Helldivers 2 sold 12 million in 12 weeks making it the fastest selling Playstation game of all time.

[zorg1000]

Hardstuck-Platinum said:

Soundwave said:

Gonna put a lot of pressure on Sony to put more and more of their big IP day 1 on PC since a big reason for these sales is coming from the PC.

Good news for Sony sure, but I don't think it's great news for the Playstation itself per se. It shows there's a massive market for their content if they're willing to treat PC as an equal platform and not something that gets a token port 2 years later, but that means the business suits are going to start asking why they don't have more day 1 PC content. 

Putting games day and date on PC is what ruined the sales of Xbox. In the US the sales of Xbox were close to the sales of the PS4 until the release of games day and date on PC. If Sony do that they will kill the PlayStation

I think that may be the future strategies for Sony & Microsoft with the way the industry is moving and development times/costs continue to accelerate.

PS/XB have traditionally used the razor and blades strategy where hardware is initially sold at a loss with regular price cuts in order to increase the install base and get as many people invested in their ecosystems to sell higher profit margin software, accessories & subscriptions but I think that strategy may soon be a thing of the past.

I think hardware will still be a major pillar of their gaming businesses but it will be at higher prices with a focus on selling at a profit day 1 and shift focus to maximizing software sales and subscriptions by offering them on as many devices as possible. Sony will probably be slower and less aggressive in this transition since PlayStation sells a lot more than Xbox but I don’t think they will be far behind.

Will this impact hardware sales? Probably, but would it be better for Sony & Microsoft to sell ~90m & ~40m instead of ~115m & ~55m if their hardware is sold at higher profit margins and their software/subscriptions are on mobile/PC in addition to their consoles? I’m not sure but we may soon find out.