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Pretty much.
If you look forward to seeing another $1T company use Sony as a way to buy into the space, sure.
But the only pressure Game Pass puts on Sony is a clock for how soon until their business model is no longer viable. It doesn't pressure Sony to respond with a similar service because they can't and stay viable financially.
Yes.
They should maximize profits in the short term to reach the biggest market cap possible, then shatter Sony into about four pieces, selling each to the highest bidder. They can probably hit something close to $200B by then, and would likely net a total purchase closer to $300B by flipping Interactive Entertainment to Amazon/Google, Sony Pictures to Netflix/Apple, Electronics to Samsung/LG/other mid-tier manufacturer who wants to cache of Sony on their high end sets, and Sony Music to whomever wants to instantly be the power player in music licensing (I think Apple would splash the pot beyond all comprehension on that one).
Make the bonus checks for the next 3-5 years, pump the stock, pull the rip cord before the generation after this one starts and let the major executives and shareholders walk away multi-billionaires.
$100M games on a service like that can work when they're the flagship and you're doing one or two a year to drive that home.
Sony's big "win" in first party sales really emerged from them getting out of the holiday window that the third parties live in with their major titles and instead focused on building a strong Q1-Q3 strategy with the Q4 first party games being market differentiators (family friend games for example, or GT as racing games aren't a major third party product now).
This gave their IPs room to breathe, but its also turned into a financial strategy where they book big first party sales revenue in Q1-Q3 and big third party revenue in Q4, resulting in strong cashflow across the year.
GamePass devalues that model into just getting the monthly sub money and as long as you're feeding content of any kind, first or third party, reliably enough to foster growth/achieve retention it doesn't matter. And MS has proven that content doesn't need to be a God of War/The Last of Us level blockbuster. It can very much be built on a lot more of the B and C tier games.
I say that in terms of mass market appeal BTW, not quality. A game like Outriders is a B tier game in terms of mass market appeal at retail. It'd sell a couple million units and come and go without much fanfare. It can't justify a $100M budget, but 4 of those in a year is probably a better Game Pass lineup than 2 of Sony's big first party blockbusters.
Sony spent the last 10 years building the model that won the PS4 generation handily, while MS has spent the last 3 years building a model that will likely prevent Sony's model from being market viable by the end of this generation.
Because Sony can't support it.
PSNow already has some level of server throttling. Sony already struggles on download speeds. They aren't big enough to grow internal data center footprint fast enough to complete and they can't compete financially by paying for data center time, especially when the major options in that space have their own competing products within video games (MS, Amazon, Google).
There are paths for Sony out there, but none are Sony staying the same company it is today and thinking they'll thrive against a $1T giant in the video game space. They need to either roadmap to an incredibly lucrative sell-off or start down the path of a merger with a synergistic fortune 100 company to get big enough to push back.
I mean i don't really care much for Jaffe but is it really that hard to believe the guy has Sony connections and people that tell him stuff?
I don't get the "oh this guy is the source lol" comments
I don't get the "oh this guy is the source lol" comments
I can't help but think that a dedicated service like this coming from Sony would feel like too little too late. Microsoft has extremely deep pockets and is willing to sacrifice a lot of money to get more users onto the service, which I'm really not sure Sony can match. Feels like they would've done it already if they wanted to.
I also don't know that Sony needs a counter to Game Pass. They can continue with their exclusive-first strategy, and a huge portion of the market will just follow along because that's what they've done the past several years.
Guess we'll have to wait and see.
I also don't know that Sony needs a counter to Game Pass. They can continue with their exclusive-first strategy, and a huge portion of the market will just follow along because that's what they've done the past several years.
Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Imagine writing a news story based on the warblings of Jaffe.
I'd tell you to go look at his Youtube channel, but I wouldn't want you to give him the clicks.
I'd tell you to go look at his Youtube channel, but I wouldn't want you to give him the clicks.
Still can see it being 2 tiered like EA Play is on PC, one tier gets a library + discount, the other gets the first tier + day 1 releases.
If there were such a thing, it would look a bit odd it Sony didn't put their games there on release. Not just because Microsoft does it, but EA and Ubisoft too with their services.
The only time I want to hear from David jaffe ever again is whenever he thinks a game sucks, because it's almost assuredly rad at that point. Dude has awful taste.
That's interesting. I would have thought they could compete with PSNOW by hosting it on Azure. Stadia is being wound down, and Amazon games are non-existent. Apple is'nt exactly what i'd call a major player in the AAA games industry. What makes you think Sony couldn't compete with Xbox in the cloud streaming space?
I know what you mean. But is it hard to believe he has people at sony that could tell him about this happening?
it's hardly surprising. Just that.
I mean you sound like you're pretty entrenched in the Xbox ecosystem anyway, so it doesn't sound like Sony could offer you anything that you couldn't get from Xbox anyway.
Yep. It was obvious that after Sony planned to shutter the PS3 and PSVita stores making it impossible to purchase older Playstation games, that they would either try and resell them on the PS4 or PS5 stores, or even better for profits; release a "Play Pass" for $10 a month that shuffles around random old games every few months.
...
So, Sony is doomed within the generation and you recommend they should break the company up into smaller pieces and sell it while they still can.
And all this is because of ... Game Pass.
This may be the worst gaming-side take of 2021.
EDIT: If this is copypasta from the old site, I really fell for it.
Yeah I really feel like they just need to tweak/improve this service and market it better, etc.
Honestly, I still see this as being the answer, just by putting a lot more content on it, including PS1, PS2 and PS3 games, and marketing it more.
It's definitely fucking up there.
MS: Here is Game Pass.
Sony: I guess we'll fold while we're on top, now.
meh... The traditional way of buying games still is the way to go for me. Just like I avoid going digital only. Sure you win with a subscription service but that doesn't mean the other opportunities shouldn't be there.
People forget XGP isn't an Xbox thing, it's a MS because it fits right into plans cloud and subscriptions. Sony as a whole ain't investing 7.5B into XGP equivalent.
I'm not talking about on android though. PlayStation Now you can stream all the games on the system itself.
Can you stream all Gamepass games on Xbox if you don't want to download them?
Lol! You made me spit out my tea!
I understood that reference
You're gonna get some flack for those opinions but the writing is pretty clearly on the wall. The only question is how long it takes. I'm really surprised it's taken MS this long to start leaning into Sony like this but it's not surprising to see it. MS has way too much money and good leadership now and this is the natural evolution on their business model and it's clearly showing it works. I'd honestly be surprised to see Sony in the gaming space as a hardware maker 10 years from now, at least with their current model. Something's gotta change for them long term and unfortunately there's not many avenues for them to follow that don't lead to a competitor owning that space. This will be a very interesting next 10 years.
You think that putting PS1, PS2 and PS3 games unaltered is going to compete with MS' 23 Studios putting new games out day one? really?
I agree with you on shaking your head at the Sony doom and gloom since they are, with tent-pole releases, is still miles away. Having said that, it's why MS started playing a different game and went down the Netflix path
PSNow is pretty good, they honestly just need to invest more in it. It took so long to add downloadable PS4 games that prospective subscribers still get confused about the streaming aspect of it. it MIGHT be worthwhile to rename it( but i'm not really sure if necessary.
Have the existing streaming, more downloadable first party games (and longer availability times), and yes maybe raise the annual price a bit to offset these additions.
Have the existing streaming, more downloadable first party games (and longer availability times), and yes maybe raise the annual price a bit to offset these additions.
Without releasing their new first party titles on the service ? Nah I wouldn't subscribe and I don't think any of my hard core Sony fans would either. Knowing Sony too. PS1-PS3 games will all be run the same as they were on those systems with no BC enhancement either then what's the point ?
The difference between their current offerings and game pass is kind of more of degree than kind. They change the marketing and add more games and they're basically at parity, no? I say this as an outsider who is mostly in Nintendo/PC ecosystems, but I do own a ps4.
Not saying it will immediately compete, but it will definitely help fill out PSNow and start making it a bit more worthwhile, at least for older games. While I don't think day 1 games will on PS Now, I think if a Sony published/backed game shows up on the console, I could see they release it on PS Now 3 or 6 months after release, which would give PS an ample window to get the initial sales out of the way, make most of the profit and then get more people to subscribe when it shows up PS Now. That's how I would see it. This is going by if Sony doesn't do day 1 stuff on PS Now.
I am but I still have my PS5 for exclusives. So if the service has those, that'll scratch my Sony itch. If they had the same 3rd parties I'll probably pick it up on XSX because I like the controller better.
David Jaffe says the PS5 Reveal is less than 4 weeks away.
Feb. Just like we all assumed, but this to me is as close to confirmation as you'll get without an actual confirmation.
www.resetera.com
David Jaffe- AAA games are dying (creatively speaking)
Summary: Jaffe compares Uncharted 1 versus Uncharted 4 using two areas each. A climbing sequence in Uncharted and a climbing sequence in Uncharted 4. The other comparison is a shooting setpiece. He then says he loves ND and they have great execution, but he's not singling them out. He's just...
www.resetera.com
David Jaffe's public antic over the last day is rather embarassing
So long story short, David Jaffe (ex game director for God of War PS2) posted a screencap where he publicly dissed an indie Steam game (that has many positive reviews) while requesting a refund and saying that the reviewers were trolling. When the reviewers and the developer call him out he...
www.resetera.com
Jaffe says a lot of things.
It's not about can't to me. It's more about Microsoft/Xbox stopped what they were doing and aligned the entirety of Xbox behind one purpose Gamepass. I don't think sony/playstation is willing or capable of doing that. They could produce the tent pole games but they don't have the capability to produce the minutia between the tent pole titles. They don't have systems that work together well. Sony is and always has been a hardware company first and it shows. Microsoft is a software company first and it shows as the underlying architecture is just better. You can see it audio codecs, the hoops Sony had to go through to get name change support, how cloud saves work, and teh hoops you have to go through to transfer saves. The fact they haven't figured out backwards compatiblity yet for ps3.
The other issue is financial ability. They just don't have the same financial resources to carry out a service like this. Sony as a whole only had a net income of 5 billion dollars. if you are wanting day and date content from big publishers that by itself is going to cost billions. Plus Sony doesn't own its own data centers. They rent them. Xbox pays nothing basically as Microsoft runs data centers all over the world. Sony would need to pay Microsoft, Google or Amazon so that would also cut into the profitability.
Sony's best play in my opinion is just to keep doing what you are doing as it will still be a fine business. Longterm you may not be the market leader anymore if you extrapolate out 10 years. But it's still a fine business.
The main point is that Microsoft can host their gaming stuff internally on the massive infrastructure they already separately own and run (Azure), at much lower cost than a third party can (such as Sony). This substantially changes the acceptable cost structure of the services. It's a huge competitive advantage for Microsoft.
The Jaffe hate is real...personally always liked him and fail to understand why you guys would doubt that someone that worked at sony for 14 years at a very high level wouldnt retain connections.....also for people saying, "oh that god of war creator"...yeah i mean.... Love him or hate him, Jaffe did create gow
It's not going to have new release. Sony profitable games are mostly single player games that sell a lot.
Does it make sense to put the next God of War or Horizon day one, when everyone knows it will sell millions of copies first week.
Sucks I hope am wrong. I would rather pay a sub fee beat the game and save myself $70 but I know it's not happening so I ain't losing sleep.
Y'all need to understand this, when's the last time Microsoft released a beloved single player IP thats sells millions first week.If Halo was doing 10 million sales in first week yet only a month doubt it be on gamepass day 1 that's just my opinion.
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Well, at this stage it's not just putting first party titles at launch and a curated selection of good games, but AAA third titles too.
A subscription will all the sony's first party (permanently) would be nice, even if are not on release.
A subscription will all the sony's first party (permanently) would be nice, even if are not on release.