I'd say TikTok is competing for people's time, but it isn't necessarily a direct competitor to PlayStation or any other gaming company. The problem with TikTok specifically is that it sucks up kids' time more than many other forms of media, which is why it's so dangerous.
Great write-up, though, Sammy. I really like how you did a bunch of research for this piece.
@Ainu20 I didn't intend to misrepresent your words, so sorry if that seemed like the case.
"Three major releases, one of which as decorated as Astro Bot, is not a negligible fraction."
Here, you were basically saying that these three games ARE a negligible fraction of games not available on PC, so I though it would make sense to say that you're "acting like these games are a third of Sony's output." I used the words "as if" here to stress that this was just a comparison. I didn't mean to say you literally believe these games are a third of Sony's output.
Sony definitely values their platform, but not to the extent that they will sacrifice their multiplatform ambitions to do so, as you've said. If multiplatform releases did start hurting their bottom line, they'd probably start being more cautious with their ports rather than "abandoning the non-exclusive strategy in a heartbeat." Sony cannot afford to NOT be multiplatform. Putting games on PC isn't a choice, it's something they have to do to reach more users. And, so far, it's working.
@Ainu20 Sorry for the lengthy comments, but here's the second part of my response:
I think you're greatly overestimating how much Sony prioritizes their platform, and greatly underestimating how much Sony values PC and other platforms. Sony has already realized that they can't attract more players to the PlayStation ecosystem beyond the 120-140 million threshold that they've already reached, hence why they're bringing games to PC (and even Xbox/Nintendo) in the first place. Like every corporation, PlayStation has to grow indefinitely, and considering their games are more expensive to make and less profitable than Nintendo's, they can't do that by keeping their games permanently exclusive to PlayStation.
The entire crux of your argument is baseless, in my opinion, because, as I said before, Demon's Souls, Astro Bot, and GT7 skipping PC almost certainly has nothing to do with Sony valuing their platform or something. Otherwise, God of War and every other major PlayStation franchise wouldn't be available on Steam right now. Those three games are likely incidental exclusives, like Keeper and South of Midnight.
Also important to note that PC releases haven't harmed the success of the PlayStation 5 in the slightest. In fact, the PS5 is the most profitable console that Sony has ever released. So there's little reason to assume that putting everything on PC, as they are already doing, is going to hurt PlayStation in the slightest.
Thinking that Sony is gonna abandon PC releases in a heartbeat anytime soon, is a pipe dream IMO.
@Ainu20 "Sony's output has not exactly been prolific this generation" Perhaps, but it's way more than just a few games. You act as if these three games are a third of Sony's entire output this gen, when that isn't really true.
If we look at all the new stuff that Sony has released for the PS5 between 2020 and 2024, you can see that they've published 18 different games (excluding MLB The Show and VR titles). This includes remakes like Until Dawn and The Last of Us Part 1, since I'd consider them "new" titles.
Out of those 18 games, Demon's Souls, Destruction AllStars, GT7, and Astro Bot are the only titles that have yet to release on PC. Though, tbh, I think including Astro Bot here is kind of misleading, since the game isn't even old in the first place. It very well could still come to PC in a year or two, so its absence on PC doesn't really mean anything yet.
@Ainu20 Technically, you could argue it's case-by-case, but I'd say there's a difference between putting all of your heavy hitters on PC vs putting some games here and there on PC.
The difference in question here, in my opinion, is intent. I think it's pretty obvious that Sony wants to bring all of its games to PC eventually, so long as the port is financially or strategically feasible. That's not the same thing as Sony not wanting to commit to full PC support and deliberately wanting to keep games exclusive to PlayStation, as your first few comments seemed to suggest.
And also, I could ask you the same thing. Why do you want to insist that Sony doesn't plan to bring all of its games to PC, and why are you intent on disagreeing with me and HonestHick? It's a strange hill to die on IMO, especially considering what HonestHick said in their first comment wasn't all that wrong. The fact of the matter is, Sony does only focus on timed exclusives, and a few exceptions don't really change that.
@ButterySmooth30FPS A couple of 4-5 year old games didn't come to PC, even though God of War and The Last of Us did, so that must mean Sony doesn't actually plan to bring all their games to PC!
@Ainu20 Well, considering that Sony has brought virtually every major PlayStation franchise under the sun to PC, from God of War and The Last of Us to Ghost of Tsushima and Uncharted, I would disagree. I think Sony's plan is to bring ALL of their games to PC, but sometimes there may be exceptions that prevent that from happening.
Maybe GT7 has licensing issues that prevent it from being ported to other platforms. Maybe Bluepoint and Nixxes didn't have the bandwidth to bring Demon's Souls to PC near the time of its release, but now that the game is old, Sony doesn't think it's worth porting anymore (the game didn't sell that well on PS5, anyways). Maybe Astro Bot can't be ported over due to its reliance on the DualSense (even though you can connect a DualSense to your PC).
I bring this up because, realistically speaking, there is no real incentive for Sony to bring their heavy-hitters like God of War and The Last of Us to PC, but keep GT7, Demon's Souls, and Astro Bot exclusive forever.
A similar thing applies to MS and their Xbox games. There's no real incentive for Microsoft to keep Keeper and South of Midnight exclusive to Xbox but put Halo on PS5. These games, along with PlayStation titles like Demon's Souls and GT7, are almost certainly incidental exclusives, not games that Sony and Microsoft deliberately decided to keep exclusive.
@Ainu20 The facts indicate that Sony has brought nearly every single game it has released in the last 5 years to PC. That, to me, indicates that Sony's plan is to bring every single one of its games to PC. Exceptions may occur on rare occasions, but that doesn't mean it's not Sony's plan.
Using your logic, I could argue that Microsoft doesn't actually plan to go completely multiplatform and bring ALL of its games to PlayStation/Nintendo consoles, because it has never outright committed to doing so. And there are some recent Xbox games that have yet to be announced for PlayStation.
I think you and I can both agree, though, that that is a stupid argument to make, because it's obvious that Microsoft plans to bring all of their games to as many platforms as possible. Just because something like Redfall doesn't get ported to PS5, doesn't mean that's not the plan.
@Ainu20 I don't know how you can argue that Sony isn't bringing ALL their games to PC going forward, when literally almost all of their games have gone to PC.
Again, you're acting as if, just because there are a few exceptions from 4-5 years ago, that Sony isn't putting their entire slate on PC. The general expectation most gamers have is all Sony games will come to PC a year or more after their initial release on PS5. There's no reason to believe that this expectation should be changed.
If games like Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, Wolverine, or Intergalactic also never come to PC, then sure, you could make that argument. But until then, it doesn't really make sense to do so.
HonestHick isn't completely right about Sony having no exclusives whatsoever, but yes, Sony has abolished true permanent console exclusives. They don't make exclusives in the way that Nintendo does, that ship has sailed.
Sony's model of exclusivity is not the same as Microsoft's (it never was), but my point is, if you're gonna claim that Sony doesn't actually intend to put all their games on PC just because of a few exceptions, you could make the same exact argument about Microsoft putting all their games on PlayStation consoles, since not every recent Xbox game is on PlayStation.
@Lowdefal From Microsoft's point of view, you get higher profit margins from selling games on other platforms in the short term than you do by selling your own hardware at a loss. Long-term, though, may be a different story.
Then again, despite everything PlayStation has done, they are nowhere close to having a 30% profit margin. Seems that can only be accomplished by being a third-party publisher.
@Ainu20 By that logic, you could argue that Xbox still has exclusives as well, considering that there is no sign of games like Battletoads, Gears Tactics, Keeper, South of Midnight, or Tell Me Why coming to PlayStation. Or how Forza Horizon 6 is launching on Xbox and PC first, despite being announced for PlayStation. Of course, though, we know that Microsoft plans to bring as many of their games to other platforms as possible, so this doesn't mean they actually care about exclusives or something.
The same thing applies to Sony and it's strategy for PC ports. Sony has brought almost every game it's released in the last 5 years to PC, and it will continue to do so. There isn't anything that suggests that they've suddenly changed their minds and don't plan to bring their games to PC anymore. Astro Bot aside, all of the games you listed are relatively old titles.
Just because there's a few exceptions to the rule doesn't mean the rule doesn't exist.
@nessisonett Problem is, it's sometimes hard to discern the difference between an AI-generated comment and a non-AI-generated one. Some people like saying that every lengthy comment they disagree with was made by AI. There's also people who sometimes write comments in a formal tone, and everyone falsely claims that they are AI-generated
@Dalamar I don't recall anyone saying that about NFTs lol. The difference between NFTs and AI is that we can already see just how major of an impact the latter is having on people's everyday lives. The average person never made or bought NFTs. AI, however? That's a different story.
Everywhere on the internet, regular people are making AI generated slop and posting it on social media channels. Kids are using AI to do their assignments, instead of actually learning anything. People are falling in love with AI chatbots, and talking to AI on a regular basis. Hell, the mere existence of chatbots and sites like ChatGPT has caused a considerable decline in viewership across almost all major news sites in the last few months, thanks in part to Google's dumb pro-AI algorithm changes.
I hate AI as much as the next guy, but it's kind of absurd to think that it's suddenly gonna die off and fade into irrelevance like NFTs did. If anything, it's only gonna get worse. We've seen how much generative AI has improved in the last 5-10 years. Soon, for all we know, deepfakes might dominate the internet, and it might become impossible to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake.
@Acquiescence That sadly won't happen. AI is basically the next big leap in technology, like the Internet was in the 90s. It's only going to get worse from here.
@ThatOneLevel Exactly, a lot of voice actors do this, but most don't. Some VAs don't even play video games. In Konatsu's case, it seems this is the first time she has ever played on a PS5.
@AdamNovice Sure, but this was before the reports really came through, sometime back in early December 2023. Afterwards, Jez said he started hearing rumblings about Sea of Thieves making the jump to PS5 in mid December, and after investigating, he wasn't able to pin down any leads, but he did eventually report that more Xbox exclusives were coming to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.
Like, you can hate the guy for defending Microsoft or whatever, but let's not act as if most of his reporting on Windows Central has been wrong or something. Chances are the stuff outlined here about the next-gen Xbox is most likely true.
I doubt Halo games will ever come to PS4, so that might be something they overlooked. Sure, the next Halo multiplayer game may be a cross-gen title, but that seems unlikely, considering that Halo: CE isn't on PS4
@AdamNovice That tweet you're referring to about Jez denying Xbox games going to PS5 was literally just his opinion. All of the stuff he writes a report about on Windows Central (like the existence of Project Latitude, Xbox exclusives no longer existing, the ROG Xbox Ally, etc.) has almost always been true, cuz those are claims that he's actually verified with his sources. I'd like you to find even two Windows Central reports of his that were actually wrong.
Also, are you forgetting that Jez has regularly reported about which Xbox games are going to PS5, and when? Like, he was the first person to claim that Indiana Jones was the mystery Xbox game that was going to be announced for PS5 during Gamescom last year.
Even if this is true, it's likely that Microsoft will keep the paywall intact for the Xbox Series consoles. That way, this will be an incentive for Xbox Series owners to upgrade to the next Xbox.
Also, there are still gonna be a lot of people who will stick with their current Series X/S and will not buy the next Xbox. Microsoft will still be able to make money off of them, instead of getting rid of Xbox Game Pass Essential entirely.
@tameshiyaku Not sure how that's to blame when I'd wager that PlayStation probably has the most casual consumer base of the big three. That dudebro gamer image that Xbox fostered during the 360 gen is long gone, and isn't at all representative of the current Xbox audience. Hasn't been for over a decade.
I think there's a good chance that PlayStation attracts the most casual gamers at the moment; people who play Fortnite, CoD, Madden, and nothing else.
Since Xbox isn't that mainstream anymore, many Xbox gamers are probably more tuned in with the gaming community than casuals.
The real reason people left Xbox isn't because of the dudebro image they fostered (which people ironically miss nowadays), but rather because of the fact that Microsoft completely bungled the Xbox One launch.
@Lowdefal A slight correction, Rise of the Ronin was not released on PC a week before its PS5 release, it was a PlayStation exclusive for almost exactly one year. I'm guessing you looked at the Wikipedia page and thought that March 11 2025 (the date of the PC release) was a week before March 22 2024 (the date of the PS5 release).
@DennisReynolds Tbh I'm not sure Spider-Man would have had paid cosmetics, even if it was a fully multiplatform title. Games like Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy weren't created with the intent of selling consoles, and yet they had zero microtransactions.
Likewise, people give a lot of flack to EA, but they often forget that the Star Wars Jedi games have zero microtransactions, as well. Most of the skins you can unlock in-game for free, just like Spider-Man.
The costumes thing, I think, really depends on the intent of the publisher and the developer. It has less to do with exclusivity imo.
There's not a lot of information on it, though. Just rumors at the moment. But credible ones, since these rumors are coming from the same guy that leaked the Combat Evolved remake.
@Korgon @zhoont @AK4tywill Halo Studios is working on a standalone multplayer game that's going to have an evolving ecosystem, like Fortnite. That's why they're not including multiplayer in this remake because it would detract from their next game.
@Rich33 Yeah, that's basically what I was getting at. I don't have any concrete evidence to prove that this was the case, but I'm basing my assumption off the statement that Phil Spencer made about how Xbox needed to enter the mobile games market. I think he said something along the lines of how a company cannot survive without getting into mobile.
@Rich33 You gotta wonder, though: would Microsoft even be willing to keep Xbox around if they DIDN'T buy Activision-Blizzard? Knowing how greedy Microsoft is, it could have been a lose-lose situation for Xbox. Either buy Activision and go multiplatform while deprioritizing hardware, or don't buy anything and wind the gaming business down (or at least don't invest in it much anymore).
@Haruki_NLI I don't know how true this is, but apparently Activision had higher profit margins than Nintendo does prior to their acquisition by MS. They were averaging around 25-35% profit on a quarterly basis. So I guess Microsoft wants their entire gaming business to be more like Activision.
Keep in mind that Activision on its own makes just about as much money as Nintendo does, with far fewer games and no hardware. So it makes sense why their profit margins would be higher.
@SeaDaVie What I'm about to say is sacrilegious to popular opinion, but I don't think that's as a wild or as biased of a take as you say it is. BG3 just isn't my type of game, and I enjoyed Starfield more than most people did, so I'd probably rank it above that game too, tbh.
Would I consider Starfield my 2023 GOTY or some genre-defining masterpiece? No, but I'm fine with people having unconventional opinions, since I share some myself, and I don't take it as a sign of some massive fanboy bias or something.
@Weez I'm well aware of that. I used that 94% user score to show that the game is well-received, not that everyone thinks it's a 9/10. There aren't a lot of games, though, that get 94% user scores on Steam while also receiving a middling reception.
@SeaDaVie Comparing South of Midnight to a literal porn game is pretty disingenuous IMO, but hey, what do I know?
Yes, South of Midnight isn't some game of the year contender or anything, but my point is, there isn't anything weird or unusual about them giving the game a 9/10. Reading the reviews on Steam, you would see a bunch of people who do share similar opinions and view it in high regard. So I find it odd that you singled out this game in particular, as an example of why you shouldn't take Pure Xbox's reviews seriously.
Using your logic, I could make the same argument about Push Square and say that they're biased towards PlayStation games, considering that they've only given reviews of 6/10 or less to five first-party PS titles this gen (Until Dawn, Rise of the Ronin, Destruction All-Stars, Lost Soul Aside, Firewall: Ultra).
Compare this to Pure Xbox, which has also given five first-party titles a score of 6/10 or lower in the same time frame (Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, The Order of Giants DLC, Starfield: Shattered Space, CoD: MW3, and Redfall). Sure, you could argue that some of these are DLCs and don't count or whatever, but in reality, the two sites are not that far off when it comes to reviewing first-party titles.
@SeaDaVie Why should a review that gives South of Midnight a 9/10 not be taken seriously? The game isn't perfect, of course, but that's not that far off from the general player consensus. On Steam, South of Midnight has a 94% Very Positive user score, which is pretty much a 9/10.
@rjejr So many Japanese games, manga, and anime try to tackle dark subjects while also having the most cutesy art styles possible, and it usually doesn't work that well. Except when it's a deliberate subversion of genre tropes.
@PuppetMaster I made a mistake in my previous comment, I shouldn't have said they have a monopoly on anime, but rather that they have a monopoly on Western anime streaming services. To be clear, you can still watch anime on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. like you said, but in terms of dedicated anime services, there aren't really any major ones out there that aren't owned by Sony.
There's Hidive and Retro Crush I guess, but they don't have nearly as much anime as Crunchyroll does.
Very funny how the people so vehemently against Microsoft having a monopoly on gaming with the Activision/Bethesda acquisitions (even though they're still considerably behind PlayStation in terms of revenue), are also the same people that are okay with Sony having a monopoly on anime.
Anyone who actually uses/used streaming services like Funimation and Crunchyroll would know that Sony's consolidation hasn't been that great for Western anime fans. Ever since Sony merged the two services, Crunchyroll has gone dramatically downhill in terms of quality. Their subs are now largely trash, and the merch that they sell has declined in quality, as well.
This is happening because Sony fired all the old Crunchyroll execs and replaced them with the Funimation ones, which are far worse at their jobs.
@PuppetMaster There's also 007 First Light, Fable, Forza Horizon 6, Gears E-Day, Marvel 1943, Prince of Persia Sands of Time Remake, Yakuza Kiwami 3, The Blood of Dawnwalker, The Duskbloods, High on Life 2, Code Vein 2, Monster Hunter Stories 3, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Gothic 1 Remake, Lords of the Fallen 2, Super Meat Boy 3D, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Professor Layton, Fatal Frame 2 Remake, Dynasty Warriors 3 Remake, Star Wars Zero Company, Subnautica 2, The Adventures of Elliot, Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, Tides of Annihilation, and Beast of Reincarnation.
Also Danganronpa 2x2, which is not a big deal for most people, but it is for me personally.
@Max_the_German Quantic Dream was acquired by NetEase in 2022, so maybe they're the ones making them do it. NetEase does primarily publish live service games, after all.
@Stevemalkpus Even though Microsoft owns the As Dusk Falls IP, the game was actually self-published by Interior/Night on PlayStation. The Xbox and PC versions, on the other hand, were published by Xbox Game Studios. As Dusk Falls was technically the first of the Xbox games to go multiplatform, before Hi-Fi Rush
Comments 379
Re: Talking Point: Is PS5 Really in Competition with TikTok?
I'd say TikTok is competing for people's time, but it isn't necessarily a direct competitor to PlayStation or any other gaming company. The problem with TikTok specifically is that it sucks up kids' time more than many other forms of media, which is why it's so dangerous.
Great write-up, though, Sammy. I really like how you did a bunch of research for this piece.
Re: Persona 6 Gets an Official Mention in New Atlus Survey
Persona 6 is Atlus' The Elder Scrolls 6. You could also say it's their GTA 6.
On that note, why are there so many franchises out there that take ages to get a sixth mainline installment?
Re: Sony Bend's PS5 Game Cancellation Could Be Seen Coming, Says Ex Dev
It's not that surprising, since they went nearly 6 years without showing anything of it
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 I didn't intend to misrepresent your words, so sorry if that seemed like the case.
"Three major releases, one of which as decorated as Astro Bot, is not a negligible fraction."
Here, you were basically saying that these three games ARE a negligible fraction of games not available on PC, so I though it would make sense to say that you're "acting like these games are a third of Sony's output." I used the words "as if" here to stress that this was just a comparison. I didn't mean to say you literally believe these games are a third of Sony's output.
Sony definitely values their platform, but not to the extent that they will sacrifice their multiplatform ambitions to do so, as you've said. If multiplatform releases did start hurting their bottom line, they'd probably start being more cautious with their ports rather than "abandoning the non-exclusive strategy in a heartbeat." Sony cannot afford to NOT be multiplatform. Putting games on PC isn't a choice, it's something they have to do to reach more users. And, so far, it's working.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 Sorry for the lengthy comments, but here's the second part of my response:
I think you're greatly overestimating how much Sony prioritizes their platform, and greatly underestimating how much Sony values PC and other platforms. Sony has already realized that they can't attract more players to the PlayStation ecosystem beyond the 120-140 million threshold that they've already reached, hence why they're bringing games to PC (and even Xbox/Nintendo) in the first place. Like every corporation, PlayStation has to grow indefinitely, and considering their games are more expensive to make and less profitable than Nintendo's, they can't do that by keeping their games permanently exclusive to PlayStation.
The entire crux of your argument is baseless, in my opinion, because, as I said before, Demon's Souls, Astro Bot, and GT7 skipping PC almost certainly has nothing to do with Sony valuing their platform or something. Otherwise, God of War and every other major PlayStation franchise wouldn't be available on Steam right now. Those three games are likely incidental exclusives, like Keeper and South of Midnight.
Also important to note that PC releases haven't harmed the success of the PlayStation 5 in the slightest. In fact, the PS5 is the most profitable console that Sony has ever released. So there's little reason to assume that putting everything on PC, as they are already doing, is going to hurt PlayStation in the slightest.
Thinking that Sony is gonna abandon PC releases in a heartbeat anytime soon, is a pipe dream IMO.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 "Sony's output has not exactly been prolific this generation" Perhaps, but it's way more than just a few games. You act as if these three games are a third of Sony's entire output this gen, when that isn't really true.
If we look at all the new stuff that Sony has released for the PS5 between 2020 and 2024, you can see that they've published 18 different games (excluding MLB The Show and VR titles). This includes remakes like Until Dawn and The Last of Us Part 1, since I'd consider them "new" titles.
Out of those 18 games, Demon's Souls, Destruction AllStars, GT7, and Astro Bot are the only titles that have yet to release on PC. Though, tbh, I think including Astro Bot here is kind of misleading, since the game isn't even old in the first place. It very well could still come to PC in a year or two, so its absence on PC doesn't really mean anything yet.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 Technically, you could argue it's case-by-case, but I'd say there's a difference between putting all of your heavy hitters on PC vs putting some games here and there on PC.
The difference in question here, in my opinion, is intent. I think it's pretty obvious that Sony wants to bring all of its games to PC eventually, so long as the port is financially or strategically feasible. That's not the same thing as Sony not wanting to commit to full PC support and deliberately wanting to keep games exclusive to PlayStation, as your first few comments seemed to suggest.
And also, I could ask you the same thing. Why do you want to insist that Sony doesn't plan to bring all of its games to PC, and why are you intent on disagreeing with me and HonestHick? It's a strange hill to die on IMO, especially considering what HonestHick said in their first comment wasn't all that wrong. The fact of the matter is, Sony does only focus on timed exclusives, and a few exceptions don't really change that.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@ButterySmooth30FPS A couple of 4-5 year old games didn't come to PC, even though God of War and The Last of Us did, so that must mean Sony doesn't actually plan to bring all their games to PC!
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 Well, considering that Sony has brought virtually every major PlayStation franchise under the sun to PC, from God of War and The Last of Us to Ghost of Tsushima and Uncharted, I would disagree. I think Sony's plan is to bring ALL of their games to PC, but sometimes there may be exceptions that prevent that from happening.
Maybe GT7 has licensing issues that prevent it from being ported to other platforms. Maybe Bluepoint and Nixxes didn't have the bandwidth to bring Demon's Souls to PC near the time of its release, but now that the game is old, Sony doesn't think it's worth porting anymore (the game didn't sell that well on PS5, anyways). Maybe Astro Bot can't be ported over due to its reliance on the DualSense (even though you can connect a DualSense to your PC).
I bring this up because, realistically speaking, there is no real incentive for Sony to bring their heavy-hitters like God of War and The Last of Us to PC, but keep GT7, Demon's Souls, and Astro Bot exclusive forever.
A similar thing applies to MS and their Xbox games. There's no real incentive for Microsoft to keep Keeper and South of Midnight exclusive to Xbox but put Halo on PS5. These games, along with PlayStation titles like Demon's Souls and GT7, are almost certainly incidental exclusives, not games that Sony and Microsoft deliberately decided to keep exclusive.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 The facts indicate that Sony has brought nearly every single game it has released in the last 5 years to PC. That, to me, indicates that Sony's plan is to bring every single one of its games to PC. Exceptions may occur on rare occasions, but that doesn't mean it's not Sony's plan.
Using your logic, I could argue that Microsoft doesn't actually plan to go completely multiplatform and bring ALL of its games to PlayStation/Nintendo consoles, because it has never outright committed to doing so. And there are some recent Xbox games that have yet to be announced for PlayStation.
I think you and I can both agree, though, that that is a stupid argument to make, because it's obvious that Microsoft plans to bring all of their games to as many platforms as possible. Just because something like Redfall doesn't get ported to PS5, doesn't mean that's not the plan.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 I don't know how you can argue that Sony isn't bringing ALL their games to PC going forward, when literally almost all of their games have gone to PC.
Again, you're acting as if, just because there are a few exceptions from 4-5 years ago, that Sony isn't putting their entire slate on PC. The general expectation most gamers have is all Sony games will come to PC a year or more after their initial release on PS5. There's no reason to believe that this expectation should be changed.
If games like Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, Wolverine, or Intergalactic also never come to PC, then sure, you could make that argument. But until then, it doesn't really make sense to do so.
HonestHick isn't completely right about Sony having no exclusives whatsoever, but yes, Sony has abolished true permanent console exclusives. They don't make exclusives in the way that Nintendo does, that ship has sailed.
Sony's model of exclusivity is not the same as Microsoft's (it never was), but my point is, if you're gonna claim that Sony doesn't actually intend to put all their games on PC just because of a few exceptions, you could make the same exact argument about Microsoft putting all their games on PlayStation consoles, since not every recent Xbox game is on PlayStation.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Lowdefal From Microsoft's point of view, you get higher profit margins from selling games on other platforms in the short term than you do by selling your own hardware at a loss. Long-term, though, may be a different story.
Then again, despite everything PlayStation has done, they are nowhere close to having a 30% profit margin. Seems that can only be accomplished by being a third-party publisher.
Re: 'We Want to Be Everywhere, on Every Platform': Microsoft CEO Once Again Commits to PS5
@Ainu20 By that logic, you could argue that Xbox still has exclusives as well, considering that there is no sign of games like Battletoads, Gears Tactics, Keeper, South of Midnight, or Tell Me Why coming to PlayStation. Or how Forza Horizon 6 is launching on Xbox and PC first, despite being announced for PlayStation. Of course, though, we know that Microsoft plans to bring as many of their games to other platforms as possible, so this doesn't mean they actually care about exclusives or something.
The same thing applies to Sony and it's strategy for PC ports. Sony has brought almost every game it's released in the last 5 years to PC, and it will continue to do so. There isn't anything that suggests that they've suddenly changed their minds and don't plan to bring their games to PC anymore. Astro Bot aside, all of the games you listed are relatively old titles.
Just because there's a few exceptions to the rule doesn't mean the rule doesn't exist.
Re: Millions Tune in for Halo PS5's Reveal on PlayStation's Social Media Accounts
@UltimateOtaku91 Do people associate Sonic with Nintendo more than Sega? I don't think so.
And besides, the game will come to Nintendo consoles eventually anyways, so it's not gonna become a PlayStation exclusive all of a sudden
Re: 'Significant' Layoffs Are Set to Hit Amazon Game Studios
@nessisonett Problem is, it's sometimes hard to discern the difference between an AI-generated comment and a non-AI-generated one. Some people like saying that every lengthy comment they disagree with was made by AI. There's also people who sometimes write comments in a formal tone, and everyone falsely claims that they are AI-generated
Re: PUBG and Hi-Fi Rush Owner Krafton Is Spending $70 Million to Become an 'AI-First Company'
@Dalamar I don't recall anyone saying that about NFTs lol. The difference between NFTs and AI is that we can already see just how major of an impact the latter is having on people's everyday lives. The average person never made or bought NFTs. AI, however? That's a different story.
Everywhere on the internet, regular people are making AI generated slop and posting it on social media channels. Kids are using AI to do their assignments, instead of actually learning anything. People are falling in love with AI chatbots, and talking to AI on a regular basis. Hell, the mere existence of chatbots and sites like ChatGPT has caused a considerable decline in viewership across almost all major news sites in the last few months, thanks in part to Google's dumb pro-AI algorithm changes.
I hate AI as much as the next guy, but it's kind of absurd to think that it's suddenly gonna die off and fade into irrelevance like NFTs did. If anything, it's only gonna get worse. We've seen how much generative AI has improved in the last 5-10 years. Soon, for all we know, deepfakes might dominate the internet, and it might become impossible to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake.
Re: PUBG and Hi-Fi Rush Owner Krafton Is Spending $70 Million to Become an 'AI-First Company'
@Acquiescence That sadly won't happen. AI is basically the next big leap in technology, like the Internet was in the 90s. It's only going to get worse from here.
Re: Silent Hill F Actress Goes Viral Streaming Acclaimed PS5 Horror Game
@ThatOneLevel Exactly, a lot of voice actors do this, but most don't. Some VAs don't even play video games. In Konatsu's case, it seems this is the first time she has ever played on a PS5.
Re: PS6 Could Be the Only Next-Gen Console Charging for Online Multiplayer
@AdamNovice Sure, but this was before the reports really came through, sometime back in early December 2023. Afterwards, Jez said he started hearing rumblings about Sea of Thieves making the jump to PS5 in mid December, and after investigating, he wasn't able to pin down any leads, but he did eventually report that more Xbox exclusives were coming to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.
He wrote an entire report on the topic in February 2024:
https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/report-xbox-is-planning-to-publish-starfield-on-playstation-5
Like, you can hate the guy for defending Microsoft or whatever, but let's not act as if most of his reporting on Windows Central has been wrong or something. Chances are the stuff outlined here about the next-gen Xbox is most likely true.
Re: You Could Test Future Halo Games on PS5, PS4 in Insider Program Update
I doubt Halo games will ever come to PS4, so that might be something they overlooked. Sure, the next Halo multiplayer game may be a cross-gen title, but that seems unlikely, considering that Halo: CE isn't on PS4
Re: PS6 Could Be the Only Next-Gen Console Charging for Online Multiplayer
@AdamNovice That tweet you're referring to about Jez denying Xbox games going to PS5 was literally just his opinion. All of the stuff he writes a report about on Windows Central (like the existence of Project Latitude, Xbox exclusives no longer existing, the ROG Xbox Ally, etc.) has almost always been true, cuz those are claims that he's actually verified with his sources. I'd like you to find even two Windows Central reports of his that were actually wrong.
Also, are you forgetting that Jez has regularly reported about which Xbox games are going to PS5, and when? Like, he was the first person to claim that Indiana Jones was the mystery Xbox game that was going to be announced for PS5 during Gamescom last year.
Re: PS6 Could Be the Only Next-Gen Console Charging for Online Multiplayer
Even if this is true, it's likely that Microsoft will keep the paywall intact for the Xbox Series consoles. That way, this will be an incentive for Xbox Series owners to upgrade to the next Xbox.
Also, there are still gonna be a lot of people who will stick with their current Series X/S and will not buy the next Xbox. Microsoft will still be able to make money off of them, instead of getting rid of Xbox Game Pass Essential entirely.
Re: MySims: Cozy Bundle Settling Down on PS5 Next Month After Year of Switch Exclusivity
@Ichiban Your profile pic fits very well with your comment lol
Re: Halo PS5 Is Great, But Why Doesn't It Have Competitive Multiplayer?
@Starkei It's because Bungie doesn't want to do singleplayer content anymore, and they probably don't have the talent to do so anymore tbh
Re: 'Our Biggest Competition Isn't Another Console': Xbox Doubles Down on Multiformat After Halo PS5 Shock
@tameshiyaku Not sure how that's to blame when I'd wager that PlayStation probably has the most casual consumer base of the big three. That dudebro gamer image that Xbox fostered during the 360 gen is long gone, and isn't at all representative of the current Xbox audience. Hasn't been for over a decade.
I think there's a good chance that PlayStation attracts the most casual gamers at the moment; people who play Fortnite, CoD, Madden, and nothing else.
Since Xbox isn't that mainstream anymore, many Xbox gamers are probably more tuned in with the gaming community than casuals.
The real reason people left Xbox isn't because of the dudebro image they fostered (which people ironically miss nowadays), but rather because of the fact that Microsoft completely bungled the Xbox One launch.
Re: 'Our Biggest Competition Isn't Another Console': Xbox Doubles Down on Multiformat After Halo PS5 Shock
@Lowdefal A slight correction, Rise of the Ronin was not released on PC a week before its PS5 release, it was a PlayStation exclusive for almost exactly one year. I'm guessing you looked at the Wikipedia page and thought that March 11 2025 (the date of the PC release) was a week before March 22 2024 (the date of the PS5 release).
Re: Expect More Halo Games on PS5, Dev Says Series Is 'on PlayStation Going Forward'
@DennisReynolds Tbh I'm not sure Spider-Man would have had paid cosmetics, even if it was a fully multiplatform title. Games like Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy weren't created with the intent of selling consoles, and yet they had zero microtransactions.
Likewise, people give a lot of flack to EA, but they often forget that the Star Wars Jedi games have zero microtransactions, as well. Most of the skins you can unlock in-game for free, just like Spider-Man.
The costumes thing, I think, really depends on the intent of the publisher and the developer. It has less to do with exclusivity imo.
Re: Halo Confirmed for PS5, Remake of First Game Out in 2026
@zhoont Here: https://www.vice.com/en/article/new-halo-live-service-multiplayer-game-inspired-by-fortnite-reportedly-leaked/
There's not a lot of information on it, though. Just rumors at the moment. But credible ones, since these rumors are coming from the same guy that leaked the Combat Evolved remake.
Re: Halo Confirmed for PS5, Remake of First Game Out in 2026
@RoomWithaMoose Halo: CE is the worst of the Bungie Halo games, in my opinion. Never liked it that much.
Re: Halo Confirmed for PS5, Remake of First Game Out in 2026
@Korgon @zhoont @AK4tywill Halo Studios is working on a standalone multplayer game that's going to have an evolving ecosystem, like Fortnite. That's why they're not including multiplayer in this remake because it would detract from their next game.
Re: This Is Why Xbox Is Bringing All of Its Games to PS5 Now
@Rich33 Yeah, that's basically what I was getting at. I don't have any concrete evidence to prove that this was the case, but I'm basing my assumption off the statement that Phil Spencer made about how Xbox needed to enter the mobile games market. I think he said something along the lines of how a company cannot survive without getting into mobile.
Re: Rumour: New Halo Game Heading for PS5, Will Almost Certainly Be Announced This Week
@Nyne11Tyme Yeah no worries I get it lol
Re: This Is Why Xbox Is Bringing All of Its Games to PS5 Now
@Rich33 You gotta wonder, though: would Microsoft even be willing to keep Xbox around if they DIDN'T buy Activision-Blizzard? Knowing how greedy Microsoft is, it could have been a lose-lose situation for Xbox. Either buy Activision and go multiplatform while deprioritizing hardware, or don't buy anything and wind the gaming business down (or at least don't invest in it much anymore).
Re: This Is Why Xbox Is Bringing All of Its Games to PS5 Now
@Haruki_NLI I don't know how true this is, but apparently Activision had higher profit margins than Nintendo does prior to their acquisition by MS. They were averaging around 25-35% profit on a quarterly basis. So I guess Microsoft wants their entire gaming business to be more like Activision.
Keep in mind that Activision on its own makes just about as much money as Nintendo does, with far fewer games and no hardware. So it makes sense why their profit margins would be higher.
Re: Rumour: New Halo Game Heading for PS5, Will Almost Certainly Be Announced This Week
@Nyne11Tyme Microsoft has owned the rights to Halo since the release of the series' first installment, though.
Re: Ninja Gaiden 4 (PS5) - A Bloodthirsty Action Game Ripped Straight from the PS3 Era
@SeaDaVie What I'm about to say is sacrilegious to popular opinion, but I don't think that's as a wild or as biased of a take as you say it is. BG3 just isn't my type of game, and I enjoyed Starfield more than most people did, so I'd probably rank it above that game too, tbh.
Would I consider Starfield my 2023 GOTY or some genre-defining masterpiece? No, but I'm fine with people having unconventional opinions, since I share some myself, and I don't take it as a sign of some massive fanboy bias or something.
Re: Ninja Gaiden 4 (PS5) - A Bloodthirsty Action Game Ripped Straight from the PS3 Era
@Weez I'm well aware of that. I used that 94% user score to show that the game is well-received, not that everyone thinks it's a 9/10. There aren't a lot of games, though, that get 94% user scores on Steam while also receiving a middling reception.
Re: Ninja Gaiden 4 (PS5) - A Bloodthirsty Action Game Ripped Straight from the PS3 Era
@SeaDaVie Comparing South of Midnight to a literal porn game is pretty disingenuous IMO, but hey, what do I know?
Yes, South of Midnight isn't some game of the year contender or anything, but my point is, there isn't anything weird or unusual about them giving the game a 9/10. Reading the reviews on Steam, you would see a bunch of people who do share similar opinions and view it in high regard. So I find it odd that you singled out this game in particular, as an example of why you shouldn't take Pure Xbox's reviews seriously.
Using your logic, I could make the same argument about Push Square and say that they're biased towards PlayStation games, considering that they've only given reviews of 6/10 or less to five first-party PS titles this gen (Until Dawn, Rise of the Ronin, Destruction All-Stars, Lost Soul Aside, Firewall: Ultra).
Compare this to Pure Xbox, which has also given five first-party titles a score of 6/10 or lower in the same time frame (Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, The Order of Giants DLC, Starfield: Shattered Space, CoD: MW3, and Redfall). Sure, you could argue that some of these are DLCs and don't count or whatever, but in reality, the two sites are not that far off when it comes to reviewing first-party titles.
Re: Ninja Gaiden 4 (PS5) - A Bloodthirsty Action Game Ripped Straight from the PS3 Era
@SeaDaVie Why should a review that gives South of Midnight a 9/10 not be taken seriously? The game isn't perfect, of course, but that's not that far off from the general player consensus. On Steam, South of Midnight has a 94% Very Positive user score, which is pretty much a 9/10.
Re: PS5 Surpasses Lifetime PS3 Sales in the US
@RoomWithaMoose It was Jim Ryan who said that in an interview, not sure if it was before or after he retired
Re: Sony Game Helldivers 2 Is Proving a Monstrous Success on Xbox
@PuppetMaster I would say yes simply because it's a live service game
Re: You Could Now Play Death Stranding 1, 2 with Worse Graphics on PS5
@Deljo You can get an early glimpse at how Death Stranding 2 will look like on a Series S
Re: 'Players Are More Accustomed to Darker Stories': Dragon Quest 7 Dev Says the PS5 Remake Will Hit Harder
@rjejr So many Japanese games, manga, and anime try to tackle dark subjects while also having the most cutesy art styles possible, and it usually doesn't work that well. Except when it's a deliberate subversion of genre tropes.
Re: Sony's Increasing Power Over Anime Is Starting to Raise Some Eyebrows
@PuppetMaster I made a mistake in my previous comment, I shouldn't have said they have a monopoly on anime, but rather that they have a monopoly on Western anime streaming services. To be clear, you can still watch anime on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. like you said, but in terms of dedicated anime services, there aren't really any major ones out there that aren't owned by Sony.
There's Hidive and Retro Crush I guess, but they don't have nearly as much anime as Crunchyroll does.
Re: Sony's Increasing Power Over Anime Is Starting to Raise Some Eyebrows
Very funny how the people so vehemently against Microsoft having a monopoly on gaming with the Activision/Bethesda acquisitions (even though they're still considerably behind PlayStation in terms of revenue), are also the same people that are okay with Sony having a monopoly on anime.
Anyone who actually uses/used streaming services like Funimation and Crunchyroll would know that Sony's consolidation hasn't been that great for Western anime fans. Ever since Sony merged the two services, Crunchyroll has gone dramatically downhill in terms of quality. Their subs are now largely trash, and the merch that they sell has declined in quality, as well.
This is happening because Sony fired all the old Crunchyroll execs and replaced them with the Funimation ones, which are far worse at their jobs.
Re: PS5 Exclusive Marvel's Wolverine Is Now Available to Wishlist on PS Store
@PuppetMaster There's also 007 First Light, Fable, Forza Horizon 6, Gears E-Day, Marvel 1943, Prince of Persia Sands of Time Remake, Yakuza Kiwami 3, The Blood of Dawnwalker, The Duskbloods, High on Life 2, Code Vein 2, Monster Hunter Stories 3, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Gothic 1 Remake, Lords of the Fallen 2, Super Meat Boy 3D, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Professor Layton, Fatal Frame 2 Remake, Dynasty Warriors 3 Remake, Star Wars Zero Company, Subnautica 2, The Adventures of Elliot, Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, Tides of Annihilation, and Beast of Reincarnation.
Also Danganronpa 2x2, which is not a big deal for most people, but it is for me personally.
So yeah, 2026 is stacked.
Re: Heavy Rain Dev Announces Competitive Multiplayer Game Spellcasters Chronicles
@Max_the_German Quantic Dream was acquired by NetEase in 2022, so maybe they're the ones making them do it. NetEase does primarily publish live service games, after all.
Re: Sony Travelled to China to Discuss Mobile Adaptation of The Last of Us with Tencent
@get2sammyb Bruh imagine if Tencent made a Last of Us game set in China
Re: PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for October 2025 on PS5, PS4 Leaked
@Stevemalkpus Even though Microsoft owns the As Dusk Falls IP, the game was actually self-published by Interior/Night on PlayStation. The Xbox and PC versions, on the other hand, were published by Xbox Game Studios. As Dusk Falls was technically the first of the Xbox games to go multiplatform, before Hi-Fi Rush
Re: Unexpected PS5, PS4 Fighting Game Based on Avatar the Last Airbender Revealed for 2026
@themightyant Planet Earth 1&2 and tbh Chernoybl do not deserve to be that high imo, but that's IMBd for you