Did Sony use HZD PC release as a marketing tool for PS5 and Horizon II: Forbidden West?
- Thread starter Raigor
- Start date
I'm sure there are people who will play it and think "that was really cool, I'll buy a PS5 and the sequel now", but with a possible $550-600 entrance fee and the player already rewarded for waiting a bit, there's some significant friction in that conversion process.
You have these groups under the broader PC gaming umbrella where some people already buy and actively use a console, some that prefer the PC but still buy a console sooner or later even if they don't engage with it much beyond the games they need the console to play, and people who've already decided that for one reason or another to not get consoles. So 2/3 groups probably already have a PS4 and will probably get a PS5, as it's common for them to buy a console for at least the first party games.
Somewhere in that last "PC only" group there's an untapped market of people who can be converted into new console (PS5) users, and another, smaller fraction of that market that can be converted into highly engaged console (PS5) users. I guess Sony sees a lot of money on the table there but the lower hanging fruit here to me is expanding the scope of their software offerings beyond their consoles to drive some additional sales. I doubt that PC-only group isn't already aware of consoles and what they can or can't offer, and if we're being honest the PS5 doesn't have a particularly different strategy from the last four PlayStation consoles over the past 25 years, so by now it's a pretty specific group that doesn't know what the PlayStation brand is about and hasn't decided whether it is or isn't for them. If they grab a couple people in that untapped market it's icing on the cake but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing to make your #1 motivation for this port and any subsequent ones.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years either way.
You have these groups under the broader PC gaming umbrella where some people already buy and actively use a console, some that prefer the PC but still buy a console sooner or later even if they don't engage with it much beyond the games they need the console to play, and people who've already decided that for one reason or another to not get consoles. So 2/3 groups probably already have a PS4 and will probably get a PS5, as it's common for them to buy a console for at least the first party games.
Somewhere in that last "PC only" group there's an untapped market of people who can be converted into new console (PS5) users, and another, smaller fraction of that market that can be converted into highly engaged console (PS5) users. I guess Sony sees a lot of money on the table there but the lower hanging fruit here to me is expanding the scope of their software offerings beyond their consoles to drive some additional sales. I doubt that PC-only group isn't already aware of consoles and what they can or can't offer, and if we're being honest the PS5 doesn't have a particularly different strategy from the last four PlayStation consoles over the past 25 years, so by now it's a pretty specific group that doesn't know what the PlayStation brand is about and hasn't decided whether it is or isn't for them. If they grab a couple people in that untapped market it's icing on the cake but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing to make your #1 motivation for this port and any subsequent ones.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years either way.
I see what you mean.
Your financial point is sound. Sony's current strategy doesn't look like they to want follow that yet though.
Just a first step in putting all their games on PC imo. If they are going to be using other people's cloud like Azure and AWS for game streaming, they will need to build their games for PCs because those data centers won't be running PlayStations. So if you are going to do that, might as well release the games to consumer PCs as well.
As for using this as a marketing tool and gateway for ps5. Ehh idk. I think the majority of people are set in their platform of choice and have more than enough games to play. Most people will wait for games to come to them. This move is more about reaching new customers that weren't going to buy a console and setting up their plans for the future with cloud gaming.
As for using this as a marketing tool and gateway for ps5. Ehh idk. I think the majority of people are set in their platform of choice and have more than enough games to play. Most people will wait for games to come to them. This move is more about reaching new customers that weren't going to buy a console and setting up their plans for the future with cloud gaming.
I just see it as an opportunity to make more money out of old exclusives that are are selling for $20 or less on PS4.
Yes, unfortunately, there's new stuttering regardless of how powerful your hardware is.
pretty much. also, I remember this also being the main narrative when this got announced.
This. Didn't matter if the port was amazing or shitty, all PC players needed was that one little carrot on a stick to know that ports of PlayStation studio games on PC were possible so the majority will continue to wait as they've been doing.
How is the port bad? I've heard about performance issues but I'm running it above 60fps in 1080p on a 1080ti. Good enough for me. It plays like a dream. Are there other issues?
Anyway, Horizon Forbidden West comes out in 2021, at the earliest, by that time lots of people will have upgraded their rigs. So I'd say the plan could work great.
One problem though, 30fps won't be enough anymore for this IP.
This doesn't make any sense. Liked at all. Sony is not putting all their games on PC, that's a really pipe dream and they don't really need to build their games to PC to stream them. Are the xcloud 360 games PC games? No, they're not. As for your second point: still makes no sense, people can have both platforms and Sony wants you to have the ps5 as a companion to the PC. A lot of PC gamers buy PlayStation and switches solely for their exclusives. Hell, a lot of people buy switch and nintendo solely for Pokemon, Mario and Zelda. Yes, people buy consoles for one or two games.
By the end of the generation or decade, yes I believe all of Sony's stuff will be on PC. And 360 games are emulated. You can't do that with top of the line games, they need to run natively on the hardware, and it won't be PlayStations in these datacenters. If Sony wants to use multiple cloud vendors, they will build their software to run on PCs. And yes, I believe there are so many games out on each of these platforms now that most gamers are more willing to wait until a game comes to their platform of choice. So Sony's games imo will be reaching more new customers on PC than bringing more new customers to PS5.
It is a bad port, if you really think that hitting 60fps with that card at that resolution is an achievement I'm not sure what to say.
PC only gamers are some of the most stubborn people on the planet, they'd rather wait ages for the sequel before buying a console...
It's not like we have shortage of games, quite contrary to that.
You say stubborn I say patient and better with their money.
Plenty of stuff to play anyways for me atm.
Saving up and getting a decent pc has far greater long term benifits than getting a console every generation specially a sony or nintendo one. PS5 is fixing the issue a bit. Not to even get started on the fact that PC's typically end up being the best place to play your old games you own down the line when emulation catches up.
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What studio on earth would license an engine with no Xbox or Switch support, especially when Unity and Unreal both have generous deals right off the bat? Kojima was a special case.
Sony doesn't want you buying a PS5 just for the exclusives. They want you to sub to PS+ and buy all your games on there. People who game on PC may get a PS5, but they're not going to be profitable customers. They will play online games on PC and avoid the PS+ sub, and won't bother buying third party multiplatform games on PS5 either. Someone who buys a subsidised or break-even console, then buys only expensive to make first party games and none of the hugely profitable stuff is a bad customer for Sony. They absolutely do not want PS5 to be a "companion" to PC - if you're gonna buy a PS5 they want it to be your number one place to play, with all the ecosystem lock-in benefits to them that entails.
Despite them putting that little snippet at the end of the blog post about grabbing a PS5 for Horizon II, mostly to keep the system warriors happy, the reality is that they've ported Horizon to PC to see if it's more profitable to reach PC gamers on PC than try to rope them into the hardware ecosystem, which is akin to getting blood from a stone.
While I do believe this to be true, I don't see how they succeeded at it.
People did have a taste yes but if they end up porting everything after a while then I doubt PC players wouldn't wait. They might complain it isn't out day one on PC but I doubt people would buy a PS5 instead of waiting it out.
People did have a taste yes but if they end up porting everything after a while then I doubt PC players wouldn't wait. They might complain it isn't out day one on PC but I doubt people would buy a PS5 instead of waiting it out.
Thing is, they didn't promote the game on PC at all before release. The only reason they're mentioning it is to get people talking about the sequel.
It was immediately obvious that would have been part of the business rationale for doing the port. The value of a game as a platform exclusive generally decreases over time, as the game ages (this would be particularly true after a generational transition) and will eventually be worth less than its potential value ported to other platforms, both in terms of the new sales revenue and as marketing for your sequel and general ecosystem. Basically:
if [value as exclusive] < [revenue from PC sales + value as marketing for sequel - cost of port] then [do port]
if [value as exclusive] < [revenue from PC sales + value as marketing for sequel - cost of port] then [do port]
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PC players who don't buy consoles won't suddenly buy a console for Horizon 2. They will just play other games and wait for the PC port. It's not like playing Horizon Zero Dawn is a life altering experience that will make you question whether or not having a PS5 for Horizon 2 alone would be worth it.
So if you don't buy a Playstation you're a stubborn person?
So if you don't buy a Playstation you're a stubborn person?
4K resolution is overrated, it looks gorgeous at 1080p as well and easily doubles the original framerate, I just can't relate to the complaints.
Completely agree.
4k 60 fps > 2k 60 fps > 1080 60fps > 4k 30 fps
Pretty much this, there's people that will never buy a console or a PC.
Also I've played Horizon on PS4 and now on PC and 60fps is a game changer in this game, so much more fluid and nicer to play.
So unless all PS5 games have a 60fps mode, I'll be waiting for the drip feed of advertisement ports.
Yes these kinds of attitudes are so far detached from reality, presumably written by people who simply can't understand a world without Sony games.
There's tens of millions of PC gamers who are just fine, and have a ton of stuff to play. If Sony wants in on that - great! If they don't - great! Either way is fine.
Yup. I'm dropping the motion blur as well and I think it looks absolutely phenomenal in 1080p, gsync smoothes out the fps instabilities as well. Looks gorgeous in motion!
It's overrated sure, what does that have to do with the port's poor performance?
I just don't think it is poor that's all. I've played a ton of games with worse performance than this, and I don't see how it's a problem to the point that it will hurt the plan to get PC gamers interested in the IP. My PC isn't even made for gaming and the GPU is a few years old now, after all the performance talk I was honestly pleasantly surprised how well it ran.
It's a 3 years old PS4 game, of course it will run good on your PC. Were you actually afraid it wouldn't run on your current specs?
I don't think any company truly knows what's going to happen when they release a new product, but yeah, I think it's fair to say that they saw enough potential upsides to releasing it.
For example:
- Greater brand awareness and excitement (yes, it will get a lot of PC players excited for Forbidden West if it sells well)
- Great way to further profit on a game that was a huge investment (7 year dev cycle)
- Test the market and see how it affects PS4/5 sales
- People can no longer say that Sony doesn't support PC
- Easy to port these enhancements back to PS5 for a remaster or free upgrade
- Research PC dev and building games for scalability
- They might have used this game as a test bed for PS5 development
I wouldn't be surprised if all they see is upsides from releasing this port. The only downside is that it's clear Sony hasn't always built thier games for scalability, which could affect the quality of PS5 enhancement patches/remasters.
For example:
- Greater brand awareness and excitement (yes, it will get a lot of PC players excited for Forbidden West if it sells well)
- Great way to further profit on a game that was a huge investment (7 year dev cycle)
- Test the market and see how it affects PS4/5 sales
- People can no longer say that Sony doesn't support PC
- Easy to port these enhancements back to PS5 for a remaster or free upgrade
- Research PC dev and building games for scalability
- They might have used this game as a test bed for PS5 development
I wouldn't be surprised if all they see is upsides from releasing this port. The only downside is that it's clear Sony hasn't always built thier games for scalability, which could affect the quality of PS5 enhancement patches/remasters.
I think PC players have room for secondary consoles? Like a Nintendo Switch right?
And the appeal there aside from portability is the software. With PS5 it won't be just be Horizon FW, it'll also have Spider-Man, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, Demon Souls, Ratchet etc. A bunch of exclusive software on the system or coming in the near future that could grab ppl.
Not sure it'll be a significant number but I can see some picking up a PS5. Once Horizon FW drops it will turn heads and as a showpiece for PS5 have people talking.
And the appeal there aside from portability is the software. With PS5 it won't be just be Horizon FW, it'll also have Spider-Man, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, Demon Souls, Ratchet etc. A bunch of exclusive software on the system or coming in the near future that could grab ppl.
Not sure it'll be a significant number but I can see some picking up a PS5. Once Horizon FW drops it will turn heads and as a showpiece for PS5 have people talking.
Yeah after the performance talk I absolutely was :s I built this PC from advice for music production so I had no idea if the parts would be good for gaming except for the left over 1080ti. But it's definitely more capable than I thought so that's awesome! It still sucks to actually play on it though lol
Keep believing that if it pleases you.
Ps: not happening.
And lol about the warriors remark.
This makes no sense. Why would Sony want a "companion" platform?