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Jim Ryan: PlayStation about big blockbuster games that cost a lot to make, Game Pass model would not make financial sense

Rolla

Banned
"But is the PS5 fighting the last generation's console war?

Xbox has a compelling offer with its Game Pass Ultimate subscription service. So even if Xbox doesn't sell as many physical consoles as PlayStation, it may still prove to be at least as profitable.

When I questioned Mr Ryan about the possibility of a similar service, he said PlayStation was about big blockbuster games that cost a lot to make, so a similar subscription service model would not make financial sense.

We will find out whether he sticks to that strategy in 2021 or beyond once supply meets demand"

 
I really don't see how gamepass is worth it for MS. I imagine they are bleeding money.

Yeah no chance they are making money, unless they dont pay to devs at all.

People bragging how they got game pass for 1$ / month and even if the official price is 5-15$, divide that to hundred(s) of games = it is pennies what individual games gain.

Kind of like netflix, losing billions to gain popularity and hoping to turn into profit some day
 

chilichote

Member
Gamepass is disadvantageous for all players in the medium term. It will mean that inexpensive games will be developed in short intervals, because complex/expensive development is not worthwhile with this price model.

So I can understand Ryan there, although I'm sure that if the chances of making more money with it were good than the traditional way, then he would do just that.
 

mejin

Member
pretends-to-be-shocked-gif-8.gif
 

TBiddy

Member
Yeah no chance they are making money, unless they dont pay to devs at all.

People bragging how they got game pass for 1$ / month and even if the official price is 5-15$, divide that to hundred(s) of games = it is pennies what individual games gain.

Kind of like netflix, losing billions to gain popularity and hoping to turn into profit some day

You should really do your research on Netflix, champ. Comparing Game Pass to Netflix, financially speaking is not what you want to do. It doesn't speak to your advantage.
 

Kimahri

Banned
Gamepass is disadvantageous for all players in the medium term. It will mean that inexpensive games will be developed in short intervals, because complex/expensive development is not worthwhile with this price model.

So I can understand Ryan there, although I'm sure that if the chances of making more money with it were good than the traditional way, then he would do just that.

I see that as a good thing. Games are getting bigger and prettier, but not better in my eyes. If game pass mean more games of the quality of Wasteland 3,I'd take that over The Last of Us and Horizon any day of the week.

I welcome more lower budget games with smaller teams.

That said, insinuating Microsoft is not spending big money on some big games is pretty daft.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Yeah no chance they are making money, unless they dont pay to devs at all.

People bragging how they got game pass for 1$ / month and even if the official price is 5-15$, divide that to hundred(s) of games = it is pennies what individual games gain.

Kind of like netflix, losing billions to gain popularity and hoping to turn into profit some day

No way... just like Uber, you are telling me companies would not dig a hole of billions in the red to hope that user base will mean revenue some day? No way... </s>...
 

chilichote

Member
I see that as a good thing. Games are getting bigger and prettier, but not better in my eyes. If game pass mean more games of the quality of Wasteland 3,I'd take that over The Last of Us and Horizon any day of the week.

I welcome more lower budget games with smaller teams.

That said, insinuating Microsoft is not spending big money on some big games is pretty daft.
Yes, basically I'm in favor of getting more variation in the game industry. But if Gamepass catches on, the AAA titles will die out and part of the variation will die with it.
 
The plan with Game Pass was always to lose money early on getting as many developers and players on board as possible. Once you've gotten to a point where both groups have started to depend on the service, you can start squeezing them by offering less to the devs and asking for more from the players.
Like going from 4 to 10 euro for gamepass on PC on the 24th. Admittedly the 4 euro a month was during the beta period but it's not like it works any better now.
 
See Mr Ryan. I don't give a fuck how much your games cost to make when I get the chance to play them for much cheaper. I don't care about the company behind it in 99% of the cases. Why should I?

You are not getting their games for much cheaper. If you are not interested in them, choose the other alternative.
 

Kagey K

Banned
The thing is if they could even wrangle a portion of thier audience into the subscription they would make more in the long run.

The idea is the subs pay for the development to the point that it’s free or profitable.
 

Starfield

Member
You are not getting their games for much cheaper. If you are not interested in them, choose the other alternative.
Eventually those games will come out on PC bc they know they can make more money with their IP over there (look at hzd, heavy rain, dtrt bcm hmn, etc.) and that's where I strike with a cheap key.

Im not in a rush to play these games
 

Kagey K

Banned
If you can bring in more money than you are paying out, it doesn’t matter what the game costs to make, its essentially free money.
 
Eventually those games will come out on PC bc they know they can make more money with their IP over there (look at hzd, heavy rain, dtrt bcm hmn, etc.) and that's where I strike with a cheap key.

Im not in a rush to play these games

Knock yourself out. Where is the problem then? Aren’t you happy that you will get to play them at a later date?
 

Tickrate

Member
MS most likely has a per-play and or per-play-length kind of system similar to music streaming services.
Besides being on game pass has proven to be a sizeable bump in player interest, which in turn does bump up sales when it's eventually removed.
Sony refusing to offer the same is just smart marketing, but I do think this will eventually harm them in the long term.
 

sobaka770

Banned
Makes sense... Sony doesn't make long-term investment games to justify people keeping a recurring monthly sub and if they did they'd be forced to get some GaaS into your GoW2.

It doesn't mean that PSPLus collection is still a great deal because despite the fact that these games are probably not making any more money for Sony it's a very cheap way for people who never bought them to start on PS5 (or transition from XboX) and UCTrilogy+Bloodborne is worth a number of modern Gamepass titles in value still.
 
Makes sense... Sony doesn't make long-term investment games to justify people keeping a recurring monthly sub and if they did they'd be forced to get some GaaS into your GoW2.

It doesn't mean that PSPLus collection is still a great deal because despite the fact that these games are probably not making any more money for Sony it's a very cheap way for people who never bought them to start on PS5 (or transition from XboX) and UCTrilogy+Bloodborne is worth a number of modern Gamepass titles in value still.
What extra money do you need to pay to finish the campaign of gears 5, for example ?
 

Kagey K

Banned
MS most likely has a per-play and or per-play-length kind of system similar to music streaming services.
Besides being on game pass has proven to be a sizeable bump in player interest, which in turn does bump up sales when it's eventually removed.
Sony refusing to offer the same is just smart marketing, but I do think this will eventually harm them in the long term.
It’s been explained over and over by devs, it’s a flat rate. It’s not per play or by length, it’s a flat rate.
 
MS most likely has a per-play and or per-play-length kind of system similar to music streaming services.
Besides being on game pass has proven to be a sizeable bump in player interest, which in turn does bump up sales when it's eventually removed.
Sony refusing to offer the same is just smart marketing, but I do think this will eventually harm them in the long term.
Can people please not post such ignorant stuff ? I mean Wth am I reading here ?
 

sobaka770

Banned
What extra money do you need to pay to finish the campaign of gears 5, for example ?

Gears 5 has Multiplayer where a lot of focus is (cue Xbox Series S GoW 5 120FPS mp video showcase). TLOU2, GoT, GoW, Days Gone, Spiderman all launched without one which allowed to focus the development on campaign only. The two such games right now for MS is probably Wasteland 3 and Outer Worlds but those games were in development before the acquisition.
 
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Kagey K

Banned
Makes sense... Sony doesn't make long-term investment games to justify people keeping a recurring monthly sub and if they did they'd be forced to get some GaaS into your GoW2.

It doesn't mean that PSPLus collection is still a great deal because despite the fact that these games are probably not making any more money for Sony it's a very cheap way for people who never bought them to start on PS5 (or transition from XboX) and UCTrilogy+Bloodborne is worth a number of modern Gamepass titles in value still.
You realize that most of the games in the Ps+ selection are on Gamepass right? I almost want to say all of them except the Sony 1st party ones.
 

NahaNago

Member
Gamepass is disadvantageous for all players in the medium term. It will mean that inexpensive games will be developed in short intervals, because complex/expensive development is not worthwhile with this price model.

So I can understand Ryan there, although I'm sure that if the chances of making more money with it were good than the traditional way, then he would do just that.


I can see how it would make sense though if you actually buy or make studios to make those medium or smaller games games for gamepass with sprinklings of larger games every once and awhile. Gamepass would be pretty much your straight to tv stuff whereas your AAA games would be the movie theatre experiencen that several years later comes on to gamepass.
 
Gears 5 has Multiplayer where a lot of focus is (cue Xbox Series S GoW 5 120FPS mp video showcase). TLOU2, GoT, GoW, Days Gone, Spiderman all launched without one which allowed to focus the development on campaign only. The two such games right now for MS is probably Wasteland 3 and Outer Worlds but those games were in development before the acquisition.
So it is better to not have multiplayer ? Gears 5 has a lengthy and fully fledged campaign too, you know ? Plus how much extra money do you really need to spend to play and enjoy gears 5 multiplayer ?
 
Yes, basically I'm in favor of getting more variation in the game industry. But if Gamepass catches on, the AAA titles will die out and part of the variation will die with it.
So the games that MS first party has announced for the XSS/X are not AAA ? That is not how sub services work, netflix is spending billions on movies with the biggest stars of Hollywood.
 

Rolla

Banned
So the games that MS first party has announced for the XSS/X are not AAA ? That is not how sub services work, netflix is spending billions on movies with the biggest stars of Hollywood.

The "Netflix Of Games" thing has always perplexed me.

For instance filming of Game Of Thrones season takes 6-7 months a blockbuster good game can take 3-5 years minimum. And what gives me pause for thought is that in order to make a Netflix type model for gaming, you'll need to drastically reduce dev time. Which has always resulted in reduced quality for games with a broad scope.

How long has Cyberpunk been in development? I don't see that type of game ever being developed for GP. But that's just my thoughts.
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
They have there Place but for new games and all games it doesn’t make enough money to fund 1st party and pay 3rd party with new AAA games all the time.
MS and Playstation have different output of 1st party games anyway, its PlayStations Priority
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
"But is the PS5 fighting the last generation's console war?

Xbox has a compelling offer with its Game Pass Ultimate subscription service. So even if Xbox doesn't sell as many physical consoles as PlayStation, it may still prove to be at least as profitable.

When I questioned Mr Ryan about the possibility of a similar service, he said PlayStation was about big blockbuster games that cost a lot to make, so a similar subscription service model would not make financial sense.

We will find out whether he sticks to that strategy in 2021 or beyond once supply meets demand"


Glad to know that Jim Ryan isn't delusional. Good news.
 

sobaka770

Banned
So it is better to not have multiplayer ? Gears 5 has a lengthy and fully fledged campaign too, you know ? Plus how much extra money do you really need to spend to play and enjoy gears 5 multiplayer ?

It depends, it has MTX doesn't it? Could the campaign be more varied and fleshed out if it was the only focus? Would MS even greenlight it that way? Not having multiplayer is a choice, it's a commitment to releasing something short like Uncharted expansion for 6 hours of high-quality content that require full dev work (not just art team getting out skins for MTX) and cannot be justified to be sold for 15$ a month subscribtion. MS cannot afford such experiences with GamePass as-is because it's not Netflix, it has a much lower audience and will have lower audience for foreseeable future.
 

ripeavocado

Banned
Despite what he is saying all their recent actions point towards that revenue model.

Now they are about big AAA blockbusters but when everyone will be paying 10-20$ per month just to play, they won't need blockbusters, it will be easy money for them.
 
The "Netflix Of Games" thing has always perplexed me.

For instance filming of Game Of Thrones season takes 6-7 months a blockbuster good game can take 3-5 years minimum. And what gives me pause for thought is that in order to make a Netflix type model for gaming, you'll need to drastically reduce dev time. Which has always resulted in reduced quality for games with a broad scope.

How long has Cyberpunk been in development? I don't see that type of game ever being developed for GP. But that's just my thoughts.
That’s funny because I see what , at least seem to be , two very ambitious first party rpgs announced by MS (Fable, Avowed) and zero announced by Sony.
 
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