Sony will release Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for PC in July 26

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Not sure this rhetoric of less SP is coming from. Are studios like Sucker Punch broken up and not working on anything? We don’t have any announcement, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

The live service stuff sucks, but once it all comes tumbling down - which is almost as sure as a bear shitting in the wood - lessons will be learnt. Even despite this, these games are not replacing the SP, they are side by side.

I feel no remorse.

It's not so much less SP games, but potentially less marquee AAA SP games because budgets continue to increase along with inflation year over year, yet the amount of funds Sony are putting towards traditional games for the next 3 FYs is relatively stagnant. Meanwhile, funds towards non-traditional games will skyrocket.

Possibility we may get MORE SP games but only IF Sony finally started making and/or funding more mid-to-high scale AA games, at least some with legacy IP, that could be SP-centric. While that may drop the amount of AAA releases down for a couple years, actual volume of games would increase and there's no reason the AA stuff can't be to the same level of polish and fun as the AAA stuff. And with much smaller budgets per game, would allow for even more creative risks and design styles.

I still think PS3/early PS4-era Sony got the mix of this right. They had the AAA stuff like the Uncharted games, Killzone, GT, Heavy Rain, Resistance, TLOU etc. but also smaller and non-cinematic stuff like Fat Princess, Echochrome, Puppeteer, Locoroco, LBP, Motorstorm, Wipeout and so on. Some were even MP games or had MP modes to them.

Even if they have to partner with 3P devs to make it happen, it would be good if Sony could re-establish that balance again with traditional non-MP centric games.

 

[Shmunter]

It's not so much less SP games, but potentially less marquee AAA SP games because budgets continue to increase along with inflation year over year, yet the amount of funds Sony are putting towards traditional games for the next 3 FYs is relatively stagnant. Meanwhile, funds towards non-traditional games will skyrocket.

Possibility we may get MORE SP games but only IF Sony finally started making and/or funding more mid-to-high scale AA games, at least some with legacy IP, that could be SP-centric. While that may drop the amount of AAA releases down for a couple years, actual volume of games would increase and there's no reason the AA stuff can't be to the same level of polish and fun as the AAA stuff. And with much smaller budgets per game, would allow for even more creative risks and design styles.

I still think PS3/early PS4-era Sony got the mix of this right. They had the AAA stuff like the Uncharted games, Killzone, GT, Heavy Rain, Resistance, TLOU etc. but also smaller and non-cinematic stuff like Fat Princess, Echochrome, Puppeteer, Locoroco, LBP, Motorstorm, Wipeout and so on. Some were even MP games or had MP modes to them.

Even if they have to partner with 3P devs to make it happen, it would be good if Sony could re-establish that balance again with traditional non-MP centric games.

Yes I understand the skepticism and will myself be very harsh if things do not look rosy. For now, looking at it with eyes wide open

 

[Deleted member 417]

Well yeah it just depends on how long you're prepared to wait. As a 4090 owner I wonder if the release gap reduced to a year it devalues ownership of the PS5 quite a bit as I always have a backlog.

I usually wait 12-18 months before buying a game anyway. A game usually releases cheaper, fixed, with all of the DLC included. There are exceptions, but I can name them on 1 finger.

I'm not arsed about RT or 4K either. I am more than happy gaming at 1080p with all the bells and whistles, which means my PC rig doesn't even have to be that powerful.

This will be the first console generation that I wait for a massive price-cut before buying either consoles. I'm still gaming on an Xbox One X.

 

[Swolf712]

Miles Morales was already pretty boring to me. I'm not hyped for Spider-man 2 or Wolverine.

Death Streaming 2 will release on PC in no time and so will FFXVI and FFVII Rebirth, games that are not even Sony's.

What do you actually lose by going with a RX4070 instead of PS5? You'll make your money back by not buying games for $70 day one.

The only valid argument against PC right now is the low quality of ports and having to wait because Sony pays devs to delay their games on PC.

You've made up your mind to just be absolutely miserable, we get it.

 

[Swolf712]

It's amusing to see how many people were, even begrudgingly, ok with the 2-3 year wait for PC ports only to immediately fly into a panic over a game getting a PC port 2 1/2 years later.

I'm just gonna leave it at that and step out of this circle jerk of misery. Peace.

 

[nongkris]

PC, the place where you can play PS5 games with more features and a lower price thanks to Sony. Only a matter of time before a PC portable becomes fast enough to run these games well, and I will be switching platforms.

With Hermens day 1 PC push with GAAS they are making sure to make Playstation second class citizens. Never thought I'd see the day Sony was going the Xbox route of devaluation.

 

[Satoru]

Consoles are a hindrance if you are an enthusiast gamer. Imagine owning a low quality hi Fi to listen to the Beatles, one that plays exclusively led zeppelin and pink Floyd and another that just plays Miles Davis records.

Lol

It's just that we are all used to that anachronistic business model since the 80s. Back then it made sense, the industry was young, some standards needed to be set and home computers were ridiculously expensive, hard to use and terrible for gaming.

To get a computer with the same standard of a console, not counting peripherals, you need to spend at the very least 3x as much.

Not saying consoles should not exist, they absolutely have a place, but PC is a different animal. Have your wars between consoles but down the line port all games to PC. At least that way, game preservation is secured and console manufacturers get some additional revenue. Because sure as hell those games will end up being emulated or even source ported on PC.

Yes, it's a different animal - one that requires a higher price tag to do the same thing, but that can do more things.

Even console gamers end up benefiting. Look at how many games were going to be left in the dust once Sony shut down the PS3 store, or Nintendo with their legacy consoles? That won't happen on PC. Games lost in older consoles like MGS4 could be playable on integrated graphics today if they were ported to PC back in the day. Everyone has a PC at home, I bet office PCs today can play crysis.

Yes, never in the history of PC games have they disappeared from retail and digital stores. NEVER!

At least some consoles tried to do innovative stuff like the 3DS or the Wii. But these propietary PCs? Nothing to bring to the table except a relative ease of use for casual gamers, some exclusive here and there and a misleading lower cost of entry.

Yeah, nothing innovative about an IO system that PCs are still trying to replicate, or the best controller in the market with features never seen before. What has PC gaming innovated recently? Fucking RGB??

Final note - I'm primarily a PC gamer. All you said is absolute nonsense.

@nongkris are you Portuguese?

 

[Satoru]

For the smarty pants that say PC ports are fine, I'll help you out as to why this is a shit business decision (minus all the live service shit).

• People that buy PlayStation for their exclusives will be buying games inside that ecosystem where 100% of the profit goes to sony. They will also buy 3rd parties using their digital store, giving Sony 30% of each sale.
• If games move to PC as well, fewer people will invest in the Sony ecosystem. They will not only lose money on each sales since they have to pay store cuts, but they will lose people that will invest in their ecosystem. It's a double whammy.
• The more people move out, the less money they will generate, forcing them to port more games to PC to cater to that audience.
• Rinse and repeat.

 

[Ezekiel]

For the smarty pants that say PC ports are fine, I'll help you out as to why this is a shit business decision (minus all the live service shit).

• People that buy PlayStation for their exclusives will be buying games inside that ecosystem where 100% of the profit goes to sony. They will also buy 3rd parties using their digital store, giving Sony 30% of each sale.
• If games move to PC as well, fewer people will invest in the Sony ecosystem. They will not only lose money on each sales since they have to pay store cuts, but they will lose people that will invest in their ecosystem. It's a double whammy.
• The more people move out, the less money they will generate, forcing them to port more games to PC to cater to that audience.
• Rinse and repeat.

We get all that, but don't you think Sony have all the data needed to make an educated business decision?

People against PC ports are basically implying that Sony is making a bad business decision, without having all the data and market analysis that Sony has.

So it's armchair CEOs thinking they know better.

Sony have been doing some PC ports for a while, and PS5 sales are tracking ahead of PS4.

Here's a thought : Maybe they know what they're doing?

 

[Nhomnhom]

For the smarty pants that say PC ports are fine, I'll help you out as to why this is a shit business decision (minus all the live service shit).

• People that buy PlayStation for their exclusives will be buying games inside that ecosystem where 100% of the profit goes to sony. They will also buy 3rd parties using their digital store, giving Sony 30% of each sale.
• If games move to PC as well, fewer people will invest in the Sony ecosystem. They will not only lose money on each sales since they have to pay store cuts, but they will lose people that will invest in their ecosystem. It's a double whammy.Icon Extra
  
  https://icon-era.com/account/upgrades
• The more people move out, the less money they will generate, forcing them to port more games to PC to cater to that audience.
• Rinse and repeat.

Sony's solution: producing GaaS

We get all that, but don't you think Sony have all the data needed to make an educated business decision?

People against PC ports are basically implying that Sony is making a bad business decision, without having all the data and market analysis that Sony has.

So it's armchair CEOs thinking they know better.

Sony have been doing some PC ports for a while, and PS5 sales are tracking ahead of PS4.

Here's a thought : Maybe they know what they're doing?

Did Sony not have the data showing nobody was going to buy Sackboy on PC? Didn't Xbox have data while they were getting their as whooped and making every possible mistake? Gaming CEOs get things wrong all the time if not most of the time.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

PC, the place where you can play PS5 games with more features and a lower price thanks to Sony. Only a matter of time before a PC portable becomes fast enough to run these games well, and I will be switching platforms.

With Hermens day 1 PC push with GAAS they are making sure to make Playstation second class citizens. Never thought I'd see the day Sony was going the Xbox route of devaluation.

The game is always on sale on PSN tho. At like 60% off. Many games don't get price drops on their regular price but they're always on deep sale like Assassin’s Creed.

They are still full price after 5+ years but they are constantly on sale at 80% off. That's true for many games, Sony included.

 

[Satoru]

We get all that, but don't you think Sony have all the data needed to make an educated business decision?

People against PC ports are basically implying that Sony is making a bad business decision, without having all the data and market analysis that Sony has.

So it's armchair CEOs thinking they know better.

Sony have been doing some PC ports for a while, and PS5 sales are tracking ahead of PS4.

Here's a thought : Maybe they know what they're doing?

I'll let you in on a little secret: Most CEOs, especially the ones near retirement, do not plan long term. They plan short to mid term (6 months to 3/4 years). Jimbo will retire in a few years and as long as the brand keeps going until then, he will be fine.

Edit - IDGAF if you want to call me armchair CEO or not. I can categorically tell you that I'd do a better job than Phil Spencer at Microsoft. I can also tell you that Jim is going to fuck Playstation long term.

 

[nongkris]

We get all that, but don't you think Sony have all the data needed to make an educated business decision?

People against PC ports are basically implying that Sony is making a bad business decision, without having all the data and market analysis that Sony has.

So it's armchair CEOs thinking they know better.

Sony have been doing some PC ports for a while, and PS5 sales are tracking ahead of PS4.

Here's a thought : Maybe they know what they're doing?

The success of the PS5 has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that the PS4 had exclusives and did not have this PC port strategy, people also buying the PS5 had no reason to believe the games they purchased would soon come to another platform a little later.

Anyway the geforce leak pretty much let it be known that HFW and likely Demon Souls are next on the list of ports to be done by Nixxes, and with that PS5 will officially become a timed exclusive box.

@Dodkrake No I'm not Portuguese, I got those screenshots from someone else.

 

[Nhomnhom]

The game is always on sale on PSN tho. At like 60% off. Many games don't get price drops on their regular price but they're always on deep sale like Assassin’s Creed.

They are still full price after 5+ years but they are constantly on sale at 80% off. That's true for many games, Sony included.

I mean if you play on PlayStation you pretty much have to pay for online and the game is included on PS+ Extra. Sadly, that is probably the best thing PlayStation has going on for it right now.

I'll prioritize buying physical games from other publishers going forward over games from Sony and their close partners because we know those games are getting into PS+ rather fast now (Horizon Forbidden West took less than a year I think) and they don't leave.

The smart thing is to stay away from all new games anyway, with very few exceptions (like a game you are dying to play). Just way to many high quality games to play that won't cost you $70 and that you most likely already paid for.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

It's amusing to see how many people were, even begrudgingly, ok with the 2-3 year wait for PC ports only to immediately fly into a panic over a game getting a PC port 2 1/2 years later.

I'm just gonna leave it at that and step out of this circle jerk of misery. Peace.

Well, I wouldn't say I am throwing a panic personally, but the R&C announcement is just somewhat ill-timed considering the showcase they gave last week. If you're going to announce a PC port, at least pair it with the announcement of a new 1P AA/AAA traditional game that is coming to the console.

Imagine if this R&C port was announced at the same showcase they showed off 4 1P GaaS titles (Fairgame$, Helldivers 2, Concord, Marathon), all of those going to PC Day 1 (not unexpected), one going to Xbox Day 1 (not unexpected). And the only traditional game they had for the same event was gameplay for Spiderman 2, a game already known about for the past two years, and releasing in a few months.

Just picture the impression a R&C PC port announcement at a PlayStation (console) Showcase would have been received in addition to everything else shown 1P-wise? And I'm not speaking about how the casuals/mainstream would've received it, or people on certain forums who basically grift from platform to platform and have no core investment or history with gaming (or at least with PlayStation); I'm talking about the hardcore/core PS fans who have been with the brand for years if not decades. The ones where PlayStation and gaming is a part of their lifestyle (the same as for some people, fashion or movies or music are parts of their lifestyles).

Not talking about fanboys/fangirls, either. They may be invested in the console/platform but not out of genuine love & passion, merely out of drama and using that to attack other consoles/brands/communities.

 

[nongkris]

Only reason I buy games on PS5 at this point is if it's not available on Geforce Now. If I had an actual local PC I probably would not even game on my PS5. A 2 year wait for Sony games would be nothing to me. Not to mention PC can play all xbox games and Nintendo thanks to emulators. With Steam Deck and Rog Ally they also have more portable options now than console gamers. It seems both Xbox and Jim Ryan's Playstation have decided that they want to be multiplatform publishers but forgot about adding any perks to the loyal players in their ecosystem. FOMO and a higher price is not a perk to stay on PS5.

 

[Papacheeks]

Well, I wouldn't say I am throwing a panic personally, but the R&C announcement is just somewhat ill-timed considering the showcase they gave last week. If you're going to announce a PC port, at least pair it with the announcement of a new 1P AA/AAA traditional game that is coming to the console.

Imagine if this R&C port was announced at the same showcase they showed off 4 1P GaaS titles (Fairgame$, Helldivers 2, Concord, Marathon), all of those going to PC Day 1 (not unexpected), one going to Xbox Day 1 (not unexpected). And the only traditional game they had for the same event was gameplay for Spiderman 2, a game already known about for the past two years, and releasing in a few months.

Just picture the impression a R&C PC port announcement at a PlayStation (console) Showcase would have been received in addition to everything else shown 1P-wise? And I'm not speaking about how the casuals/mainstream would've received it, or people on certain forums who basically grift from platform to platform and have no core investment or history with gaming (or at least with PlayStation); I'm talking about the hardcore/core PS fans who have been with the brand for years if not decades. The ones where PlayStation and gaming is a part of their lifestyle (the same as for some people, fashion or movies or music are parts of their lifestyles).

Not talking about fanboys/fangirls, either. They may be invested in the console/platform but not out of genuine love & passion, merely out of drama and using that to attack other consoles/brands/communities.

Why would they show PC stuff at a Showcase called Playstation Showcase? They are trying to sell consoles/hardware. Every PC release they have done has either been a drop on youtube with a follow up on PS BLOG.

They were smart to only show concentrate on Playstation/Console stuff.

 

[Yurinka]

We get all that, but don't you think Sony have all the data needed to make an educated business decision?

People against PC ports are basically implying that Sony is making a bad business decision, without having all the data and market analysis that Sony has.

So it's armchair CEOs thinking they know better.

Sony have been doing some PC ports for a while, and PS5 sales are tracking ahead of PS4.

Here's a thought : Maybe they know what they're doing?

Sony obviously has the data, not only that: they shown it on their reports. PC ports require a very low investment and are generating them hundreds of millions of dollars, most of them profit.

Not only that, every year they generate way more money from PC, they have a huge CAGR growth there.

And it didn't negatively affect PS5: the opposite, PS5 and its games and services are performing better than ever.

It's a fact that it's a good business decision to release a few years old (not day one) ports of some of their games (not all their games) in PC from time to time. They shown the numbers proving it.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Why would they show PC stuff at a Showcase called Playstation Showcase? They are trying to sell consoles/hardware. Every PC release they have done has either been a drop on youtube with a follow up on PS BLOG.

They were smart to only show concentrate on Playstation/Console stuff.

Not counting the GaaS titles (which were also PC but, again, understandable), yes agreed. It seems like The Snitch and other insiders were expecting R&C PC port to be announced at the showcase though.

Dunno why, but they basically said as such.

Sony obviously has the data, not only that: they shown it on their reports. PC ports require a very low investment and are generating them hundreds of millions of dollars, most of them profit.

Not only that, every year they generate way more money from PC, they have a huge CAGR growth there.

And it didn't negatively affect PS5: the opposite, PS5 and its games and services are performing better than ever.

It's a fact that it's a good business decision to release a few years old (not day one) ports of some of their games (not all their games) in PC from time to time. They shown the numbers proving it.

Have you not seen the Nvidia leak? Basically all of the big games since PS5's launch are scheduled for PC, and even some of the small ones (like Sackboy's Big Adventure was). I think we can take it that all the games will eventually get ported to PC at this rate if they stick to this strategy, not just some of them.

We'll also need to see longer term if the strategy has any adverse effects on PS5 sales or revenue. It's too early to say confidently that it's a good business decision. More time is needed to assess things.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Not counting the GaaS titles (which were also PC but, again, understandable), yes agreed. It seems like The Snitch and other insiders were expecting R&C PC port to be announced at the showcase though.

Dunno why, but they basically said as such.



Have you not seen the Nvidia leak? Basically all of the big games since PS5's launch are scheduled for PC, and even some of the small ones (like Sackboy's Big Adventure was). I think we can take it that all the games will eventually get ported to PC at this rate if they stick to this strategy, not just some of them.

We'll also need to see longer term if the strategy has any adverse effects on PS5 sales or revenue. It's too early to say confidently that it's a good business decision. More time is needed to assess things.

That's also a leak from ages ago from the time when porting a game to PC meant porting their entire engine and working on publishing a game on PC for the first time. At this point probably every Sony studios already develops their games with PC in mind.

The temptation to cash in on PC ports (regardless of how pathetic the return is) is bigger than ever until they start seeing any measurable negative effect from it (and who's to say they'll even identify it properly, they'll most likely just end up misinterpreting it as people being less interested in single player games since that is what they want to hear).