MS doesnt care really because Windows is their own platform as well. Whether Windows or XBOX their ecosystem or platform is supported. There is no real competition between XBOX and Windows. Its only movement within their own ecosystem. The idea of the XBOX was a response to the once dominating console gaming industry, bridge the gap between Windows and console and gradually absorb the console industry into their ecosystem.
There's where I dont fully agree. The 10% that bought HZD are not 100% the same that bought Uncharted. There is some overlap. So a 10% who bought Uncharted and the 10% that bought HZD could mean a market of 10% to 20%. The real number lies in between. Add more exclusives into the mix and that in between number becomes bigger and may surpass that 20%. In addition these exclusives build a brand name and word of mouth that increases the chances of owning a Playstation even though that consumer may not be buying exclusives. And lastly that in between number is still a significant amount of people who bought a Playstation and games that brought in revenue through COD and Fortnite
I was thinking Dreams. the greater power (plus PS5 support?) will really help creations, but no idea how Sony would monetise it. Plus it lacks Move controller support on PC.
What about all those PS owners who bought it for the exclusives who now won't because they'll get them all on PC? What about all the future potential PS owners who won't? It's not just about getting more PC users involved, but devaluing the entire ecosystem. Potentially, I no longer have to choose between a PC and a console. I can get a PC and play everything.You need a reason to buy something, i.e. if you've never consumed anything exclusive to a particular platform then there is no real draw to engage in that ecosystem beyond the usual marketing. If you invest in something, like becoming invested in a game or its characters, then you may now consider buying something that you otherwise would not to further than investment. This is almost the entire reason that franchises, sequels and licensed IP exists at all. And drugs.
System sellers don't work that way. System sellers are what makes someone choose a platform over another. So, those 10 million could have bought an XBox or PC instead to play CoD and Fortnite, but the fact if they wanted to play HZD (or rather, or the PS exclusives), they had to own a PS, they bought a PS to play their bread-and-butter cross-platform games.
HZD is the only game that comes from a Sony owned studio. The others are up to the developers to do whatever they want with their games.
They were just timed exclusives. Sony published them on PS but the IPs remained with the creators who were free to release on other platforms (possibly with a contracted clause in the publishing deal that they couldn't release to non-Sony consoles).
And the developers are not content with doing PS exclusives anymore, they want more gamers to try their games out, what does that leave Sony with? one exclusive game every year? That's not enough to fend off both PC, Xbox, and the cloud, it's also VERY expensive on Sony. Things needed to change.
this is nor different to business since forever. See things like Epic Game Store exclusivity. Devs make games. They then find ways to monetise and make a living, from just selling to making deals to favour a platform for a while to contracting into a single platform.
What? Sony's in exactly the same boat as MS, Epic, Google. They all either pay for (timed) exclusives from 3rd parties, or they make their own in-house. 3rd parties releasing games on PC has zero baring on Sony's move to publish their own first-party games on PC.
