It isn't the same, their strategy and results are very different.The trajectory is the same. The same way Microsoft "expanded" Xbox beyond the console at the ultimate expense of the console, Sony are expanding PlayStation beyond the console but are running into potentially similar issues.
In strategy, some examples:
- Sony isn't including all their games day one on PC
- Sony isn't including all their games day one in the game sub
- Sony isn't expanding their dev teams acquiring publishers, but instead growing their existing teams, acquiring long partners and support teams
- Sony is now pushing harder PC and mobile, but they already have been in these markets since the early 80s in case of computers and since the start of mobile gaming two decades ago in case of mobile
- Sony has a way bigger amount of 2nd and 3rd party deals
- Sony is making a way bigger push in Asia both supporting local indies (via PlayStation Indies, China Hero Project, India Hero Project and signing deals with many big Asian publishers specialized on regional mobile+PC stuff to prepare their expansion there (Tencent, Netease, MiHoyo, Shift Up, NCSoft, Cygames+Kadokawa, Akatsuki+Koei Tecmo, Square...). MS instead bought King and CoD mobile
- Sony invests in VR, MS doesn't
- Sony is the market leader in the consoles market while MS is the distant last one in the console makers race
- Sony keeps breaking records in most console metrics and earning market share, Xbox keeps losing market share
- Sony has the most successful console game sub
- Sony is the market leader in non-standalone VR and has the VR exclusive in consoles
- Sony's first party games are selling better than ever and in 3 of the last 4 years released a 1st party sales record breaking game
Yes, they are. Which means they are 1st party games funded and published by Sony, where the lead dev studio isn't owned by Sony.Helldivers 2, Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade and Death Stranding 2 are 2P deals IMHO.
Yes, it's an if. But considering almost every single year Sony had an event there, that they did the last State of Play in January (+ the FFVIIR one), and that by late May/early June they already will have released -or almost- most of the games they have been markting it's almost 100% sure they'll make one there.That's if there's a Showcase or SOP in May or June. Nothing's guaranteed and I'm ignoring all rumors related to those events going forward.
To, following the same Sony has been doing in the several recent years, announce or show stuff planned to be released in the next year and a half or so, but focusing on stuff to be released in the next few months/rest of the year, mixing 1st party, big 3rd parties and indies.
They may also announce PS5 Pro for a September reveal, but I think it's more likely that they'll announce it closer to release (as could be to announce it in September for a November reveal).
Don't forget that the list also included Deracine, Scalebound, Bayonetta 3, Mario and Rabbids, Bioshock 2022, Injustice 3, Gears 6, Ultra Street Fighter II, "Monster Hunter 2nd G" (wrongly written game of a MH PSP game) to name a few.If plans have not been changed, the Nvidia leak shows that GT7, GOW Ragnarok, and Demon's Souls are all slated for PC ports.
Their creators debunked to be working on PC versions of Scalebound and GT7. But I think the 3 you mention will end being ported somewhere in the future sooner or later because Sony apparently decided to port almost everything they had in PS5 and part of their PS4 stuff too.
Here you have some dates if interested, they are "super accurate" xDD :
In addition to the already released Helldivers 2 and GoT, they have Until Dawn and Concord for later this year. GoWR will be 2 years old in November, so they may release it around November.I would not be surprised if Sony confirm one of those as a silent/small announcement around the time they reveal the PS5 Pro, just to bury the news with the Pro's announcement.
Otherwise, again unless plans have changed, I would expect one of those others (likely GT7) to get a PC port before the end of this year. GOW Ragnarok could also end up with a port before the end of the year. Demon's Souls and Spiderman 2 would likely get 2025 ports, and that would mean all of Sony's 1P AAA games are on PC just a few months after the Pro's release, and before any new 1P or 2P AAA exclusive comes to a PlayStation console.
I think the next one to be announced after it may be TLOU2 Remastered, maybe for next year, same as Demon Souls and Spider-Man 2.
I don't see GT7 being ported in 2024. They may not want to release it at all, because cheaters could affect competitive gaming and MP overal, would make their game updates more complex and because being a simulator in PC is more difficult to ensure all players run with exactly the same conditions.
No, I already clarified to you how actual game development works. Devs don't do "all" of the programming on PC and save the devkits for the final step. They iteratively go back-and-forth between PC and the devkits. The PC is used to write the code; the devkits are used to compile and run the code, debug etc.
I'm a gamedev since almost 19 years ago. I'm the one who knows how game development works and is explaining to you, someone who has no fucking idea about it.
Devkits often have extra ram or in case of more recent ones like PS5, extra disk space to run still unoptimized games and on top of that profiling/debugging stuff. They also do stuff like sending debug info to your computer via LAN while the game is running, remote access to change and test stuff from the PC (nobody codes in front on the devkit, they are often on a separate and locked servers room), simulate different things like regional changes and many other extra perks. They are mostly used by the coders while making the game.
Btw, when tested in consoles they are tested in testkits, not devkits. Testkits are basically officially modded retail consoles that can run unreleased stuff, cheaper than devkits and the ones used by the QA/testers team.
I know how I and my coworkers use our PCs.PC is not used in the way you keep insisting it is, otherwise there's be no reason for devkits or especially devkits provided way ahead of time super-early in the dev process.
AAA games nowadays take 5-9 years to be developed but the devkits are provided whenever the dev buys them, typically when the studio becomes a certified dev for the platform and signs with the platform holder the first game for that console and once they are bought, they keep them.
Can't go into details but in some specific cases platform holders lend them for free, or "rent them" for a cheaper price. Devkits often get more hardware revisions/versions than the retail consoles.
When it's the first game that the dev makes for that console normally needs them on advance to test and check out different things, experiment with it, etc. But other than that if it's the average dev using UE or Unity doesn't need to use a devkit during the majority of the project. A different thing is the engine programmers from Insominac and Naughty Dog who code to the metal.
In fact, many studios don't even have devkits and testkits and use the ones from a friend/partner studio at the end of the project once the game is pretty much complete and only the console specific stuff needs to be made, tested, optimized and fixed.