VideoGameAccountant said:
Just to clarify what I'm saying. I'm not saying the numbers Sony releases are wrong. I'm saying Sony likely has information that makes the PS5 look bad. The information we get from any of these games companies is pretty limited. Also, the industry tend to over report positive Sony news or spin the rest (i.e. using dollar volume rather than actual sales or any reporting on Death Standing's sales). But actions speak louder than words. Consider this: what benefit does keeping the GoW sequel, which was one of the best rated and selling first party games of the PS4, on the PS4. It wont get people to buy a PS5. Heck, it just encourages them to avoid it as their PS4 plays all the new games anyway. Not to mention the PS4 version is cheaper too. And what about third parties? Are they going to want to make next gen games when Sony isn't committed to the system. Taking a game that was exclusive to the system and then making it cross-gen does not signal the PS5 is doing well. Again, this isn't to say it's not selling well. It is. But then we have to ask the question, why are they doing this. That is what I think people should be taking away from the announcement. My guess is that they don't foresee good sales once supply is taken care of.
I think it should be pretty obvious what my claim it, but your too busy writing a narrative in your head, so it clearly went over it. As I mentioned above, the only data we have is what is given to us, and truthfully, it's very little. When I talk about internal data, I'm talking about all the data Sony has collected about their system. So when I see Sony is taking an already exclusive game, delaying it and making it cross-gen, my thought it "OK, there is something they know that we don't know." The reason I use words like "may" is I nor you can know for certain. On the point about cross gen, I think people are getting this wrong. Yes, Microsoft is investing a lot in cross gen, but look at their positions. XBox One did very poorly, being completely outsold by the PS4 and selling significant less than both Gen 7 consoles. It was bad enough for Microsoft to stop releasing hardware sales. So there aren't a lot of XBox One users, so when Microsoft emphasizes cross gen, they have very little risk. At worst, they may buy an XBox One, but they'll likely end of getting the new system to play those games. Switch is the same way. Breath of the Wild was on the Wii U too (also because Nintendo promised it would), but so few Wii Us were actual sold. If people want to get BoTW, they'd probably just get a Switch. This is exactly what happened as Switch sales exceeded the Wii U version (and the Switch itself). However, this is not the case for the PS4 to PS5. The PS4 sold over 100 million units. So you have far more people who can just get GoW and GT on the PS4 and just ignore the PS5. They don't have to go out and buy a new system. It's low risk for Microsoft to promote cross gen. It's high risk for Sony to promote cross gen. And let me clarify, this is not a GOOD thing; it's a BAD thing. It's bad that Sony is taking a previously exclusive game and making it cross-gen. If the system was as strong as you want to believe, then there is no reason to do this. It would have sold well on PS5 and help keep momentum. Despite this, they are bringing it to the PS4, and the question folks should be asking (and you want to avoid) is why. |
That's a great situational analysis, yeah some variables are unknown, but like you say "actions speak louder than words", all this is very weird, there must be some things they are not telling us.
34 years playing games.
