The PC community has slowly shifted towards buying/preordering 'full price' games and succumbing to micro(macro)transactions in the same way console markets do. But I don't think buying a whole other device is on the menu for most.
What do you mean by “shifted to”. Was there ever a time when these were more common on consoles?
The game widely attributed to starting “micro transactions” was MapleStory, a windows MMORPG. PC games adapted online features like digital-only delivery, DLC’s, and micro transactions before consoles even had the capability to do so figures out. Even before online capabilities, I remember going to game stores in the 90’s and seeing “expansions” for PC games, which is what we used to call DLC back when it was physical.
When think “microtransaction”, I think of a handful of different games immediately. MMO’s, which are much more common on PC (chat features, complex inputs requiring a keyboard, add-ons or other enhancing programs running in the background). Simulation games (the Sims, Truck Simulator, Farming Simulator, Cities Skylines, Civ, etc) that usually are much easier with a M&KB than controller. Multiplayer battle games like MOBA’s or shooters (Valve has DOTA 2, TF2, CSGO and most others are either PC exclusive or multiplat). When I think of Sony in particular, I think of their cinematic single-player experiences. Which may have some DLC, but I don’t associate with predatory micro transactions like cosmetics or P2W schemes.
Consoles have tons of that too nowadays, but it seems like kind of weird to act like PC users are somehow less interested or susceptible to predatory pricing schemes.
You are correct there, but I felt the PC community was a lot more patient and less willing to pay large amounts for games. They did however spend in their own games, MMO subscriptions, DLCs etc. It's more the initial cost of games that we were more likely to object, but MTX has always been a problem since it's introduction. League is selling a $500 dollar skin, the fact people don't quit over things like that existing just shows how much we have succumbed.
I feel console generally buys whatever latest thing is marketed to them and they play that. PC generally tries the new thing then slowly they return to their comfort games they have been playing for 10 years.
I think there are populations of both patient and impatient gamers on both.
The absolute worst platform is Nintendo. You might as well buy the game on launch because it’s still going to be the same price 10 years later. Or even more expensive in some cases.
Consoles have been moving to digital, but they still have physical games. I can’t go to a local store or eBay and buy used Steam games. At the same time, Steam has great sales that do a lot to offset that.
In general I think media hypes up new releases, and there’s blame to go around omamong publishers, media outlets, and media consumers for that. But most online discussions on games are going to default to new releases unless it’s a specific “patient” or “retro” community. So it’s easy to underestimate how many people are fine waiting a couple of years. Or how many kids are waiting until their birthday or Christmas to play a game.
Oh that reminds me, didn’t Horizon Forbidden West finally come out for real this year? I think they had some sort of limited beta on some proprietary hardware in 2022 and 2023.
Playstation CEO doesn’t play games or else they would know how much more flexible PC gaming is for the user. They are hoping people will slum it with console locked ecosystems and non-moddable games using hardware that never improves.
Is the CEO underestimating patience or is the author overestimating?
It’s not as if PlayStation is struggling right now. The PS5 seems to be selling pretty well.
Not to mention that consoles and PC’s are indirect competitors. A lot of people want to use a controller form their couch without jumping through hoops. Gen Z is trending away from desktops and laptops entirely in favor of mobile devices.
Obviously Sony is unhappy with the performance of the PS5 considering how much they’ve been trying to push PC ports lately. Not to mention Square Enix citing disappointing sales for their last couple of critically acclaimed Final Fantasy games as the reason they’re going to focus on multi-platform support going forward.
Seems like almost every business area of PlayStation is doing well. Hardware, subscriptions, DLC, other micro transactions… The PS5 just became officially their most profitable generation.
They’re looking to maximize revenue and profit by expanding into the PC market. It’s great to see because it gives consumers more choice. That absolutely should not be interpreted as any sort of sign of weakness for the PS5. The PS5 seems to be doing better than the PS4 did, and the PS4 did well. They have crushed Xbox to the point where people are speculating Microsoft might want out of hardware. The Switch is harder to compare against because it’s near (really should be past) the end of its life, but the PS5 has been selling at a faster rate.
PC gaming is just starting to get back in track after a few down years for hardware sales (largely related to supply shortages and price gouging, especially GPU’s). But it’s starting to turn around, and it seems like Sony wants a piece of that. The question should not be “why is Sony pushing PC ports”, but “Why is Nintendo not porting to PC”.
Square-Enix has been mismanaged for decades and I don’t think is worth paying attention to.
It’s not that the PS5 is doing bad (it isn’t), it’s that they want more money, simple as that. They saw what Microsoft was doing and they decided they wanted a piece of the pie too.
Nothing is “obvious” about that. What you present as the only possible conclusion from their actions is just your subjective interpretation. Could be true, of course. I highly doubt it (which is my subjective interpretation).
Someone realized that the investment required for making a PC port (or having the studio include it) is less than the money you can make from selling it on PC. Selling consoles (the hardware) isn’t what makes them money, it’s reasonably common for them to be sold at a loss, especially early in the life cycle. Profit comes from people buying games they take a cut from, which is unchanged if Sony is also the publisher (or even the developer).
In any case, if I’m right or wrong isn’t even the point either (I’m probably wrong, too). The point is it’s incredibly complicated, and nothing is even slightly “obvious” about it.
I mean if that worked, it would have worked so repeatedly in the past. Comments like these ought to immediately result in termination with no recompense, as they’re just factual bullshit that can be proven wrong with 10 seconds of googling.
That would be like buying a car for ten times the price, limiting it to 10 kph and forcing yourself to sit on a 30*8 cm dildo while driving it: Way too expensive, limiting in every way and extremely uncomfortable.
On Linux it would be ideal if they could use pipewire to have separate audio streams for the game, a mic input, and all other PC audio. This is what I currently do using obs’ replay buffer for clipping.
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