jmoss

@thefourfoldroot1 they are taking notes. They're going to follow the same model profitability

PC and mobile gaming are the only areas of the industry showing growth. Sony continues to make easily avoidable errors.

@Victor_Meldrew lmao you pay to use the internet you already pay for

Play with fire get burned

@breakneck they have no choice given the stagnant and now shrinking console markets. More people going to mobile and PC than anywhere. Just stop making garbage decisions.

@Dom_31
Well that aged poorly given the refunds being given out on Steam

I’ve said since they announced PSVR2 the way to avoid failure was to make it work with PCVR. VR is incredibly niche and a lot of VR enthusiasts are PC users. Opening the hardware for use with SteamVR not only would have sold a lot more hardware but way more software. It was too costly a product to release to such a limited potential user base in what is already a recession in all but name here in the States. Not shocking. Hopefully they don’t ditch support super quick.

@Impossibilium the game stays in the top 10 most played games on Steam usually hovering around the top 5. It’s doing just fine.

Given the next gen consoles were already behind PCs when they launched I’d say it’s fine to bring out a pro whenever. Having options for your gamers is never a bad thing. You’re not forced to buy it people. But it would likely sell very well.

@BeerIsAwesome it’s key to remember Microsoft is doing something completely new business model wise to gaming. They’ve been very open that the goal is to have enough content creators in house that down the line they’re a machine churning out game pass content. You’re right they could easily go the Sony route but the business model isn’t sell as many boxes as possible, it’s keep them on the sub service. They’d be on PS with game pass tomorrow if Sony was ok with it. Netflix and Spotify dominated by being available everywhere and having a ton of in house content creators. That’s the model Microsoft aims to copy. They’re even signing deals with EA hence why EA Play has been part of game pass ultimate for years now. To Sony this is all about COD and the money it makes them. Microsoft has likely gains more revenues getting King than COD and gets them into mobile where they have zero presence. Battlenet and WOW money also a big get as PC users where most game pass growth is. This deal won’t effect PS at all currently, but they know it’ll impact down the line. COD being associated with the 360 then the PS4 did more for both those consoles than any exclusive either had.

@BeerIsAwesome well you questioned why EA wouldn’t have an interest so I said possible reasons they don’t care and are ready to embrace streaming model. Sony reached out for people against the deal and only Google and Nvidia came calling. EA kind of took offense when Sony suggested nothing could compete with COD as evidenced by EA publicly stating afterwards that Apex does very well. They’re very behind mergers like this for obvious reasons, possible big payday down the road for them.

@BeerIsAwesome “ Somewhere in the middle of all this, I'm actually quite surprised that companies like EA aren't opposing this.” That was from your post so it appeared you were questioning why EA wasn’t rallying against it. They don’t care for the way Sony gouged them is a reason they’re not likely to care or help them. The business model on shooters has changed. Battlefield hasn’t sold well but Apex Legends has dominated. Free to play is the path forward because it provides more players access and the devs are making more money. There’s no reversing what’s happened now. Once EA realized they’d make way more by having kids ask their parents for $5-$10 once a week than $70 even once every few months the decision was made. I’d be shocked if next BF game goes to full retail price.

@thefourfoldroot1 and while streaming is a chief concern it literally states in the documents that there was concern over cornering the cloud market. Hence why Microsoft responded with a 10 year deal with cloud streaming competitor NVIDIA.

@thefourfoldroot1 it’s far closer than you think. The big boys of tech are all in racing each other towards it.

@thefourfoldroot1 I don’t think streaming will be a replacement for the competitive or hardcore gaming crowd that soon. But we’re the by far the minority of gaming customers.

@thefourfoldroot1 and the key there will be if it’s more profitable for companies like EA to go to streaming their products than producing and shipping them. The sub model is also proven to earn far more than just standard sales when it comes to other mediums like music and film/tv. So that would be where some could come from. I think we’re about 10 away from it being really prevalent. Sony thinks it’s close too. One of their chief concerns over this ABK deal was the cloud streaming market being locked down early.

@thefourfoldroot1 Given what starlink has been able to do in recent years I think it’s closer that. But yes as always in certain countries it will arrive first. I’d guess outside the States and Europe the priority would be Japan and India. As for the infrastructure if there’s enough profit to be made the companies will find a way to fund it. That’s all up to their cost benefit analysis teams I suppose.

@thefourfoldroot1 I think you’re a bit off on when streaming will become relevant. You should go look at internet speeds looked like just 10-20 years ago. How far tech has come in 30 years is pretty ridiculous. Streaming working at high level is a lot closer than people think. Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Tencent all pouring lots into it.

@BeerIsAwesome EA and others aren’t coming to Sony’s defense for several reasons. The main one being how Sony gouges them and forces them to pay for crossplay to be implemented. Smaller ones include Sony burying other companies saying nobody can touch COD. Whiles it true Battlefield has struggled in recent years Apex Legends has not. Sonys business practices haven’t earned them any fans with the likes of EA.

For the hardware you're getting this price isn't bad. Yea the barrier of entry is high. That's why VR remains so niche. Meta is taking the huge losses trying to mainstream it with their Quest headsets. For now it's still very costly for higher end experiences. If you already have a PS5 and don't have a PC this is a fantastic buy in my opinion as a VR enthusiast. I personally will stick with the Quest line as I like the stand alone store in addition to the PCVR use. I expect to see the Sony VR titles come to PC eventually as that's their plan with other first party releases. Hardware looks great for the price though.

@rjejr well the rumor is they're not doing any showcases that could show off them paying to have exclusive titles as they're currently making the case for why Microsoft shouldn't be allowed to do that.

This game peaked in VR for me. No need to go back.

@Grumblevolcano and both those games will be fighting for second place behind the juggernaut that will be MW II. Maybe further back pending the promotions for Black Friday around FIFA, Madden and NBA 2K. Sonic Frontiers should sell very well too.

Good to see they're trying their own thing rather than chasing Forza Horizon.

This isn't a big deal at all. This current gen of consoles from both manufacturers are basically mini AMD PCs. PC game development has involved scaling up or down for various hardware settings for decades. If you own a PS5 it's like owning the top GPU with best CPU at the time and you'll get the most optimal experience with more bells and whistles features. The PS4 crowd will just have access to a version that features very little of the bells and whistles turned on and runs at a worse frame rate and lower fidelity. The scaling may be slightly more work for devs but in no way is it holding them back. It never has on PC which is always ahead of the consoles when it comes to performance standards.

What works for a trillion dollar company may not work for a billion dollar one. Microsoft can afford the heavy upfront investment. They also don't pay for overheard of the servers as they use their own Azure servers where as Sony has to pay Microsoft to run PS Plus off same servers. They have a solid infrastructure advantage when it comes to establishing a streaming/sub service. I'm a huge fan of Game Pass and have bought tons of games off their since you get them discounted long as they're in the service. Let's me try then buy discounted. Honestly the way Microsoft has set it up with basic Game Pass being same cost as Gold and covering online play too makes zero sense to own a Xbox and not sub to Game Pass. Sony may in fact not be able or willing to take the same potential loss upfront. Time will tell how Sony evolves in the future as the industry moves more towards selling ecosystems and away from selling boxes.

I've had a lot of fun. If you own a Xbox or PC definitely worth a look in Game Pass. At $40 even as a metal head and huge FPS fanboy I'd have to say wait for sale.

Lot of posturing for nothing. The deal is going to go through. Sony likely wouldn't want to have to go to court and go through all the deals they've had in place preventing other games from hitting rival platforms, hear from Bethesda how they were trying to do it with Starfield before the Microsoft deal or about how they're currently keeping Xbox owned games off Xbox through deals they signed. The argument they'd try to make is COD is so important they're be crippled without it. Hard to make that claim when Nintendo exists without COD. Even harder when Microsoft saying don't worry you can have it still and have Minecraft to point to as an example. There was no agreement signed there so even offering that is unheard of. Sony just knows what COD in Game Pass means to them and is desperate for it not to happen.

Microsoft is building their service around extremely popular franchises and multiplayer games. Smart. Sony is trying to play catch up with their future titles. Right now though staring down a service that ties in all these major franchises is tough. Especially given that Microsoft has both deeper pockets and a lower cost of running the service since they own the servers.

@stvevan I mean to be fair the higher end gaming PCs are already beyond what the current gen of consoles can do so any upgrade from there not really necessary.

@zupertramp that's essentially what they've done in America. You can't find anything but the Horizon bundle.

@zupertramp while that's true they did so under the guise of providing more value. Sony could easily toss a year of PS plus or Ratchet in. Doubtful though.

@3Above yeah I think Embracer saw the value in the property and stepped in to do the right thing. The Show is interesting as it's out of their hands. If they wanted to keep making the game it was going multiplatform per MLB. Though they should've counter punched once MLB signed the game pass deal with PS plus offering.

Sonic Frontiers and God of War shall meet in an epic battle for third place on the sales charts behind juggernauts Modern Warfare II and Pokémon. Both SF and GOW will do just fine. Ones got quality reputation behind it and the other is the biggest/most well known gaming character not named Mario.

@3Above given the game is also launching on PC and later coming to Xbox I don't see it being something Sony would want to allocate a team too. Also Crystal Dynamics delivered multiple triple A games of quality before the Avengers. They just weren't suited for live service.

@Would_you_kindly I don't think they'll do their own storefront. PC players aren't fans of multiple launchers as is. I bet they take the money from Epic who's trying to build their launcher.

@truerbluer I mean that's been the case forever though. Stuff like Battlefield, Overwatch and COD cost PC players nothing a month to play while console players have to pay for the platforms services.

@Notoriousmakavel be nice since it's a do ware at this point basically. I've actually been playing RTCW with some mods to help it run better in modern hardware on my PC.

@Notoriousmakavel yeah will have to see what happens with heavily licensed stuff like Guitar Hero

@4kgk2 what does that do for them though? Zero of Squares big titles are coming to Xbox anyway.

@Notoriousmakavel yeah it's safe to say they'll be day one or maybe even a week early in "beta" on Game Pass eventually. A bg blow would be adding the old titles to game pass as well. There are so many COD fans that yearn for the old titles that would eat them up at 60 fps with the boost Microsoft's teams would provide.

@OthmaneAD did they or did they sell well because PS consoles sold well? The shift from COD competitive being played on PlayStation from xbox was big for lot of people. Not to mention there was no crossplay at the start of last gen. So Sony had the most powerful console, the cheaper console and hosted the competitive scene for the most popular franchise in gaming. That made it the platform to play the most popular gaming franchise in the world. All of that played roles in the platforms success. We don't think of it because we are hardcore gamers but there are people out there that only have a console to play COD, Madden, NBA 2k, FIFA etc. They see their favorites cheaper and crossplay is a thing now and they will go where they get more value. Just this in Game Pass vs $70 is a big blow for Sony.