Sony need to double and triple down on console, physical media and a closed platform

[Bryank75]

Nintendo went hybrid, they are in their own space and doing what they are best at.
Microsoft are on the way out of hardware and used their vast wealth to buy an exit plan and harvest money from established and successful IP's.

Now, with the home console space basically dominated, PlayStation must double down on what got them to this point...

They must provide for consumer demand and provide dedicated gaming hardware for the home with a fully closed platform and many AAA exclusives.

Pc is the fully open platform and Microsoft are attempting a sort of hybrid model, which spreads them thin and diluted the vision in my opinion.

Subscription has been proven to be limited in growth potential, basically flat lining and cloud gaming is just another subscription and has never been able to take off.

So that leaves PlayStation with a clear road to further success... Doing what they have traditionally done.

By capitalising on Xbox's decline and realising that pc IS a competing platform (not porting single player exclusives) they can expand the sales and MAUs to close to 150 million if the ambition is there.

However if they try to follow Xbox's path, failure is inevitable. As it has been proven gamers lose interest and passion for the brand as the vision becomes diluted by corporate dreams of billions of customers.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Nintendo went hybrid, they are in their own space and doing what they are best at.
Microsoft are on the way out of hardware and used their vast wealth to buy an exit plan and harvest money from established and successful IP's.

Now, with the home console space basically dominated, PlayStation must double down on what got them to this point...

They must provide for consumer demand and provide dedicated gaming hardware for the home with a fully closed platform and many AAA exclusives.

Pc is the fully open platform and Microsoft are attempting a sort of hybrid model, which spreads them thin and diluted the vision in my opinion.

Subscription has been proven to be limited in growth potential, basically flat lining and cloud gaming is just another subscription and has never been able to take off.

So that leaves PlayStation with a clear road to further success... Doing what they have traditionally done.

By capitalising on Xbox's decline and realising that pc IS a competing platform (not porting single player exclusives) they can expand the sales and MAUs to close to 150 million if the ambition is there.

However if they try to follow Xbox's path, failure is inevitable. As it has been proven gamers lose interest and passion for the brand as the vision becomes diluted by corporate dreams of billions of customers.

I agree with everything but a closed platform. A closed platform is death. Look at Nintendo it’s a lazy trash hole company survive on gimmicks an ancient ip. It’s 3rd in revenue, 3rd in mau. Ps has millions of players on pc and will get millions more with marathon, concord etc going forward. Stronger cross platform multiplayer games is what’s keep many gaas games alive. Xbox was ready to shut down fallout76 but letting it stay on ps and putting on ps ps boosted the game and it’s what keeping it alive. Games like dreams would have been more viable if it also launched on pc.

Regulators do not like the idea of a closed platform neither do investors or senior Sony leadership. They want growth and u don’t achieve growth with a closed platform. PS chose the right path in 2014 by opening up the platform and they should continue to do so. Content locked to a console form factor just isn’t feasible when it represents many months of a persons wages just to get one. But we have billions of other devices in ppls homes and if only a fraction of them access ps content on another device that’s one person less accessing someone else’s content like Microsoft or Netflix opening up the platform extends the reach of ps influence. For the pervious 3 generations ps+ Xbox console sales combined have been capped at under 200mil and with many Xbox and ps fans migrating to pc it wI’ll be even less this generation. Chasing after 20 or 30 million extra hardware sales doesn’t seem the best option we u could be catering to a customer base on billions of other devices with not just software but services and accessories.

 

[Sircaw]

I am a full digital fish here; to me, disks and boxes = unneeded clutter to me.

The only thing Sony needs to do is concentrate on making great games; the rest, to me, does not matter in the slightest.

As for the Closed platform thing, i can understand the point that people make about it diluting the quality of the platform + the fact that a lot of the PC ports have been absolutely abysmal when compared to the originals.

However, sometimes I look at works like ~God of War and Bloodborne, for example, and I feel these are not just games. They are living art, and I feel like the more people that experience them, the better.

Then again, is £350 pounds to much to ask when you basically get an entire library of incredible games.

 

[Gamernyc78]

I mean we've discussed this to death in previous threads. The vision on what they need to do is clear! Go back to what they were doing under Kaz this isn't new thinking.

 

[Yurinka]

Yes, consider that if Xbox goes away all these now multiplatform AAA games that are big enough to be scaled down in a Nintendo console now would be Sony console exclusives.

Sony has been acquiring and growing all their development and 2nd party teams, which means that in a few years they'll start releasing way more games per year.

Regarding game subs, VR and cloud they are now relatively small markets but they kept growing and are expected to continue growing, becoming pretty big in the future (but still a minority of the gaming market, because the traditional one will also continue growing). So Sony must secure they have (continue having) a leading position in VR, cloud and game subs before they grow a lot to make sure they dominate them, at least in consoles.

I think PC, mobile, movies and tv shows are good to grow the brand and userbase, but as they do in their current strategy, keeping them as secondary extra revenue markets to help fund AAA games and keeping PS as their core product and main focus.

I'd also grow the Sony non-gaming merchandise markets to comic/manga, books, toys & figurines, board games and apparel. Maybe creating a separate Sony division to use not only SIE IPs there, but also from their movies, tv shows and music divisions. By doing that, it would be easier to fit in Sony potential gaming acquisitions that right now may not be a fit or are too expensive because they have an important part of their company there, as it's the case of Bandai Namco, Kadokawa or Square Enix.

Regarding MAUs, once they release GaaS such as Concord and Marathon plus the mobile ones they've been signing with Asian compnies the will go way beyond 150M MAU.

I'd prefer physical games to stay, but I realize the reality that people is moving more to digital and at some point won't make sense finantial sense to keep releasing games in disk. In retail stores they may continue selling physical games like collector editions or boxes with codes and no disk or something like that for Christmas gifs etc. It's sad but I think it will happen.

 

[Entropi]

I wonder if the EU will require Sony to open PSN to other stores and individual developers to “protect” consumers from an evil monopoly.

 

[Maverick]

I don't want games to go for PC even if it's released 30 years later from the PS release.

But I vastly prefer digital games over physical games. It's just more practical to me but I don't want them to go away forever.

 

[Neversummer]

Regarding a closed platform the only games that should be multiplat ie PS, PC & Mobile are PS live service games the single players needs to stay on PS otherwise PS has zero chance of competing w Nintendo they’ll never surpass Nintendo & that’s because Nintendo will never release there singleplayer games on PC or other platform the most you’ll see from Nintendo is live service across Nintendo & mobile platform. All of these Nixxes port is getting annoying when PS don’t announce shit for PS like hello it’s a slap in the face of they’re loyal fans & fans who bought in there console, porting those games just to get 30 to 70 million in each game ported when Nixxes can be put into a inFAMOUS 1 & 2 remake, SOCOM 2 & 3 remake, Legend of Dragoon remake bringing even bigger profit probably over 150+ million in profits while doubling down console & not negatively harming console’s ecosystem. Even big 3rd party are questioning why make there games exclusive to PS when PS themselves don’t believe on there platform similar to what’s happening w PSVR 2 & Xbox. Loosing Persona, Yakuza shit they’ll probably loose Final Fantasy exclusivity to Nintendo Switch2 & multiple Monster Hunter & Dragon Quest games where already exclusive to Nintendo Switch just cause it’s prominent in Japan if Sony doesn’t acquire these publishers mainly Capcom & Square Enix they’ll loose exclusivity or just outright get skip by Nintendo Switch 2, PS needs to double down in Japan also seeing if acquiring Hoyoverse for there mobile games would be huge for PS consoles & PS push to mobile specifically in Japan, Korea & China market

Edit why tf was Naughty Dog & Insomniac working on these PC port these PC gamers don’t give a fuck about PS other then test the pc port on a 4090 for a video & or to modding the games after pirating them it’s a waste non of the PC port has passed 3 million sells & overtime the sells has become less & less. Horizon FW pc port will sell less then Horizon ZD pc port, GOW Ragnarok pc port will sell less then GOW 2018 pc port the only pc port that will sell 5 million plus are the Demon souls & Bloodborne pc ports so PS is just harming there consoles because now consoles players are like I can just buy a pc & get both pc, ps & xbox games & pc, xbox & nintendo players are like why buy a ps they’ll eventually go to PC harming the PS ecosystem

 

[Yurinka]

I wonder if the EU will require Sony to open PSN to other stores and individual developers to “protect” consumers from an evil monopoly.

They did it in PC, they are starting to do it for mobile. Once it will become common in mobile, I assume some time later they'll demand to do it in console too both to Sony and Nintendo.

They do it with mobile first because it's by far the biggest market.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Sadly, they are way more likely to triple down on PC, mobile and GaaS. I wish Jim Ryan replacement goes into a complete different direction and is someone that understand PlayStation's strengths and appeal.

There is room for a PC strategy when it comes to GaaS/VR and maybe really old titles (that appeal to PC enough to justify it) but it should never come at the expense of PlayStation consoles, same goes for GaaS games in relation to single player games. PC should also include Sony own store and crossbuy with PlayStation consoles.

Mobile should only be complementary, like what Nintendo does, just partner with other devs to use PlayStation IPs on mobile games when it fits.

Sony also need much better costumer service and a fair return policy for digital purchases.

 

[JAHGamer]

You're right, but these idiots will make 2024 another year where more 1st party games release on PC than on PS5. And then in 5 years will wonder where they went wrong

 

[Bryank75]

In regards to first party games being exclusive, I have now come to the conclusion that if AAA story games go to other platforms, they'd be better off closing all first party and just paying third party for timed exclusives.

As essentially there is very little difference, except having a first party costs a lot more and needs a lot of management oversight.

It's either... Make full exclusives or pay third party to do two year exclusives for ten or twenty million or whatever.

They could do 15 exclusive AAA third party games for the cost of SM3.

The ONLY advantage of first party is full exclusivity.

 

[Hezekiah]

It makes sense to keep offering physical to satisfy a chunk of your fanbase, and further squeeze Xbox out of the market. I still think though that PS6 will have no disc drive as standard. Ultimately it's the direction media is going in.

In terms of PC ports I think that wil continue, but it will be two years like with HFW because the sales are relatively low, and they're not stupid enough to day-and-date except for multiplayer games like Helldivers.

 

[Danja1187]

Put the GaaS stuff PC and keep the tentpole AAA / AA games on PS5. It's an easy strategy but PlayStation has been hijacked by the suits who only see numbers now. PlayStation is nothing but a vessel within Sony these days to make as much money as possible at the detriment to the brand and core users.

It makes sense to keep offering physical to satisfy a chunk of your fanbase, and further squeeze Xbox out of the market. I still think though that PS6 will have no disc drive as standard. Ultimately it's the direction media is going in.

In terms of PC ports I think that wil continue, but it will be two years like with HFW because the sales are relatively low, and they're not stupid enough to day-and-date except for multiplayer games like Helldivers.

PS6 will have a disc drive. There are markets they sell hardware in that literally cannot support an all digital future nor want to. The physical market will shrink but it's definitely not going anywhere by the time PS6 arrives.

As for HFW, it was Sony that cut off the legs of this game. I won't fault them since maybe it was a necessary collateral damage for the time. But putting Single Players games on PC is dumb. I have no issue if they want to put PS2 - PS4 single player on PC, but PS5 exclusives have no business going to that platform until PS6 is upon us..

 

[Neversummer]

It makes sense to keep offering physical to satisfy a chunk of your fanbase, and further squeeze Xbox out of the market. I still think though that PS6 will have no disc drive as standard. Ultimately it's the direction media is going in.

In terms of PC ports I think that wil continue, but it will be two years like with HFW because the sales are relatively low, and they're not stupid enough to day-and-date except for multiplayer games like Helldivers.

Horizon FW sells completely cater because Sony dropped it to PS+ like no shit if you give out the game for free consumers aren’t gonna pay premium to buy it. PS+ only works for games heavily monetized. Horizon FW was tracking exact if not to surpass by a little over Horizon ZD, FW won’t surpass 15 especially w a PC port less incentive for someone to buy it on your console further cratering sales potential resulting in less sales & Sony trading 100% return for a 30% return on PC Sony gotta be dumb

 

[Nhomnhom]

In regards to first party games being exclusive, I have now come to the conclusion that if AAA story games go to other platforms, they'd be better off closing all first party and just paying third party for timed exclusives.

As essentially there is very little difference, except having a first party costs a lot more and needs a lot of management oversight.

It's either... Make full exclusives or pay third party to do two year exclusives for ten or twenty million or whatever.

They could do 15 exclusive AAA third party games for the cost of SM3.

The ONLY advantage of first party is full exclusivity.

Once Xbox is gone what will be the point of PS5/PC exclusives?

All along PS5/PC exclusive games were not really exclusives, just like Xbox/PC games were never real exclusives.

There is also a big difference between going all in and making a game just for the PS5 and maybe later down the line porting it to PC if it makes sense and making a game from the ground up for PS5/PC and then just delaying the PC release (like Sony has been doing for some time now).

 

[Loy310]

yup

 

[Nhomnhom]

If physical editions sales ever become too small they should do special editions instead and distribute them themselves trough their own store.

Once Xbox is gone I think PlayStation competing more directly with PC could be a great thing for console players. Xbox is just a weird compromise that has the weakness of both PC and console without the biggest advantages of each(no quality exclusives, no proper physical media, no decent hardware baseline, etc).

If PlayStation ever starts to compete directly with Steam devices they'll be forced to improve costumer service, return policy, pay-walled features, paid online, etc. Xbox all along was a really bad influence on the console space.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Their live service games need to be day one on PC.

 

[flaccidsnake]

Playstation has a legacy for PC openness. PS2 and PS3 had unlocked Linux modes. They partnered with Valve to release Portal 2 with deep Steam integration and cross-buy. They supported PS3 mods in Unreal 3. Playstation were early innovators in online gaming with Socom. They went big with online and digital distribution in the PS3 era.

The Playstation-as-HBO approach to game publishing made sense in the PS4 era, though it was a mistake to abandon online gaming to such a deep extent. There is now evidently brain drain at teams like Insomniac, Guerrilla, and Naughty Dog. Single player, story games still have a place, but there is a big frontier for new kinds of connected gaming. Even hybrid approaches like Elden Ring and Death Stranding have a ton of creative potential.

Ultimately the OP is proposing a very conservative, safe approach to first party strategy. It would leave Playstation unprepared for future growth, with a boring catalog of played out franchises.