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Hermen Hulst: "Live service games will come day and date on PS5 and PC"

Mr Moose

Member
No chance.

Think of all those small 3rd party publishers from the late 90s like Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Take 2 etc...

They all became massive companies because they went day and date with everything.

Hardware is losing relevance in the modern era.
Hey, get out of here, Phil.
9d20a3ba55a4efb8769737295400c800.gif
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
That way of thinking about it got shut down on the internet when the first started these ports. I wonder if that's the full story.

Anyway, it's not going to work that way long term. PC players will wait, and I think he knows this. I think this is just a medium term way to scrape some extra money off the top.

Hulst never said console, he said Playstation platform, and that wasn't a mistake.
Well, if they think they can launch a PC store of their own, especially after that Helldivers 2 debacle, they're sorely mistaken.

He's deluded if he thinks any PC player will be enticed to play sequels on their platform. They clearly don't know them.
True, but it would be even worse if they put their SP games on there day one.

I think they should just phase out the practice entirely by the time PS6 approaches the market.
 

nial

Member
"Just wait a little more"
They've been saying this for YEARS now, how much do we have to wait for SP games day 1 on PC?
 

Alphagear

Member
No chance.

Think of all those small 3rd party publishers from the late 90s like Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Take 2 etc...

They all became massive companies because they went day and date with everything.

Hardware is losing relevance in the modern era.

Nonsense.

With Hardware sales comes PS Plus subscriptions, 100% revenue from 1st party games and 30% from 3rd party.

You reckon they will sacrifice that just for PC sales which they lose 30% to Steam.

Please.
 

GHG

Gold Member
"Just wait a little more"
They've been saying this for YEARS now, how much do we have to wait for SP games day 1 on PC?

Just have a read through the thread I posted above. It's the same guys on their knees, still begging and wishing over a year and a half later.

Still they wait.

Look at this gem as an example:

So it was 2 years....now it's one year!

So, 6 months next year....then day and date in 2024?

It's all so painfully transparent. At the same time, back then these were the people telling us the Xbox strategy is the superior one from a business perspective. If that was the case then why not seek to maintain that edge?

E Entertainment GIF by E!
 
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demonstr8

Banned
PC players don't have to pay for PlayStation Plus. Also, the more consumers Sony drives to other platforms such as PC the smaller the consumer base they have to generate add on sales from those same consumers. These are the two most profitable product lines for PlayStation and are also the ones seeing growth. Also, sequels to existing tentpole franchises such as Horizon Forbidden West and Spider Man 2 are selling slower or less in total relative to their 1st instalments (please correct me if I'm wrong). On top of that PS5 has sold less WW than PS4 at the same point in time although I know there are various factors involved in this sales trajectory. I still believe these changes are a strategy looking at short term profit at the expense of the long term standing of the business. You only have to look at Xbox versus Nintendo right now.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
No chance.

Think of all those small 3rd party publishers from the late 90s like Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Take 2 etc...

They all became massive companies because they went day and date with everything.

Hardware is losing relevance in the modern era.
Hardware will only lose relevance when the manufacturers themselves undermine it.
The truth is that the hardware manufacturers are where a shit ton of money is made, and eroding that erodes a whole pipeline. Walled gardens and exclusivity are a healthy and sustainable thing for this industry. That is, if you want the industry to be mostly recognizable to what it has been for the last 20 years.

However, Sony should, at some point, just reorient to the Nintendo route of pure isolationism. Playing chicken with PC gamers is a waste of effort beyond the short term, very minute cash flow, and they do not need to replicate anything Microsoft did to any extent.
 

GudOlRub

Member
I do wonder how many people are actually persuaded to throw 500$ on a console after playing a game vs how many more copies Sony'd sell if they sold the game on PC at launch as well and took advantage of the marketing hype for both console and PC together.
Anecdotal, but my friends who do not own a PS5 are quite comfortable waiting a few years for a PC release.
The only game that I believe might change some of their minds is GTA 6 but even then I'm not sure.
 

Topher

Gold Member
I'm a PC player. I bought a PS5 specifically to play big games I don't want to wait for as soon as they come out. I still can't play Demon's Souls or GT7 on PC. I wanted to play FF7:Rebirth ASAP. Same with GTA 6. Their strategy is aimed precisely at people like me who refuse to wait.

Same here. I don't like waiting for Sony first party games so I buy the console. Honestly that why I've been in favor of first party PS games on PC day one, but I also get why they think that's a bad idea.
 

feynoob

Banned
I'm a PC player. I bought a PS5 specifically to play big games I don't want to wait for as soon as they come out. I still can't play Demon's Souls or GT7 on PC. I wanted to play FF7:Rebirth ASAP. Same with GTA 6. Their strategy is aimed precisely at people like me who refuse to wait.
No wonder you keep docking those yoga practices.
 
I'm a PC player. I bought a PS5 specifically to play big games I don't want to wait for as soon as they come out. I still can't play Demon's Souls or GT7 on PC. I wanted to play FF7:Rebirth ASAP. Same with GTA 6. Their strategy is aimed precisely at people like me who refuse to wait.
It’s funny, I’ve got a PS5 but I’m still holding out for GT7 on PC. Although that’s probably more due to it being easier to use my wheel at my desk instead of the living room.

Also probably because the insane cost of PS games now in AUS. GT7 30% off is still $80+ here
 

tmlDan

Member
I do wonder how many people are actually persuaded to throw 500$ on a console after playing a game vs how many more copies Sony'd sell if they sold the game on PC at launch as well and took advantage of the marketing hype for both console and PC together.
Anecdotal, but my friends who do not own a PS5 are quite comfortable waiting a few years for a PC release.
The only game that I believe might change some of their minds is GTA 6 but even then I'm not sure.
I think they have the right strategy at this time, live service games are made for PC. Single player games don't do very well in general on PC unless they're in the vein of what's big on PC (Strategy, survival, co-op). Narrative focused single player games do just okay on PC even if they launch on it, and some do horribly. They're better off selling it later and getting 100% of the revenue on PS while launching live service games day one, what PC thrives on.

What are the biggest games on PC? all live service by a large mile, or online in some capacity.
 
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Welcome to 2022.



And for what it's worth, they first outlined this in an earnings call in 2021.
You DO realize that games take time to make, right? And that the games in development back then... are still in development today right? You DO realize that any shift in strategy will take years to materialize, right? They aren't going to announce "day and date" until they are in a position to reliably co-develop and release their games simultaneously. That means that their SP studios will need to hire, and integrate more developers to handle PC development alongside the console game. You DO know that it takes time right? Naughty Dog handled the port of TLOU P1 in house. Sony Bend did the Days Gone port in house. Nixxes is helping other studios integrate PC development into their pipeline.. developing PC versions of their engines to make the process easier in the future.

When the Live Service games take the risk and pressure off of the AAA studios, and Sony has fully dedicated PC development teams integrated into their core studios... they will be ready to announce the shift in strategy.
 

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
Just have a read through the thread I posted above. It's the same guys on their knees, still begging and wishing over a year and a half later.

Still they wait.

Look at this gem as an example:



It's all so painfully transparent. At the same time, back then these were the people telling us the Xbox strategy is the superior one from a business perspective. If that was the case then why not seek to maintain that edge?

E Entertainment GIF by E!

Yep

Same guys claiming GamePass is the future, that it’s profitable, that Sony can’t compete unless they do day 1 on ps plus.

These guys are clueless and have no idea what they’re talking about.

Sony has been very transparent about their pc strategy; what Hermen is saying is nothing new - he said the same thing years ago. It hasn’t changed

We can look at Microsoft’s day 1 pc strategy to know it’s horrible for your platform, which is why Sony won’t go near it.

These clowns also think all pc gamers are the same master race high end pc rig elitists that would never buy a console which is total rubbish. Many of them may start on PC and decide a console is right for them.
 
Day one GAAS games is understandable, but day one single player games is a terrible for Sony especially if they want to continue to sell consoles. Day one exclusives really hurt Xbox hardware sales, so I don’t see it really working out for Sony either because there would literally by no reasons to procure a PS5.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Day one GAAS games is understandable, but day one single player games is a terrible for Sony especially if they want to continue to sell consoles. Day one exclusives really hurt Xbox hardware sales, so I don’t see it really working out for Sony either because there would literally by no reasons to procure a PS5.
What Sony realized is that the majority of their players aren't really choosing between console and PC. They're choosing between consoles. Grabbing that PC audience would grow the brand immensely. It's only a matter of time. Look at all their slides, they're obsessed with "expanding to other platforms" and rightfully so.
 
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