PlayStation's CEO drastically underestimates the Steam crowd's patience, thinks PC gamers will buy a PS5 for exclusive sequels
PlayStation's CEO drastically underestimates the Steam crowd's patience, thinks PC gamers will buy a PS5 for exclusive sequels
Steam users are the base everyone desires to get to but no one wants to pay the toll to Valve for building the platform gamers want.
"we've built a platform that at least give piracy a run for its money, and used it to develop a massive user base so conditioned to buying from us that they happily joke about how 50% off a game they won't play is cause for them to buy four times as many. Please, join us all in the baffling orgy of commerce, all we ask is 30% of the treasure.".
"We will, but we're gonna try to get the users to come to our platform with less content and maybe a $500 buy-in so we can have a bigger portion of a smaller pie".
"Lol, go for it".
"...".
"...".
"Why are you being anticompetitive?"
The hilarious thing is that Sony could open their own pc storefront selling steam keys, keep their 30%, and the only restriction would be maintaining price parity with the same game on the Steam storefront.
For a. Company like Sony that already has all the payment processing and customer service knowhow, this would be far easier for them than most.
Yet they can't or won't bother because suits are fucking stupid.
God preach here. "Our storefront works half the time, is clunky, bulky, filled with flashy ads and no substance, allows no customization, you can't add your own games, you can't run it on Linux, and our games will always assume you're trying to pirate or hack even when we know you just bought the game. Switch over now! You'll love it!
You don't even gotta do that much, just be a better platform.
Turns out most people despise rentiers
Sony has been paying that toll and, per the article, plans to continue to do so.
Am I missing something here?
maybe because Steam is kind of a shitty platform and valve an abusive landlord. Shocking, i know.
A simple fact that consoles require a monthly subscription to play anything with friends is why they will never reach PC gaming.
I paid for hardware, I paid for the game, I pay for the internet; fuck your subscription just to join an online server you contribute nothing to.
It’s my red line that I will not cross. I’ve given in to some practices I hated at one point. But I will absolutely never pay for the internet twice.
I quit their system when they changed things around and my life hasnt changed, Indont even play online.
Tbh the way things have gone, I went and bought a PC, got some emulators and got all my catalog on to the system and any nintendo exclusives or PS exclusives I buy second hand. I have hated this generation between the ps5 and switch everything underwhelmed
FWIW there are exceptions to that. On PlayStation, you only need a subscription if PSN handles the online component of the game. Companies that manage their own online services don't require it. Genshin Impact, Final Fantasy 14, Warframe, Fortnite, etc. can all be played without PS+
What does he think the mental process is? "Oh Spiderman 2 dropped I'm going to buy a PS5 and play that immediately"?
Nah, the process is, "Oh Spiderman 2 dropped? Oh it's console exclusive? Guess I'll play looks at the hundreds of unplayed games in my steam library The same 3 games I always play while I wait."
I don't like this post because
[x] i'm being personally attacked here
Fixed title:
PlayStation's CEO drastically overestimates the PC crowd's wallet capacity, thinks PC gamers will buy an inferior, overpriced, locked down PC that can only play specific games on a non-replacable proprietary OS with planned obsolescence for when the PS6 comes out
I'll never not be a PC gamer but calling PS overpriced at the moment is wild. Compared to the cost of PC components right now 5 or 6 hundred is not ridiculous. That's cheaper than mid to high tier GPU alone.
You are forgetting that you have to pay to play online. Your $500 console is an $800 console if you use it for 5 years. You can build a roughly PS5 equivalent PC (RX 6700) for more like $650-700 which is less overall.
Plus it's a computer so you can also use it for normal computer things, and the games themselves are generally much cheaper with a huge backlog and sales all the time.
My PC game library goes back literally 30+ years. (I think the oldest game I play occasionally is Eye of the Beholder, 1991. The original doom is still good and from 1993)
That has value.
Perhaps in isolation, but given that most people need a PC, would you rather:
a) buy a subpar PC for productivity and a console that's going to be wasted money in a few years' time, and you need to invest even more money on a new console (unless you never want to play new games again), and/or pour a bunch of money into scam subscription online services to get games (or even play them at all if they're online)
b) buy a good PC with money you would have otherwise spent on the console, that will last effectively until the hardware dies, and even then you can upgrade it instead of buying a new PC
I agree the LLM and cryptobro insanity has screwed the GPU market, but in the long run even at the current prices PCs are still a better deal.
and that's accounting for a theoretical PS6, used PS5 rn is probably <$400.
Edit: typo
I have spider-man 2 on my gamecube, why do I need a ps5?
I have Spider-Man 2 on my PS1
We (PC gamers) have a wide swath of hardware and input preferences that consoles do not even make an ATTEMPT to accommodate. Then there’s the predatory “pay us a subscription to play online” thing, too.
Most PC gamers will just completely skip consoles rather than play games like that. Our patience is eternal and without end.
I think that's accurate for a subset of PC gamers but there's no shortage of people pre-ordering trash games or encouraging other shitty behavior like microtransactions on PC. Many of those problems could be solved with a patience that doesn't currently exist in sufficient quantities to discourage publishers from bad practices.
This is just my theory, but with the price of game development increasing so rapidly, I think it's getting harder for the impatient to cover the development costs and make a profit off shitty games, unless the game has a huge following. Games like COD, Diablo, Star Wars, etc.
For games without that following, I think they are definitely being punished for their bad practices. Like Gotham Knights, Red Fall, Saints Row, etc. Games that cost so much that they have potential to shut down studios
Don't forget things like locking everyone into their ecosystem. Case in point, Minecraft. On the pc using Bedrock I can connect to any server. Xbox and Nintendo versions I know for a fact you can only connect to approved servers. Not sure about the PS version, but I would venture it's similar. So why would I want to limit myself by playing their locked down copy of the exact same game?
Seriously. I was thrilled to see Sony start porting over interesting looking games, but if they go back to their previous release standard, I'm fine going back to my previous "not playing ps exclusives" standards. I've got plenty of other games to get to. No need to go out of my way to get over the hurdles they put up.
yup especially the pc gamer, especially with the presence of lots of banger indies, is spoiled for choice, that exclusivity is less of something enticing. And selling on FOMO don't work as well when there's also tons of f2p games competing on such feelings.
NO STEAM DECK NO PLAY
I have waited this long for Bloodborne on pc I think I can wait a little longer
And Bloodborne is actually worth playing.
And well on the way towards being emulated
Gaming PCs are almost universally faster and more powerful than any gaming consoles, no matter how flashy and prettily designed. (Hell, even mid tier PCs generally kick the ass of most consoles) So why the hell would a PC gamer downgrade their gaming experience by wasting their money on a console?
For me it's the paid multiplayer that ruins it.
Yeah that amazing people are paying extra to be able to use internet
I think that current-gen console gamers are becoming increasingly aware of the reason why consoles can still be competitive: quantity, optimization, and upscaling. It becomes very apparent when every AAA game ships with two graphics modes, performance and quality, which are usually just changes in internal resolution/upscaling, LoD, texture budget, and lighting/RT.
Purely in the perspective of gaming performance per dollar, the current-gen consoles just barely beat out mid to upper-mid range PCs, but factoring in all the other uses of a PC pushes the comparison in PC's favor.
Do they? Last time i checked decent pc was at least twice as expensive. Granted pc does have advantage in versatility but if you dont need it then consoles win. Also price to performance is flawed metrics. Ultimately the only thing that matters is that game works fine. And since they are targeted for consoles first usualy they do work on them good enough. Sure on pc they technicaly can have higher resolution or a bit more detail but it really doesnt matter that much in a grand scheme of things.
There is something to say about how well the storage is integrated into the PS5 in particular. The latency is much lower than PC storage generally is, even for m.2 NVMe. That probably isn't actually that large of an issue that the games using that couldn't work on PC, especially if you have a lot of RAM, which is even faster.
No Sony. You had every chance to win me over and you blew it.
Could I buy a PlayStation. Yes. Will I, no. I lost interest in PlayStation back during the PS3. That console saw more Blu-rays and DVDs than games. Never bought a PS4.
And if/when this or any other formerly exclusive games come to PC, it has to compete with current release PC titles, but itself will be judged as an older title. It doesn't matter to me if it's new to the platform. I won't be paying new game price for a port of an old title.
Heh. That's cute. Pissing off players by cutting them off from their games has been going sooo well for them.
To be fair, I do have to keep my wife from getting a PS5 for the FF7 remake games. SE will eventually release them on PC, and modders will fix whatever shit port job they do this time.
However, this does not come from a place of logic; she wants to see Cloud and Sephiroth fuuuuuuck.
Oh, we know. She still insisted on the PS4 version when that came out. We comprised as I bought her a used copy to avoid giving SE any ideas that it's ok to do that shit lol
This is why I have a PS5.
Granted, I don't hate the thing, but I also don't find it that useful.
I wish it supported ultrawide. Returnal does.
and FF16! I have owned and 100%'d most FF's and still I refuse to buy a PS5 for the exclusives.
Playstation CEO doesn't play games or else they would know how much more flexible PC gaming is for the user. They are hoping people will slum it with console locked ecosystems and non-moddable games using hardware that never improves.
If it was a couple of hundred bucks maybe
But $500 plus the $70 game? Not a chance.
I'd rather upgrade a component or two for that price, you know the thing PC gamers spend money on instead of getting a console to play exclusives.
And upgrading also means, that you can(depending on what your components are), have now a lot of games that you can play now, since you upgraded. You also may be able to play now with better Grafics/fps.
Oh I can wait.
I've waited for Alan Wake 2. I've waited for countless of other games, time is on my side.
I have so many games in my backlog and on my steam wishlist, I dont really even care if some great game will miss steam. However, I will buy good games without denuvo and sometimes I can even pay the full price upon release. Rare, but a few times a year this can happen.
My switch collects dust because I've grown a custom to picking up 10-15 games for the same price as a three year old title on the switch.
Switch game prices are ridiculous! I think my (teenage) kids have 4 games for their Switch because nobody wants to pay those prices. I don't know how many 100s of dollars they've spent on Steam games over the years at $5-20 per game, but they're never willing to spend $40-60 and they won't even put Switch games on their wishlist at that price.
I still haven't even started Kingdom Hearts 3 (I know, I know), which I pre-ordered before I even owned a PS4 (I know, I know). And now it's looking like I'll be able to play that on PC before playing it on the console I bought specifically for it. I can wait these fuckers out for decades if I have to.
I have enough many other games to play on PC. I’m not going to buy a new expensive device just to play a few extra games.
I'm not playing games unless they're down 50% since launch. 😏
The fact that we got any games was an unexpected bonus, we already have plenty
Oh boy I can see the new management is gonna work out great.
i think he underestimates my intention to never do that
I have enough games in my steam library that I could never buy another game, and be perfectly content. I'm quite willing to wait as long as it takes for a game to not only be brought to steam, but to get a major sale or be featured in a game bundle. Only difference is that if it takes too long, I'll never get it at all because I'll have better options.
I have enough games in my steam library that I could never buy another game, and be perfectly content
So, just Rimworld then.
Honestly though, same. I was really interested in Ghosts of Tsushima when it launched. Now years later it's finally on PC but it costs more than I usually pay for new games. Fuck that. The only way I'm buying a PS5 is if a friend wants one and is willing to let me get it, play FF7 & 16 then sell it to them in a few months.
So, just Rimworld then.
Not rimworld specifically, but when I was younger I played the hell out of my games. I would replay them over and over, finding every secret. Big RPGs already take a long time to beat, but I would do multiple playthroughs as different classes and play styles.
These days I have less time and way more games. There's a part of me looking for an excuse to not buy any interesting new game because I feel guilty about all the great games I own and haven't played, and the games I have played I've only played once and haven't "finished".
I am so patient that I won't buy these games until they put them 50% or more off.
I just leave them on my wishlist. My computer is 9 years old and it is still better than even the next gen will be. Why would I pay for a downgraded computer with a crap operating system.
I think you're overestimating your PC if you haven't updated it in 9 years, even if you have like 2 Titan Xs, the featureset on them is totally outdated.
I'm only basing it on Can I Run It, it say the computer can still run 96% of games in their list on minimum requirements and 71% of games on recommended.
It even says I can't run Cyberpunk 2077 which is not true as I have played it on my computer without issue on high settings. I have an Asus Strix GTX 970 OC
They absolutely are lol 😆 I'd rather have his old pc than a console too though
fitgirl repacks
*even more crap OS
Even some of us with PS5s and PCs both might wait two years since it's pretty easy to get (non Denuvo) PC games free...
We get the strangest reports sometimes.
Reporter: [REDACTED]
Reason: Piracy
PS fanbois be mad
I hate consoles
You see, I don't play games on consoles because I don't like controllers.
I mean, I'll use them in some scenarios, but the position I need to sit in to hold a controller is usually uncomfortable.
I've been playing PC games since the 90's. I picked up an Xbox one S, and even set it up, and it's been very good at collecting dust since I bought it. I got it used, so no big loss, but still.
I'm not going to pay $500+ for another dust collector, just to have the privilege to pay extra for games, and be uncomfortable playing them, then have no option to switch to a PC later because I only own that game on the stupid console.
It's a waste of my time and money.
And if I really want to play a game with a controller, I can do that on my PC too.
Simply, if I buy a game on console, I'm forced to use that console and it's controller, to play. If I buy it on PC, I can play it however the fuck I want to, on any system I want to. Fuck your exclusivity deals, and fuck you.
While I typically play most games via kb/m; I can't imagine ever playing racing games with it. Nothing beats the analog controls for me on these.
I mean maybe? I certainly was both a PC and Console gamer for most of my life now and I'm certain there will be a percentage that will continue to do so.
Nowadays? Nah, I'm out of the console game since graphics aren't better than the PC and the PC options for playing on a TV are numerous now.
Oh that reminds me, didn't Horizon Forbidden West finally come out for real this year? I think they had some sort of limited beta on some proprietary hardware in 2022 and 2023.
Yep. Been playing a ton of it lately and now on the DLC.
Just be a hardware company with a publishing division like you used to be. The tech monopolies rose and fell while you were asleep; let us just enjoy our games now.
I didn't even see the latest Spider-Man film until it there was a matinee at the dollar theater. I am not paying the equivalent of a car payment to play a PS5 exclusive...I just don't care that much, boss.
PlayStations CEO is a huge fucking idiot, what a surprise.
I didn't even buy games from Big studios when they launch - I usually like to wait a year. That's plenty of time for them to patch all the (unintended) stupid out of it, since nobody knows how to release a finished game anymore. I tend to be more forgiving with indie games, but will never again buy early access something that doesn't have a concise roadmap, have regular updates, and communicates regularly. I've been burned by too much vaporware and "lol we're done even if the game sucks" bullshit we see too often. And it's not like we have a reason to be loyal to any brand in the 21st century. They're not our friends.
bruh there are like a billion games on the steam store, no one is desperate for exclusive games anymore 😂
Is the CEO underestimating patience or is the author overestimating?
It's not as if PlayStation is struggling right now. The PS5 seems to be selling pretty well.
Not to mention that consoles and PC's are indirect competitors. A lot of people want to use a controller form their couch without jumping through hoops. Gen Z is trending away from desktops and laptops entirely in favor of mobile devices.
Obviously Sony is unhappy with the performance of the PS5 considering how much they've been trying to push PC ports lately. Not to mention Square Enix citing disappointing sales for their last couple of critically acclaimed Final Fantasy games as the reason they're going to focus on multi-platform support going forward.
https://www.techspot.com/news/103189-ps5-becomes-sony-biggest-money-maker-crushing-past.html
Seems like almost every business area of PlayStation is doing well. Hardware, subscriptions, DLC, other micro transactions... The PS5 just became officially their most profitable generation.
They're looking to maximize revenue and profit by expanding into the PC market. It's great to see because it gives consumers more choice. That absolutely should not be interpreted as any sort of sign of weakness for the PS5. The PS5 seems to be doing better than the PS4 did, and the PS4 did well. They have crushed Xbox to the point where people are speculating Microsoft might want out of hardware. The Switch is harder to compare against because it's near (really should be past) the end of its life, but the PS5 has been selling at a faster rate.
PC gaming is just starting to get back in track after a few down years for hardware sales (largely related to supply shortages and price gouging, especially GPU's). But it's starting to turn around, and it seems like Sony wants a piece of that. The question should not be "why is Sony pushing PC ports", but "Why is Nintendo not porting to PC".
Square-Enix has been mismanaged for decades and I don't think is worth paying attention to.
It's not that the PS5 is doing bad (it isn't), it's that they want more money, simple as that. They saw what Microsoft was doing and they decided they wanted a piece of the pie too.
Nothing is "obvious" about that. What you present as the only possible conclusion from their actions is just your subjective interpretation. Could be true, of course. I highly doubt it (which is my subjective interpretation).
Someone realized that the investment required for making a PC port (or having the studio include it) is less than the money you can make from selling it on PC. Selling consoles (the hardware) isn't what makes them money, it's reasonably common for them to be sold at a loss, especially early in the life cycle. Profit comes from people buying games they take a cut from, which is unchanged if Sony is also the publisher (or even the developer).
In any case, if I'm right or wrong isn't even the point either (I'm probably wrong, too). The point is it's incredibly complicated, and nothing is even slightly "obvious" about it.
The PC community has slowly shifted towards buying/preordering 'full price' games and succumbing to micro(macro)transactions in the same way console markets do. But I don't think buying a whole other device is on the menu for most.
What do you mean by "shifted to". Was there ever a time when these were more common on consoles?
The game widely attributed to starting "micro transactions" was MapleStory, a windows MMORPG. PC games adapted online features like digital-only delivery, DLC's, and micro transactions before consoles even had the capability to do so figures out. Even before online capabilities, I remember going to game stores in the 90's and seeing "expansions" for PC games, which is what we used to call DLC back when it was physical.
When think "microtransaction", I think of a handful of different games immediately. MMO's, which are much more common on PC (chat features, complex inputs requiring a keyboard, add-ons or other enhancing programs running in the background). Simulation games (the Sims, Truck Simulator, Farming Simulator, Cities Skylines, Civ, etc) that usually are much easier with a M&KB than controller. Multiplayer battle games like MOBA's or shooters (Valve has DOTA 2, TF2, CSGO and most others are either PC exclusive or multiplat). When I think of Sony in particular, I think of their cinematic single-player experiences. Which may have some DLC, but I don't associate with predatory micro transactions like cosmetics or P2W schemes.
Consoles have tons of that too nowadays, but it seems like kind of weird to act like PC users are somehow less interested or susceptible to predatory pricing schemes.
Both pale compared to the mobile market though.
You are correct there, but I felt the PC community was a lot more patient and less willing to pay large amounts for games. They did however spend in their own games, MMO subscriptions, DLCs etc. It's more the initial cost of games that we were more likely to object, but MTX has always been a problem since it's introduction. League is selling a $500 dollar skin, the fact people don't quit over things like that existing just shows how much we have succumbed.
I feel console generally buys whatever latest thing is marketed to them and they play that. PC generally tries the new thing then slowly they return to their comfort games they have been playing for 10 years.
Bro, I still haven't finished Elden Ring. Who the fuck needs a game on day one when it'll still be there on day one thousand?
Wouldn't that be overestimating?
I'm sure as shit not buying a PS5 for any exclusive, PC or GTFO
No, they underestimated because they thought pc gamers would want to do whatever is necessary to play the sequel now, but pc gamers will wait forever if they have to rather than buy a console.
I think it's meant in this way:
...underestimates the Steam crowd's patience to wait even longer for the games they want to play to become available without having to buy PS5 or sign up for another acount
Idk about other people but I don't have the money, and can't justify buying a console in addition to a PC. If I had that extra money, I'd upgrade my computer. That and I don't like AAA games and I'm already invested in Steam and GOG libraries.
That would be like buying a car for ten times the price, limiting it to 10 kph and forcing yourself to sit on a 30*8 cm dildo while driving it: Way too expensive, limiting in every way and extremely uncomfortable.
Sony, the friendly publisher who is making PC gaming friends every day with their "required PSN" addition to already released games (and new ones to be published) thinks these same PC gaming folks will buy a console to play PS exclusive sequels...
Why do they think that someone who hasn't bought a console already for games like Bloodbourne, God of War, Uncharted, Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon: Zero Dawn, etc. would buy one for a sequel of any of them??
I was going to buy a PS5, then I figured I'd wait for the pro refresh model, then I figured I'd rather spend the money on nice headphones. Longer I go without the more the urge just... goes away.
Might get the PS6 whenever that rolls around.
I'd rather save for pc upgrades or a new standing desk or something like that.
I mean if that worked, it would have worked so repeatedly in the past. Comments like these ought to immediately result in termination with no recompense, as they're just factual bullshit that can be proven wrong with 10 seconds of googling.
Some people will do it. We're talking about people who can afford powerful rigs here, they can afford it if they care enough. So it's not entirely stupid for Sony to try this bait thing.
Guess that we won't see Demon's Souls or Bloodborne until they have an exclusive sequel locked away, tho. :(
I don't get why people are so confident that this is a dumb move that won't work. We know games are buggy at launch, and people rush to buy them anyway. And then the forums are filled with people losing their shit that the game has bugs in it and isn't perfect. This idea that gamers are some patient group doesn't reflect the reality I've seen over the past 2 decades.
Haha! I'm still waiting for a decent sale on Spider-Man 1.
I won't buy a game at full price. I'll wait till it's a good deal on steam. I'm mouse and keyboard, console means nothing to me.
lmao i've been playing marvel spiderman 2 on my pc this month
With the way image quality have gone down the drain on consoles thanks to DRS and FSR, I honestly can't imagine spending money on hardware I don't have control over those variables.
It's like getting a girlfriend who starts nagging you before you've even fallen in love with her.
Hermen Hulst must not have heard of !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works
I bought a PSP just to play GOW Ghost of Sparta, PS2 just to play God of War 2 and PS3 just to play God of War 3 back in the day, since it seemed it was impossible for God of War titles to come to PC ever since the older titles. Same impossibility as a Pokemon game being released to PC.
I was also planning to get a PS4 just for God of War too; but then it got hinted that a PC release was possible through the Geforce Now leak. Ever since then I know any future titles won't be that exclusive; so why would I even bother buying a PS4, or PS5?
Good games sell their consoles.
Shouldn't it be over estimates?
I can wait literally forever to play a console exclusive and I won't have to because emulation.
It's not even about waiting or patience. I'm not a teenager anymore, so I don't have as much to play games as I used to (and I have now other interests too). I have so many great PC games in my queue I literally won't have time to play them all until I die. The queue only gets longer with time. So what if I can't play some console exclusive? It's just one game in the long list of games I won't get to play and I have no problems with that.
Wishing you a happy demise day in advance!
Most likely it is going to be one of those AAA games too and they are all shit anyway in recent years.
I mean, I don't know about you, but I have something like 50 different other games in my backlog. I don't need to play any specific game on a console.
I can wait. Years, even. It'll arrive on Steam eventually. And I'll play it. Eventually.
Same, I don't even want to buy another console, except maybe the new Switch
If the titles are backwards compatible anyways, then it's only a matter of time before we can play them on the SteamDeck anyhow.
I don’t have the tech-saavy for emulation, and I’ll still wait for console exclusives to come out on PC (unless we’re talking Nintendo exclusives I’m actually interested in). I’ve actively waited for Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game to no longer be a Facebook exclusive, and now I’m doing the same for Out Of Scale.
Facebook exclusive? WTF am I reading?