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Kyuu 2 days ago
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Chrkeller said:
Kyuu said:

Some of these estimates are incorrect or unconfirmed.

Helldivers 2 was a massive hit on PC and an outlier which slowed down the descend. Sony's own software sales on Playstation constitue a small part of their platform profitability.

Now that Helldivers 2 is well past its prime, the PC revenue may decline further (it'll depend on Marathon's performance) and PS5's should climb. But let me reiterate that Sony's software is NOT the main money maker. The main purpose of Sony's software is to invite or keep players in their platform where they can then make money from services, accessories, 3rd party software, f2p, etc.

PC support can be a net positive if handled correctly. But if they don't be careful about it, they may follow Xbox's fate in the long run. Sony's PC support is part of the reason why I half-switched to PC. I ended up buying a bunch of games on Steam that could have gone to Sony instead.

Live service games being released on PC day and date is a solid strategy. I actually suggested it long before Sony did it. But they gotta keep Playstation associated with some quality experiences that you can't play anywhere else or the platform will slowly decline, or at least not grow to its full potential.

PC support has its up and downs and no one can say with full confidence whether it's a net positive or negative. We don't have sufficient data to make full conclusions. We can't say for sure which strategy works best. But common sense dictates that "no exclusives" will hurt the value of Playstation for a notably large segment of gamers that may only get larger as more people "discover PC", spread the word, and troll Playstation with "no games" memes.

"No games" is precisely what destroyed Xbox. So Sony needs to be careful.

God of War, Stellar Blade, Spider, Horizon, etc. have all sold over a million Steam...  that is a bunch of money.  

I am not convinced PC is in direct competition (for most gamers) with consoles.  A lot of people are already bought into the playstation eco system; online friends, digital games, controllers, etc.  I don't think most will suddenly just walk away from their eco system.  I also think, some of us (myself included) will build a rig to play games, but most console gamers probably don't have the slightest interest nor knowledge.  The fact we post online about gaming puts us in a unique demographic.  I would suspect the average playstation gamer, probably doesn't even know Sony has games on Steam.    

While xbox is struggling with software, I don't think that is their only reason for falling off.  The xbox one was announced with tons of DRM (later dropped), forced the kinect, was priced too high, etc.  I think there have been a series of mistakes with the xbox brand and their issues extend far wider than software.  The RROD on the 360 wasn't great either.    

edit

I had an xbox one for Halo MCC, ended up selling it.  Because anytime I went to play the game two things happened.  One, it literally had a 60+ gb update monthly (I still don't know why) and every time I opened the game I was hit with a bunch of crap like unlocked skins, etc, etc.  Even on PC, MS is a PITA.  I have to log in to a MS account, then do two step verification, etc.  My other games, I just play.  I think one of MS's biggest problems is their software doesn't work half the time and they have way too much fluff to just run a simple game.  

It doesn't have to affect the majority of console gamers short term to be a disaster. If hypothetically 10% of PS players switch to PC, that translates to about $300 millon loss of annual profit. That's about as much profit lost in 5 years as Sony's entire revenue from PC per your GameSpot quote (which seems exaggerated anyway).

Now if we look back several years to late 2018... Sony had 90 million monthy active users peak by year's end. In December 2019, they reached 103 million. Fastforward to December 2025, they hit 132 million, which is a massive increase. However this doesn't comfirm that PC had no impact. In an alternate universe where Sony never supported PC, the number may have exceeded 140 million. The actual growth may be a result of PS taking Xbox players, or just an extension of gaming becoming bigger than it was in 2019, or both.

Consoles have an aging audience while PC is growing huge among young people. Over time it'll affect console sales more and more. Eventually, console revenue will plateau and then decline. The average Playstation user 10 years from now will be more aware of what's going on compared to today. PC dominance is inevitable, but high profile exclusives should help keeping consoles relevant for a longer time. Unlike Nintendo, Sony is damaging the connection between PS IP's and PS brand. Right now, it's not problematic, but over time it will be.

PC too will one day be dwarfed by mobile phones and smart TV's, and I mean as "premium gaming" devices (all the titles that we associate with consoles and PC today will one day be primarily played on mobile phones and TV's lol).