What kind of argument is this? Should every AAA dev turn to indie budget games so that they can sell them for less?
God Of War Ragnarok is PS worst AAA performing PC port only cracking a peak of below 30K (Mega Flop)
- Thread starter Neversummer
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What kind of argument is this? Should every AAA dev turn to indie budget games so that they can sell them for less?
If they would lie to investors they would get sued and could even end in jail.
No, it's because 4 porters is enough to port a game (plus separatedly people sending them the assets, doing Q&A, marketing, publishing, PR etc).
The metrics say this is not the case. PS is growing and PC old ports have a higher profit margin.
They broke sales record numbers with first party games released 3 or the 4 most recent years. Software revenue (mostly games + addons sold) for their consoles are at record numbers. Active userbase in their console are at record numbers. Console sales would be at record numbers if it wasn't because of the shortages period, and PS5 are above PS4 in most countries excluding some EU ones that keep the worldwide sales numbers a bit under it. They keep growing their market share vs Switch and Xbox. Around half of the people who gets a PS5 is new to the PS brand.
PC ports barely cost a handful millions and generate way more, several cases over two dozen millions. Even Sackboy has been profitable. The profit margin of porting old games is very high and metrics say they aren't causing any damage to their console business: if something the opposite, are helping it to grow.
Ignorants of how software development works are those who say 4 people can't make a port, that they cost over $30M or that public companies lie to their investors.
"Its a lie told to investors" is such a massive cope, man. I'm not attacking you by saying this, but Sony can't just lie to their investors and not receive consequences for doing so, do you think their investors just have to trust Sony's words? Their board has their own stats at arm's reach, they can see what Sony is doing financially, and as it is right now, you have no proof they're lying to investors.
Your argument is the games need to be scaled back (they don't) which means it would cost less money on the project itself... but if you recall, developers have a system for telling people what ranges the game supports. They don't build around the minimum spec requirement, they build around the recommended spec requirement to ensure the game looks and runs best on that tier first, then they figure out settings for other tiers that still run the best and look the best for that tier, and so on.
Consoles will still sell, not everyone will be able to afford a PC that will perform at the level or higher than consoles nowadays, 99% of console's appeal is affordability and the bang you get for your buck. It is the ideal platform for parents with children, or just the ideal platform for someone who just wants to sit on a couch after a long day and play something. PC is more so an investment that pays off with a little maintenance work in between to ensure it's healthy. Games releasing a year or two later on PC will have more sales on console than PC, that's just the simple facts. Piracy is a major problem in countries that don't have copyright law, its less prevalent in the US unless it's streaming movies.
Sorry man but this last section is your opinion, some people just want others to experience the games that they played, not everyone is tribalistic and needs reasons to stick to their platform.
Its also possible Sony secured a 80/20 deal (that is a thing), and made even more revenue.
Its not an argument, I'm saying the game is more likely to be bought because:
A. It's a meme simulator game
B. Its cheap, which means it's one of those games that if you have the money and you think it'd be funny for a bit, you'd buy it
That is why games like "Squirrel with a Gun" sell well, because its fun/funny. The premise is ridiculous, and that's just how the market is sometimes.
Go look at "Octodad: Dadliest Catch" (idk if its on console or not, but this game sold well as well when it released ages ago)
Let's hope Sony stops doing high quality games and starts with cheap, meme games to make the PC audience happy, then.
Or were idealists who love video games as an art form and want as many people to experience great art as possible, with absolutely no care or interest in things like investors, stocks, profit margins, and the like
Long Live multiplats
Death to the concept of exclusives
This is really funny to read as someone familiar with game companies like Compile Heart and Nippon Ichi Software and even early 2010s Falcom
Yeah sure they were totally working on PC ports, that's why they hire external porting studios like Engine Software, Ghostlight, and Codeglue several years post release.
Atlus was totally working on PC ports of Persona 4 and Persona 5 when they first started making them
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Except this isn't the only type of games that sell, the market floats about, but if one is $13 and the other is $60... it's pretty obvious which would be bought more.
Also once again they released in a terrible time imo, Cyberpunk: Ultimate Edition is on sale, EA SPORTS FC 25 just came out, Space Marine 2 is still riding high, Black Myth is somehow still top 8 despite being what is imo a mid game, even Elden Ring is still here and its on sale.
Best tip is to not release games when there are massive publisher sales going on if you aren't a part of it AND you release your game without overt marketing someone can easily miss.
This gets funnier thinking about how Falcom's Trails of Cold Steel 2 PC port was made by a grand total of 1 person (Durante), a game modder hired by a 3rd party publisher XSeed several years after the game's release on PS3 and Vita and several years before he formed his own porting studio PH3
Ideally yes, but how that's defined is very muddied by a lot of factors from how something is made and when, what is used to make it, etc
Someone with a bias towards a console and more specifically exclusives will point out that more time, money, and resources can be prioritized for a game made to be exclusive, and that the singular hardware ensures a higher likelihood of a game running without weird bugs due to needing to account for a wider range of hardware.
Someone with a bias towards PC gaming would say that the best way to experience a game will be it because the game has greater longevity in terms of playability on modern platforms, future proofing games making them scale with hardware, being able to play with whatever controller you want, etc
Not even counting that both of these arguments depend on other variables, like when is the game developed, on what engines is it developed, how long it has been since development, how well coded a game is and how well it lends itself to adjustment, how much it utilized a piece of hardware's specific idiosyncracies (pointing this one out because for example, The World Ends With You was developed for the Nintendo DS, and it makes heavy use of the dualscreen layout in such a way where neither the mobile nor subsequent Switch ports really replicate or capture its gameplay perfectly; I still appreciate that these ports exist as I want more people to play TWEWY, but the fact of the matter is the game is best played on a device with two screens. This similarly applies to 999. And yet, the ports have better graphics, more content...its not a complete downgrade), how the game was funded, etc.
And then if we expand on this thought, then looking outwardly at other pieces of art
a digital representation of the Mona Lisa vs being in person in front of the painting...Is a person viewing the digital piece on google experiencing a lesser version of it? Perhaps, but if that version didn't exist at all and the only way to view it was in person, would that be a good thing? What if the only way to watch a movie was on an old VHS tape, or what if the only way to watch it was in theaters?
Ultimately I'd rather as many people get to play/view/read something as possible. To not experience something is much worse than experiencing it suboptimally; streaming your favorite TV shows at 240p is better than not watching them at all. I will never let go of my comparison to the film industry either; I stand that if a movie was only available on a particular kind of dvd or bluray player the world would be a much worse place.
Its not as if when a film gets put on DVD or Bluray it doesn't get adjusted either; much like ports, they often have to be edited to ensure the sound for example makes the film easy and pleasant to watch in a home environment vs a theater. Some directors even take consideration into people watching things on phones.
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In the Delusional Dreamworld of PC-Players this could be a thing.
Over here in the Real World though, not.
Making good games requires a proper Support System and stable funding, to realize such projects.
Consoles, or PlayStation and Switch to be precise, are the main Reason that high-quality games can still flourish!
If it was all about PC-Gamers, we would have nothing but shovelware, cringey MMORPGs and F2P/Live-Service games anymore.
Most likely the same people who thought that paying $1-2 a month, would let them play 100+ Million Productions in Welfare-Pass.
They think Sony would make as much effort with their 300 millions extravaganza single-player games if they were a regular publisher. I think Trisha needs to wake up on planet Earth.
These games just wouldn't get made at all.
they take everything for granted without any critical thinking. their world is very simple - i want, others should just give me, because reasons. if not, it is bad, anti-consumer and whatever thing you can throw on it.
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Download Cave Story
Download Cave Story (Doukutsu Monogatari) in over a dozen different languages, and over half a dozen different platforms.
www.cavestory.org
Please download and play this. No, I'm not advocating piracy, this is freeware. Don't have a PC? You're in luck! It has Mac, Linux, Amiga, PS1, PS3, PSP, DS, Gamecube, Dreamcast, and several other versions
the vast majority of games arent even made exclusively for ninty and ps
consoles the main reason this type f gaming can flourish yet Sony themselves are going multiplat while you guys play armchair ceo with no games or consoles made under your belt.
there are many other ways devs can recieve funding than exclusive deals, and even then you dont need 100m to make a quality game
I guess destruction all stars or drawn to death really benefited from the stable system and proper support...