Sony Sony President indicates desire to "aggressively" improve margins by releasing first-party titles to other platforms

[crispy4000]

One thing is certain to me in all this: porting most of their games to Microsoft consoles would be an Arrogant Sony move.

 

*We're still going to outsell you handily no matter for however long we do this, what's wrong with porting our games to your system a year late as well?  You clearly need us to succeed!

 

It's only true until its not.  The smart Sony move would be to act decisively to preserve their high-end console monopoly, while simultaneously expanding their brand and subscription model in other sectors.

[legend]

2 hours ago, stepee said:

 

I think the point of a single standard with no manufacturer variation (the 3D0 method) is so Sony can have their system, Xbox their system, maybe even the chips inside (bulky) tvs! And they can all play the same games, or you can play those games online. What I didn’t think about as I was spitballing are manufacturing costs. I’m not sure how that works on a supply line level.

 

But what's funny is with the last two systems, they are so close, they practically are already on the same hardware platform! It’s almost not that different of an idea besides you would have cross buy essentially - and maybe other companies would make their own XboxPS’s.

 

As for my other idea, at the end of the day I don’t think Sony or MS or anyone will be interested in consoles soon as it’s not worth the investment and cost and Cloud will become more viable and that is what they will target along with PC. 
 

So, I think actually stream lined steam boxes or something like that are the best chance 10-15 years from now for people who still want local machines but don’t want the hassle of a typical Windows pc.

 

 

If the hardware can't vary and different makes cannot be differentiated, I'm not sure why that would be an appealing business model for manufacturers. And if they do vary, then you're back to the software-hardware problem I described. It honestly seems easier to just port to the other platforms than try to find a model where this works for one neutral fixed hardware spec with (presumably) a common OS/driver stack.

 

There may come a day when just making games work across a range of hardware specs does kind of just work. PC has gotten better with time. And if it does, then I think this prospect opens up more because you can allow different manufactures to differentiate themselves with different hardware without a software problem. But we're still not there and may not be for some time. I don't see manufacture's jumping to it until then.

[AbsolutSurgen]

10 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

One thing is certain to me in all this: porting most of their games to Microsoft consoles would be an Arrogant Sony move.

 

*We're still going to outsell you handily no matter for however long we do this, what's wrong with porting our games to your system a year late as well?  You clearly need us to succeed!

 

It's only true until its not.  The smart Sony move would be to act decisively to preserve their high-end console monopoly, while simultaneously expanding their brand and subscription model in other sectors.

I would really be surprised if they did:

1)  Sony hasn't made the same level of investment in software -- they don't make most of their money selling games.  Their two biggest "annual/ongoing" franchises are already on Xbox -- Destiny 2 and MLB The Show

2)  Xbox-only user base isn't really all that big enough to drive big sales

3)  I think they believe that 1-2 tentpole releases a year helps draw people into their ecosystem -- where they make their money on subscriptions and their 30% take on 3rd party games

 

Xbox, I believe, has different ambitions than Sony.

[Keyser_Soze]

In case you hoped that Playstation was going to abandon their 2 year wait period for PC games

 

 

[crispy4000]

I wonder what happens when they wake up and realize PC gamers won’t migrate to console.

 

Wait, I know, a PC storefront.

[Mr.Vic20]

Its a delusional strategy. PC gamers will, by and large, just wait for the inevitable port. I get why they think this (looks at Xbox), but it just sounds funny to hear them say it. Hey PC gamers, we know we court you with extra features and DLC content rolled into your releases, but won't you consider buying a console to have a slightly visually weaker experience with lower frame rates? 

 

 

Edit: Then again, it could possible that tariffs and other global factors could drive the price of semiconductors through the roof in the next few years. This could leave us with a market where the big three console makers buying power could make a 500-600 dollar console look more attractive than a mid range GPU PC for 1,500-2,000.  

[legend]

Lots of PC gamers have been multi-platform gamers for a very long time. PC is my preferred platformed, but I absolutely bought FF7 Rebirth on release day on PS5 and absolutely did not want to wait for the eventual PC release.

[skillzdadirecta]

5 hours ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

a 500-600 dollar console look more attractive than a mid range GPU PC for 1,500-2,000.  

it already is for like 85% of the planet especially when you factor in how many people play games on their phones and tablets. This is something PC gamers never seem to understand. I get that games look better on PC and have for a very long time. But the PC gaming experience just isn't for everyone and cost is just one barrier to entry. There's a reason these console makers in particular don't want to stake their entire business on the PC market. And Final fantasy Rebirth flopping will just hasten the death of the console exclusive particularly third party console exclusives. Maybe it's time for the concept of the console exclusive to die anyway... we don't see anything like it in other entertainment businesses... it's not like Sony Movies, TV shows and music artists can ONLY be played/seen on Sony devices. That's limiting your potential return of investment.

[legend]

54 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

it already is for like 85% of the planet especially when you factor in how many people play games on their phones and tablets. This is something PC gamers never seem to understand. I get that games look better on PC and have for a very long time. But the PC gaming experience just isn't for everyone and cost is just one barrier to entry. There's a reason these console makers in particular don't want to stake their entire business on the PC market. And Final fantasy Rebirth flopping will just hasten the death of the console exclusive particularly third party console exclusives. Maybe it's time for the concept of the console exclusive to die anyway... we don't see anything like it in other entertainment businesses... it's not like Sony Movies, TV shows and music artists can ONLY be played/seen on Sony devices. That's limiting your potential return of investment.

 

I wouldn't be out-right opposed to exclusivity dying completely and opening the door for many more manufacturers, but there is a better argument for it with games than other forms of entertainment.

 

That is, unlike movies, music, etc., games are not compute-agnostic data, they're the executable that very much depend on the hardware. Things are easier than they used to be, but games remain one of the hardest applications to make run universally. A world where exclusives don't exist and all games are built to run on arbitrary hardware brings us right into the PC world's complications of different hardware and removes one of the very advantages consoles have. If the console side of the industry remained with the current players it has, maybe that's not an issue. But if exclusivity becomes a thing of the past, it may open the door to other "console" players (even if they're just a PC with console clothing like a Steam Deck) and make the console setting as messy as it is on PC. 

 

So if we like some of the quality of life console gaming brings us, a world without exclusivity lead us to a world where we lose that.