God of War Ragnarok with Neutral reviews on Steam because the game can't run on PCs with less than 6 GB of VRAM (Update: Also because of forced PSN)

Johnic

Veteran
24 Mar 2023
3,813
6,310
Outer Heaven
This was explained like 5 years ago when HZD was announced. All that "we want non PS users to see what their are missing" was to soften the blow to warriors.
It was also used as an answer to investors, meaning a bold face lie which can lead to a nice prison sentence. No, PS leadership is just dumb enough to think that's true.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Diah

Gods&Monsters

Banned
21 Jun 2022
5,607
11,467
The reality that maybe you're not willing to grasp is that single player games don't sell THAT well on PC. And there is no incentive for PC players to play it on "Day 1" at full price. They buy games when they go on sale and Ragnarok costs 60 dollars.

These games aren't big day one sellers unless they're truly open world (Cyberpunk) or a soulslike (Elden Ring).
Just to come back to this. Frostpunk came out today, it's an indie game Day 1 on Gamepass and it's performing better than GOW. 27k+ on launch.

Most people never heard of Frostpunk. God of War is a household name for 20 years and they were clamoring for years to get it on PC 😬

Alarm bells should be ringing at Sony HQ after this embarrassing streak.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Diah and Puff

Muddasar

Veteran
22 Jun 2022
2,979
3,517
Just to come back to this. Frostpunk came out today, it's an indie game Day 1 on Gamepass and it's performing better than GOW. 27k+ on launch.

Most people never heard of Frostpunk. God of War is a household name for 20 years and they were clamoring for years to get it on PC 😬

Alarm bells should be ringing at Sony HQ after this embarrassing streak.

GOW is probably doing 500K on torrents.
 
  • they're_right_you_know
Reactions: Gods&Monsters

Bryank75

I don't get ulcers, I give 'em!
Founder
18 Jun 2022
9,435
16,560
icon-era.com
Sony's game sales profit, not revenue, rose by 16% last year to around $2.2 billion.

Their profit margins are ~15-20% — which is great in the gaming industry.

Consoles have never generated significant profits for any major player in the space. Most of the time they've been sold at a loss.

Where has this absurd notion that PC ports will kill PlayStation even come from?

The vast majority of gamers stick to their preferred platforms regardless of exclusives.
The consoles have the PSN store on them, where all the aforementioned profits are made.

Without the consoles, there is nothing.

It's like you have a load of eggs and kill the chickens and then complain that you don't have eggs anymore. The chickens cost money and time to house and feed bit they make the eggs. You could kill them for meat for one day of food or you could keep them for years of eggs.
 

theolreverend

Member
15 Sep 2024
60
78
Just to come back to this. Frostpunk came out today, it's an indie game Day 1 on Gamepass and it's performing better than GOW. 27k+ on launch.

Most people never heard of Frostpunk. God of War is a household name for 20 years and they were clamoring for years to get it on PC 😬

Alarm bells should be ringing at Sony HQ after this embarrassing streak.
Oh man! Is that true? That's crazy!

God of War 2018 and Ghost of Tsushima selling millions of copies on Steam are just flukes, right?

Yeah, their alarm bells should be ringing, telling them to stop forcing stupid bullshit on PC players.
 
  • haha
Reactions: Exicide and Ezekiel

Alabtrosmyster

Veteran
26 Jun 2022
3,399
2,944
6GB of VRAM is old news by now... well, some 2060 were sold not so long ago :unsure:.

NVIDIA is the problem.... But this was a PS4 game, these ran on 1050s with 3GB of memory before the PS5 release.
 

theolreverend

Member
15 Sep 2024
60
78
The consoles have the PSN store on them, where all the aforementioned profits are made.

Without the consoles, there is nothing.

It's like you have a load of eggs and kill the chickens and then complain that you don't have eggs anymore. The chickens cost money and time to house and feed bit they make the eggs. You could kill them for meat for one day of food or you could keep them for years of eggs.
Let's stop trying to force bad comparisons to fit flawed narratives, shall we?

Consoles are not profitable.

Games generate profits. However, exclusives hurt your profits.

That's why the top most profitable games of the last 20 years are multiplatform. Why do you think COD, FIFA, PUBG, GTA, Witcher 3, etc. are all multiplatform? Why do you think both Xbox and PlayStation are ditching exclusives?

At the end of the day, however, consoles aren't going anywhere. Stop worrying about a non issue.
 

Systemshock2023

Veteran
8 May 2023
2,437
1,980
I get Bryans point. Exclusives should "lure" you to the platform and then make you spend in third party games, subscriptions, accesories where you earn money by doing very little by comparison.

But I still think the impact of a handful of exclusive games over console choice is overstated. People buy consoles out of habit, price, tolerance to switching costs, ecosystem, friends...exclusives only get you so far.

These ports to PC won't have much of an impact on total PS sales generation to generation. Specially thanks to MS slowing down.
 

Landiri

Well-known member
12 Sep 2024
330
381
Games generate profits. However, exclusives hurt your profits.
PS/Switch can sell games with 10-20 Million Copies. (Without paying Cuts)

Some games can do 30m+ even.

Show me PC games that sell 20m+ on PC, at $60+ (Not Live-Service)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Diah

Bryank75

I don't get ulcers, I give 'em!
Founder
18 Jun 2022
9,435
16,560
icon-era.com
I get Bryans point. Exclusives should "lure" you to the platform and then make you spend in third party games, subscriptions, accesories where you earn money by doing very little by comparison.

But I still think the impact of a handful of exclusive games over console choice is overstated. People buy consoles out of habit, price, tolerance to switching costs, ecosystem, friends...exclusives only get you so far.

These ports to PC won't have much of an impact on total PS sales generation to generation. Specially thanks to MS slowing down.

They were truly very lucky that Xbox wasn't foot to foot with them.
 
  • they're_right_you_know
Reactions: Exicide

Gods&Monsters

Banned
21 Jun 2022
5,607
11,467
Let's stop trying to force bad comparisons to fit flawed narratives, shall we?

Consoles are not profitable.

Games generate profits. However, exclusives hurt your profits.

That's why the top most profitable games of the last 20 years are multiplatform. Why do you think COD, FIFA, PUBG, GTA, Witcher 3, etc. are all multiplatform? Why do you think both Xbox and PlayStation are ditching exclusives?

At the end of the day, however, consoles aren't going anywhere. Stop worrying about a non issue.
Tell Gabe then because he keeps Counterstrike, DOTA, Alyx and Deadlock on his ecosystem. Exclusives are killing his business and profits. Genshin on Steam when? Fortnite?

Same for Disney, Prime, Netflix, McDonald's. They are leaving money on the table. Louis Vuitton needs to be at Walmart if they want to stay in business.
 
  • Like
  • brain
  • Heart
Reactions: Diah, voke and Umar

theolreverend

Member
15 Sep 2024
60
78
I get Bryans point. Exclusives should "lure" you to the platform and then make you spend in third party games, subscriptions, accesories where you earn money by doing very little by comparison.

But I still think the impact of a handful of exclusive games over console choice is overstated. People buy consoles out of habit, price, tolerance to switching costs, ecosystem, friends...exclusives only get you so far.

These ports to PC won't have much of an impact on total PS sales generation to generation. Specially thanks to MS slowing down.
I genuinely believe all this lashing out against multiplatform launches is just fear of change.

But change is inevitable and fear is not a great place to operate from.

So I fully agree with you that a handful of exclusives won't sway the vast majority of people.

You're also spot on regarding people's platform choices. I started gaming on an NES and Gameboy. Then I got my first PC when I turned 8 and never looked back.

I'm 37 now and could easily afford a PS5 or PS5 pro. But I'm a freelance creative strategist — I love building my own PCs and using them to make my living. I've also been into competitive FPS since the Quake 2 era. I'd sooner stop playing videogames than pick up a controller.

And I'm certain the same is true for most console players who want nothing more than to play with a controller from their comfy couch.
 

theolreverend

Member
15 Sep 2024
60
78
PS/Switch can sell games with 10-20 Million Copies. (Without paying Cuts)

Some games can do 30m+ even.

Show me PC games that sell 20m+ on PC, at $60+ (Not Live-Service)
Off the top of my head?

Half Life ², Civ V, StarCraft 2, Diablo 3... and probably the Sims 3 and 4. These easily sold over 20 million copies each.

And then there's the OG StarCraft and Brood War, WarCraft 3, AOE 2, Diablo 2, Guild Wars, Company of Heroes, Total War Shogun 2 — not sure these had +20 million, but I'd bet they sold over 10 or 15 million copies.

However, all this reinforces my point that it's games that generate your profits, not the platform.

Hell, Witcher 3 sold over 50 million copies and the majority of sales were on PC. Which blows a big ol' gaping hole in the 30-IQ theory that PC players pirate more than they buy.
 
  • they're_right_you_know
Reactions: Exicide

Orangee

Well-known member
3 Mar 2024
481
491
This PC port initiative was meant for people that would otherwise never spend in the PS ecosystem.

Sony is willing to lose users that buy a ps for exclusives but don't do their main gaming there. Those aren't high value customers. This was explained like 5 years ago when HZD was announced. All that "we want non PS users to see what their are missing" was to soften the blow to warriors.

By the time you stopped writing your rant in social media Johny MC Casual, PlayStations bread and butter customer spent more money on shark cards, v bucks or ultimate team cards, than a warrior in a single player exclusive. And guess what, they did NOTHING to earn that money.

With exclusives it's either you have a LOT: as did Sony from PS1 through PS3 or you might as well dont. You can't base your business in people buying hardware every 8 years for 4 or 5 games at most. Which they might get used or extremely cheap as they will be late adopters.
That's absolutely fine, but they should communicate It.
Hermen Hulst should come out on stage publicly, just like phil spencer, and say "PlayStation is different now. We dont care about the core fanbase anymore, no more exclusives, we want the fortnite money and only the fortnite audience from now on". Then I'll just switch to PC and move on. Stop pretending to make exclusives, and then port them when you feel like It, making people confused whenever something will come eventually , or wont at all.

And yes, you can base your business on selling hardware with 5-6 games, especially If they are GAMES, not walking story simulators with zero replayability, that you can just watch on youtube.
 

Yobo

Veteran
29 Jun 2022
1,984
2,856
I get Bryans point. Exclusives should "lure" you to the platform and then make you spend in third party games, subscriptions, accesories where you earn money by doing very little by comparison.

But I still think the impact of a handful of exclusive games over console choice is overstated. People buy consoles out of habit, price, tolerance to switching costs, ecosystem, friends...exclusives only get you so far.

These ports to PC won't have much of an impact on total PS sales generation to generation. Specially thanks to MS slowing down.
The LTV of a PS5 user is $622

There's two ways you can look at that number

Let's say by the end of the generation, Sony sells 5 million less consoles because those users left to PC. That's $3.1 billion dollars. To cover that lost revenue from PC Sony would need to sell 74 million units of full priced $60 games (after Steam take their 30 cent cut)

The second way to look at it is that to cover the cost of the user LTV Sony needs to sell an average of 15 full priced games ($42 after royalties) to those users who have left PS5. Which will never happen

The current state is these games are barely cracking a million in sales on PC, they've released all of the biggest hits there already and the reality of where Sony's console position will be at the end of the gen will become very apparent when it falls short of PS4s sales numbers

The reality we are situated in though is that PC users are getting the better product, for cheaper, and those losses in revenue will be forced on the loyal PS5 fans who will be extorted for every extra dollar (just see PS5 Pro)
 

theolreverend

Member
15 Sep 2024
60
78
Tell Gabe then because he keeps Counterstrike, DOTA, Alyx and Deadlock on his ecosystem. Exclusives are killing his business and profits. Genshin on Steam when? Fortnite?

Same for Disney, Prime, Netflix, McDonald's. They are leaving money on the table. Louis Vuitton needs to be at Walmart if they want to stay in business.
PC gamers want their games on Steam.

Why blame Gabe for creating a platform so beloved that even Microsoft, Blizzard, EA and Sony realised they were pissing against the wind?

It's the audience that decides who their favourite is, dawg.

I'm a creative strategist and senior marketer. So I can tell you for a fact that if you want to excel in business, you need to start by understanding your audience's needs/challenges/pain points.

And if you learn how to address those pain points better than anyone else, your audience will see you as their only option.

This is why Steam is 1 of 1.

It's also why Louis V's stock price is nearly €600 while Walmart is barely €70.
 

theolreverend

Member
15 Sep 2024
60
78
The LTV of a PS5 user is $622

There's two ways you can look at that number

Let's say by the end of the generation, Sony sells 5 million less consoles because those users left to PC. That's $3.1 billion dollars. To cover that lost revenue from PC Sony would need to sell 74 million units of full priced $60 games (after Steam take their 30 cent cut)

The second way to look at it is that to cover the cost of the user LTV Sony needs to sell an average of 15 full priced games ($42 after royalties) to those users who have left PS5. Which will never happen

The current state is these games are barely cracking a million in sales on PC, they've released all of the biggest hits there already and the reality of where Sony's console position will be at the end of the gen will become very apparent when it falls short of PS4s sales numbers

The reality we are situated in though is that PC users are getting the better product, for cheaper, and those losses in revenue will be forced on the loyal PS5 fans who will be extorted for every extra dollar (just see PS5 Pro)
Oh yeah, dawg, millions of PlayStation gamers (55% of which are still on PS4, by the way) are just itching for the chance to move to PC.

People who bought a €500-800 console simply cannot wait to pull over €2000-2500 out of their asses for a PC that can match a PS5's performance.

Jokes aside, you cannot expect a game to sell like crazy if you're releasing it on PC 2 or 4 years after your initial launch. Your massive delay killed the hype so you can count yourself lucky to break a million.

God of War 2018 sold 2.5 million copies on Steam. So even with Valve's 30% cut and the insignificant costs of porting it to PC you've still made over $100 million.

Next time, launch the game on both platforms on the same day and let's see how that goes.

See Elden Ring sales by platform for details.
 
Last edited:
  • they're_right_you_know
Reactions: Exicide

Systemshock2023

Veteran
8 May 2023
2,437
1,980
PS/Switch can sell games with 10-20 Million Copies. (Without paying Cuts)

Some games can do 30m+ even.

Show me PC games that sell 20m+ on PC, at $60+

Please don't equate Nintendo games with PS. PS games can sell lots of copies but they get discounted fast, specially if you pay for plus.

Nintendo games hardly ever go down in price.

The LTV of a PS5 user is $622

There's two ways you can look at that number

Let's say by the end of the generation, Sony sells 5 million less consoles because those users left to PC. That's $3.1 billion dollars. To cover that lost revenue from PC Sony would need to sell 74 million units of full priced $60 games (after Steam take their 30 cent cut)

The second way to look at it is that to cover the cost of the user LTV Sony needs to sell an average of 15 full priced games ($42 after royalties) to those users who have left PS5. Which will never happen

The current state is these games are barely cracking a million in sales on PC, they've released all of the biggest hits there already and the reality of where Sony's console position will be at the end of the gen will become very apparent when it falls short of PS4s sales numbers

The reality we are situated in though is that PC users are getting the better product, for cheaper, and those losses in revenue will be forced on the loyal PS5 fans who will be extorted for every extra dollar (just see PS5 Pro)

Steam cut is not 30 percent after you hit a certain revenue threshold. It can go as low as 20%. And in the scenario you are presenting, they would easily get there. Also, the users that are to leave for PC are the ones that have PS as secondary platform just to play the handful of exclusives they are interested in as cheap as possible. That is not a highly valuable customer to Sony so their LTV should be much lower, just do a quick math say they like at most 10 exclusives. They are all single player games, so no PS Plus. If they get that console late in the lifecycle, those games hit rock bottom prices. Lets say best case scenario, all purchases are made via PSN on sale. An average of 200 USD spent in games. I am saying best case scenario because the user can also go to the used physical market, where Sony gets no revenue at all.

If the core Sony customer starts leaving then it is due to Sony dropping the ball elsewhere (games, nickel and diming, customer service, you name it) Also Better is relative. For a core console customer, better means no hassle and getting to play the games early, instead of playing them late, demanding more HW than console counterparts and speculating if they are released or not.

PS Pro is expensive but optional. That is like complaining a 4090 is expensive when you can game just fine with a 7600.