#SonyToo", yet again Sony states "we are NOT going to do that".

It truly is a pattern.

Edit:

And to make the "rule of three" for a pattern apply:

MS started focussing on GamePass, people were going "#SonyToo" and again Sony stated "we are NOT going to do that".
 
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vkbest

Member
If you're not a fanboy shouldn't you be happy that the strategy of exclusivity is eroding?
You don't need to be a fanboy to realize PC day one release is a pretty bad news for PlayStation users.

First day PC releases, means potentially less Playstation consoles sold, less inversion on Playstation and PSN, more pirated copies, more expensive console, etc.

Even the PC master race, are crying over Epic competing their loved Steam hahaha

Apple almost died some years ago when they released a macOS in PC
 
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willothedog

Member
How is this comparable?
In one case we have Phil giving an interview where he says that he cant rule out a PS5 version and here we have this dude straight up saying no to Xbox and Switch.

You do know Totoki never said that and was made up as in Sony's published transcript, soooo.....
 

Darsxx82

Member
You do know Totoki never said that and was made up as in Sony's published transcript, soooo.....
It has been pointed out several times here already but it is clear that people turn a deaf ear...
Not even the source offers a citation or quoye of that specificity that tthey claims Totoki made in the transcription. But it is clear that the veracity of the news or the source only matters depending on which narrative flows.

As you says, Totoki in the official transcript nowhere does it clarify, quite the opposite. For the first time, it removes PC from the group of "other platforms". In fact, these statements will be incongruous since there are already upcoming games announced for Xbox from Sony's first-party Studios (MLB, Destiny 2 DLC and Marathon).

Of course, the absence of clarification does not mean one thing or the other (releasing games on Xbox or Switch)... simply that there really is no official clarification as the OP or the source points out.
 
Were people assuming something different?

I do think they will push up the PC release schedule if they can. I don't think it will hurt them all that much on the console front either. It would ding them some there, but the customers they would lose wouldn't be the customers that make consoles profitable for them. There is a certain market that wants consoles regardless, the games being on PC doesn't change the habits of those users. People are assuming that the PC releases have hurt Xbox, and maybe they have a small amount, but Sony is the primary driver of reduced Xbox sales. Just like Xbox was the primary driver of lower PS3 sales. Sony has been winning the mind share battle for the last couple of generations and that has been hitting Xbox.
 

Rosoboy19

Member
They don't consider PC direct competition, and it's been that way forever.

Sony published Final Fantasy VII in the US(the classic one), and there was a PC version alongside it. Also the deal they made with Eidos to have Tomb Raider as a PS exclusive didn't include PC. The first four games all had PC versions virtually day one..
I’m glad they don’t, but I still don’t understand it. Steam has made PC gaming more accessible over the years to the point where you’d think these console companies would view PC as a competitor, not just a supplemental income source. Oh well, more options is a win for gamers.
 

SNG32

Member
Lol no.

One narrative has been debunked (multiplatform)

They've said before it wouldnt make sense to go day 1 on PC
It will eventually happen the release window between consoles and pc will get shorter and shorter and once they have their own PC store client with the only way to access exclusives day one it’s a wrap. They will still sell the game on console and for the pc gamers that want to play day and date they will have to download the client. They can pick and choose after that if they want to release on steam after.

We’re in an era where the more access to your platform software and services holds value and sustains your business. To me it’s a good thing if Sony gets more money the consumer gets more games. Also I’m tired of this Nintendo narrative the budgets of their games are no where close to Sony’s and they do the bare minimum of power to their hardware.
 
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mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
lol Releasing Day 1 on PC is just as bad.

He's a moron who has learned nothing from Microsoft's mistakes. You devalue your console by pushing games on a different platform. Doesnt matter if its PC or Switch or iPhone.

We all know where this train leads.

But he didn't say day 1 on PC for all games.
 
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