thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
This is exactly the kind of bad long-term (for Sony) scenario I'm talking about, and it'll probably become more common in sentiment as time goes on, if the strategy continues as-is (what we know of it publicly, officially), or gets more aggressive.
Although a lot of them are lunatics and basically hate PlayStation anyway, just look at the coping in the FF VII exclusivity thread on ResetERA. Look at how many think they're "protesting" (translations: throwing temper tantrums) saying they'll just get the game on PC. And that's for a 3P title; imagine them doing the same in higher frequency for 1P titles when they already can gauge a pattern.
And like I said, over there the ones upset with that FF exclusivity stuff are butthurt Xbox & Nintendo (mainly the former, some of the latter) fanboys/fangirls for the most part. But I have seen a few more actual PS enthusiasts showing similar sentiments about just "waiting for PC" or switching over. Some of them already have other platforms like a PC, others may not but wouldn't be against switching if they know they can get all the Sony, Microsoft, & PC games on a single platform (not just PC, but Steam in particular).
The real question is, among the millions who would normally buy PlayStations, how many of this segment are there really? I'd say they're in the minority. But the actual problem is, they also would represent the largest share of spending on a per-customer level, easily. They buy the most games, buy the most hardware (console variants, peripherals etc.), sub at the highest tiers, spend the most on MTX/DLC add-ons etc. vs other customer types. And they're among the ones this strategy at current (if it remains as it currently is) risks converting to non-PlayStation platforms.
Particularly, if they are also heavy into 3P games alongside 1P games (which they likely are), especially since for online games so many (virtually all) are cross-play and cross-progression these days. The only thing that might prevent some of the would-be switchers in that scenario is that they'd have to re-buy a lot of their library again. But new spending would be focused on a non-PS platform like PC.
But again, this only becomes a longer-term issue if Sony A: keep the window for non-GAAS AAA games to 2 years or less, B: keep porting all of their games over (or set the pattern where that is expected) and, C: have little in the way of new equivalent exclusives for PS5 (preferably from 1P, but can also be 3P) to offset the ports. And well, right now they could be doing a lot better on those three fronts.
If you don't have FOMO then waiting a year or two if of no consequence. Plus it's not too difficult to avoid spoilers (despite some claiming otherwise).
Sony's strategy at-current risks them losing out on console enthusiasts who spend at least as much if not more time playing 3P games than 1P games, especially 3P service games, because virtually all 3P games launch on PC Day 1 now. So for those enthusiasts, PC covers most of their wants in new releases from the jump, and that plus the games which are PC exclusive (like DOTA 2 & Counterstrike2 (both Valve games), or LOL, VALORANT, WOW etc.) will keep them more than busy waiting the two years (or less) for Sony's 1P AAA non-GAAS titles to come over.
Especially when the pattern seems to show it would be all games coming over, too, so those players don't even have to worry about a new1P current-gen release remaining exclusive; it'd just be a matter of when, not if.
That's the kind of dangerous precedent Sony are setting for themselves console-wise.
Most likely yeah.
Arguably the only reason GOT took 4 years is because of the proprietary engine. Insomniac's had their engine ready for PC a while now, and games like HFW are on Decima which has been on PC for a while. For all we know, GOT 2 could be simply 2 years before the PC port, maybe even less than that.
This is the precedent for conditioning Sony's ports so far have been setting up. Even if they have changed things internally, where the window for non-GAAS AAA games grows (again, IMO it should be at least 4-6 years, if not longer and some games should probably not get ported at all), it would take a while for the expectations to wear off among gamers. If GT7 and Demon's Souls end up happening, it'd just take that much longer.
And, well, if we see GOW Ragnarok and especially Spiderman 2 after that for this year or next year, we'll probably know that the plan on that front hasn't changed. At the potential future peril of PlayStation console sales & growth, but that would be Sony's decision by that point.
Be sure to look out for sales on gg.deals. GoT isn't up yet, but green man gaming has it available for preorder for 15% off.
Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT | PC - Steam | Game Keys
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Game's not even out yet and they're already getting cheaper pricing promos
That's good for the people getting it on Steam, I will say that.
) and vast multiplatform support.
