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happydolphin on 20 August 2012
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Chark said:
happydolphin said:
Chark said:
The only potential loss of revenue would be if someone was willing to buy both versions, which is pretty much non-existent. Since not every game will be on both systems, cross buy can serve as a purchase incentive and allow cross play to actually be a feasible feature since cross play can only be taken advantage of by those who buy both version, which again is almost non-existent.

Really this is how all game software should be treated. You should be able to buy the game itself and play it on the system of your choice. This is a step in the right direction and I support it 100%. 3rd parties should jump on board.

Of course it's what gamers want, but what business incentive does it give 3rd parties, that's the question in OP.

There could be a variety of incentives.

1. Cross play. Originally cross play would be an incentive to consumers to purchase both versions of the game, but that has proven itself not to be effective. With Cross buy, cross play becomes a viable feature that may attract consumers to purchase cross buy games.

2. Trophies. As much as it doesn't matter, there are those who throw massive amounts of time and money towards them. Buying and playing games that they don't like just for the trophies. Buy one game get two means buy one game get two trophy sets, some being retroactive even, will attract some people when they are deciding what to buy.

3. Selling more games will sell more games. The more people to buy your game, the bigger your fan base will become which will result in better sales. If something like cross buy increases sales for that game then other games that aren't cross buy but are in the same series or made by the same developers will hopefully sell more as a results. Basically anything helps.

4. Two games. Gamers like games and often have friends and family. With cross buy you can play the same game at the same time. Great for single player games and great for multiplayer games thanks to cross platform multiplayer. No need for split screen, no need for a second controller, no need to share.

5. Increases the PlayStation ecosystem. Vita is having a hard time selling and a free game with a purchase of a PS3 game is a nice incentive for a PS3 owner to get a Vita. If the Vita starts to sell well suddenly it becomes a very valuable system to develop games for. PS3 and Vita have some very interesting and exclusive features/functionality that developers can utilize so the stronger the environment the better it is to make games in that environment.

Since the disincentive is almost non-existent, that itself becomes an incentive to do it because the goal is to try to sell games.

1, 2, 3, and 4 are incentives for gamers. As such, they have an unproven potential for selling more games.

5 is an incentive for the developer in that it's in their best interest to see flourish a platform they intent to develop on, due to ramp up costs and R&D. However, it's once again related to the consumer, only that instead of highlighting sales of SW, you're highlighting sales of the platform.

As interesting as this analysis is, none of it demonstrates a convincing potential for sales imho, and nothing that warrants the cost for porting.

Also @almost inexistent disincntive. I'm not sure I'm understanding Chark. Are you presuming that cost and uncertain ROI is not a disincentive? That would be silly.