I started thinking about why Sony doesn't really want to bring its first-party exclusives to PS Now as they're released, and it just clicked.
Nearly all of Microsoft's games are live service-oriented that're predicated on engagement and microtransactions, especially now they're included on Game Pass. That's the trade-off: If a game is included on Game Pass, it needs to have live elements to offset the potential game sale loss.
So...if Sony does include future first-party PS games on PS Now, we could see a similar transition. Sony relies heavily on full game sales/hardware sales, whereas Microsoft relies heavily on services and games designed to compliment those services.
Would you rather Sony just kept its big first-party games off of PS Now and preserve huge sprawling singleplayer experiences, or include them on PS Now at the cost of infusing monetization and live services into said games?
Nearly all of Microsoft's games are live service-oriented that're predicated on engagement and microtransactions, especially now they're included on Game Pass. That's the trade-off: If a game is included on Game Pass, it needs to have live elements to offset the potential game sale loss.
So...if Sony does include future first-party PS games on PS Now, we could see a similar transition. Sony relies heavily on full game sales/hardware sales, whereas Microsoft relies heavily on services and games designed to compliment those services.
Would you rather Sony just kept its big first-party games off of PS Now and preserve huge sprawling singleplayer experiences, or include them on PS Now at the cost of infusing monetization and live services into said games?