Sony Confirms Nixxes Purchase Will Aid Future PC Ports

I thought they were brought so they could speed up production of of console games which can take 3-5 years to make.

shame

Well, it looks like the PS5 will be my last console, PC is in my future.

Here before people throw around hyperbole about the death of PlayStation because of them making PC ports of some of their old games.

Makes sense, it’s what we were all thinking after the original announcement. It’s business 101, release PS4 games on PC to build up hype for the PS5 sequel that they’ll need a PS5 to play.

A little disappointing, even if not really surprising. Not that I mind Sony games being on PC - just thought there might be a little more to the acquisition

Nice to know where Sony's mind is at right now I guess?

Only on Playstation is a thing of the past, then. I still prefer consoles over PC any day, but I imagine a large chunk of the PS fanbase will be disappointed to see the likes of Uncharted, The Last of Us and God of War on PC soon.

Absolutely pathetic. Nintendo here we come!

@gollumb82 they literally stopped using that tag when this generation started.

hopefully bloodborne is next

People are crazy to not think Sony is going to take advantage of every platform they can in this new digital age we are currently living in. I don't think any of them will be day one on PC but get ready for sooner release dates people. It was inevitable.

@nessisonett still holding on to hope that this is just for PS4 games huh...

I can never get my head around people getting upset at games that are a few years old are being ported to another system.

I had no problem with waiting for Mass Effect, Disco Elysium to come to PlayStation consoles but wouldn’t have bought a different console just to play them 🤷🏻‍♂️

Stupid move by sony.herman and jim ryan putting all the exclusive on pc.seems like it.bring back jack and shawn🤔.word up son

@Thrillho I guess it's kinda like, so am I just buying a PlayStation now so I can be the first to play Sony games? But eventually everyone can, only their version will be superior in almost every way?

Just seems like a bizarre business strategy, especially when they've kinda positioned themselves as the antithesis of Microsoft's play-it-anywhere strategy.

Yep, this is the ONLY reason they acquired them, let's be real. It's absolutely unbelievable to imagine Sony buying a studio not for the benefit of PlayStation but for the total benefit of the PC community, yet that's where we are.

Because remember, PS gamers do not benefit from these PC ports in ANY way, and there is only potential disappointment or frustration in it for us. It unfortunately seems that Sony has now become far too comfortable with throwing their existing users under the bus as they chase after the PC community.

PC and Xbox Game Pass are the future, PS will end up in this generation.

I’ll always be a console gamer, I like the simplicity. Xbox games go to PC day one and it doesn’t bother me, I can still play and enjoy them on an Xbox where I want.

Some PlayStation fans have always been on their high horses about this (Xbox has no exclusives) and while Sony are not going as far as MS did, their games are becoming less and less exclusive to just PlayStation. Good business move from Sony, though it wont go down well with some of their player base, they ultimately don’t care. It’s all about that $.

@Bleachedsmiles I literally couldn’t care less. Put Returnal on PC or whatever, I’ve already played it anyway.

@zupertramp not only superior...but without an online paywall...and probably cheaper. But least they're 1year later...till they're 6 months later...till they're day 1 - which you'd be very silly thinking they never will be.

Of course there's going to be initial backlash...just as there was with the Xbox community. And it's fair that there should be. It's easy to say "I don't get why people don't want games on other platforms" ect...but like it or not it does remove value from that said platform when the hardware is sold on the back of the idea these games are only available to it. And console gamers are still being locked out of content from those same games unless they pay yet more money for a subscription service. You either want inclusivity or you don't. You can't have it both ways without questions being asked.

And that's my biggest gripe against Xbox and playstation pushing for the pc market. I don't care pc players get to play the same games at various different qualities (don't forget pc is also the lowest denominator too). I still think console hardware offers a more seemless experience.
What I care about is us being treated as second class by having paywalls placed where there are none on the same games they're putting out on pc. That needs answering.

@trev666 Really? A studio known for PC porting at a time when Sony is porting their back catalog to PC?

I love how so many people mad at this just say they'll go PC, then they look at how much a GPU costs and they remember why they console game. I can afford it so I only PC game, but how many of you are willing to pay $600+ for just one part of a PC to have the same or better performance as a $500 console?

@mucc it's an investment I'd consider making where I never have before. that's a lot of why I find this so strange. you're making some of your core audience question whether they really need to buy into your ecosystem.

I'm not mad or salty, but I am, more and more, asking myself if I really need a PlayStation going forward. Surely we can agree that's kinda not good right?

Can’t believe people here thought this acquisition would be anything but PC Port support.

Weird, its was very obvious tbh

@mucc Plus there’s massive shortages at the moment. I play PC as much as my PS5 but it’s not an easy ecosystem to buy into. There will always be benefits to both.

@zupertramp they just announced 10 million units sold. People dont care about pc ports.

@The_New_Butler "Steam deck is going to be a beast of a console with MS, PS and PC gamer officially on it."

Yes it is! This might as well be an advertisement for it. You will be able to play Uncharted 4, GOW, etc on the go plus have access to game pass and the entire Steam library!

If Valve plays it's cards right the Deck can be a giant hit and possibly take away some market space from Xbox and Playstation.

@Amppari I was kinda thinking that myself. Fastest selling PS ever and they're also lining up games to port to pc so I guess they're fine.

but, idk, there could come a time, as the ports become more frequent and the exclusivity becomes more short-lived, when enough people start to question why they are buying your equipment.

@Shepherd_Tallon it's not a major issue now but this acquisition certainly doesn't point to less porting.

I have no issue with this at all.
Why not port a 4/5 year old game that has probably sold as much as it is going to on Playstation?
Just means more sales which means more investment.

I'd be very surprised if Sony ever started releasing exclusives simultaneously on PC & PS (like MS do).

If you want to look at this in a positive light at least there will be less fanboys fighting (in theory) as neither company will have any exclusives to fight over. Nintendo I don't see ever bending the knee so their hardware will always be necessary.

PC ports of games are already starting to use the Dualsense and all of it's features so the only thing really holding someone back from jumping ship is the cost.

@Shepherd_Tallon it will never change long as people just accept it and don't question why we're being charged £70 and still having content locked behind a paywall...when they're releasing the same games on pc and not locking you out of what you've already paid for.
They tried to push Xbox gold onto pc gamers don't forget - they pushed back. A few months back they tried to raise the price of gold - was a push back.
What we need are publications like ign ect that have a voice that will be heard to simply ask the question 'why?'
And then it comes down to how much value would gamers place on these subscription services if they weren't forced to pay them to play online?...I personally would still pay my plus subscription. I personally would still pay for gamepass. But having to pay for online access..when more and more games will become cross-play with pc too...is just archaic. And will have to change at some point whilst Xbox and Sony continue to invest heavily in the pc market.
Maybe halo multiplayer going free is a good step. And there have been rumblings lately Xbox want to get rid of gold. Maybe that's what we need...one to force the others hand.

Might aswell just wait till the playstation games come to pc & get cracked can get them free then

@Juanalf are reservations still available for the Steam Deck?

Told you. They didn't acquire them for anything else.

When they made the Nixxes announcement, it was pretty obvious what was up. What's funny is the subtle spin that they do on PC announcements at times during the announcements. Almost like they're damage controlling. Like on the day of the Nixxes announcement. Hermen Hulst was like "they helped us with Killzone SF on PS4". I was like "look at this gaslight 😂". Like this buy isn't 99% about PC porting. Then comes the news today from Jim: "Yeah, we bought them to do PC ports" lol

Ok that was clear. Help with Pc ports and general tech support for other dev studios.

This is a good thing. It’s better to have a dedicated team handling ports instead of the developers having to deal with an additional platform. PC users get a better port since Nixxes are one of the best in the industry, and this allows developers to have more time with whatever they’re working on. A more polished game and less left on the cutting room floor due to time constraints are things we all want.

@art_of_the_kill PS gamers do benefit from Sony bringing games to PC though. As much as it's "cool" to hate on companies for making money, the more money Sony makes in the gaming space, the more money they have to reinvest in gaming, bringing about more new and better games and experiences. You're foolish if you think Sony is going to drop Playstation.

Not surprised, they watered down their brand soon as they started porting to PC. Now they've all but sold-out their exclusives for alittle extra money they make off PC purchases. Their used to be something thrilling about these amazing games only being on Playstation. Now when they announce big titles I honestly could care less. I used to be one that would support their exclusives day one. Since they started this I haven't bought a PS5 or bought one exclusive. They've turned me into a gamer that will wait till their dirt cheap or I get them for free. Im not supporting games for them to eventually port to PC.

@nessisonett "release PS4 games on PC to build up hype for the PS5 sequel"

Makes sense, release God of War on PC before God of War 2 comes out exclusively on PS5. I mean Horizon Zero Dawn. No wait Gran Turismo. 😉

I do agree it will just be PS4 games for years though, Sony isn't stupid, just greedy. Worst case scenario even if GoW, HZD and GT are on PC (wait, Horizon already is, isn't it) and PS5s are still hard to come by maybe Sony sells a few PS4 for $150 to hook people into the system.

If Sony can keep let's say 3 years between PS4/5 and PC they'll be OK. Movies get like 90 days in theaters before TV, 3 years is a long enough time for the big hitters mentioned above. And Spiderman.

@DertieBertie I dunno. The concept of more money for developers certainly didn't seem to help us get a Days Gone sequel. If I recall correctly, Sony put the kibosh on that BEFORE porting Days Gone to PC, so...

@Milktastrophe If Sony wants more money to go around, one thing they could do is stop blowing their money on ridiculous crap. They could stop doing nonsensical stuff like buying EVO for no apparent reason, or dumping money into Epic Games investments. Oh, and another thing they could do is stop moneyhatting third-party exclusives since they now believe exclusivity is so worthless now... or perhaps they just believe only timed exclusivity matters, I don't know. I just believe it to be one hell of a paradox for them to be going out of their way to secure exclusive content, while simultaneously giving away their own exclusive content.

Also, no, they're not going to "drop" PlayStation. Per se. They're just going to become less committed to their existing base, because like it or not, we're not the only ones Sony is chasing after now. However, we ARE the ones who are being actively misled or deceived by Sony as they still use the promise of exclusives to try to get us to buy their consoles. We are the ones who are ending up with the worst versions of Sony's games in exchange for getting to play them as little as two years earlier.

@Ken_Kaniff Smart man I'm doing the same.

@Bleachedsmiles I am with you on this.
Can somebody explain to me why we need to pay to play online for playstation, while people on steam don't have to.

I don't understand the logic behind people's belief that PC port sales will allow Sony to make better games? How has that worked out for Microsoft who went day and date on PC, I don't see any exciting world class games that push the envelope coming out from them.

If anything, this is only going to make Sony pivot faster towards GaaS model games because they'll want to extract as much money as they can from PC gamers, who are on a platform where they make no money from 3rd party sales. The console gamers who've traditionally enjoyed polished complete single player games will suffer as a result. Just look at the GaaS rumours of the upcoming games from Haven and Deviation Games.

As a PC gamer this is a good news. I'd like to play Ghost of Tsushima on PC. Hope the port will be good because of this.

I agree that gpu price is ridiculous right now because of crypto miners, but owning a PC could last you longer than consoles. And also just like some people pointed out here, we don't have to pay to play online, so the cost that used by console player to play online could be saved for something else like for buying a new GPU or buying games.

I like Playstation and it's exclusive games, but they're giving me less of a reason to buy console over a PC on which I can now play PS "exclusives" as well as Xbox "exclusives".

@art_of_the_kill sounds like a personal problem. I'm not being misled or deceived by Sony with this news, and I am getting the best versions of these games: the ones on console. I don't like gaming on PC, any PC version of a game is automatically worse than the console version to me. However, I understand that there are weirdos who prefer gaming on PC, so I'm glad they can enjoy these games as well.

Oh, and since you apparently understand Sony's investment strategies better than them and their employees being specifically paid to make those investments, maybe you should get yourself hired by Sony in order to put them on the right track :shrug:

Good. The ONE thing I said in early 2020 is that if an of Guerrilla Game's time is WASTED on the PC version of a 4 year old PS4 game, I will be mad.

And then............. https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/less-horizon-zero-dawn-pc-updates-focus-horizon-forbidden-west-guerrilla-games-2860515
So that means they were actually taking away from development of their next game. If Horizon Forbidden West does not release this year its because they wasted 7 months on an ALREADY released PC game in 2020.

Thanks Sony, good job there, you lived up to EXACTLY what I didn't want to come out of releasing games on PC.

@truerbluer I wouldn't say that. Microsoft returning to PC have allowed them to bring back franchises like the Microsoft Flight Simulator which is a fantastic game.

@nessisonett If anything, I'd think this would have an opposite effect. PC gamers buy consoles in order to play exclusives, but now that they know Sony is willing to port their games to PC, there's literally no incentive for them to shell out for a PS5. Blood is already in the water at this point.

@Fenbops It especially doesn't go down well when we could have been playing a new Horizon game right now had Guerilla not wasted resources on a PC version of an old game for a few more thousand or whatever sales.

Only that much? Detroit Become Human came to PC a year and a half ago and only sold 1 million a week ago. Its on PS4 3 years and sold 5 times that. Its clearly not worth the time wasting, when we could be playing new games now instead.

And we have now gone the longest in years that its taken Quantic Dream to announce their new game after their current one. They are probably working on those HIGHLY sought after Xbone and Switch ports now lol.
"The more that get to play it the better" or so they say, don't move on and push the industry forward or anything. Just get stuck in a rut doing ports instead.

@Shepherd_Tallon I'm not gonna sit here and act like a few ports have caused me a whole lot of pain and anguish. PC players have gotten some stuff from Sony's back catalog and that's fine.

My real concern (if you can call it that because really it's more a thing to consider) is, if ports become pretty much guaranteed and the exclusivity time is reduced I'll be left wondering, should I invest in a better computer - something I pretty much have to have anyway - or buy a console? And will others ask themselves this same question?

TL;DR - I'm not saying I'm bothered PC players also get to play playstation games, I'm saying, after enough ports, doesn't the console become pointless?

As long as PS owners get the games first and PC gamers have to wait a few years then so be it. I'd rather they kept their IP on PS systems only but there's nowt I can do about it.

PC gaming really doesn't appeal to me so PS remains the best place to play as far as I'm concerned.

😉

@playstation1995
Nah, its a great move we're getting those exclusives whether you like it or not :'D

@Ralizah I think it's basically Sony going full Kmart in the 90's. They're the leader. They know they're the leader. They know nobody challenges them on equal footing (while ignoring Xbox/Nintendo/Valve // Walmart rapidly expanding, assuming it'll remain a localized phenomenon.) They can take their core customer for granted and not build up the platform/update the stores because they have those consumers in the bag and don't have to appeal to them. Instead they can spend huge sums of money to go chasing other new markets and add to the war chest. Until years of neglect make the platform/stores seem outdated and overpriced next to other competitors. By then it'll be a decade of neglect too late to right the ship.

Chasing PC, I don't think is about getting 1337 PC gamers in Seattle to realize Playstation games are awesome on their liquid cooled LED lit rigs and buy a Playstation. And I don't think they feel they're gong to loose their PS market to those players. I think it's about shifting resources away from the PS consoles that they already have the consumers under lock and key and it doesn't matter if they shift resources away, and instead chasing PC gamers in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America to grow the market in places consoles traditionally are less popular than PC. The idea being adding a whole new market, investing less in making the console appealing, while believing everyone is a mandatory console customer already.

For now, the numbers look great, the consoles are selling like no tomorrow. But tides turn.

@Milktastrophe That's such a tired ideological myth that "the more the company makes, the more they invest in product." No, the more the company makes, the higher their share price is driven, and the larger the dividends their investors make. Only whatever is absolutely necessary to drive those gains even higher will be invested in product. And that investment will likely come in the form of investing further in China expansion, PC market growth, or any number of other things that isn't going to be of interest to an existing PS fan, but will be wonderfully interesting to the hedge funds invested in them. Vita 2 and Parappa 4k Adventure aren't going to materialize because they made a boatload of money to blow from selling God of War on Steam.

@Bleachedsmiles I don't see Sony backing down from subscriptions when we see how much of their revenue comes from it. Though it was Matrick's XB that spawned the idea of online paywalls, Sony just copied it for their lousy service when they saw they could get away with it, and finally so did Nintendo. Maybe if XB gets rid of it, the others will end up following suit (in a future generation), though if XB did it it would be in service of shifting subs to Game Pass more than just dropping a sub, so Sony can't really imitate that without a loss. Or doing something with Now. (And boy does Now need something to be done with it...)

@mucc inb4 the parade of people claiming PC is cheaper than console....

I'm not sure this is a good idea.

You will dilute the value of owning a Playstation if you bring your games to PC consistently.

@Shepherd_Tallon Hey no worries on coming off wrong. It's been nothing more than a calm, reasoned discussion as far as I'm concerned. Which is always appreciated.

And I hear you about not considering PC. I feel mostly the same way but I'm now thinking well as long as I have it hooked to the TV in the living room and buy a Dualshock/Dualsense - what's the difference? Plus I'll get the usual PC offerings plus Game Pass.

But you're right they'd still get my money for the games so I guess it's win win for them.

@NEStalgia isn't it kind of cheaper though? If I consider I need a PC for my home anyway, which I do, and I'd probably spend $700-$800 on it anyway, then I take the $500 I was gonna use on a PS5 and just put it towards a better computer when I inevitably upgrade and that puts me at $1200-$1300. Then I factor in savings from never needing to buy PS+ again and figure that gives me a couple hundred more in wiggle room and now I'm at or near a fairly capable rig.

This will only strengthen pc ecosystem, so if someday steam made high-end console (or high-end box only valve deck), or microsoft made the next xbox can runs pc games, playstation ecosystem will be the weakest. Nintendo will be fine since they're really protective of their ip, their console will be the only one that can play the next mario/zelda games.

I wasn't going to buy a ps5 before this and now I really don't have to so this benefits me greatly

This comment section lmao! a couple of PlayStation games get ported years later to get more people to play the sequels on PS5 yet people here are acting like they were personally attacked and Sony is over. Y'all showing your age.

@zupertramp It always sounds innocent, but then, would you be buying a desktop PC instead of a laptop for usability purposes if not building it for gaming? Will the gaming PC go on the TV at the couch...and then you have to drag it back and forth to a desk for work? Then you inevitably end up buying a second device anyway.... lol

There's certainly scenarios where the math works out. Then there's scenarios when you try to justify the math working out so you can sleep at night and justify the expense to others. I did the latter for a decade.

I can say that after 25 years of trusting them, they made me be PS solely gamer for the last 15 years. No other platforms. But I can't trust them anymore. They used to focus on PS, they optimised games for PS. Now that they are focusing on PC I will consider moving to PC. Cheaper games, also MS games, and at difficult times free games. Thanks Sony...but maybe is better this way. I can wait even 4 years for their games.

Good, the games run better on PC and you have more control over them in regards to settings etc. I wish they’d release games on PC day one simultaneously, and Nintendo too, then could just own one unified gaming machine. Even if they just opened the PS store on PC, doesn’t have to be via steam etc, although that is the better option

I've crumbled and bought a gaming PC after been pretty much exclusively a PlayStation player for the last 10 to 15 years. Best of both worlds until they do day on day releases like Microsoft. Then I guess there will be no need for a PlayStation anymore just like there is no reason for an Xbox when you have a PC.

Hopefully we'll still get some killer SP experiences on the PS5 otherwise it will just collect dust.

@RBMango
Pretty soon it will be new games day and date on PC. Just like Microsoft, Sony are looking to take the console out of the equation. When they are no longer losing money on producing consoles. and thwn selling them at a loss, they can put more time and resources towards making awesome games. And I for one welcome that. I look forward to the day where I'll be able to play all my favorite games on a single platform. The future is bright indeed!

@SplooshDmg @NEStalgia hmmm, good points. Good points.

So get an Xbox for Game Pass and Computer for Sony games. NICE!!

I dont understand many here... if you truly are a PlayStation fan, why would you buy these games on PC?

PC is the last resort for me to play anything. Even if they are on PC, I will still always play PlayStation Studio games on my PS5/6/whatevercomesnext.

@Tharsman This is not about playstation fans wanting to play playstation games on PC, but PC users wants to play the best Playstation games without having to purchase a playstation.

@Saucymonk if Sony wants to sell them the games, let them. The money for the games will still go to Sony’s pockets. The PC market is not the same as consoles. They don’t directly compete. Most people that buy PlayStarion are not doing so to play Sony First party games.

But this is not just about them. Scroll back, starting a couple posts into this comment section people started to say the PS5 would be their last PlayStation console.

It is true then :-/ Jim Ryan will kill the PlayStation brand in the end I can't support this CR*P really. I buy PlayStation games so SONY can make more PlayStation games for the 'PlayStation Consoles' and NOT for the PC MASTER RACE :-/ (that sounds well over the top but I HATE the idea)

@NEStalgia hard disagree. Like I said in my first post, you're foolish if you think Sony is going to drop Playstation.

Things are changing. I think they'd better start with ps3 games on pc, then early years ps4, and later ps4 games in future. Like every exclusive 1st on ps, then after 3-4 years on pc. Just saying

@Milktastrophe I don't think they're going to drop PS unless it falters in sales. I do think they're on a track to damage it in the long-term, even if the result looks good financially in the short-term so that in a future generation, steps taken now could lead to PS needing to exit the market.

It's not impossible. The mistakes of PS3 almost ended Playstation if PS4 hadn't become lightning in a bottle, according to Yoshida. In the console space mistakes don't hurt the current gen, they hurt the following gen, or the one after that if the mistakes compound. Sega's the classic example. 32X didn't kill them, Sega CD didn't kill them, but they killed Saturn, and Saturn killed them. They were already dead before Dreamcast launched. Xbox was nearly dead after X1. Nintendo was nearly dead after WiiU. Playstation was nearly dead after PS3. All 3 companies seriously discussed calling it quits at their respective failure points if the next product didn't become a big success. Mistakes add up. PS5 is fine. PS6 will exist. The question is what about PS7 and are we watching its demise now?

Well Sony, since you keep treating your loyal customers, customers being paramount to the success of any brand, as second rate since the PC will get the superior version and we're nothing but glorified beta testers, you might as well start giving them to Xbox too.

Clearly you're willing to diminish the allure and appeal of the PlayStation console that has had a very loyal fan base for the last 27 years.
Heck, offer Microsoft Spider-Man for the Master Chief Collection.

If we no longer have exclusives, the all important factor for a console gamer might as well lure them into this party too, huh?

@GADG3Tx87 It's not Sony, it's the current Playstation management; Jim 'quick buck' Ryan and his money-grabbing minions.

We really need someone like Shawn Layden back - someone who actually gives a stuff about the Playstation brand and giving support to devs, both small and large.

@Tharsman eh, so you agree with me? Plonker!