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Is the main war going forward PlayStation vs Steam? If so, will Sony still do PC ports?

Fess

Member
What do you think?

Valve clearly want to move Steam into the living room, there are rumors of console-like SteamOS devices and Steam Deck 2 will arrive some day and SteamOS is on other handhelds, Steam will also be on future PC Xbox things if they ever launch.

There was already some PC vs console fighting within the gaming communities. And Steam is the main store on PC. Now that Xbox is dead, is The War simply Steam vs PlayStation now?

If so, do you think Sony will pull out of Steam with their PC ports?

If they already own the 150m or so traditional console market, do they even need to be on PC?

Or do you think they'll take on Steam head on with their own PC launcher and storefront?
 
If Sony see Steam as a serious threat to their Playzstation business then obviously they'll review the policy.

At the moment they're seen as separate markets.
 
It died 5 years ago.
News to me.

To answer the OP...

I don't think so. Seems like gaming landscape is evolving. No direct competition anymore.

I think Sony will continue to offer the traditional home console experience we've grown to know, but no one will enter the market to compete with them.

The "competitors" like Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve, etc. will continue to offer incubated ecosystems that is unique to their brand.
 
The platforms are still fundamentally different. Both play games yes, but that's about as far as it goes. Why do you think tens of millions still refuse to play on either? It goes far beyond mere brand/game difference of Xbox and PlayStation.

Sony knows they cannot "defeat" PC gaming, and if the exclusive output of the 90s/00s/10s couldn't drive people to stop playing on PC in favour of console perhaps nothing will.

Now does that mean Sony will continue to port games to PC? Unknown. The potential revenue still needs to be balanced against the need of their own platform. So far PS5 growth doesn't appear to have been impacted and Sony has an additional billion+ dollars profit from the PC porting. But it's not clear if that trend will continue.
 
There is no war between the Holy Lands and the Plastic Empire. That would be like David versus Goliath without the slingshot. At most, it's for the fanboys and console warriors who are still enjoying the last twitches of the Xbox before they eventually have to find a new battlefield.
 
Xbox is dead?
Anthony Bourdain Yes GIF by Ovation TV


As a hardware platform. No need to pretend otherwise.

They're not dead as a third party publisher though. I guess their main competitor is Ubisoft, EA, Tencent, etc. No it's not TikTok.
 
Xbox is not dead lol. Microsoft have like 10 times the money of SONY. They could literally have 5 generations of consoles fail and it still wont be a dent in their wallets. They arent SEGA that was barely hanging on just to keep the lights on in their office. I think they just decided to fold this generation, focus on the next, probably realized after buying all those studios, almost nothing has time to release currently so they are just making a switch and bet on the next gen and im pretty sure considering they never went with a "pro" version, they didnt need to expand the lifetime of XsX generation and just like the 360, will come out a year earlier than the PS6 to try to grab the market again. Also, whats this fetish with PS5 business...their exclusives used to come out like 4 years after on PC, now its like less than 2 years. The newest reports are saying the plan is for PS to have 6 months exclusivity and then gets a port to PC. We are not in the 2000s anymore, SONY is bleeding money too, they will port, not fight against PC.

So not sure why all this doom and gloom about xbox when SONY are doing similar things, not to mention ALSO raising their subscription twice this generation and raising the price of their consoles as well.
 
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Anthony Bourdain Yes GIF by Ovation TV


As a hardware platform. No need to pretend otherwise.

They're not dead as a third party publisher though. I guess their main competitor is Ubisoft, EA, Tencent, etc. No it's not TikTok.
News to me.
Xbox is not dead lol. Microsoft have like 10 times the money of SONY. They could literally have 5 generations of consoles fail and it still wont be a dent in their wallets. They arent SEGA that was barely hanging on just to keep the lights on in their office. I think they just decided to fold this generation, focus on the next, probably realized after buying all those studios, almost nothing has time to release currently so they are just making a switch and bet on the next gen and im pretty sure considering they never went with a "pro" version, they didnt need to expand the lifetime of XsX generation and just like the 360, will come out a year earlier than the PS6 to try to grab the market again. Also, whats this fetish with PS5 business...their exclusives used to come out like 4 years after on PC, now its like less than 2 years. The newest reports are saying the plan is for PS to have 6 months exclusivity and then gets a port to PC. We are not in the 2000s anymore, SONY is bleeding money too, they will port, not fight against PC.

So not sure why all this doom and gloom about xbox when SONY are doing similar things, not to mention ALSO raising their subscription twice this generation and raising the price of their consoles as well.
You cooking.
 
News to me.

To answer the OP...

I don't think so. Seems like gaming landscape is evolving. No direct competition anymore.

I think Sony will continue to offer the traditional home console experience we've grown to know, but no one will enter the market to compete with them.

The "competitors" like Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve, etc. will continue to offer incubated ecosystems that is unique to their brand.
The death itself is actually the less important thing in the big picture, the impact of the stench and spreading decay of its rotting corpse in the gaming industry are the big issues we have to deal with now.
 
Reminder: Sony haven't announced anything (first party) for PC in almost a year and removed it from their recent financials.


They announced Stellar Blade less than 6 months ago. It released 5 months ago. The only thing they have left that is older than 2 years is Demon Souls and GT7.
 
They announced Stellar Blade less than 6 months ago. It released 5 months ago. The only thing they have left that is older than 2 years is Demon Souls and GT7.
*First party

Edit: And *newer* than 2 years, they obviously have a deep back catalogue of games they could bring over if they wanted.
 
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Xbox is not dead lol. Microsoft have like 10 times the money of SONY. They could literally have 5 generations of consoles fail and it still wont be a dent in their wallets. They arent SEGA that was barely hanging on just to keep the lights on in their office. I think they just decided to fold this generation, focus on the next, probably realized after buying all those studios, almost nothing has time to release currently so they are just making a switch and bet on the next gen and im pretty sure considering they never went with a "pro" version, they didnt need to expand the lifetime of XsX generation and just like the 360, will come out a year earlier than the PS6 to try to grab the market again. Also, whats this fetish with PS5 business...their exclusives used to come out like 4 years after on PC, now its like less than 2 years. The newest reports are saying the plan is for PS to have 6 months exclusivity and then gets a port to PC. We are not in the 2000s anymore, SONY is bleeding money too, they will port, not fight against PC.

So not sure why all this doom and gloom about xbox when SONY are doing similar things, not to mention ALSO raising their subscription twice this generation and raising the price of their consoles as well.
Completely delulu...
You think people will buy their next console knowing they simply gave up when this one wasn't going as expected?
There's zero consumer trust in Xbox now.

Stellar Blade is first party.
Neither the studio that made the game nor the IP are owned by Sony.
How is that first party?
 
If Sony see Steam as a serious threat to their Playzstation business then obviously they'll review the policy.

At the moment they're seen as separate markets.
I know what it is now but this is about what'll happen going forward. Once Valve is truly entering the living room I'm thinking it's bye bye Steam for Sony's games. Unfortunately.
Sony could still do their own launcher, if they think they could make enough money on PC to be worth the effort, but I can't see them keep having their games on Steam - could result in a "Why do I need a PlayStation if the games are on [other device]?" scenario unless there is some significant difference in pricing or hardware features.
 
I know what it is now but this is about what'll happen going forward. Once Valve is truly entering the living room I'm thinking it's bye bye Steam for Sony's games. Unfortunately.
Sony could still do their own launcher, if they think they could make enough money on PC to be worth the effort, but I can't see them keep having their games on Steam - could result in a "Why do I need a PlayStation if the games are on [other device]?" scenario unless there is some significant difference in pricing or hardware features.

You're thinking right.
 
They intend to kill their hardware / PS store business and sell everything on Steam at some point. I think they don't want to take risks with the hardware business anymore (they are afraid to lose big like during PS3 era) and intend to become a 100% games / services company.

I can't explain their strategy otherwise.
 
Completely delulu...
You think people will buy their next console knowing they simply gave up when this one wasn't going as expected?
There's zero consumer trust in Xbox now.
Thats maybe how you see the xbox brand. You talk as if XsX is a failure like the Dreamcast that folded after 2 years and annoucned its going third party. They gave up after 5 years and are focusing on the next gen, so what? Xbox ONE was by far way worse, yet people ran to buy a new XsX again. Stop being a child and think everyone sees the world your fanboy way. The only people saying they lost trust in the xbox brand are the ones that never had an xbox. If you bought a XsX now, you'd still get value for money, theres tons of games and gamepass to be had. If you bought it 5 years ago, you got your fix. Just admit you are a PS fanboy. I got both a PS5 as a decade old sony fan and I also bought later a XsX because i wanted that gamepass and other exclusives I didnt have on PS5. The only fact that is true is that PS5 won this gen. Xbox is not dead, xbox did not give up and walk away, they just adjusted and moved forward to the next thing. You will still get a ton of games released on XsX, where did you read the console is just gone?

Also, this comparison between PS5 and MS porting their games to PC....PC "IS" also a Microsoft platform (Windows technically), they arent "fighting" against PC like SONY is. Them releasing their exclusives on PC is also them releasing it on their OS and market which they created. SONY on the other hand is literally the odd one out there. So when people start laughing and acting childish how MS exclusive went to PC, remember who and what Bill Gates created and what belongs to who and that there are infinately more PCs out there than macbooks or iMacs so when they port, they are literally helping themselves.
 
Thats maybe how you see the xbox brand. You talk as if XsX is a failure like the Dreamcast that folded after 2 years and annoucned its going third party. They gave up after 5 years and are focusing on the next gen, so what? Xbox ONE was by far way worse, yet people ran to buy a new XsX again. Stop being a child and think everyone sees the world your fanboy way. The only people saying they lost trust in the xbox brand are the ones that never had an xbox. If you bought a XsX now, you'd still get value for money, theres tons of games and gamepass to be had. If you bought it 5 years ago, you got your fix. Just admit you are a PS fanboy. I got both a PS5 as a decade old sony fan and I also bought later a XsX because i wanted that gamepass and other exclusives I didnt have on PS5. The only fact that is true is that PS5 won this gen. Xbox is not dead, xbox did not give up and walk away, they just adjusted and moved forward to the next thing. You will still get a ton of games released on XsX, where did you read the console is just gone?

Also, this comparison between PS5 and MS porting their games to PC....PC "IS" also a Microsoft platform (Windows technically), they arent "fighting" against PC like SONY is. Them releasing their exclusives on PC is also them releasing it on their OS and market which they created. SONY on the other hand is literally the odd one out there. So when people start laughing and acting childish how MS exclusive went to PC, remember who and what Bill Gates created and what belongs to who and that there are infinately more PCs out there than macbooks or iMacs so when they port, they are literally helping themselves.
LOL
Say anything negative about Xbox :
"YOU ARE A PLAYSTATION FANBOY!!"

I haven't turned my ps5 on in over 3 months and only played 2 games on it this year (and none was first party).


When a company abandons its product (nearly stopped production, porting games to other consoles) midgen, how can they expect to succeed in the next gen?
What guarantees the players have that they won't abandon the next console when things don't go as they planned like they did with Xbox Series?
 
there is no fucking "war" outside of console fanboys oxygen-deprived brains.

some of you need to grow up. many players can exist and be successful in a given market.
 
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I think Sony doing PC ports should be few and far in-between so that it does not alienate the user base or undermine the brand.

As I stated many times before, noone wanted the Xbox brand to crash and burn more than Microsoft with the actions they've taken since the Xbox one era.
 
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Sony games cost too much to produce now so they need PC money. There is no war.
The pc and Xbox audience is rapidly shrinking in Europe and probably worldwide. Those wandering souls will join Sony and Nintendo.
Therefore Sony will maintain and even increase their revenue without "pc ports"!
 
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