What should've happened to begin with, considering how well the first game sold on PS4 and likely contributed to Ninja Theory being acquired. But still, better late than never.
I guess the reason why it took this long, might be because Sony probably didn't want to provide PS5 developer kits to Microsoft owned studios just like it happened with Minecraft. I guess the situation changed.
Is it not concerning that old games like GTA5, Minecraft and Forza Horizon 5 are selling more than Death Stranding 2 which just released 1 month ago? 🤔
@mvhess I wouldn't downplay the 1.2 million sold units of Death Stranding on Xbox. Kojima Productions announced 19 million players (not total sales) just as they released the Xbox version last November. In March this year they announced 20 million players. It's fair to assume that the majority of that player increase came via sold units on Xbox, as over the 5 years since release the game was available on nearly every platform and subscription, including PS Plus Extra, free Epic Games Store giveaway, PC GamePass, Steam, Apple App Store and Amazon Luna. 1.2 m units at $20, minus 30% platform fees and $ 1 million porting costs, you get around $ 15 millions in pure profit.
All publishers would stop releasing games on Xbox, if they weren't able to sell any. In reality more publishers are releasing games on Xbox, including PlayStation and Atlus.
Yes, the Xbox console has less than half of the user base of PlayStation and games on GamePass (especially indie games) will sell much less, but usually popular games sell well on Xbox. 😉
Meanwhile they'll keep the heavy single player hits exclusive, because that's their PlayStation premium crop that fans want
I wonder what will happen if PlayStation releases their "heavy single player hits", which were once exclusive to their console, on other platforms like Nintendo and Xbox? Will it anger the PlayStation fans? Where would they go? The Xbox console isn't really relevant, as most people choose a PlayStation over Xbox. PC or Nintendo, Sony doesn't see them as competitors to PlayStation.
PlayStation fans are already so invested in the PlayStation platform, if Sony releases their big single-player games on Nintendo and Xbox, they would have no other choice but to accept it. It's already working for Sony in case of PC releases, no risk of losing their user base. 😄
Executives say all kinds of funny things to keep shareholders satisfied.
Sooner or later we will see what that quote meant, what we all know though is that Sony is changing their business strategy and are adapting to market conditions.
@rjejr In case of yearly sports games sold at $70, most of them are live service games, especially if they have time-limited events where you get a certain bonus for participating. The practice of yearly games in general is questionable, as it's basically a live service where the yearly updates are sold at full price and your progress is reset to null.
@ZeroSum By definition a live service game is a game where a development team is actively working on adding content and updates after the release.
While additional monetization is the most common goal of the majority of live service games, it doesn't apply to all, especially if the base product is released at full price.
GT7 is still getting constant updates with new cars and tracks 3 years after it's launch. Stardew Valley launched in 2016, its most recent update was in December 2024 and with all the updates over the years it sold 41 million copies. In both cases the developers decided to support the games with new content updates rather than work on a new project. In both cases the updates keep the players engaged over a long period and the games "alive".
Of course the concept of a live service is easier to apply to online multiplayer games, where cosmetic items have a bigger social impact (you can show off your skins, cars, liveries, weapons, hats, football players, etc.) and the developers can steadily add new ones over several months.
but are MLB the Show and Gran Turismo really considered to be live service games?
"Live service games" are games which receive steady updates from an active development team after thei initial release over a certain long period of time, in order to increase player engagement and sales of the game, micro-transactions, DLCs, season passes, cosmetics, etc. Many live service games often launch with a "roadmap" of future updates.
Some fairly popular single-player live service games are Assassin's Creed, Dead Cells, Dying Light 2, Minecraft, Stardew Valley to a certain extent.
Here's the definition from Wikipedia:
In the video game industry, a live service game represents providing video games or game content on a continuing revenue model, similar to software as a service. Live service games are ways to monetize video games either after their initial sale, or to support a free-to-play model.
@11001100110zero Microsoft probably wouldn't offer any sales data, especially of other 3rd party publishers (EA, Capcom, Take Two, Ubisoft) who wouldn't want them to share. But Sony doesn't need Microsoft to provide any data. They already have several games on Xbox which give a good inisght. Plus they can buy the data from analytics companies like Circana, Alinea Analytics, GameAnalytics, Helika, ByteBrew or GRID.
@cragis0001 Additionally to Destiny 2 & MLB The Show, Sony has probably access to the sales numbers of Death Stranding Director's Cut (as it's running on the Sony proprietary Decima Engine and it probably has some analytics backend services) and the preorder number of Marathon.
Didn't Xbox fans spend the last decade swearing to the heavens that they don't want, like or care about Playstation games?
It's no different than the "PlayStation fans who spend the last decade swearing to the heavens that they don't want, like or care" about Xbox games. Yet Xbox published games are currently the best selling titles on the PlayStation store.
Every platform or community has their obnoxious, loud, enthusiastic fans who say such things, just to feel better about their favorite brand. Doesn't mean that everyone on PlayStation or Xbox feels that way. 😉
Days Gone is also a curious case, it was the 2nd big PlayStation game to release on Steam (after Horizon Zero Dawn) and it sold fairly well on PC. Porting it to other platforms should also be easier than other PlayStation games, as it's running on the Unreal Engine 4.
My entire point was based on remarks that people have made on push square over the years. They claim that they're leaving ps for many reasons, the most important for them being that they can't justify spending 500+ USD for a console whose exclusives are no longer exclusive.
So, to return to your initial point. No, you can't use potential sales of ps games on xbx consoles as the only criterion when deciding an overall company strategy.
True, only the potential sales on Xbox is not enough to define PlayStation's multiplatform strategy. The number of sold consoles relative to previous generations, where PlayStation wasn't releasing games on PC and console prices were decreasing, though is a pretty strong criterion when shaping their business strategy.
Some unsatisfied vocal people on PushSquare claiming to leave PlayStation will have no impact on Sony PlayStation's business strategy. 😘
that's not how you analyze data. There are so many factors that you don't take into account, including the lack of competition from xbx compared to previous generations. Also, the fact that ps5 was constantly out of stock (like Wii back in the day) and thus became the hot item that everyone wanted but couldn't get (too many comedy shows and people on social media made jokes about it). There are several other reasons, but these are just some of the many.
I'm happy to be corrected if I am wrong with my analysis.
So you are saying that the lack of Xbox competition resulted in people moving to PlayStation or PC (on PC they can play both XB and PS games)? Did PlayStation have less or more console exclusive games (1st and 3rd party) compared to the previous generation and how strong was the appeal of those games?
Are you implying that PS5 sales numbers would be higher without the stock issues? Or did it even out with the associated hype after the stock issues were resolved.
The price of the PS4 dropped from $ 399 to $ 299 three years after it's launch and the PS4 Pro launched at the same price as the original PS4 price. The PS5 in it's 5 years didn't have any permanent price drops in the US, had price hikes in many other regions and the PS5 Pro launched at $ 699. Does the PS5 lack of price reductions have an impact on the adoption rate of the console? How is the inflation impacting the sales numbers?
I guess in the end with all factors considered the PS5 is selling well compared to the PS4. 😉
well I wouldn’t personally say no to $15.5 million but I might if I was Sony.
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare
$15m is fine (and of course it would be a simple option) - but then again its a pretty small profit if you risk undermining the "platforms" value.
$15 million profit (for a relatively low investment) might not do much, even though my estimates of 500K sold units are on the low side, but multiply that by let's say 7 games and you already have the budget of a AAA project (or new private jets for the executives 😄).
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare In my opinion Sony already did the experiment on PC and they realized that releasing their games on PC didn't really harm/cannibalise their console sales.
And now where apparently Xbox stopped competing with PlayStation, it will be the same situation. People are entrenched on their favorite platforms, hardly anyone will switch just because of some games becoming available for everyone. If Sony starts releasing their games on Xbox, I assume they will follow a similar strategy as on PC and mostly release games which are 2+ years old.
@OldGamer999 It's probably already profitable if Starfield sells 1 million units, it doesn't necessarily need to sell as much as Forza Horizon 5. And if Bethesda plans a sequel (sometime in the next 20 years) they will also have fans on PlayStation.
@graymamba Let's assume Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered gets an Xbox port and let's assume the port costs around $ 2 millions (probably less as there is a Windows PC port) and sold at $ 50. If it would sell 500K units at $50, minus 30% platform holder fee). That's $ 17.5 millions (revenue) minus $ 2 million porting costs, resulting in $ 15.5 millions (profit pre tax). Would you ignore $ 15.5 millions?
@graymamba I would be surprised if the sales numbers on Switch and PlayStation were not higher than on Xbox. After all, PlayStation has 2.3x more and Switch has 5x more consoles sold. Of course with a bigger install base the sales numbers of games will be higher.
But the question for publishers is: Will they make a profit if they port their games to Xbox? As it's relatively easy to port from PC to Xbox, the sales numbers on Xbox don't have to be enormous, just profitable. In some cases even a few 100K units sold on Xbox are enough to turn a profit.
I assume the dissatisfaction of PlayStation players has less to do with the number of "exclusive" games and more with many recent games being safe-bet sequels which take 5+ years to develop, a bunch of remakes/remasters and PlayStation chasing the live-service trend with Helldivers 2 being the only notable good game, while games and hardware prices are increasing.
the example of Final Fantasy 16 shows that even relatively recent, well reviewed games do not sell on that platform; Game Pass has trained that audience (generally) not to buy games, but to wait for them to come to the subscription.
How often did Final Fantasy 16 sell on Xbox? Is the sales estimate based on the number of review in the Xbox store by Alinea Analytics?
What about other examples like Elden Ring or Baldur's Gate 3? Apparently Death Stranding Director's Cut did quite well on Xbox despite releasing 5 years later than on PlayStation.
However, keep in mind most Xbox consumers don’t buy games such as the PlayStation consumer
@Bkzgr8ezt
If there was the potential for massive sales I’d get it but with the buying habits of the general Xbox populous being what they are post-Gamepass, I really don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze at the expense of the brand but that’s just me 🤷♂️
If that is truly the case and games aren't selling on Xbox, then why do more publishers, including PlayStation, decide to release their games on Xbox? Logically speaking, wouldn't we read about big publishers, like EA, Ubisoft, Sega, Capcom, abandoning the Xbox platform? Instead we have Square Enix and Sega/Atlus commiting to supporting the platform and releasing their games on Xbox which were previously PlayStation exclusive.
@DonkeyFantasy Serious question: As Sony PlayStation 1st party games are already releasing on PC (time-exclusive or not), why are you waiting to fully switch to PC? How does "PlayStation games releasing on Xbox" influence your decision about switching to PC? Either way you are getting PlayStation games on PC. 😄
@naruball Will it really decrease the sales of PS consoles? How do we know that? Where would those people go to and why would they leave PlayStation? Were they dissatisfied with PlayStation in the first place and only those few exclusive games kept them on the PlayStation platform? Would Sony benefit from those who would rebuy their games on Xbox? 🤷🏼
If PlayStation games like Marvel's Spider-Man, The Last of Us, God of War, Uncharted, Horizon, Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, Returnal, etc. sell 1/3 of the numbers on the Xbox console, than what the Xbox games (Foza Horizon, Gears of War) sell on PlayStation consoles, then porting their games from PC to Xbox is most likely profitable.
In the end, the more people can play those awesome PlayStation games the better.
@LogicStrikesAgain Unfortunately the fanboys (on both sides) are often the loudest vocal minorities, thinking that their views and opinions represent an entire player base and they don't tolerate opposing opinions. They make gaming communities more intimidating.
I think most gamers are over looking the fact that Sony and Microsoft aren't interested in releasing Triple A Games anymore they aren't very profitable. Microsoft and Sony are looking at the Netflix subscription model and have been for quite sometime. Which means more crappy games on a subscription service, just like Netflix. This is why your getting excusive ports on both consoles the question is who will win the base platform for the subscription.
Interesting point, but I don't think I fully agree with the statement. I would say "Sony and Microsoft aren't interested in funding console exclusive triple-A single player games" if it's too risky. For the moment they both fund and publish triple-A single player games, you don't need to look far into the past to find examples on both ends (Indiana Jones, Doom The Dark Ages, Death Stranding 2, Stellar Blade). But they would prefer to invest money/resources in triple-A live-service online games which might result in bigger profits. I guess the difference is that Microsoft now owns many smaller double-A studios (Obsidian, Compulsion, Doyble Fine, etc.) who can create smaller games in a shorter time, while Sony only has 2 or so and is additionally relying on third-party studios.
not that I support console wars, but I do like brand identity
Not sure why people are ashamed to support it. All brands are in competition with each other for profit corporations
"Brand identity" and "fanboyism" are irrational and only lead to pointless arguments. "Brand identity" is basically the cause of the "console wars".
"You prefer the things you own because you rationalize your past choices to protect your sense of self.
The Internet changed the way people argue.
Usually, these arguments are between men, because men will defend their ego no matter how slight the insult. These are also usually about geeky things that cost lots of money, because these battles take place on the Internet where tech-savvy people get rowdy, and the more expensive a purchase, the greater the loyalty to it.
Once a person is branded, they will defend their brand by finding flaws in the alternative choice and pointing out benefits in their own.There are a number of cognitive biases which converge to create this behavior."
@Godot25 Weren't there also the releases of God of War Ragnarok (PC), Until Dawn Remake (PS5 & PC), Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered (PS5 & PC) The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered (PC), Days Gone Remastered (PS5 & PC) and Midnight Murder Club (PS5 & PC) in the recent months? Looks like PC is now a solid part in PlayStation's multiplatform release startegy.
Don’t know where you got your sales data from for the Xbox. I can’t seem to find a mention of their sales. But I just know the game overall sold 19 million copies. Which is an incredible feat. Sony sold the IP back to Kojima and it’s a multiplatform game with exclusivity timed on PlayStation. And how long has it been since its initial release? Around 2019?
I think it might be a misunderstanding that Death Stranding "sold" 19 million units. Kojima Productions announced 1 day after the Xbox release in November last year that, it "connected with over 19 million players worldwide". That number probably includes those who played the game on PS Plus, PC GamePass and as part of the free Epic Store giveaway.
At the end of March 2025 Kojima Productions reported 20 million players. It's reasonable to think that many of those new players came via Xbox.
Another way how I get a certain estimate is by going to websites like exophase.com and trueachievements.com and calculating the percentage of how many users played a game on a specific platform compared to the total tracked/registered users per platform. Then I apply the percentage to hardware sales estimations of a platform from vgchartz.com to get an approximate estimate of how well a game has sold on a certain platform. The method is not perfect, but it's better than some other methods.
Square Enix always have high standards for their games for sales success. And FF16 may not have appealed to some fans of the series but it was still a good game. I was just using it as a reference.
While Final Fantasy 16 is a decent game, I believe it is not a good reference when discussing the potential sales numbers on Xbox. It launched on Xbox under sub-optimal conditions, shadow-dropped with little buzz, no discount and better hot alternatives available.
Also the article reported here on PushSquare abouth the sales estimate by Alinea Analytics of "22.000 sold copies" is very questionable. Apparently their estimations are based on user reviews on a platform's store.
But for Sony to go multiplatform, I don’t see that anytime in the next 10 years.
In my opinion Sony PlayStation already are a multiplatform publisher, as they are releasing the majority of all their tent pole games on PC and slowly they are releasing a few titles on Nintendo and Xbox. They are just prioritizing the PlayStation platform, which makes total sense. We can discuss all day, how "PC is not competing with PlayStation" or how "Nintendo is not competing with PlayStation", but in the end it's all about gaming competing for our free time. 😁
@T-Bone09 So now that Sony has such a momentum and Xbox's console business is declining, Sony should just sit back instead of expanding their business? Their user base is secured, hardly anyone will switch from PS to an Xbox now.
Final Fantasy 16 also didn't do as well on PlayStation as Square Enix expected. The opinions on Final Fantasy 16 from the PlayStation community were somewhat mixed. With no hype and no positive word of mouth how is Final Fantasy 16 supposed to do better on Xbox (especially with Oblivion Remastered, Clair Obscur E33 and Doom: The Dark Ages releasing shortly before)? In the end what counts for Square Enix is that they make a profit from releasing FF16 on Xbox, it doesn't need to do any dents in the sales numbers. Why did we bring up Final Fantasy 16 again? 😁
On the other hand Death Stranding Director's Cut apparently did quite well on Xbox. 😉
Sony releasing Helldivers 2 on Xbox is not the same. A game that’s developed by a studio that is not owned by Sony just have publishing rights to the series is way different than what Xbox has done.
Helldivers is a Sony first party game, despite Arrowhead Studio being a 3rd party develop. Sony PlayStation own the IP, funded the development and published the game. So Sony decides on which platforms the game is published.
It's like Pokemon is a first party Nintendo IP despite Game Freak being a 3rd party developer.
Sony doesn’t need Xbox like how Microsoft needs PlayStation now that it bought a huge portion of the market.
Sony doesn't "need Xbox", but what Sony cares more about than their hardcore fanbase are money and their shareholders.
Helldivers 2 is one of the very few successful Sony-owned live-service games, with a steady income. The most logical thing from a financial perspective is to make it available on as many systems as possible.
The fact that the Xbox and the PS5 have basically the same hardware makes it even more understandable that they need to differentiate in other ways, to make their products stand out.
What i was explaining is the strategy of product differentiation. It’s a smart and legitimate strategy to drive costumers to buy a product. It doesnt mean every business and or product uses that strategy.
Console hardware can differentiate on many other aspects. PS5 has the Dual Sense controllers, more flexible SSD extension, backward compatibility to PS4/PS2/PS1, PS+ subscription service, PSVR2. Xbox Series S|X has GamePass, Quick Resume, more robust backward compatibility with AutoHDR and FPS Boost.
Apple and Google have competing platforms (iOS vs Android) and devices (iPhone vs Pixel), yet they don't make their services/applications exclusive to their own platforms. You can use YouTube, Google Maps or Gmail on Apple devices. You can watch Apple TV on Android devices.
In previous generations exclusive games helped to highlight the specific features of consoles, but ever since console hardware switched to standard X86 PC architecture, there's hardly a case where an exclusive game highlights the strenghts of the hardware (with some rare exceptions like Asteo Bot in 2024).
With ballooning development costs and expensive projects being cancelled it's financially more feasible to release games on as many systems as possible in order to increase the game's reach.
The concern some people have here is that by foregoing that exclusivity, it might dilute the brand, and therefore might make their consoles less interesting. Just look at whats happening to Xbox and the diminishing interest people have in their console. There’s a bit more nuance to it than just fanboyism
Will it really "dilute the brand" if Sony releases their games on Xbox and Nintendo? They've been already releasing their biggest titles on PC for over 5 years now, yet the brand is as strong as ever. Everyone knows that those games (God of War, Uncharted, The Las of Us, Days Gone, Helldivers) are PlayStation games.
The issues that Xbox is facing are different as they made many terrible decisions with inconsistent, nont-player-focused messaging and terrible marketing of their products. They lost a lot of good will with the Xbox 360 RROD debacle and the terrible Xbox One launch.
I bet if PlayStation would start releasing any of their 2+ year old games on Xbox and Nintendo, the large majority of people will stay with PlayStation. Those who would switch, were not happy with PlayStation in the first place.
Good point about subscription services like Netflix, Prime TV etc. I've brought it up in other places. You need exclusive content to sell certain products.
@LogicStrikesAgain
There’s a reason people subscribe to Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Apple+ etc.
They all offer exclusive content that people want to see. Heck, exclusivity is why you go to Burger King.
The difference is that Netflix, HBO max, Disney+, Apple+, etc. are services which I can subscribe to and consume their content on any device which I have. I don't need to buy a new Apple branded TV, to watch Apple+, I can do that on my Sony Bravia Google TV. I can buy for example HBO's The Last of Us Season 1 on blu-ray discs from Amazon and can watch it on whatever player I have. If I go to Burger King, I don't need to buy a certain car brand just to be able to consume one of their exclusive burgers.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are hardware-wise pretty much the same, probably 90% of the games released are on both systems. Having to buy an Xbox if you already have a PlayStation, which does basically the same, just to play a few "exclusive games" is very inconvenient.
It seems they love other people not having things rather than actually having those things themselves. Or they love the console itself rather than the games.
Unfortunately many are still caught in a "console war" mentality. They are very nostalgic for a time where console exclusives truly pushed the gaming medium forward and provided them with unforgettable experiences.
They don't want gaming to change and will find all sorts of justifications why they think that exclusive games are better, hoping to relive those past memories. They feel somehow special if something releases "exclusively" to them rather than for everyone. They treat the current 1st party releases of once exclusive games like hostage exchanges.
You'll find this mentality in all communities, including Xbox and PC. It's actually kind of similar to politics. In the end gaming should be about inclusion of everyone and enjoying fun games. Too bad some will advocate against that.
I hope this opens up some PlayStation 1st party ports to the Evercade platform. Games like Gran Turismo, Legend of Dragoon, WipeOut, Ape Escape, Medieval, Syphon Filter, G-Police would be incredible on Evercade. 😄
"And I really don't know how they expect to transition players to PS6 at this point. They've already got a very vocally dissatisfied fanbase, and now you're telling them there'll be no exclusives and cross-gen will last for years so pony up for the new $800 box."
Does Sony PlayStation really care about what their hardcore fans on PushSquare think? Their numbers show a different story: Compared to PS4, despite launching the majority of their games on PC now and despite no significant console price reductions, the PS5 is selling just as well as the PS4 and people on PS5 are spending more money than ever before.
PlayStation is the default go-to console, Xbox as a console is irrelevant in many markets (especially Asia). While next-gen will most likely have again a long cross-gen transition phase, those who care about consoles will continue buying PlayStation. The PS6 will have several time-exclusive games, that's incentive enough for most PlayStation players.
"...but then I'd question how many games they actually expect to sell on rival consoles like Xbox if that platform's sales are in the toilet?"
They most likely have access to platform's potential sales numbers which we don't know about. Otherwise they wouldn't consider releasing PlayStation games on Xbox if the "sales are in the toilet". Apparently Death Stranding Director's Cut did quite well on Xbox despite being 5 years old and as it's a "Sony Interactive Entertainment" game, they most likely have access to any relevant data.
Comments 465
Re: Xbox Open World STALKER 2 Is Getting Some Huge Improvements for Its PS5 Debut
Great to see more people being able to play the game. Kudos to GSC Game World for developing and releasing a game in a warzone.
Re: Hellblade 1 Finally Enhanced for PS5, Out Now with Free Upgrade
@pyrrhic_victory
I guess the reason why it took this long, might be because Sony probably didn't want to provide PS5 developer kits to Microsoft owned studios just like it happened with Minecraft. I guess the situation changed.
Re: Hellblade 2's Xbox to PS5 Port Seems Like It Was a Breeze to Make
Not a big surprise given that the PS5 and Xbox Series X hardware are nearly identical and Unreal Engine 5 is built for multi-platform.
Probably porting games from PS5 to Xbox Series X is just as simple.
Re: Gritty FPS Ready or Not Ruled the PS Store in July 2025
Is it not concerning that old games like GTA5, Minecraft and Forza Horizon 5 are selling more than Death Stranding 2 which just released 1 month ago? 🤔
Re: A Quote from a Sony Exec Is Causing a Hubbub Among PS5 Fans Again
@mvhess I wouldn't downplay the 1.2 million sold units of Death Stranding on Xbox. Kojima Productions announced 19 million players (not total sales) just as they released the Xbox version last November. In March this year they announced 20 million players. It's fair to assume that the majority of that player increase came via sold units on Xbox, as over the 5 years since release the game was available on nearly every platform and subscription, including PS Plus Extra, free Epic Games Store giveaway, PC GamePass, Steam, Apple App Store and Amazon Luna. 1.2 m units at $20, minus 30% platform fees and $ 1 million porting costs, you get around $ 15 millions in pure profit.
Death Stranding sold around 5 million units in it's first 2 years on PS4 and PC combined. 1 million unit on Xbox 5 years later is actually quite impressive.
Re: A Quote from a Sony Exec Is Causing a Hubbub Among PS5 Fans Again
@mvhess
I don't understand why people keep saying that games don't sell on Xbox. For example, according to estimates Elden Ring has sold 7.4 million copies on Xbox (compared to 13.2 m on PlayStation). Death Stranding Director's Cut sold somewhere between 500k and 1.2 m despite releasing 5 years later on Xbox.
All publishers would stop releasing games on Xbox, if they weren't able to sell any. In reality more publishers are releasing games on Xbox, including PlayStation and Atlus.
Yes, the Xbox console has less than half of the user base of PlayStation and games on GamePass (especially indie games) will sell much less, but usually popular games sell well on Xbox. 😉
Re: A Quote from a Sony Exec Is Causing a Hubbub Among PS5 Fans Again
@Spedfrom
I wonder what will happen if PlayStation releases their "heavy single player hits", which were once exclusive to their console, on other platforms like Nintendo and Xbox? Will it anger the PlayStation fans? Where would they go? The Xbox console isn't really relevant, as most people choose a PlayStation over Xbox. PC or Nintendo, Sony doesn't see them as competitors to PlayStation.
PlayStation fans are already so invested in the PlayStation platform, if Sony releases their big single-player games on Nintendo and Xbox, they would have no other choice but to accept it. It's already working for Sony in case of PC releases, no risk of losing their user base. 😄
Re: A Quote from a Sony Exec Is Causing a Hubbub Among PS5 Fans Again
Executives say all kinds of funny things to keep shareholders satisfied.
Sooner or later we will see what that quote meant, what we all know though is that Sony is changing their business strategy and are adapting to market conditions.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 593
Anthem
And Toaplan Arcade Collection 3 on Evercade.
Re: Sony Admits PS5 Live Service Push Is Not Going Smoothly
@rjejr In case of yearly sports games sold at $70, most of them are live service games, especially if they have time-limited events where you get a certain bonus for participating. The practice of yearly games in general is questionable, as it's basically a live service where the yearly updates are sold at full price and your progress is reset to null.
@ZeroSum By definition a live service game is a game where a development team is actively working on adding content and updates after the release.
While additional monetization is the most common goal of the majority of live service games, it doesn't apply to all, especially if the base product is released at full price.
GT7 is still getting constant updates with new cars and tracks 3 years after it's launch. Stardew Valley launched in 2016, its most recent update was in December 2024 and with all the updates over the years it sold 41 million copies. In both cases the developers decided to support the games with new content updates rather than work on a new project. In both cases the updates keep the players engaged over a long period and the games "alive".
Of course the concept of a live service is easier to apply to online multiplayer games, where cosmetic items have a bigger social impact (you can show off your skins, cars, liveries, weapons, hats, football players, etc.) and the developers can steadily add new ones over several months.
Re: Sony Admits PS5 Live Service Push Is Not Going Smoothly
@ZeroSum @rjejr
"Live service games" are games which receive steady updates from an active development team after thei initial release over a certain long period of time, in order to increase player engagement and sales of the game, micro-transactions, DLCs, season passes, cosmetics, etc. Many live service games often launch with a "roadmap" of future updates.
There's a famous graph from Ubisoft depicting how live services work: https://gdkeys.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image-1400x789.png
Some fairly popular single-player live service games are Assassin's Creed, Dead Cells, Dying Light 2, Minecraft, Stardew Valley to a certain extent.
Here's the definition from Wikipedia:
Re: PlayStation the Driving Force Behind Xbox's Helldivers 2 Port
@11001100110zero Microsoft probably wouldn't offer any sales data, especially of other 3rd party publishers (EA, Capcom, Take Two, Ubisoft) who wouldn't want them to share. But Sony doesn't need Microsoft to provide any data. They already have several games on Xbox which give a good inisght. Plus they can buy the data from analytics companies like Circana, Alinea Analytics, GameAnalytics, Helika, ByteBrew or GRID.
@cragis0001 Additionally to Destiny 2 & MLB The Show, Sony has probably access to the sales numbers of Death Stranding Director's Cut (as it's running on the Sony proprietary Decima Engine and it probably has some analytics backend services) and the preorder number of Marathon.
Re: PlayStation the Driving Force Behind Xbox's Helldivers 2 Port
Not really surprising Sony was the one to decide, given Helldivers 2 is a 1st party PlayStation game. Probably more will follow.
Re: Sick Sci-Fi Shooter Metal Eden Secures September Release Date on PS5
One of my most anticipated games for this year. Loved Ruiner as well.
Re: Innocuous Days Gone Tweet Attracts Xbox Fans Like Flies to Slaughtered Freakers
@Enuo
It's no different than the "PlayStation fans who spend the last decade swearing to the heavens that they don't want, like or care" about Xbox games. Yet Xbox published games are currently the best selling titles on the PlayStation store.
Every platform or community has their obnoxious, loud, enthusiastic fans who say such things, just to feel better about their favorite brand. Doesn't mean that everyone on PlayStation or Xbox feels that way. 😉
Re: Innocuous Days Gone Tweet Attracts Xbox Fans Like Flies to Slaughtered Freakers
Days Gone is also a curious case, it was the 2nd big PlayStation game to release on Steam (after Horizon Zero Dawn) and it sold fairly well on PC. Porting it to other platforms should also be easier than other PlayStation games, as it's running on the Unreal Engine 4.
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@naruball
True, only the potential sales on Xbox is not enough to define PlayStation's multiplatform strategy. The number of sold consoles relative to previous generations, where PlayStation wasn't releasing games on PC and console prices were decreasing, though is a pretty strong criterion when shaping their business strategy.
Some unsatisfied vocal people on PushSquare claiming to leave PlayStation will have no impact on Sony PlayStation's business strategy. 😘
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@naruball
I'm happy to be corrected if I am wrong with my analysis.
So you are saying that the lack of Xbox competition resulted in people moving to PlayStation or PC (on PC they can play both XB and PS games)? Did PlayStation have less or more console exclusive games (1st and 3rd party) compared to the previous generation and how strong was the appeal of those games?
Are you implying that PS5 sales numbers would be higher without the stock issues? Or did it even out with the associated hype after the stock issues were resolved.
The price of the PS4 dropped from $ 399 to $ 299 three years after it's launch and the PS4 Pro launched at the same price as the original PS4 price. The PS5 in it's 5 years didn't have any permanent price drops in the US, had price hikes in many other regions and the PS5 Pro launched at $ 699. Does the PS5 lack of price reductions have an impact on the adoption rate of the console? How is the inflation impacting the sales numbers?
I guess in the end with all factors considered the PS5 is selling well compared to the PS4. 😉
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@graymamba
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare
$15 million profit (for a relatively low investment) might not do much, even though my estimates of 500K sold units are on the low side, but multiply that by let's say 7 games and you already have the budget of a AAA project (or new private jets for the executives 😄).
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare In my opinion Sony already did the experiment on PC and they realized that releasing their games on PC didn't really harm/cannibalise their console sales.
And now where apparently Xbox stopped competing with PlayStation, it will be the same situation. People are entrenched on their favorite platforms, hardly anyone will switch just because of some games becoming available for everyone. If Sony starts releasing their games on Xbox, I assume they will follow a similar strategy as on PC and mostly release games which are 2+ years old.
Re: Rumour: Starfield PS5 to Take Flight Alongside New Expansion Next Year
@OldGamer999 It's probably already profitable if Starfield sells 1 million units, it doesn't necessarily need to sell as much as Forza Horizon 5. And if Bethesda plans a sequel (sometime in the next 20 years) they will also have fans on PlayStation.
Re: Rumour: Starfield PS5 to Take Flight Alongside New Expansion Next Year
Nice if more people can play Starfield. There are many Bethesda RPG fans also on PlayStation who will enjoy it.
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@graymamba Let's assume Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered gets an Xbox port and let's assume the port costs around $ 2 millions (probably less as there is a Windows PC port) and sold at $ 50. If it would sell 500K units at $50, minus 30% platform holder fee). That's $ 17.5 millions (revenue) minus $ 2 million porting costs, resulting in $ 15.5 millions (profit pre tax). Would you ignore $ 15.5 millions?
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@graymamba I would be surprised if the sales numbers on Switch and PlayStation were not higher than on Xbox. After all, PlayStation has 2.3x more and Switch has 5x more consoles sold. Of course with a bigger install base the sales numbers of games will be higher.
But the question for publishers is: Will they make a profit if they port their games to Xbox? As it's relatively easy to port from PC to Xbox, the sales numbers on Xbox don't have to be enormous, just profitable. In some cases even a few 100K units sold on Xbox are enough to turn a profit.
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@naruball The sales numbers of the PS5 are fairly in line with the sales numbers of the PS4, despite Sony releasing their PlayStation games on PC for over 5 years now. So the numbers show that only a minority is leaving the PlayStation platform.
I assume the dissatisfaction of PlayStation players has less to do with the number of "exclusive" games and more with many recent games being safe-bet sequels which take 5+ years to develop, a bunch of remakes/remasters and PlayStation chasing the live-service trend with Helldivers 2 being the only notable good game, while games and hardware prices are increasing.
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@StrickenBiged
How often did Final Fantasy 16 sell on Xbox? Is the sales estimate based on the number of review in the Xbox store by Alinea Analytics?
What about other examples like Elden Ring or Baldur's Gate 3? Apparently Death Stranding Director's Cut did quite well on Xbox despite releasing 5 years later than on PlayStation.
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@graymamba
@Bkzgr8ezt
If that is truly the case and games aren't selling on Xbox, then why do more publishers, including PlayStation, decide to release their games on Xbox? Logically speaking, wouldn't we read about big publishers, like EA, Ubisoft, Sega, Capcom, abandoning the Xbox platform? Instead we have Square Enix and Sega/Atlus commiting to supporting the platform and releasing their games on Xbox which were previously PlayStation exclusive.
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@DonkeyFantasy Serious question: As Sony PlayStation 1st party games are already releasing on PC (time-exclusive or not), why are you waiting to fully switch to PC? How does "PlayStation games releasing on Xbox" influence your decision about switching to PC? Either way you are getting PlayStation games on PC. 😄
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
@naruball Will it really decrease the sales of PS consoles? How do we know that? Where would those people go to and why would they leave PlayStation? Were they dissatisfied with PlayStation in the first place and only those few exclusive games kept them on the PlayStation platform? Would Sony benefit from those who would rebuy their games on Xbox? 🤷🏼
Re: Rumour: Sony to Put More First-Party PS5 Games on Xbox
If PlayStation games like Marvel's Spider-Man, The Last of Us, God of War, Uncharted, Horizon, Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, Returnal, etc. sell 1/3 of the numbers on the Xbox console, than what the Xbox games (Foza Horizon, Gears of War) sell on PlayStation consoles, then porting their games from PC to Xbox is most likely profitable.
In the end, the more people can play those awesome PlayStation games the better.
Re: Eye-Opening PS5 Sales Data Reveals Why Microsoft Is Porting Xbox Games
@LogicStrikesAgain Unfortunately the fanboys (on both sides) are often the loudest vocal minorities, thinking that their views and opinions represent an entire player base and they don't tolerate opposing opinions. They make gaming communities more intimidating.
Re: Eye-Opening PS5 Sales Data Reveals Why Microsoft Is Porting Xbox Games
@Oprahs_cellulite
Interesting point, but I don't think I fully agree with the statement. I would say "Sony and Microsoft aren't interested in funding console exclusive triple-A single player games" if it's too risky. For the moment they both fund and publish triple-A single player games, you don't need to look far into the past to find examples on both ends (Indiana Jones, Doom The Dark Ages, Death Stranding 2, Stellar Blade). But they would prefer to invest money/resources in triple-A live-service online games which might result in bigger profits. I guess the difference is that Microsoft now owns many smaller double-A studios (Obsidian, Compulsion, Doyble Fine, etc.) who can create smaller games in a shorter time, while Sony only has 2 or so and is additionally relying on third-party studios.
Re: Eye-Opening PS5 Sales Data Reveals Why Microsoft Is Porting Xbox Games
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare @Vaako007
"Brand identity" and "fanboyism" are irrational and only lead to pointless arguments. "Brand identity" is basically the cause of the "console wars".
"You prefer the things you own because you rationalize your past choices to protect your sense of self.
The Internet changed the way people argue.
Usually, these arguments are between men, because men will defend their ego no matter how slight the insult. These are also usually about geeky things that cost lots of money, because these battles take place on the Internet where tech-savvy people get rowdy, and the more expensive a purchase, the greater the loyalty to it.
Once a person is branded, they will defend their brand by finding flaws in the alternative choice and pointing out benefits in their own.There are a number of cognitive biases which converge to create this behavior."
You can read more about it here: https://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/05/19/fanboyism-and-brand-loyalty/
Re: Eye-Opening PS5 Sales Data Reveals Why Microsoft Is Porting Xbox Games
I wonder how many of those Bethesda games might not have released on Xbox due to some timed-exclusivity deal, if Microsoft hadn't bought them. 😁
Good thing everyone gets to play these games.
Re: Oblivion Remastered Still Broken and Buggy on PS5, Even After Patch 1.2
That's a faithful recreation of the original experience. 😁
Re: Sony's Horizon Franchise Has Sold a Wild 38 Million Units Worldwide
So the Horizon franchise has 8 million more than Elden Ring (30+ million units worldwide). Not bad.
Re: PS5 Fans Getting 'Really Carried Away' with Job Listing Which Implied More Exclusives Could Be Ported to Xbox, Switch
@Godot25 Weren't there also the releases of God of War Ragnarok (PC), Until Dawn Remake (PS5 & PC), Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered (PS5 & PC) The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered (PC), Days Gone Remastered (PS5 & PC) and Midnight Murder Club (PS5 & PC) in the recent months? Looks like PC is now a solid part in PlayStation's multiplatform release startegy.
Re: PS5 Fans Getting 'Really Carried Away' with Job Listing Which Implied More Exclusives Could Be Ported to Xbox, Switch
@T-Bone09
I think it might be a misunderstanding that Death Stranding "sold" 19 million units. Kojima Productions announced 1 day after the Xbox release in November last year that, it "connected with over 19 million players worldwide". That number probably includes those who played the game on PS Plus, PC GamePass and as part of the free Epic Store giveaway.
At the end of March 2025 Kojima Productions reported 20 million players. It's reasonable to think that many of those new players came via Xbox.
Another way how I get a certain estimate is by going to websites like exophase.com and trueachievements.com and calculating the percentage of how many users played a game on a specific platform compared to the total tracked/registered users per platform. Then I apply the percentage to hardware sales estimations of a platform from vgchartz.com to get an approximate estimate of how well a game has sold on a certain platform. The method is not perfect, but it's better than some other methods.
While Final Fantasy 16 is a decent game, I believe it is not a good reference when discussing the potential sales numbers on Xbox. It launched on Xbox under sub-optimal conditions, shadow-dropped with little buzz, no discount and better hot alternatives available.
Also the article reported here on PushSquare abouth the sales estimate by Alinea Analytics of "22.000 sold copies" is very questionable. Apparently their estimations are based on user reviews on a platform's store.
In my opinion Sony PlayStation already are a multiplatform publisher, as they are releasing the majority of all their tent pole games on PC and slowly they are releasing a few titles on Nintendo and Xbox. They are just prioritizing the PlayStation platform, which makes total sense. We can discuss all day, how "PC is not competing with PlayStation" or how "Nintendo is not competing with PlayStation", but in the end it's all about gaming competing for our free time. 😁
Re: Sony Job Listing Implies More PS5 Exclusives Will Be Ported to Xbox, Switch
@T-Bone09 So now that Sony has such a momentum and Xbox's console business is declining, Sony should just sit back instead of expanding their business? Their user base is secured, hardly anyone will switch from PS to an Xbox now.
Final Fantasy 16 also didn't do as well on PlayStation as Square Enix expected. The opinions on Final Fantasy 16 from the PlayStation community were somewhat mixed. With no hype and no positive word of mouth how is Final Fantasy 16 supposed to do better on Xbox (especially with Oblivion Remastered, Clair Obscur E33 and Doom: The Dark Ages releasing shortly before)? In the end what counts for Square Enix is that they make a profit from releasing FF16 on Xbox, it doesn't need to do any dents in the sales numbers. Why did we bring up Final Fantasy 16 again? 😁
On the other hand Death Stranding Director's Cut apparently did quite well on Xbox. 😉
Re: Xbox's Gears of War: E-Day Seemingly in Development for PS5
Hopefully it does well on all platforms and helps getting more frequent Gears of War games in the future.
Re: Sony Job Listing Implies More PS5 Exclusives Will Be Ported to Xbox, Switch
@T-Bone09
Helldivers is a Sony first party game, despite Arrowhead Studio being a 3rd party develop. Sony PlayStation own the IP, funded the development and published the game. So Sony decides on which platforms the game is published.
It's like Pokemon is a first party Nintendo IP despite Game Freak being a 3rd party developer.
Sony doesn't "need Xbox", but what Sony cares more about than their hardcore fanbase are money and their shareholders.
Helldivers 2 is one of the very few successful Sony-owned live-service games, with a steady income. The most logical thing from a financial perspective is to make it available on as many systems as possible.
Re: Sony Job Listing Implies More PS5 Exclusives Will Be Ported to Xbox, Switch
@LogicStrikesAgain
Console hardware can differentiate on many other aspects. PS5 has the Dual Sense controllers, more flexible SSD extension, backward compatibility to PS4/PS2/PS1, PS+ subscription service, PSVR2. Xbox Series S|X has GamePass, Quick Resume, more robust backward compatibility with AutoHDR and FPS Boost.
Apple and Google have competing platforms (iOS vs Android) and devices (iPhone vs Pixel), yet they don't make their services/applications exclusive to their own platforms. You can use YouTube, Google Maps or Gmail on Apple devices. You can watch Apple TV on Android devices.
In previous generations exclusive games helped to highlight the specific features of consoles, but ever since console hardware switched to standard X86 PC architecture, there's hardly a case where an exclusive game highlights the strenghts of the hardware (with some rare exceptions like Asteo Bot in 2024).
With ballooning development costs and expensive projects being cancelled it's financially more feasible to release games on as many systems as possible in order to increase the game's reach.
Will it really "dilute the brand" if Sony releases their games on Xbox and Nintendo? They've been already releasing their biggest titles on PC for over 5 years now, yet the brand is as strong as ever. Everyone knows that those games (God of War, Uncharted, The Las of Us, Days Gone, Helldivers) are PlayStation games.
The issues that Xbox is facing are different as they made many terrible decisions with inconsistent, nont-player-focused messaging and terrible marketing of their products. They lost a lot of good will with the Xbox 360 RROD debacle and the terrible Xbox One launch.
I bet if PlayStation would start releasing any of their 2+ year old games on Xbox and Nintendo, the large majority of people will stay with PlayStation. Those who would switch, were not happy with PlayStation in the first place.
Re: Sony Job Listing Implies More PS5 Exclusives Will Be Ported to Xbox, Switch
@Gamer83
@LogicStrikesAgain
The difference is that Netflix, HBO max, Disney+, Apple+, etc. are services which I can subscribe to and consume their content on any device which I have. I don't need to buy a new Apple branded TV, to watch Apple+, I can do that on my Sony Bravia Google TV. I can buy for example HBO's The Last of Us Season 1 on blu-ray discs from Amazon and can watch it on whatever player I have. If I go to Burger King, I don't need to buy a certain car brand just to be able to consume one of their exclusive burgers.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are hardware-wise pretty much the same, probably 90% of the games released are on both systems. Having to buy an Xbox if you already have a PlayStation, which does basically the same, just to play a few "exclusive games" is very inconvenient.
Re: Sony Job Listing Implies More PS5 Exclusives Will Be Ported to Xbox, Switch
@SMJ
Unfortunately many are still caught in a "console war" mentality. They are very nostalgic for a time where console exclusives truly pushed the gaming medium forward and provided them with unforgettable experiences.
They don't want gaming to change and will find all sorts of justifications why they think that exclusive games are better, hoping to relive those past memories. They feel somehow special if something releases "exclusively" to them rather than for everyone. They treat the current 1st party releases of once exclusive games like hostage exchanges.
You'll find this mentality in all communities, including Xbox and PC. It's actually kind of similar to politics. In the end gaming should be about inclusion of everyone and enjoying fun games. Too bad some will advocate against that.
Re: Sony Job Listing Implies More PS5 Exclusives Will Be Ported to Xbox, Switch
I hope this opens up some PlayStation 1st party ports to the Evercade platform. Games like Gran Turismo, Legend of Dragoon, WipeOut, Ape Escape, Medieval, Syphon Filter, G-Police would be incredible on Evercade. 😄
Re: Sony Job Listing Implies More PS5 Exclusives Will Be Ported to Xbox, Nintendo
@get2sammyb
Does Sony PlayStation really care about what their hardcore fans on PushSquare think? Their numbers show a different story: Compared to PS4, despite launching the majority of their games on PC now and despite no significant console price reductions, the PS5 is selling just as well as the PS4 and people on PS5 are spending more money than ever before.
PlayStation is the default go-to console, Xbox as a console is irrelevant in many markets (especially Asia). While next-gen will most likely have again a long cross-gen transition phase, those who care about consoles will continue buying PlayStation. The PS6 will have several time-exclusive games, that's incentive enough for most PlayStation players.
They most likely have access to platform's potential sales numbers which we don't know about. Otherwise they wouldn't consider releasing PlayStation games on Xbox if the "sales are in the toilet". Apparently Death Stranding Director's Cut did quite well on Xbox despite being 5 years old and as it's a "Sony Interactive Entertainment" game, they most likely have access to any relevant data.
Re: Sony Job Listing Implies More PS5 Exclusives Will Be Ported to Xbox, Nintendo
This is good news. The more people get to play these amazing PlayStation games the better. 🙂
Re: Sony's Not Done Finding New Ways to Sell You The Last of Us
Removed
Re: In Unsurprising News, Even More Xbox Ports Are Allegedly En Route to PS5
@lazarus11 Helldivers 2 is heavily promoted as a PlayStation Studios production on the PlayStation website, right next to Astro Bot, Spider-Man and Until Dawn: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/corporate/playstation-studios/
Even according to Sony PlayStation's own definition (as explained by Shuhei Yoshida) Helldivers is a "first party title" as they (Sony) are the owner of the Helldivers IP: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2025/02/sony-clarifies-the-difference-between-first-party-second-party-and-so-on
Re: Sony's Not Done Finding New Ways to Sell You The Last of Us
Next are a LEGO Creator "Infected Head" set, a The Last of Us Survivor's cook book and fashion collection. 😄