Holammer
Member
That's a question I've been pondering since Sony published the Steam store page for Horizon: Zero Dawn following intense speculation and leaks. The page is still basic with little info, footage and screenshots captured on PS4Pro and it'll be updated before release (which is *soon*).
It's possible H:ZD is a one-time thing, a favor to Guerilla that'll be pushed out of the door and never talked of again, but there's been further speculation that other Sony first party & second party titles are slated for PC as well. This might be garb perpetrated by e-celeb wannabes chasing social media clout, trolls having a good time or PCMR trying to will it into existence by port begging real hard. If you bet money on this, it's the safest bet.
But let's assume for some jolly co-speculation that more is coming, how will Sony handle it?
If Sony releases other games I refuse to believe they'll let Valve and Epic handle the sales for them, they'll want to establish a foothold of their own on the PC platform, which is 100% free real estate with no strings attached, no Google Play demanding earth and water, a market almost as big as the mobile space. So PC releases should require a Playstation Account and a Playstation Store client installed, similarly to Origin and Uplay. I'd imagine the store pages will look something like this:
Clearly a mock-up, Denuvo is missing.
It'll be a turn off for some, but Sony should want you to enter their ecosystem and preferably end up buying goods and services straight from them. I'd be surprised and even weirded out if they just release a bunch of games without such measures. A vast majority of third party games sold on PSN also have PC versions, why not try to get a 30% slice of that cake too? Especially in markets with a growing middle class (like India/Vietnam) where console ownership is uncommon and PC is the norm.
In business there's a bit of give and take, mixing of blood. What can Valve offer in return except for a huge user base? How about Half Life: Alyx as a PS5 VR launch title along with Counterstrike and Dota 2? Then there's crossplay and crossbuy options, if we want to get real loco, a cross platform digital inventory.
Imagine having Gaben turning up on the presentation tomorrow announcing something like that? That'd be wild. It'd be the brown note of the video games industry.
What do you think? If they have a PC strategy at all, how will they handle it? Now or for the future.
bonus speculation: With H:ZD as a showcase product, Decima enters the engine fray and is free for games sold on Playstation devices.
It's possible H:ZD is a one-time thing, a favor to Guerilla that'll be pushed out of the door and never talked of again, but there's been further speculation that other Sony first party & second party titles are slated for PC as well. This might be garb perpetrated by e-celeb wannabes chasing social media clout, trolls having a good time or PCMR trying to will it into existence by port begging real hard. If you bet money on this, it's the safest bet.
But let's assume for some jolly co-speculation that more is coming, how will Sony handle it?
If Sony releases other games I refuse to believe they'll let Valve and Epic handle the sales for them, they'll want to establish a foothold of their own on the PC platform, which is 100% free real estate with no strings attached, no Google Play demanding earth and water, a market almost as big as the mobile space. So PC releases should require a Playstation Account and a Playstation Store client installed, similarly to Origin and Uplay. I'd imagine the store pages will look something like this:
Clearly a mock-up, Denuvo is missing.
It'll be a turn off for some, but Sony should want you to enter their ecosystem and preferably end up buying goods and services straight from them. I'd be surprised and even weirded out if they just release a bunch of games without such measures. A vast majority of third party games sold on PSN also have PC versions, why not try to get a 30% slice of that cake too? Especially in markets with a growing middle class (like India/Vietnam) where console ownership is uncommon and PC is the norm.
In business there's a bit of give and take, mixing of blood. What can Valve offer in return except for a huge user base? How about Half Life: Alyx as a PS5 VR launch title along with Counterstrike and Dota 2? Then there's crossplay and crossbuy options, if we want to get real loco, a cross platform digital inventory.
Imagine having Gaben turning up on the presentation tomorrow announcing something like that? That'd be wild. It'd be the brown note of the video games industry.
What do you think? If they have a PC strategy at all, how will they handle it? Now or for the future.
bonus speculation: With H:ZD as a showcase product, Decima enters the engine fray and is free for games sold on Playstation devices.