xboxgreen said:
Digital ratio does not make up the 2x - 4x cost increase in their games. I see Playstation games drop in price all the time. They are not Nintendo in this regard. Sony profits came mostly from third party games, PSN subscription and PC ports. Their first party game profits keep getting destroyed by Sony GAAS mistakes. Sony spent 5 BILLION dollars on GAAS initiative and has almost nothing to show for it. Marathon looks like another flop and they already cancel their other live service games. Investors are not please in this regard and wants Sony studios to make more money or else they will question why it even exists. |
You mentioned retailer fees without factoring in digital ratios which greatly favor the PS5 gen. Game prices being around 2-3 times higher isn't me speculating, it's a fact based on the leak from Insomniac which showed PS5 generation games (including their cheaper PS4 versions) averaging at about $65. Over time, this average will probably go slightly down because older games will get more deals and permanent price drops. But GT7 is already close to 15 million copies sold... when all is said and done, GT7 will make over 3 times more money that GT Sport did, this is without factoring in a potential PC version. GT7 remains a platform exclusive so far!
A $70 game with a development budget of $200 million only needs to sell 2 extra million copies over a $60 game with a $100 million budget. Factoring in higher digital ratios and prices mean that profitability will be much higher over the years. High development cost is too minor a problem for games that can sell 10 million+, but it's another problem that can be mitigated by choices that won't devalue the Playstation brand. Sony's "exclusives" will sell less and less over the years because people know they're coming to their preferred platforms. Consoles aren't inherently "weak".
Before their PC initiative, they managed to sell 50+~ million first party console games for 3 consecutive years. That number dwindled over last 4 years (despite Sony's acquisitions) for multiple obvious reasons that can be addressed without devaluing the brand.
Not every penny they put on GaaS is "wasted". Only time will tell whether their Bungie investment (which is an acquisition) was a good or bad choice. The list you provided is about MAU as opposed to sales. And it's precisely the reason why Sony is trying too hard with live service games. Sony's own two most successful games of all time are GaaS after all (Fate Grand Order and Helldivers 2), and yes, I agree that putting GaaS on PC/Mobile is a decent strategy. I actually suggested it long before Sony did it. I'd go so far as to argue that any AA/AAA exclusive that performs poorly should be ported to other platforms as an attempt to give the IP another chance. But established high sellers should be treated differently. God of War, Spider-Man, Uncharted, The Last of Us, and Horizon should have never been ported, and instead used to help bolster the Playstation brand. Any singleplayer game selling close to 10 million shouldn't be ported. Nintendo doesn't even bother porting tiny sellers like Bayonetta. Nintendo is more careful and protective with 1 million sellers than Sony is with 20 million sellers, and this is what will keep their consoles healthy for a very long time. The brand is tied with experiences that you will never have without their consoles.
Exclusives are incredibly important for reputation and identity. Xbox literally died for the lack of exclusives. The money Sony makes from 3rd party taxes are directly tied to their exclusives. Copying Xbox's day and date PC strategy would mark the end of Playstation. Their current strategy is bad enough.
