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Shawn Layden on Sony strategy regarding PC releases

dex3108

dex3108

Member
Oct 26, 2017
22,642



  • Initiative started during Shawn presidency
  • Goal was to show PC users what PlayStation can offer
  • He doesn't think that just because Sony releases some games on PC people will buy console but some will
  • There was no downside releasing titles that reached sales saturation on consoles

So basically everything we were saying since they announced Horizon for PC.
 
medinaria

medinaria

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,549
  • There was no downside releasing titles that reached sales saturation on consoles
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this is, I think, easily the biggest part of it

clearly they've got some level of sales data that indicates their games don't really have the kind of "we'll just keep selling this at full price for seven years" trajectory of something like a first-party nintendo flagship game, so there's just no loss in making it available on pc once you've hit the tail end of its lifecycle. might be able to push people who really enjoy your game into getting a console to play the next one earlier, might just get them to keep waiting for pc ports - either way, you end up with money you wouldn't have otherwise

it's only a net negative if people stop buying your console because they figure they'll just wait for pc ports, and my guess is that's not a very likely event
 
DailyCalmSpirit

DailyCalmSpirit

Banned
May 17, 2018
3,454
Yeah, technically nothing new here, but, confirmation of what everyone could see was their strategy.

Basically, don't expect PC versions on day one any time soon. It's an interesting strategy. I could see it really benefitting games like Days Gone where initial release was met with timid response, but, they fixed it up and it grew a following by the time the PC release came and gave it a second life. Rather than having one big splash at the top and it never really coming back into the news.
 
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dex3108

dex3108

Member
Oct 26, 2017
22,642
Their main goal is still to attract more people to PlaySation and one of the ways is to show exclusives to people who never owned console. Most people won't buy PlayStation but because there is no downside for Sony by releasing older titles on PC it's worth to them either way. They either get some new users, more money from product or even both.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,699
  • There was no downside releasing titles that reached sales saturation on consoles
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Yup, been saying that from the beginning. Sell as much as possible on PS consoles and then when they settle down, release on PC for full price and rake in more moola.

I doubt we'll ever see anything other than a staggered release, should probably always be 2-3 years apart. That just seemed obvious from the beginning.

I don't think it was ever about switching people over from PC to PS or vice versa.
 
Jaded Alyx

Jaded Alyx

Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,424
Dio said:
not really? he's just saying he doesn't believe offering sony games on pc will entice those players to actually buy a playstation, but some will, and it's worth it because of that, alongside the other reasons he gave.
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I thought maybe he was saying that just because they release games on PC, he doesn't think that people will now not buy a console. I.e. people that typically buy consoles.

This whole enticing PC players to buy a console now that their games are coming to the platform they already own and invested in, never made sense to me. One reason I bought a PS4 was because at the time, there was no chance of those games coming to PC.
 
Temascos

Temascos

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,543
Very clear reasoning there. If sales are likely as good as they're going to be on console, why not give it a second burst of life? It's likely to keep being a drip feed approach for PC gamers, but as long as the quality is there and it's not a hack job, then great.
 
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dex3108

dex3108

Member
Oct 26, 2017
22,642
Kyrios said:
Yup, been saying that from the beginning. Sell as much as possible on PS consoles and then when they settle down, release on PC for full price and rake in more moola.

I doubt we'll ever see anything other than a staggered release, should probably always be 2-3 years apart. That just seemed obvious from the beginning.
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There could still be day 1 releases. The Last of Us Factions is perfect game to do day 1 release for example.
 

lost7

Member
Feb 20, 2018
2,750
To be honest I think after the success of Horizon, I expect their strategy might have changed a little. I still wouldn't expect day 1 releases any time soon, but wouldn't be surprised if 2/3 years after their original release, every Sony game will get their PC port. Especially now that they've invested on a studio specialised on PC ports
 
KomandaHeck

KomandaHeck

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,357
So... Bloodborne?

batista-dave.gif
 
Deluxera

Deluxera

Member
Mar 13, 2020
2,596
If he genuinely believed that putting exclusives on PC would attract people to buy consoles then he truly was one of the most clueless CEO in the industry.
 
Dio

Dio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,097
Jaded Alyx said:
I thought maybe he was saying that just because they release games on PC, he doesn't think that people will now not buy a console. I.e. people that typically buy consoles.

This whole enticing PC players to buy a console now that their games are coming to the platform they already own and invested in, never made sense to me. One reason I bought a PS4 was because at the time, there was no chance of those games coming to PC.
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hmmm, fair interpretation. could be that.
 

Deleted member 10675

User requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
990
Madrid
That may be the initial plan, but now they want a PC community around PlayStation games. Probably their own store in the future.
 
TheGummyBear

TheGummyBear

Member
Jan 6, 2018
8,810
United Kingdom
Makes sense to me. I know plenty of PC gamers who also own Nintendo systems just for the first party titles.

Luring some PC players into picking up a PS5 by showing off the quality of Sony exclusives is a solid strategy because, even if it doesn't work out, you're still selling more copies of a game that had sales figures slow to a crawl.
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
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Oct 25, 2017
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Patrese86 said:
Seems like that's the strategy from the outside. Kinda puts to bed the day one nonsense.
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Layden reiterating Sony's current strategy doesn't mean it won't evolve as Sony continues to port games and gather data on what its PC audience looks like, and I don't think anyone who is #TeamDayOneOneDay has said they expect a shift to day-and-date releases to happen in the near future.
 
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starfoxxxy

starfoxxxy

Gravity Is Hard
Banned
Mar 13, 2021
6,488
lost7 said:
To be honest I think after the success of Horizon, I expect their strategy might have changed a little. I still wouldn't expect day 1 releases any time soon, but wouldn't be surprised if 2/3 years after their original release, every Sony game will get their PC port. Especially now that they've invested on a studio specialised on PC ports
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I think if anything Horizon solidified their strategy.

I wonder how many people that enjoyed it on PC are gonna go grab part 2 in February


E2WnstRXEAMfS6g.jpg
 
pswii60

pswii60

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,686
The Milky Way
Chasing said:
Pretty much what everyone put together then.
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It's exactly what Hulst said when soft announcing the HZD port in a PS Blog interview. There was nothing to put together.

It's a misguided strategy though which misunderstands the PC market. Will be interesting to see just how much, if at all, it's changed since Shawn was there. The Days Gone port (no sequel), Nixes acquisition and GFN leak indicate it might have changed but the incredibly slow trickle of releases continues to indicate the opposite.
 
scitek

scitek

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Oct 27, 2017
10,085
Smart man. He knows there's a decent number PC gamers that will buy a PlayStation console so they can enjoy worse performing and looking versions of the games they already played on Steam.
 
platocplx

platocplx

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Oct 30, 2017
36,072
starfoxxxy said:
It was always gonna be a staggered release.
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I've been saying that forever. Easy to see that being the case on top of a strategic selection of games imo. The sales saturation being the key to most of it for most games. I don't see day and date happening unless sales get bad but now they have an Avenue if they need it. It just adds to resiliency of their brand. But console is going to be their main platform for the foreseeable years to come.
 
inner-G

inner-G

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
14,473
PNW
As someone who left PlayStation for PC, this has been great.

I can still play the big PS exclusives, and I can still have my big multi-generation game library mostly all in one place, which is why I originally liked PS3 (fat) so much.
 
Chasing

Chasing

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
10,756
pswii60 said:
It's exactly what Hulst said when soft announcing the HZD port in a PS Blog interview. There was nothing to put together.
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I meant the implicit intentions of using old ports to entice some PC players and there being no downside to releasing sunset ports of their back catalogue. Sony bringing their games to PC was still met with a good amount of surprise at the time.
 

Firefly

Member
Jul 10, 2018
8,648
Listening to the whole podcast I think the main goal was to expand the reach of the IPs, not necessarily attract more players to buy PS hardware. He said something along the lines of the best selling consoles all reaching a ceiling and they can't seem to break that ceiling and need to reach new players by "going where they are" i.e. PC platform. He didn't sound confident about how many PC players he expects to buy a Playstation console as a result of PC ports. "Some" might consider getting a PS5, because you can't say with certainty that no one ever will, but Sony end up selling more games either way so its a win/win for everybody.
 
modiz

modiz

Member
Oct 8, 2018
17,873
Another point (the only real headline in all that which is not 'obvious' I guess), is that he mentions at 1:30:55 is that he doesnt believe sony will go day and date on PC for their strategy, so as far as when he was planning for it, it was likely always going to be to drip feed content later rather than transitioning fully for that.
Basically, the point is to get more people introduced into Sony IPs and make more revenue thanks to that, and that is done by introducing those IPs on PC, on the big screen, on your TV screen, in comics, in music, in VR, in online and maybe even more. They want those IPs to be recognized by as many people as possible.
 

pappacone

Member
Jan 10, 2020
3,153
Kyrios said:
Yup, been saying that from the beginning. Sell as much as possible on PS consoles and then when they settle down, release on PC for full price and rake in more moola.

I doubt we'll ever see anything other than a staggered release, should probably always be 2-3 years apart. That just seemed obvious from the beginning.

I don't think it was ever about switching people over from PC to PS or vice versa.
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there were mentions of day one release for Gaas games in the IR documents
 

Firefly

Member
Jul 10, 2018
8,648
modiz said:
Another point that he mentions at 1:30:55 is that he doesnt believe sony will go day and date on PC for their strategy, so as far as when he was planning for it, it was likely always going to be to drip feed content later rather than transitioning fully for that.
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He also said "never say never".
 
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