PS5 Launch Makes Sea of Thieves One of USA's Best-Selling Games

Now gears and halo with multiplayer absolutely coming.....

Here’s hoping a certain Forza Horizon 5 makes its way over at some point. I just sold my Series X this past weekend and that’s the only game I’ll genuinely miss. Well, that and Vampire Survivors, but that’s already confirmed for a summer release on PlayStation. I mean, at this point, I really can’t see Microsoft shifting that many more copies of Playground’s spectacular open world racer.

Xbox encouraging piracy on PlayStation. Sad to see.

@nessisonett I was going to make a similar joke, but I guess that ship has sailed.

That’s a lot of PlayStation money for microsoft. Multiplat strategies pay a lot better than exclusive, who’d have thought? I wonder when Sony will do the math?

Not my cup of tea (more of a single-player person myself), but it's brilliant to see games thriving on "competing platforms", be it Xbox games on PlayStation or PlayStation games on PC.

@Neither_scene Sony has the most profitable console business, even more so than Nitendo with their 50 million plus sellers of first party exclusive games that Sony and Microsoft could only hope to achieve. I doubt Sony will give up their exclusives too soon, as they are the sole reason to own a PS5 compared to other consoles

@GADG3Tx87 was about to reply, but a mod beat me to it by removing your comment for trolling/baiting. Saved me some time

Wait I need to make a Microsoft account to play sea of thieves on my PS5? WHAAAAAT!?!?!?! REVIEW BOMB NOW!!😡😡😡😡😡😡

But... but I was told that PS players, wasn't interested in Xbox games

Would be great if they also released "Rare Replay" in the near future.

@CupidStunt according to Sony the current development budgets for their triple A first party titles aren’t sustainable long term. If they wish to maintain the quality and cadence of first party releases, they need to sell a lot more copies. Expanding to other platforms is one way of achieving this. Particularly as the home console market isn’t really growing.

Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how Sony navigate increased development costs over the coming years. Microsoft seem to be embracing a bigger market and are reaping the benefits of Xbox, pc, PlayStation and switch platform releases. Sony are restricting their launches to ps5 and augmenting this with some delayed ports to pc. Helldivers 2 being the only exception to this, launching simultaneously across pc and ps5 and enjoying huge success.

@CupidStunt also, out of curiosity, which PlayStation exclusive titles have sold in excess of 50 million copies to date?

@Neither_scene do you mean Nintendo?

If so I know MK8 has sold over 60m. Not sure of other franchises but can’t imagine animal crossing, Pokémon and smash aren’t far behind.

I dont think putting PlayStation exclusives on the xbox makes much difference as it has a much much smaller user base.

now if sony can put ports of ps4 titles on switch 2 that is a money maker

So Xbox does have games after all?

I would like Quantum break on PlayStation loved that Remedy game

@Neither_scene None. But Sony is still the most profitable console manufacturer

@Neither_scene But if you meant Nintendo games, MK 8 Deluxe is over 61 million now. Animal Crossing is almost 50 million. Smash around 40 and BotW over 30.

@CupidStunt I assumed you were talking about Sony, as I hadn’t mentioned Nintendo bringing titles to multiple platforms. Nintendo are killing it in terms of hardware and first party software sales. There’s absolutely no reason for them to change their strategy right now.

It’s more concerning that the most profitable console manufacturer can’t see current development spending for first party as being viable in the future. Especially given that the future should entail an even larger PlayStation install base.

@anon_pel222 was hoping it was sell well for this can become reality!!!

The future of Xbox is on Playstation and PC!

@Neither_scene not worth it. Since Xbox players rely mostly on their GP (cross-platform games do terribly on Xbox, i.e RE8). Add to that Series S/X much smaller user base. Sony better concentrate on PS5/PC platforms.

Me and my buddies have been having a blast.

PlayStation saving Xbox, thanks god there are people that pay for games

Good for Rare employees! They might actually get some bonuses with sales finally around. Now bring Halo MCC with multiplayer so i can put my xbox away

@Tidus_g Why are people so bothered if a multi-billion dollar corporation wants to provide its own games on a service for its own console, PC, or mobile?

Buy the game if you want...or don't and use the service. That's Microsoft's option for the consumer!

As far as third-party games on said service, it's also their choice if they want to put the game on there and still understand the risk associated with it.

@MikeOrator Seeing as how Nintendo never sells a console at a loss, Nintendo would do just fine with another failure. It's one of the richest companies in Japan.

I think there was a study done that said Nintendo could operate at a loss for like 30 years or something before going bankrupt.

@CupidStunt @Neither_scene The fact that PS isn't turning much profit is the entire crux of the last AGM, the likely real reason for Jim's "retirement" and SGC CFO Totoki taking over PS as interim President to clean house and slash costs. If "the most profitable" one is imploding on razor thin profits, ether the entire console industry needs to shut the doors, or the whole thing needs to radically change radically fast.

Sony is surely the one pulling in the most revenue, but in terms of profits, their problem is their opex spends it as soon as they get it. Their own fault rather than industry imperative? Yes, somewhat, but "the most profitable" is definitely the opposite of what investors were just told.

@Dr_ENT there were almost 28 million series consoles sold by February 2024. That’s a pretty large user base to write off.

The insomniac leaks revealed that the pc port of ratchet and clank cost $2.6 million and took 5 months to build. At $70, it would require just over 37,000 sales to generate revenue of $2.6 million. That obviously doesn’t account for the cut steam would take. But, 80,000 copies sold would generate revenue equating to more than double the cost required to port the game.

Microsoft shares more in common with PC than PlayStation does, in so far as both Xbox and PC titles are developed using direct x api. If a port has already been created for pc, some of that work would translate to an Xbox port. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect a PlayStation port of a first party game to be able to sell at least 100,000 units on a system with an install base of 28 million. Using R&C’s port costs as a rough estimate, 100,000 units would equate to a 250% return in revenue. I wouldn’t be surprised for some of the more iconic titles such as Spider-Man to push close to 1 million in sales on series consoles which would obviously result in a significant return on investment.

@MikeOrator Hubris? What year is it 1994?!

That "hubris" left the company when Yamauchi retired in 2002. Since then, its whole goal has just been making gaming fun and experimenting with how to deliver games to people. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.

Nintendo spent years rebuilding relationships with third-party developers it lost due to that hubris as well as rebuilding its brand.

The only real threat Nintendo has is people not being sold on their idea. But I'd hardly call that hubris. Quirky, sure, but not hubris.

@TheAmbienWalrus I hope it has, it's been one of the dumbest ideas to invade the gaming community. Something true idiots stuck with.

@anon_pel222 I don't see it, I think they'll absolutely keep up with the smaller games. For now, I think the big guns will stay put.

Really want this to lead to Halo / Gears. A guy can dream...

@Neither_scene While I agree that multiplatform is the way to go, it also makes sense financially to launch on their own platform first. Simply because Sony (like pretty much every store) takes 30% cut. Ideally for them people will not have the patience to wait for multiplatform releases, and just get the games on Xbox. Even better if people double dip and get it for both Xbox and PS5/Switch.

That said, for online focused titles it makes sense to launch on all the platforms simultaneously to get some momentum going.

It's hilarious some people actually think Sea of Thieves wasn't successful until being on PS5. It sold more than 15 million across PC and Xbox before releasing on PS5. On Steam alone was around 10 million and it was released 2 years later on there.

@NEStalgia unfortunately for Sony, they can't release a remaster with a few additions and have it sell more than 50m and be an evergreen title, unlike Nintendo. No one can replicate Nintendo's success, so a comparison with it almost never makes any sense. Nintendo has the franchises (like Pokemon) that sell well regardless of quality. So their costs will always be lower.

@Neither_scene Really? I never saw that in the leaks I remember someone saying one of their games cost 30 million are you sure you're not thinking of Ratchet selling 2.7 million copies by February 22?

Edit: Nevermind I found it and you were correct but that's only for Ratchet and probably has something to do with the cartoon graphics.

Congratulations to Microsoft, seriously. Now let’s see whether Sony has the balls to bring Helldivers 2 to Xbox Series (rhetorical question).

@Max_the_German it's not about "balls". Xbox is failing. Sony should not follow whatever MS is doing. On the contrary, they should try to keep giving gamers a reason to buy ps consoles.

@GamingFan4Lyf just want to say bud, that nintendo aren't one of the richest in japan..... they ARE the richest in Japan as the company has no debt lol (there was a recent article for it).

But yeah I agree with everything else you say btw nice insight.

@MrMagic the insomniac leaks also revealed that none of the spider-man pc ports had budgets in excess of $5 million:

Spider-man remastered - $2.5 million
Spider-man Miles Morales - $1.5 million
Spider-man 2 - $4.6 million

@CupidStunt Most profitable? Wait, what? When did that happen?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_video_game_companies_by_revenue#:~:text=Sony%20Interactive%20Entertainment%20is%20the,by%20Tencent%20and%20Microsoft%20Gaming.

I honestly thought nintemdo would be because if how many 1st party games they release, how many consoles they sell and cheaper game development costs. But Sony is on top.

@Neither_scene everyone knows porting from a console with low user base to a high one works. Not a surprise at all

Genuinely. Asking here: what is the appeal of this game? It had mid reviews and very mediocre combat according to many. It's also a Mtx ridden live service game that isn't free to play.
So what is the special sauce that keeps such a player base and rare doing nothing else for for 6 years.

@MikeOrator How is that radical change? It's pretty much just the current status quo...

@naruball Can't disagree, but trumpeting PS profitability right after Totoki had to go hat in hand to investors and start cutting to the bone is about as tone deaf as delisting your #1 game.

Most, least, kinda doesn't matter if it's just plain old not really profitable.

@KundaliniRising333 Watch the 4 minutes video that was released from Rare themselves few days ago called
"Sea of Thieves Explained Episode 1: What is Sea of Thieves?"

@CupidStunt Revenue is not the same as profit. Do your homework.

When you put your games where people would buy them, you sell them. What a surprise.

@Neither_scene The math is the Playstation market is way bigger than the Xbox one. So, maybe you do the math? This is not a 50/50 situation. The Xbox market collapsed. They don't even have sections for software on retailers. It's just playstation and nintendo.
This is worth it for Microsoft, but not the other way around.

@Nem I guess you failed math

“The math is the PlayStation market is way bigger than the Xbox one.”

Xbox market > 0

PlayStation market + Xbox market > PlayStation market + 0

@Neither_scene If only there were no costs and brand dilution.
Now if you had not failed math you would point out at the great opportunity on the much bigger nintendo market rather than the Xbox one. 😉

@Nem brand dilution? As in the same brand dilution which saw everyone switch to pc after the first Sony title appeared on steam? Or the same brand dilution which saw helldivers go top of the steam charts and PlayStation store at launch? Did this brand dilution slow PlayStation 5 sales?

I guarantee you that Sony is running those numbers and doing the math. They have a pretty big problem regarding development costs that needs solving and there’s only a few options available. None of which are going to make you happy.

You also failed computing if you think a switch could run any of the current ps5 exclusives at an acceptable frame rate

makes me wonder how some would react if they had to make an xbox account after purchasing the game months before, and have to sign into xbox on their playstation accounts , hahaha.

@Neither_scene I would say the same brand dilution that had led Xbox sales to tank.
Releasing games on steam has a cost on console sales too. But the advantages overturn the disadvantages in that case, at least for now.
Again, not the case of the small Xbox market. Sony has nothing to gain there.
Sony made the math there too and decided it wasn't worth it huh? I can play this game too buddy.

Sony doesn't make only triple A games and they have games from previous generations that would indeed run on switch but you failed finance studies.
Not that i care. I was throwing you a bone which you squarely squandered. 😉 This is your argument at any rate, not mine. 🤷

@Nem well let’s just hope Sony never release a game on Xbox. I’ll be sure to find you when they do

Or will you delete your account and sell your ps5 if that happens?

Microsoft also did the math 3 years ago and decided it wasn’t worth it. Math can change

@MikeOrator LOL, I honestly don't know that developers want to make good games. Some do, but I feel like most developers just want to play with pushing the latest technology as far as it can be pushed just to see what their super amazing skills can do and what technology can do and so they're not "left behind" in knowing how to use the latest technology for their once every 4 months job hops/studio closures. It's their own experiment, vanity project and "continuing education" (play time) and they want us to keep paying more so they can play with new more time consuming toys. And they can justify it because the marketing department thinks the shiny shiny sells more.

Publishers don't want to make good games, they just want whatever sells for more money to a bigger market. If that's good games, fine, but they leave it to the developers to figure that out, and they just want to play with new toys on someone else's dime.

Then the stake holders don't care about the toys, the shiny shiny, or the market size, they just want to see a bigger number in the last column than the previous meeting. They tell the publisher they want that, then the publisher tells the dev to make that happen, then the dev says "ooohhh the 5090 is dropping!!!!1" then the dev buys a hundred or two of those, builds a game around it, ports it to console launch week (Xbox 2 months after PS5 because market share), starts working on the day 1 patch so it actually launches, sends the publisher the bill, and the publisher decides they need to charge $200 per customer based on projected sales. End of quarter the number on the last column is lower than the previous meeting. Investors are told the movie and mobile spinoff planned were delayed but will make up for it next quarter, honest.

I like playing video games but I hate so much being a customer in the video games business...

@Neither_scene Why would i?

Sure it can. But the math doesn't work atm and is unlikely to in the future. We shall see.

It not a game I particularly like but just goes to show that xbox's strategy of going more and more multiple platform makes sense. Monies

@Dodoo Nintendo dosnt solely own it but pokemon is the biggest media franchise ever so I'm sure Nintendo aren't short of abit cash let alone the success of their own franchises 😅

@Stickleman funny you say that as I’ve literally just read on PS’s sister site, Nintendo have made more profit from the switch generation than their entire cumulative profit since 1981. Even accounting for inflation!

Good, now gimme some sweat Gears. 🤣

@nomither6 I might be dead wrong about this but I think no one would have much of an issue with it. Some people really have a bone r for Sony, almost as much as for Apple. Justified or not I don’t understand why the same isn’t for Microsoft that is as horrible of a company if not worse.

But at the end of the day, I don’t really care one way or the other. I’m not piling on it but I’m not defending a big corpo either.

Cheers mate.

MS are all about making money and keeping stock holders happy that their stock price is high. No company cares about their customers, they care about taking their cash from them. MS is struggling now to sell consoles, with that also struggling to sell games so their revenue is mainly coming from game pass and guess what, that's not sustainable as its costing more yo get third party on there than what they make on subscription, they simply need more subscriptions but how do you do that if you sint sell consoles to consumers. Xbox isn't making money from their own studios, pumping money into making games they offer for free. Just think of the billions lost from releasing black ops 6 on game pass day one. They money spent on the Activision acquisition to bring cod to gamepass they are losing money on. That's billions of pounds spent with no return. So they get rid of staff and close down studios. So where else will they make money, putting their games on playstation, a very sustainable platform. Sea of Theives on psn must have made a ton of money for xbox. That's good business, let's stick more games and franchises on there. Wait a minute are MS setting themselves up to be the biggest game publisher rather than a console manufacturer. The Activision ownership could have been so they can be this massive publisher and wasn't to get cod to their console.
Next consoles in the future. PS5 Pro. (Ps4 Pro was announced, so about 6 months later, MS announced xbox one x. This gen we have xbox series s but also the x is already out. So no xbox series to rival PS5 pro) then switch 2 is announced. Then released. Then PS6 announced. No word on next Xbox then we hear xbox is going all cloud based in future.
You heard it here first lol