Hardware Unboxed opinion on Sony's PC strategy: "I'm surprised that's a strategy or that anyone would think that would work"

Eternal_Wings

Dein Nomos
24 Jun 2022
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Well there will be a rude awakening. I say until the generational shift to PS6, Sony will realise their mistake. Imo either PC cultists will bow down before Sony (PSN required) or they will withdraw completely from PC.
 

Johnic

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24 Mar 2023
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Agreed. Didn't Layden say that wouldn't work. Not sure why Hulst would say that. Good luck with that anyway.

But these are just PC fanboys.
 

Batzy

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10 Jan 2024
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I mean, if this doesn't work, what do these people think will happen? day 1 for all games on pc? lol
 
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Systemshock2023

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8 May 2023
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Works for me. And Sony's numbers have not taken a hit yet. It still needs improvement such as adding Denuvo for a while and a better selection of games.
 
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anonpuffs

anonpuffs

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Works for me. And Sony's numbers have not taken a hit yet. It still needs improvement such as adding Denuvo for a while and a better selection of games.
Did you buy a ps5 to play sequels?

Also yes, denuvo is needed.
 

Etifilio

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27 Jun 2023
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the only way you can entice PC gamers to buy a console is to have TRUE EXCLUSIVE GAMES like on the PS4 generation
x720
 

mibu no ookami

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Part of the problem is people are always in their feels about things and are unwilling to see the bigger picture.

Sony isn't saying here that they expectations millions of people to jump from PC to console based on playing these games, just as they haven't suggested that they expect these games to sell as well as the console releases, years before.

If a game sells 10 million copies on PS5 and the PC port sells 1.5 to 2 million copies and 50K people move from PC to console to play the games sequel, that's still a win for Sony. That's 50K more users than they would have otherwise gotten. And it's only one game. So much of what happens in business happens on the margins, yet, so many people are unable to see that, they think everything happens in the hundreds of millions or billions for it to have an impact.

Why did Sony release the Dual Sense edge? Because they thought it would sell 20 million units? No. Why did they release the PS Portal? Because they thought it would sell 10 million units? No. Why did they buy Audeze and start releasing higher end headsets? Again not because they thought they'd sell 20 million headsets.

They know there is a market for pro controllers and they decided that they didn't want to cede that market. Like Apple, they realize that people buying PS5s are most likely to buy Sony peripherals, especially if they're at equal or similar quality as the top selling units on the market.

Sony is putting their hands into as many high margin business ventures as they can. If you look at their success during the PS1 and PS2 era, you see how limited their profitability was despite being the market leader. They missed a lot of opportunities and I think we all were less off as a result.
 

TigerFang

Well-known member
7 Mar 2024
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Part of the problem is people are always in their feels about things and are unwilling to see the bigger picture.

Sony isn't saying here that they expectations millions of people to jump from PC to console based on playing these games, just as they haven't suggested that they expect these games to sell as well as the console releases, years before.

If a game sells 10 million copies on PS5 and the PC port sells 1.5 to 2 million copies and 50K people move from PC to console to play the games sequel, that's still a win for Sony. That's 50K more users than they would have otherwise gotten. And it's only one game. So much of what happens in business happens on the margins, yet, so many people are unable to see that, they think everything happens in the hundreds of millions or billions for it to have an impact.

Why did Sony release the Dual Sense edge? Because they thought it would sell 20 million units? No. Why did they release the PS Portal? Because they thought it would sell 10 million units? No. Why did they buy Audeze and start releasing higher end headsets? Again not because they thought they'd sell 20 million headsets.

They know there is a market for pro controllers and they decided that they didn't want to cede that market. Like Apple, they realize that people buying PS5s are most likely to buy Sony peripherals, especially if they're at equal or similar quality as the top selling units on the market.

Sony is putting their hands into as many high margin business ventures as they can. If you look at their success during the PS1 and PS2 era, you see how limited their profitability was despite being the market leader. They missed a lot of opportunities and I think we all were less off as a result.
Agreed. Herman specified "some of the people might buy the console" (the key word here is "some") especially for the emotional narrative driven games I agree.

Timed exclusivity with 2-4 years is fine by me.

Also they are one of the biggest publishers on PC, they have like 10 brilliant masterpieces AAA high quality games listed there.

Meaning their actual mind-share on PC & the gaming astrophere is excellent.

But for the love of God, expand PSN and let us change regions like EGS/Steam/Xbox, etc.
 

Entropi

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Playstation has never been as financially successful as it is today. It doesn't matter to Sony if it works or not, they’ll suck a few extra millions from PC suckers anyway.
 
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Thirty7ven

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30 Dec 2023
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Typical case of “most won’t” therefore “nobody will”, aka the brainless take from your typical content creator.

Sony isn’t actually trying to destroy PC gaming if that’s what these idiots are worried about.
 

SLB1904

Actually born in 1904!
22 Jun 2022
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The day Sony start releasing games day and date on pc is the day the give up on selling hardware. The concept is pretty simple.
-Hey I got the thing called Super Nintendo very cool
-but why should I buy it?
-cause you can play Mario in it
-that’s neat. I want one.


Seriously why is so hard to grasp?
 

SLB1904

Actually born in 1904!
22 Jun 2022
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Shawn Layden actually said it was his idea to bring first party games to PC.
No no no. He saud it was Sony decision to increase the amount of users if I’m not mistaken. Pretty sure there is an interview somewhere
 

SuperPotato

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1 Mar 2024
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No no no. He saud it was Sony decision to increase the amount of users if I’m not mistaken. Pretty sure there is an interview somewhere

Shawn Layden was the first Sony exec to talk about PC ports back in 2018 and admitted it was his idea on a Playstation podcast a couple of years ago.

Here it is:

Speaking on YouTube's 'What’s Up PlayStation' he shared: "The idea of bringing Sony PlayStation content to the PC platform was something I’d been thinking about.


“The strategy as we were developing it when I was there was that we need to go out to where these new customers are, these new fans could be. We need to go to where they are because they’ve decided not to come to my house. So I’ve got to go to their house now, and what’s the best way to go to their house?”
 
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DewPoint

Member
17 Jul 2022
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Typical case of “most won’t” therefore “nobody will”, aka the brainless take from your typical content creator.

Sony isn’t actually trying to destroy PC gaming if that’s what these idiots are worried about.
I swear if it's just me but ever since Herman stated their strategy, you can really see how his statement got PC gamers all up in their feels. PC gamers nowadays are extremely sensitive when you deny them.