PS5's Lack of Tentpole Exclusives Isn't Hurting Engagement, Says Sony

All business speak and clever use of statistics. PC numbers have done them well as you point out, highly doubt people have been using PlayStations specifically very much at all this year in comparison to previous years.

But hey, I’m the enthusiast who would believe that I suppose.

Regardless if I’m right or wrong, it’s been the most woeful single party generation PlayStation’s ever had for quality… and quantity.

This is just me and my gaming habits, but I've shifted a lot of my gaming to PC and Switch for Splat 3, so my PS5 is being used a lot less now, mainly for exclusives.

Last game I played on the PS5 was Stellar Blade, and before that was Spidey 2 and Seperate Ways. I do plan on playing Astro Bot when it releases but after that I have no idea lol.

I still love my PS5 though.

Switch has been my primary console for a while now. PS5 has been mostly used to play PS4 games so far, unfortunately. PS4 was the most amazing PlayStation console ever in terms of games and hardware. Now PS5 is the best hardware, but average on games (which seems to be reflected in the partial results of the poll).

I do miss the exclusives

there been very few actual ps5 only exclusives that i have actually wanted to play a stark contrast from the ps4 days

I've been busy playing on my Steam Deck and Switch lately, but I don't blame lack of games on PS5. There's still plenty of games that I'd like to buy for PS5.

In my case my PS5 has been mostly turned off since I finished FFVII Rebirth back in March and decided to do a NG+ of Spider-Man 2 on April, since then I’ve only occasionally turned it on to updates and try the Concord beta (lol).

Looking forward to Astro Bot and Epic Mickey next month, afterwards it looks dry again but we’re sooo due for a showcase in September/October…

I've been putting a load of hours into my PS5, especially more so this year with some lengthy JRPG's like Granblue, FF7 ReBirth, P3R, Unicorn Overlord, Dragons Dogma 2 and Trails Through Daybreak. Even in terms of online games I've put around 200 hours into Apex Legends, 50 into HellDivers 2 and 30 into Monster Hunter Rise.

I think the better the games are coming out then of course the engagement time will go up but ultimately it's down to online games becoming more and more popular.

Congratulations Sony! I'm delighted that you're delighted with your engagement numbers! The whole reason I bought my PS5 was to help with your engagement numbers so I'm glad that we're both winning!

I mean there's 3rd party games i don't need 1st party games every month. My most played game on my PS5 is a 3rd party game and my most played games of the past year are Baldur's Gate 3 and Mortal Kombat 1 two 3rd party games.

Not turned mine on for a couple of months, Astrobot will change that though.

Maybe not in the short term, but a continued drought period (or any similar future issues) will potentially do them major damage.

There is already more and more people thinking about PC, which is not good for Sony long term, as i doubt they will get lost customers back.

(Thank goodness Astro bot may alleviate things for a couple of months).

The fact that ‘there’s no games on the PS5’ has become a meme speaks volumes. Yes, there demonstrably are games on the PS5 but that doesn’t matter if public opinion says otherwise!

This generation has been pretty busted for first party games. Most games I have played since getting a ps5 are cross gen. If this is the new norm I expect I’ll skip out on ps6 and just keep the ps5. Anything worth playing will probably be cross gen anyway.

Huh? Of course, they have high engagement. It is based on the success of the Playstation 4 though. There is a term for that but unfortunately I forgot what it was called.
When a subsequent product does extremly well based on the product before it.
We have seen it with movies and video games alike.
The number crunchers gotta be fired immediately, if they dont know that phenomenon.

yes first parties would be nice to have but we all know how long it takes a game to be made. And we have astro bot coming out soon.

I don't know how anyone could not be playing games on their PS5 right now. My backlog and Premium are enough to keep me busy. I am constantly tackling stuff in the catalogue, or smaller games like CYGNI. I also recognize I love all genres and many do not, so that may be true too.

Mote than usual but that's due to the Portal creating more time to play.

I never bought the console because of first party games. I just like the PlayStation console more and generally the games on it.
First game I really liked from PlayStation directly was Legend of Dragoon......and then Ghost of Tsushima^^

I also think PSVR2, Portal and the PlayStation plus Extra/Premium tiers have really helped the PS5 get more engagement time.

After getting the Platinum in Stellar Blade, I haven't been playing my PS5 as much besides picking up Persona 3 Reload on sale a few weeks ago (65 hours in) but with my backlog and PS Plus Premium I always have games to play so it's not that big of a deal.

I do hope next year makes up for the lack of exclusives we've had so far this year.

Steam Deck OLED, on the other hand, I play daily.

That's not surprising, and is in line with what a lot of us have been saying for a while. The console market is NOT the market it used to be. It's mostly a "cheap" GPU to play Fortnite, Apex, and GTAV on with better graphics now. "Exclusives" no longer sell consoles outside the Nintendo bubble. Maybe GTAVI will, but as a rule the sales for exclusives are only a tiny part of the install base. The modern console install base doesn't buy a console because a new Uncharted released. They may buy a new Uncharted because they already have the console for Apex. But most don't.

This is why MS stopped prioritizing console only exclusives. This is why Sony didn't prioritize console exclusives in this drought. This is why the Squeenix exclusives aren't moving the needle far enough. This is why Sony is persuing PC releases as even this article states is part of the success metric, (despite Herman's weird and misguided "Hey, PC gamer's might play on our 3060-at-best equivalent instead of their glossy 4080 because they can get the sequel sooner!" comments). The era of exclusives being the main driver in console sales ended, and is also why the console vendors need a bigger install base than just their console to make their publishing arm perform as desired. Except Nintendo. They're just weird and defy markets.

@UltimateOtaku91 "PSVR2 [...] really helped the PS5 get more engagement time"

LOL, that might be the first time in internet history anyone has ever said that.

You're not wrong, in fact I'd say 85+% of my PS5 engagement time has come from PSVR2, personally, but, still, it's a little hilarious

@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah, but again those are mostly on PS4 hence why so many people still haven't upgraded. From what I've seen there isn't much overlap as a good half of PS4 owners still haven't upgraded while the PS5 numbers are good, many of the purchasers were not PS4 owners...

@NEStalgia Again exclusives would sell, but unfortunately the lack of worthwhile exclusives aside from a few outliers has caused an alarming number of people to not upgrade to the next-gen consoles...

What’s got me playing more than usual is not Sony AAA games. I generally don’t like them (ratchet and Astro excepted). Rather, it’s my little Portal. Makes it so much easier not to feel like I’m ignoring the wife or hogging the TV, plus lets my lazy arse play in bed.

Other than that it’s PSVR2, which, obviously, is pretty much all third party.

As has been proven over and over, casual gamers form the majority of gamers (see the success of the PS Portal, if you dont believe me). And if you have other hobbies besides gaming (a casual), then shelling out at least 1500 USD for a moderately good gaming PC is absolutely not going to happen. Same with parents who dont have time to mess with settings. Same with people who live in poor countries. A PS5 is still the best deal for these people. Exclusives also dont matter to them because they will not play on PC. I believe those numbers. I know the hard core community wants to believe they are the most important group, but sadly they arent for the companies making games

It will hurt their engagement when it's time to buy a Ps6, because it's been utter disappointment since the PS4.
I'll reconsider buying a Ps6 after this nonsense. Especially when it's digital only

Well if all you own is a PS5, what else are you supposed to do? The PS5 has sold ridiculously well, and so it stands to reason that player engagement is at an all time high. The real question is, how much better would player engagement be if Sony were to be releasing games we want at a regular cadence? That, I think would make a real difference...

Talk about cocky! My patience has worn thin. They're gonna need a showcase with some major belters soon or I'm throwing in the towel.

They were upfront about a lack of first party this year though not necessarily about the reasons why. Bound to be budget and other factors.

All of the main first party devs have all but confirmed they are well underway on new stuff so hopefully we see and hear more about that next year.

Hoping for a better year 2025 for Sony AAA exclusives campaign game wise.
Missing those special amazing games.

Astro Bot will be a great distraction, but gaming this year from all the big 3 is a bit of let down
Compared to 2023 and 2024.

Meant 2022 and 2023.

Haven't been on my PS5 since I got FFVII - 2, especially since they ditched PSVR2, so I have ordered the PC adapter and made the transition fully to PC.
I've been with Sony since day 1, and even worked there for a couple of years, they have completely lost the plot. I think the gaming industry has a whole has forgotten how to make good games.

It's the lack of competition. Nintendo is wildly successful these days, but not in the exact same space (you obviously don't buy a Switch to play AAA multiplats on your 4KTV), and Microsoft is busying itself finding new ways to tank the brand every day. Same reason PS4 sold so well early on, basically.

@WiiWareWave Exclusives sell "ok" but on fan sites they are made out to be these amazing make or break "people buy the console for the exclusives so exclusives are always needed." But in reality, most of the play time is spent on 3rd parties, not 1st party, and the first party games while they sell well for a single platform game (sometimes) simply don't account for the majority or even a plurality of the install base. Plainly, those exclusives are just not what most console buyers are buying it to play.

The purpose of exclusives was supposed to be a lure to get people to buy your console, so that they then buy the rest of their 3rd parties on your console, which is where the real money comes from. If people buy the console to play 3rd party on without needing an exclusivity lure to do so....why make exclusives? They don't have a purpose, other than as a separate publishing arm to make big games. Which is what MS is doing now. And what Sony is kinda sorta sliding into as well.

Meanwhile selling people a console just for them to buy exclusives on while playing 3rd party elsewhere isn't actually a profit generating customer, so there's no point chasing them.

Again, excluding Nintendo, they're truly their own entire market that behaves in a completely different way. Sony probably wanted that market originally, but it's not the one they have today.

@NEStalgia I'm not saying VR is really popular, but it's something playstation offer as an extra which gives people more of a reason to engage with their PS5. Like without VR your engagement time with the PS5 would be lower.

Being honest I just find something else to play like COD WW2 at the minute for me. Until Astro Bot turns up.

The big but comes if they lack on Sony Studio big AAA campaign games this generation, it would make me think harder before buying a PS6.

I mean buying PS5 was easy after all those great Sony Studio games the PS4 had and the initial 2 years of the PS5 was great.

So think on Sony. Especially if Xbox, big if, get their act together and Switch 2 has those Nintendo big hitters.

Sure, people are playing games on the machines they've bought. They're just not being given a good reason to buy the next one.

Great. Now they’ll make even less.

The PlayStation brand has become so watered down that it's just become the generic gaming box for casuals now. There's little to no compelling exclusives that makes the platform distinct or utilises all of its features. And what little exclusives that do appear have a pipeline straight to PC where the games get to be showcased unencumbered by the limitations of the PS5, which ironically harms the selling point of a supposed PS5 Pro when there's already a better version of the game playable on PC.

PlayStation as a brand isn’t what I’d like it to be at the moment but I’m still beyond satisfied with the hardware. I’m not gonna pretend that the amazing 3rd party games I’ve played this game don’t count because they can’t be used as console war fodder lol.

Well they are about 5 million consoles behind the PS4 in Europe same time line and big exclusives have some part to play in that.
There is also higher costs
Consoles/gaming losing popularity to other media.
Cross generation games.

Don’t forget with the big Sony AAA exclusives comes big advertising around Europe and brand momentum etc. That has been non existent this year so far. So it slips out of people’s minds.

All this rubbish about availability in the early days doesn’t work on me. As there are millions of PS5 slims disc and digital sitting on UK shop shelf’s as I write this, so those that missed out could get one right now.

Been the same if not a little more playing. I'm pressed for time to play games with my ever growing back catalog. I'm drowning in this collection! Help me!!! Bllrpblrpbllrrrppp...

People forget the big Sony AAA games bring billboards in the London under ground, adverts on tv and the papers.
They even get in the BBC news for free.

This all helps the Sony brand recognition and momentum the big Sony console buzz as I call it.

It’s also happens with PlayStation and COD at the normal time of year, but won’t this year.

I moan about Xbox doing great PR but I could honestly say Sony this year with a quiet showcase and no big AAA advertising have been quiet as well.

I definitely don’t get the buzz of the PS4 Sony days
Great announcements on stage, uncharted 4, GOW and TLOU 2 to name a few. Even if the games were one to two years away it created that Sony brand momentum and games to look forward to. It was amazing back then.

Even if you're not thrilled with the PS5 library, what exactly is the alternative? I would advise selling, not buying, an Xbox at this point, and the Switch is a completely different animal. If you are dedicated to console gaming with full third-party support, the PS5 is the only viable option in 2024 imo

@tangyzesty Why? Just switch to PC instead.

As a longtime hardcore PlayStation fan I think it SUCKS!

I miss the experience I had with the PS3.

Uncharted 1-3
Resistance 1-3
TLoU
LBP 1-3
Motorstorm 1-3
Infamous 1-2 and Vampire DLC
Puppeteer
God of War 3 and Ascension
Killzone
Ratchet and Clank

Third party games were fresh:

Bioshock 1-3
GTA 4&5
RDR
Spec Ops The Line
Demon and Dark Souls
Assassin’s Creeds
Far Cry’s

And many more. I know that we still have many of these types of games, but they were just fresh back then.

@tangyzesty Switch arguably has a WAY better lineup of upcoming games. You've got to remember for a lot of us gamers in the 30+ age group we don't care about games having the best visuals, as long as they're fun. We grew up in the 8-16-bit era so we're used to playing games like that. Plus already owning a PS4 means you have access to most new releases anyways.

It’s my only console, plus my media hub, so PS5 gets loads of love. Money is tight, but I have a huge backlog and loads of PS4 games in my library. I do wish we had more compelling current gen only games, but Space Marine 2 is coming soon and I can’t wait!

IMO Sony has been lucky that Xbox just isn't at the races, and nintendo is winding down the switch.

Reason for the strong engagement is because of the flood of quality software ober the last decade that in many cases could only be played on Playstation (at least initially) since the end of the PS3 cycle. Sony is riding the coat tails of that success. But it's clear they are losing goodwill which won't sustain them into PS6 on the current trajectory

I also think Phil Spencer is actually correct that last gen was the worst one 'to lose' as a lot of people will want to carry forward their digital libraries (and with the bonus of also being able to play pS4 discs).

I've generally been disappointed this gen. The Sony magic isn't there. As I've said before it's not just the quality of games - there are lots of excellent games available - but the x factor that set Playstation apart is lacking; and a large part of that is this mystique generated by poor PR and an awful communications strategy over the past few years

@OmegaStriver The PS360 generation was, in my opinion, the best. This generation doesn’t come close!

Capitalism is a success? Ok. Sony being successful doesn't mean their console is good. Now they've admitted to a lack of exclusives so people can stop pretending otherwise.

The console is a success for the company not the consumer. You're playing the same games you could play on PC and 99% of them on Xbox (which also has the same problem as the PS5 in lack of exclusives).

These consoles aren't a creative success though, that's the issue.

@MasterChiefWiggum PS360 was a special moment in time I think in gaming. It was this weird inflection point that consoles still had the appeal of being traditional consoles while also starting to approach the characteristics of PC gaming, while at the same time, PC gaming was in a slump where the "golden age" had ended, it hadn't found its footing in the post point & click, doom clone shooter era, the success of PS2 and MS's focus on trying to rival it ended up steering game development away from PC design and toward console design to a fault, and Nintendo was doing something wildly different. It combined to make a really special console gen in all 3 directions. In a way, I think it was a "last bow" encore of the classic 16-32 bit console feel, into and including the 3DS. Now I think PC has emerged from its slump, and consoles are caught up so much it's not really distinguishable. Other than transformational new tech, I don't think we'll see a gen like PS360 again. It's all just different shapes of "gaming appliances" now. Aside from VR. that really is the next final frontier, but I don't see that going mainstream any time soon, and it doesn't help that to run "the good stuff" would require GPUs that won't even exist for years and will cost thousands a pop.

They aren't wrong. Tons of games to play anyway, but that doesn't make the lack of even any announcements or reveals for whatever all their studios are working on any better.

To be honest, I cleverly managed my PS assets for these hollow days!
I had reserved god of war ragnarok for 2024!
I am now playing this diamond with slow pace!

I'm playing indies on PS instead of Switch now thanks to PS Portal. That and I played a ton of Helldivers 2 and am slowly making my way through Stellar Blade. So while I would have loved to get a Ghost of Tshushima or Uncharted or something this year what trhy have done has worked on me.

This gen had some great games but it still is kinda boring as f. Theyll never reach the hights we had during the ps3 era aka the best gen

First party games Sony has abandoned:

Resistance
Killzone
Infamous
Gravity Rush
Puppeteer
Little Big Planet
Starhawk
Jak and Daxter
Socom
Motor Storm
MAG
Lair
Heavenly Sword
Sly Cooper
Order 1886
Days Gone
Concrete Genie
Syphon Filter

If people are playing Playstation games on PC it's just as good for Sony, the same goes for XBOX. By the end of this generation, day 1 exclusives on both PC and PS5 will become the norm, while hardware sales will slowly decrease.

"Alleged?" Come onnnn.

I play on the system about as much as any other year, but then again a lack of big first-party exclusives doesn't mean much when you try to play games of almost every genre and size. There's always something for me any given day.

Sony is Sony. It doesn't need good games to sell.
People think of videogames consoles and think "Nintendo" for family friendly stuff and "Playstation" for anything else.

That's the level of popularity of Playstation. It's a double-edged sword though. They know the people will consume it anyways.

If Sony didn't block or cancel the sequels to their Playstation Exclusives, there is a possibility that PS5 sales would be where they expected and gamers would be happy!

I have no plans of getting a ps6. So it might be fine for them now but pretty sure a lot of people like me have been disappointed with Sony this generation.

1.PS3
2.PS2=PS4
3.PS1
4…….
5…PS5

Apart from Astro Bot, Sony simply don't publish games I'm interested in anymore. I'm not buying a PS5 just for Astro, and the 3rd parties are still releasing their games on PS4, so Sony have lost me as a customer, after owning and loving PS1-4. Plus their scumbag practices of closing down their studios and laying off hundreds of employees, whilst recording record profits, hasn't exactly helped them to ingratiate themselves with me.

It's becoming like ps2 the main platform of the era with no significant 1st-party exclusives. I'm just wondering what the staff at the 1st-party studios are doing at the moment 🤔

Also, I think they should do something soon otherwise Switch 2 on Q4 2025 may steal the potential buyers from them

@Zeldorf "Gravity Rush"

This one still hurts.

@NEStalgia i agreee 100%, exclusives don’t move the needle much anymore. Apex, Fortnite, COD, GTA and FiFA is where the money is and those aren’t even Gen 9 titles. There is a small hardcore market of us that do buy those other titles. But we are pennies on the dollar for Sony and Microsoft. I see it getting worse. People aren’t going to just stop playing those pillar titles. I wish Sony and MS would team up more in console gaming instead of battling cause that would help console be more competitive to mobile and PC where most of the money is going these days. This has been a bad generation so far for me and my tastes. Gears of War E day is my most wanted title and that could even slip to Generation 10 for all i know.

@Zeldorf I would buy half to over half that list, Ugh that is frustrating to see. So many good ones never to be made again it seems.

I guess engagement is more important than meaningful games these days. This goes for Sony and Microsoft. As for me, the only time I use my PS5 is when I stream it to my Ally. PS5 is definitely my last home console and I’ll be going the handheld PC route from here on out.

I have fairly long bucket list so no rush

@HonestHick that feels like its so true about the momentum all going to PC; im born and raised on console/controller and will always own them and play with controller on any platform, but ive been playing on PC almost exclusively for a long while now because the incentive of playing on console these days is just so miniscule

This is the worst playstation era for me, even ps3 isn't as bad as this, sure the first half of it kind of suck, but the others half is pretty good, with exclusives like mgs 4, uncharted 1-3, demon's souls, valkyria chronicles, etc.

But since there's no others option (switch can't run AAA games, xbox have no exclusive), ps5 become the default console I guess.

Using mine as a bluray player currently. I probably should get back on HFW though.

They say that, but with more AAA single player experiences they would be even more successful. The likes of Uncharted, The God of wars, Killzones. Is what made the brand stand out in the first place.

@wiiware @wiiware agreed, unless you want endless open world games, soulslike, roguelite stuff, then your catered for.

@gollumb82 yes I play my steam deck more nowadays. Because it has plenty of retro style games which I love.

@RainbowGazelle Astrobot definitely the best thing they have produced in years & for PS5. Also I was one of the fools who bought VR2, to be kicked in the nuts with no Astrobot VR. Shows how much faith they have in the platform!!

@Axelay71
Yeah, I installed the Steam OS (called Bazzite) on my Ally and been loving it. Emudeck is just amazing and I’ve been catching up with great PS2/3 games I missed lately than playing modern games (I am, however, finally close to finishing Baldur’s Gate 3).

Still find myself using the still-quiet Pro far more than the dreary £500 doorstop. Nicer controllers, nicer UI and with an internal SSD, load times aren't a concern.
I'd like to like the PS5 but there''s something almost a bit 'Apple-y' about it.

I have so many games to finish if I won't buy anymore games then I would still be busy untill the PS6

@Axelay71 They should really port those older firstparty titles over VR it's cheap and easy to get a headstart.

@gollumb82 yes I have an Sd build for steam deck full of retro stuff. But steam as a whole, has some brilliant shmups & run n gunners that don't make it to consoles unfortunately. Which is weird really, considering that's what console gaming used to be all about.

Since I mainly use PS5 for exclusives, and the only Sony exclusives in 2024 I care about are Astrobot and Silent Hill 2, PS5 is quickly becoming the absolute worst generation of PS by far.

These days, Switch and XSX get the majority of my time. Sony just sucks so much overall this generation. SMH.

@Flaming_Kaiser yes I know surely porting over Astrobot rescue mission wouldn't break the bank.

Oh come on. Stop crying about the first party. Like there are no other games which are also good. For example I played these days Nobody wants to die and Eternal threads. Those really deserved their playtime. So, not all nice games are first party. There must be some gaps so those can shine too. And some times those shine brighter than the pumped up AAAs.

Apparently Sony doesn’t want to be apart of the Kotor remake anymore so there goes another PS exclusive

I've been using my ps5 alot less in late spring ,summertime as I have alot of other interests/hobbies anyway and spend alot time outdoors as I'm a keen cyclist ,but as for ps5 exclusives,I'm not at all bothered as I have a gd backlog to get through and I personally don't regret buying ps5 for 1 second, quick loading,great dualsense controller,improvements to older games from bc games from ps4 gen ,I totally agree though we've not seen the best from it yet ,but that leaves room for excitement for the near future,only thing is for me is I just really wish modern games these days were totally finished on release ,I get that you can patch bugs etc ,but alaskan rd truckers has a game breaking bug that means ps5 players that have played about 60 hrs ish ,some players get there saves wiped, they've got a workaround now though with a permanent fix very shortly ,luckily I'm nowhere near that time frame as my time with it so far has been very short ,I'm only 5 hrs in ,but in its defence its got an addictive loop and is a great game to relax to and thankfully you can get out of yr truck, I used to love watching ice rd truckers on tv ,anyway nothings perfect but don't regret buying a ps5 ,great console

No viable competitor is ONLY thing keeping money flow alive,a lot ppl will be skipping ps6 with your stupid decision to put everything on PC. Im PS fan from the beginnning so ill stick around,but ppl are realizing playstation is not that special anymore. Nintendo will show the POWER OF TRUE EXCLUSIVES with Switch 2.

@HonestHick Microsoft seems to be teaming up just fine, lol. I remember when it was the meme that PC gamers don't buy games, they just play the same games forever and ever. Heck the existence of QuakeCon kind of proves the point. Almost 30 years later and the game is still huge. Let alone Doom getting released AGAIN!

But ironically PC gamers do buy indies, and now console gamers seem like PC gamers just playing the same games forever. It's a big inflection point in the industry. I think a lot of that really comes down to price. One game forever is near free, or add a bit of money here and there in mtx. "our" kind of games priced themselves into obscurity. From $40 to $50 to $60 to $70. At some point it tips the scale and people stop wanting to pay hundreds a year for pockets of entertainment when a 5 year old purchase still plays fine. People can argue "but games need to keep up with inflation!" till the cows come home, and I'm pretty sure these people are all high earners with no concept of money. When inflation means all the essentials and semi-essentials outpace income, you end up net-negative, and that means the money spent on toys is cut. And right now, according to the biggest bank in the us, all but the top 1% are net-negative. For games to "keep up" with inflation, games need to become more affordable to keep up with discretionary budgets, which are smaller, not larger, than before. $600 may be the new $500 if you're selling insurance or fuel or broccoli. $40 is the new $60 if you're selling toys. These companies think it's $70 and can't figure out why they're bleeding out when competing against "free" and "$10."

@waynesworld "If people are playing Playstation games on PC it's just as good for Sony, the same goes for XBOX"

Yes and no. For a console platform the model is: Sell the hardware cheap, either at a loss or near cost, and make the money up in software sales. Not first party, those are a loss leader to get people to buy the platform, it's the sale of 3rd party software, the 30% royalties and $10 console licensing fee, and online subs they make their fortunes on. So up to no Sony's (and Nintendos) mode of business is get the consoles out there even if they lose money, then rake in that 30%+$10+sub forever. They want people to buy their console, because they want people to buy all their games from their catalog (digital store or retail licensed discs.)

So selling their published games on PC doesn't really help their bread and butter, which is selling people their platform so people buy games on their platform instead of others.

OTOH, selling a console to a PC gamer who's only going to buy exclusives from them and buy everything else on Steam, generates virtually no profit for them, and they're better off meeting those customers on PC. A customer who buys a console as "an exclusives console" isn't really the profitable customer they want. Nintendo did the "second console" thing. It works for them.

MS's strategy is a little different. Xbox was originally meant to prevent Playstation from stealing the stranglehold Windows/DirectX API had on western gaming and development. Pushing PC pushes windows licenses, which pushes DX adoption. MS wins from pushing PC, that's all Xbox was meant to do from the start. Also helps stave off SteamOS from eating too far into Windows' arena. Atop that with their acquisitions they've positioned themselves as a megapublisher outside the platform. So simply distributing their games as a normal publisher becomes viable for them.

Sony is trying to balance something in the middle. They want (need, strategically) a larger market than PS5. PC is it. They're trying to meet PC players, while also not trying to encourage playing on PC instead of PS since it hurts the chances of someone buying all their games from PS rather than Steam. But they're starting to hit Microsoft level gaffes in the process. The PSN requirement sabotages their initial purpose of going to PC. They wanted to tap that much larger PC market, then they cut off their reach of it to only where they sell PS anyway. They want to grow to that PC market, but then Hulst said the strategy is to try to withhold sequels to get PC players to play on PS anyway, which is not going to happen. PC players are patient and will wait for the best version of the game on PC. They're not the FOMO crowd Sony is used to dealing with among jittery entertainment consumers. And even if they lure PC players to buy a console for those exclusives, Sony doesn't make much more from those consumers than on PC directly if they don't switch to PS instead of Steam for most other games. Meanwhile Totoki keeps pushing the PC angle as a growth strategy.

I think Hulst is too close to Jim's thinking, and it was folly to promote him, they both seem to be relics of the "old console wars" mindset, and are reluctant to think too forward and adapt to the landscape. I get that PC needs to be a tightrope for them vs MS, but they're making some big mistakes in trying to dip one toe in and keep pulling it back.

@electrolite77 Even Nintendo kind of lucked into that position of their weird bubble ecosystem. Originally with the NES their model was the same Mario and Zelda existed to get people to buy the system. That sweet 3P licensing money was the real business. It was sort of Atari's model first, but Nintendo locked down the publishing/licensing model much further. It's their model that Sony copied, after all, while Sega was more the closed one selling largely their own games, following their arcade machine model more closely.

For Nintendo, they stumbled into the first-party-bubble machine ecosystem by happy accident with N64 into GCN and finally solidified by Wii. As they lost 3P support due to hardware design barriers with N64, and into GCN they were holding up their platforms more and more on their own properties, until Wii/DS turned that into a whole business model and it managed to succeed. But it only works for them because the strength of their IPs is on a once a generation scale. Had they not managed to forge iconic all-ages household name IPs almost entirely via their 80's talent that got embedded into childhood memories and identity for generations and counting, it wouldn't have worked, and nobody but Disney has that, which is why it can't work for anyone else. They can do it not because of their games or the quality of their "exclusives" but because of the exclusivity of their BRAND. If Playstation had exclusive access to all Disney characters, that would be the only close equivalent. If Disney made a console, and kept their IP exclusive, that would be the only viable competitor.

@gollumb82 I find the focus on "engagement" interesting. I'm not sure exactly what their pitching. Clearly it's to investors. Revenue, I'd get. Discreet users I'd get. Growth, I'd get. Paid subscribers, I'd get. It all relates to revenue and potential revenue. The focus used to be on attach rates. How many games each console purchase sells. That's a revenue indicator. But now both companies are fixated on "engagement." The only viable revenue related item I can think of for which "engagement" matters would be advertising. It's an advertising term. Xbox, is more and more selling advertising space, so their "engagement" is a meaningful metric to them for advertisers. Sony, so far doesn't seem to be selling advertising. Is that soon to change? Is this prepping for that? The only other alternative is for data buyers. If they're selling customer data and profiles, the more engagement, the plumper the data on offer. And would correlate to the PSN requirement on PC.

@nomither6 I found a typo, you forgot to type "PSP" under #4!

@NEStalgia Agreed, i am still in shock with how many defended $70 dollar games when most were cross gen stuff on older engines and not even pushing the PS5. I knew $70 was going to hurt software sales and thats before we even get into most games aren’t worth $30 at launch cause they are broken and rush to market and need a year of updates. Or in cyberpunk 2077 case 2 years of updates haha. The cheapest one bedroom apartment where i live is $1800 and that is just the base rent, with the valet trash services and extra stuff they put on it’s like $1900 and you still have all your extra expenses. Gaming takes a back seat and a free COD or Free to play game that you said were you can throw a few bucks at it here and there to make it feel new is the way a lot of gamers play now. Or they shell out of FIFA and play it for 12-14 months. PC gamers buy plenty of games, the people saying PC gamers don’t buy games are just talking out their pockets, they don’t know, they just need something to make fun of and justify their purchase. These are the same people saying Xbox is leaving Hardware. Always some thing to make fun of cause thats the industry at large.

@HonestHick $70 games was certain doom back in 2020 when they announced it and that was BEFORE we knew we were going back to 1970's stagflation for the rest of our lives. It can't be restated enough times that everyone talking about "needing to keep up with inflation" has no sense of money or consumer economics. Fuel, yes. Food yes. Toys, no. That's where spending cuts happen. If everyone got a 30-40% raise in the past 4 years for doing the same job? That would be "keeping up with inflation. When people are net negative and slipping downward and you're selling recreational toys? Nope, you're the one cut out of their diet. (Same goes for MS and the GPU price hike, what were they thinking?! Do they not understand the consumer mood? Do they not have phones?)

Geeze, IDK even what the averages are here but probably similar. That would leave the average worker on $1000 a month or less for EVERYTHING other than housing. Including food, clothing, insurance, utilities, transporation - everything. Honestly I think the most "humane" thing that can be done in the world is just euthanize everyone not making 6 figures. Just purge 2/3 of the total world population. Replace the peasants with AI and robots. End everyone "unwanted" and leave a utopia of the only people the world seems to want. It's certainly less cruel than the current strategy.

Meanwhile the games industry wants 7%+ tax of those people's monthly non-housing budget for a video game. And can't figure out why they can't compete with all those free games.

True about the pack of cackling hyenas being the mainstay of the games culture. At all levels. "Not running custom loop water cooling on that 4090 14900k rig? It's mid-range at best."

what else are they going to tell their shareholders? if they keep this up, many people will find less and less of a reason to own and delve deep into the platform. sony understands this, but they are certainly not going to tell their investors that they dropped the ball and this is the most underwhelminmg playstation cycle in its history

@NEStalgia
At the risk of sounding like an old fart I will just say that as someone whose first games were Donkey Kong and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, which I played at arcades in the early 90s, I grew up watching my beloved pasttime evolve from niche stuff made by nerds and for nerds to an entertainment for the masses (which in and of itself is great) that is made with primarily revenue, advertising, monetising, engagement and shareholders in mind. It’s depressing, really. How is it possible that this gen is slowly starting to decline and we are yet to get a new Naughty Dog game? Ridiculous. That’s why I find myself enjoying older titles of late, while catching up on modern stuff a few years after launch when they are dirt cheap and fully patched. At least we have indies that provide that spark of creativity still.

@electrolite77 Yeah, Nintendo's problem on N64 onward wasn't needing more first party just because. It was because 3rd party ran for the hills to Sony and they had to plug the hole....that's where Rare came in on N64. It was a problem borne of necessity and somehow they turned it into an asset. Had cartridges and Sony CDs not happened, Nintendo would still be all about 3rd party.

3DS had a rough launch but only due to price point. Once the cut the price, it did great. Not DS, Wii, Switch great, but great. I still say it was their best system to date.

But yeah, Sony's issue is fourfold. They have no IP with the same household recognition of Nintendo's. They abandon their IP as soon as it fails to have the same household recognition of Nintendo's so it never builds recognition. They stopped targeting children after PS1 to go for the "mature" market, which trapped them forever in that void of not having generational connections. And then they can't decide if they want to do the PC/MS/Mobile model or the Nintendo model and try to do both at once. Ken Kutaragi was their north star, much as he wet the bed with PS3. Kaz did a great job keeping the ship rightside up, but they've been kind of directionless without Kutaragi.

@gollumb82 Oh the more things change the more they stay the same. Hiroshi Yamauchi certainly launched Radar Scope primarily for revenue, monetizing, and engagement. And then dug up Miyamoto to salvage that failed launch with what would be Donkey Kong. Also for revenue, monetizing, and engagement (and stemming losses from failed Radar Scope cabs.)

What went wrong is that we went from by nerds for nerds, to "the world according to Hiroshi "Totally Not A Yakuza, Honest!" Yamauchi, to a world made by nerds for nerds again and back to an entire planet full of Hiroshi Yamauchi's Mostly the privately held companies were replaced by public corporations, and the creator-owner-presidents were replaced with Harvard MBAs maximizing "revenue channels" - they care not if it's games, toothpaste, or snack ships, it's just a black line. We liked gaming when it was private companies. Not operating arms of hedge funds to boost lines.

@nomither6 i am the same way only haven’t made a switch to PC yet, how do you like it? There are things about PC i don’t like so i am always unsure if thats a good place for me when i own all 3 consoles. But i hear what you are saying for sure.

@HonestHick I think it's awesome. I bought the most future-proof pre-built that they had available, & im 2 years in so far with no problems; every game runs great on it (as they should haha), & the only thing that i've had to do so far was add more RAM that was fairly simple to do. I only play games on PC with a controller which is another big plus, because i have the option of all controllers of all brands that i can use to play games. the gaming experience is un-matched because of how much you can cater to your own custom gaming needs and use virtually any device/accessories with it.

I really think its worth it, especially now more than ever since PC is no longer difficult to get into or gatekept with keyboard and mouse only, its really accessible now and im so grateful for that. As i said earlier, ill always have consoles around and wont get rid of them just because i have a PC, because the option of choosing to play on what you want, when you want is a good feeling.

Not to mention PC is essentially just a glorified computer, so you can also use it for necessity/productive purposes, as i do with mine for work.

also i cant believe i forgot to mention the largest elephant in the room - FREE ONLINE and very cheap game deals, and emulation.

@Axelay71 I, don't think so either small effort and a big chance that if you are smart the old fanbase will buy the new headset and you have a couple of games on release.

@electrolite77 In some ways PlayStation is a lot more like Xbox than most care to admit. They landed on better end results but to a degree that's just due to luck. They seem to change directions with every leadership change, and seem to keep pushing in opposite directions internally leading to an often directionless meandering of completely changing the identity of the brand and who it's for. That's exactly like Xbox. The only difference is it still ended in success for them even if it shouldn't have.

@WiiWareWave uh I'm in my mid-40's, got my first NES in 1987. It's odd to me that you immediately assumed I was a Zoomer.

And I also don't check notifications until weeks later lol