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PlayStation Network Launcher Could Be Coming To PC

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
It's funny how when talking about emulation, people will go out of their way to install multiple emulators, thousands of roms, finely tweak configuration files (often specifically for individual games), but when it comes to playing officially released products, it's " Steam or it doesn't exist".


I remember how apposed everyone was to a centralized launcher when steam came out. People didn't want to have Steam running in the background just to launch a game. Your desktop was the launcher and it was riddled with game exe shortcuts.

Everyone has their preference. I'm not saying anyone is wrong here. I just find it funny how some of those preferences conflict with eachother.

Steam is just so far ahead of everyone else in terms of features. Controller profiles, mod integration, regional pricing, etc.

I wouldn’t blame Sony for doing a launcher because they have the software to support it. In fact if it were me I would’ve saved the GOW port to launch alongside it just to entice people to get it.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
It's funny how when talking about emulation, people will go out of their way to install multiple emulators, thousands of roms, finely tweak configuration files (often specifically for individual games), but when it comes to playing officially released products, it's " Steam or it doesn't exist".


I remember how apposed everyone was to a centralized launcher when steam came out. People didn't want to have Steam running in the background just to launch a game. Your desktop was the launcher and it was riddled with game exe shortcuts.

Everyone has their preference. I'm not saying anyone is wrong here. I just find it funny how some of those preferences conflict with eachother.
Retroarch is on steam now. Only things you would need to install separately is yuzu for switch and the ps3 emulator. You can add those to steam too.
 
I just thought of a neat idea. What if you could launch a game and earn achievements and trophies at the same time? And you could invite anyone from a friends list of any service into your game?
 

Nautilus

Banned
If a game is not on Steam or Twitch it might as well not exist on PC at all. If Sony is trying to launch their own store they need to go ALL IN with day and date games or it will fail, guaranteed. Even Day 1 releases are no guarantee of success if they are not multiplayer twitch darlings.
Lol.A billion indie games don't pay to appear on twitch, and most are single player games, and yet they find success.

As for the Steam part: Epic says hi.Plenty of games finding success there and while yeah, Epic is moneyhatting a lot of stuff there, a company would not be doing that for 3 years straight if they are not seeing results.

Sony is in an even better position given their catalogue of IPs they own and the quality and hype their recent games generate, be them releasing day one on PC or years later.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
But you're right, it's stupid.

I know, really don’t understand these idiots who want Steam to be a monopoly.

It’s a PC yer idiots, the whole point is for it to be open. Don’t like other stores? Don’t buy there, demand they do better. But to throw a fit because a game doesn’t come to steam? Grow up.
 
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Goalus

Member
Steam is just so far ahead of everyone else in terms of features. Controller profiles, mod integration, regional pricing, etc.
They don't offer Xbox Play Anywhere which is an automatic dealbreaker for me. Only the Microsoft Store offers that.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
The 30% split always comes back on the table in these discussions. People forget that:

1. Steam Revenue split goes as low as 20% percent if it surpasses $50 million.
2. Nothing stops Sony and Valve to work a special deal. EA and Valve have one.
3. Running your own PC store isn't free.


Which has been earned by Valve for building their platform for 19 years and being pro consumers in most of their moves. But you're right, it's stupid.
In the interest of supporting competition, I should also buy my games on a store that locks games behind timed-exclusivity, doesn't have half the features Steam has and is 40% owned by Tencent.
I can't wait for Sony to enter the game so I can pay my games 79,99€, never get a refund and finally be enlightened.
People also seem to forget that Sony themselves charge 30%. They also demand money if a game has higher revenue on another platform with cross play.
Lol.A billion indie games don't pay to appear on twitch, and most are single player games, and yet they find success.

As for the Steam part: Epic says hi.Plenty of games finding success there and while yeah, Epic is moneyhatting a lot of stuff there, a company would not be doing that for 3 years straight if they are not seeing results.

Sony is in an even better position given their catalogue of IPs they own and the quality and hype their recent games generate, be them releasing day one on PC or years later.
Epic gets their money from fortnite. Virtually no one buys games there, hence their predatory practices.
I know, really don’t understand these idiots who want Steam to be a monopoly.

It’s a PC yer idiots, the whole point is for it to be open. Don’t like other stores? Don’t buy there, demand they do better. But to throw a fit because a game doesn’t come to steam? Grow up.
It isn't a monopoly. You can buy games at gamesplanet, gmg, etc and activate them on steam if you want. Those keys are provided to publishers for free. Nothing can be a monopoly on open hardware. If steam were to turn evil, we can easily bypass steam.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
It isn't a monopoly. You can buy games at gamesplanet, gmg, etc and activate them on steam if you want. Those keys are provided to publishers for free. Nothing can be a monopoly on open hardware. If steam were to turn evil, we can easily bypass steam.

Doesn’t really matter, the only thing that matters is if a game comes out on PC and if it performs well. That’s it, the obsession with Steam is ridiculous, who gives a shit.
 

Nautilus

Banned
People also seem to forget that Sony themselves charge 30%. They also demand money if a game has higher revenue on another platform with cross play.

Epic gets their money from fortnite. Virtually no one buys games there, hence their predatory practices.

It isn't a monopoly. You can buy games at gamesplanet, gmg, etc and activate them on steam if you want. Those keys are provided to publishers for free. Nothing can be a monopoly on open hardware. If steam were to turn evil, we can easily bypass steam.
People buy games there, its just not in the magnitude of steam sales.You can look at Epic financials to see how third party sells there.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
People buy games there, its just not in the magnitude of steam sales.You can look at Epic financials to see how third party sells there.
2gLhJ7D.jpg

Doesn’t really matter, the only thing that matters is if a game comes out on PC and if it performs well. That’s it, the obsession with Steam is ridiculous, who gives a shit.
Some people like to keep their PCs clean.
 

Nautilus

Banned
2gLhJ7D.jpg


Some people like to keep their PCs clean.
Thanks for proving my point.Like I said, nothing like Steam, but people use it to buy games.

Won't become a Steam overnight.
 

Midn1ght

Member
What's Store Revenue in this? Skins, in-game content, etc...?
In 3 years, Gross Revenue was 13.4B of which 358M were from Other Games?
If I'm correct, games sold by Epic that are not Fortnite account for 2.7% of their Revenue? 👀

I'm not sure I'm reading this correctly though.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
Thanks for proving my point.Like I said, nothing like Steam, but people use it to buy games.

Won't become a Steam overnight.
If you set the bar low enough, sure. Bethesda launcher sold some games too.
What's Store Revenue in this? Skins, in-game content, etc...?
In 3 years, Gross Revenue was 13.4B of which 358M were from Other Games?
If I'm correct, games sold by Epic that are not Fortnite account for 2.7% of their Revenue? 👀

I'm not sure I'm reading this correctly though.
That is revenue, not profit either. Store revenue is like if you bought a normal game on epic.
 

Midn1ght

Member
If you set the bar low enough, sure. Bethesda launcher sold some games too.

That is revenue, not profit either. Store revenue is like if you bought a normal game on epic.
I see so "Other Games" are games owned by Epic I presume? (Rocket League, etc...)
 
I moved completely past the multiple launchers issue. I just set them to not open on startup. Due to the games you get on Prime Gaming and Epic free games it makes no sense to just limit yourself to steam.

The Xbox app stinks. Even EGS, Origin, and Uplay are all far better. I wish it was better software.
The new EA app on PC is equally terrible if not worst than the Xbox one. I gave up using it when I forced into it to play EA games that were on Gamepass a few months ago.
 
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One possibility is that this is merely a game launcher for Sony's games, and PC gamers would continue to purchase these games from Steam, Epic Games Store, etc., just as they do now,

Another possibility is that this also serves as a PC version of the PlayStation Store By doing this, Sony would enable users to purchase games directly from their PlayStation Store. This would eliminate the fees that Sony would have to pay to Steam or Epic, and I'm sure that's one reason they would want to do this. But, there is another, consumer-friendly reason why this might be desirable: It would easily allow Sony to offer cross-buy between PS4/PS5 and PC, which is something they do not currently offer.

Microsoft's online store allows cross-buy between their consoles and PC. Many people have praised Microsoft for this, and have been clamoring for Sony to extend the same courtesy. This just might be their method of doing exactly that.

As long as they don't remove their games from the other online marketplaces, there shouldn't be anything to complain about.

They will be doing that for whatever new game they announce going forward, and not retroactively do that for games that have already been released on Steam.

And yeah, they have increased the price for their games on PS5, and all that happened is that they are selling better than ever.So the quality of their games will easily offset whatever bad effect that it might occur for the majority of players.

But I'll grant you that making it exclusive to their store is also likely.Though if that tactic is successful enough, Sony will certainly never release their games on Steam, by the same reasons that Nintendo/Sony/MS don't release their games on other consoles.

Why not? They've done it a lot sooner than anyone else, and across 3 platforms. Obviously it'd be selective with 3rd parties (and maybe even 1st) but that's the case with everyone.
The bigger question is what this means for release dates - if PC is always the port-station, the value proposition is different (and cross-buy as well).

Y'know, having read these responses, I'm actually more on the idea that they could do crossbuy essentially as a "buy-once, play on any supported platform" than I gave them credit for earlier. Especially if the storefront is robust enough (ad-supported free model, PS+ Essentials/Extra/Premium tier equivalents usable between PC and PS devices, etc.), then I guess it wouldn't really matter which platform the user buys the game on. I guess there is little reason to double-charge if crossover between PS & PC purchasers is as low as that Matt Piscatella tweet thread indicated.

Because, effectively, it's still within the PlayStation ecosystem, so they retain that vertical integration regardless. Could also be liberating for 3P publishers as well. Midn1ght Midn1ght I did not know about EA & Valve having a special partnership beforehand, but now that you bring it up, it might make for something possible between Valve & Sony.

That said, I still wouldn't necessarily expect them to do it. There are probably things with how Valve handles Steam, which Sony wouldn't agree with, plus it still cuts Sony out of potential revenue cuts from 3P sales on PC since they'd be dependent on Valve's storefront, rather than their own. But they could still work out such a deal, if only for older Sony games brought over to Steam or new games that come over after being on Sony's own PC storefront/launcher for a while (no doubt with some levels of ambiguity as usual).
 
Y'know, having read these responses, I'm actually more on the idea that they could do crossbuy essentially as a "buy-once, play on any supported platform" than I gave them credit for earlier. Especially if the storefront is robust enough (ad-supported free model, PS+ Essentials/Extra/Premium tier equivalents usable between PC and PS devices, etc.), then I guess it wouldn't really matter which platform the user buys the game on. I guess there is little reason to double-charge if crossover between PS & PC purchasers is as low as that Matt Piscatella tweet thread indicated.

Because, effectively, it's still within the PlayStation ecosystem, so they retain that vertical integration regardless. Could also be liberating for 3P publishers as well. Midn1ght Midn1ght I did not know about EA & Valve having a special partnership beforehand, but now that you bring it up, it might make for something possible between Valve & Sony.

That said, I still wouldn't necessarily expect them to do it. There are probably things with how Valve handles Steam, which Sony wouldn't agree with, plus it still cuts Sony out of potential revenue cuts from 3P sales on PC since they'd be dependent on Valve's storefront, rather than their own. But they could still work out such a deal, if only for older Sony games brought over to Steam or new games that come over after being on Sony's own PC storefront/launcher for a while (no doubt with some levels of ambiguity as usual).
A move like this would be Sony trying to leverage their position in the console market to gain importance on the PC space. It also help's Sony to have their games all ported to PC to reduce the need of requiring PS hardware on the server side for cloud gaming.

We know they are going to invest on more GaaS games and possibly F2P and it having their own launcher on PC for those games is going to be key if one of them becomes a hit.
 
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01011001

Banned
Cross buy will probably happen. They just said they’d redeem PS1/PSP games you bought on PSN

well that is very surprising indeed, especially since they refused to do that with PS2 classic on PS4 that were available on PS3 as well.

but I'll be sceptical until it's officially confirmed
 

Midn1ght

Member
Because, effectively, it's still within the PlayStation ecosystem, so they retain that vertical integration regardless. Could also be liberating for 3P publishers as well. Midn1ght Midn1ght I did not know about EA & Valve having a special partnership beforehand, but now that you bring it up, it might make for something possible between Valve & Sony.

That said, I still wouldn't necessarily expect them to do it. There are probably things with how Valve handles Steam, which Sony wouldn't agree with, plus it still cuts Sony out of potential revenue cuts from 3P sales on PC since they'd be dependent on Valve's storefront, rather than their own.
To be honest, we have no idea what the deal between EA and Valve is, might just be Valve agreeing to have EA Play on Steam. Wouldn't be surprised if Valve has several deal with big studios and publishers though.

Regarding Sony making money out of 3rd party on PC, I wouldn't bet on it. Just look at the Epic numbers.
In the 3 years chart Dream-Knife Dream-Knife shared, Non-Epic games accounted for less than 5% of their revenue while losing hundred of millions for timed exclusives that barely moved the needle.
Epic themself don't expect to be profitable before 2027 and that's optimistic.

I'm not sure Sony is willing to fully commit with their own big store on PC but I can see them giving the option to buy PC version of their games on the existing PlayStation Store while also selling them on Epic and Steam.
They can also get creative with it: Give PlayStation Store buyers a head start over the other storefronts (2weeks/1month), launching a new PlayStation PC Plus sub that grant access to existing and upcoming PlayStation PC games, etc...
 
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Barakov

Member

In a new job listing, Sony is looking for a Director, Product Management – PC Game Experiences.


The most notable part of the job description is the second paragraph, where it is stated that the person will be responsible for “client applications experiences as PlayStation network Platform integration.” This likely suggests that PlayStation is looking to build a launcher for PC.

It should be noted that a job listing last year had suggested something similar, where Sony was looking for a UX Design Manager for driving its “PlayStation’s Off-Console experience, with a focus on mobile devices, PC / laptop, and tablet.” Along with that, PlayStation has been actively looking for people to design game activities such as trophies.


PC Gamers
Eat Gus Fring GIF by Better Call Saul
 
A move like this would be Sony trying to leverage their position in the console market to gain importance on the PC space. It also help's Sony to have their games all ported to PC to reduce the need of requiring PS hardware on the server side for cloud gaming.

We know they are going to invest on more GaaS games and possibly F2P and it having their own launcher on PC for those games is going to be key if one of them becomes a hit.

So you're of the idea the launcher could be specifically geared to their live-service games? That could be a good possibility, and if it's that way, if that's really the full extent of their revamped PC strategy, then they could do what I've seen others suggest and provide those games on Steam and EGS then, when the player starts the game, it just opens up in Sony's own launcher from there.

That seems like the more likely path they'll take, at least for now.

To be honest, we have no idea what the deal between EA and Valve is, might just be Valve agreeing to have EA Play on Steam. Wouldn't be surprised if Valve has several deal with big studios and publishers though.

Regarding Sony making money out of 3rd party on PC, I wouldn't bet on it. Just look at the Epic numbers.
In the 3 years chart Dream-Knife Dream-Knife shared, Non-Epic games accounted for less than 5% of their revenue while losing hundred of millions for timed exclusives that barely moved the needle.
Epic themself don't expect to be profitable before 2027 and that's optimistic.

I'm not sure Sony is willing to fully commit with their own big store on PC but I can see them giving the option to buy PC version of their games on the existing PlayStation Store while also selling them on Epic and Steam.
They can also get creative with it: Give PlayStation Store buyers a head start over the other storefronts (2weeks/1month), launching a new PlayStation PC Plus sub that grant access to existing and upcoming PlayStation PC games, etc...

TBH yeah if their PC launcher is aimed more as something for live-service GaaS titles they plan to bring to PC alongside PS5 then it makes sense to just embed the launcher in the games themselves and provide those games via Steam and EGS. I'm pulling back on the idea this is more of a direct competitive storefront; maybe Sony do that in the future but for now it's probably too drastic a move given their current strategy. I mean they're increasing PS5 supply for this fiscal year, that should be clue enough that maybe these plans for a PC launcher are more specific to the live-service titles.

But I think if that's the case, then it removes the need for them to provide PC versions of games on the PS Store because the launcher plans would not even entail anything for changes regarding their porting strategy for non live-service GaaS titles to PC. I'm guessing that those will still be case-by-case, later-on staggered ports, for the near future anyway.
 
So you're of the idea the launcher could be specifically geared to their live-service games? That could be a good possibility, and if it's that way, if that's really the full extent of their revamped PC strategy, then they could do what I've seen others suggest and provide those games on Steam and EGS then, when the player starts the game, it just opens up in Sony's own launcher from there.

That seems like the more likely path they'll take, at least for now.
No need to take their games away from Steam the possibility of crossbuy alone would make getting them on the Sony PC storefront very attractive. If one of their GaaS games succeed they can do what Epic did and go all in on their own store.
 
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Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
I’d say something but every post I make with Sony and PC in it gets deleted…
 
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Belthazar

Member
Yeah, it is quite stupid to let go of 30% of each sale to Steam... I feel like Playstation Studios content is enough to bring people over. I wonder if they'll employ the one purchase for all SKUs tho.

Regardless of any of that getting trophies and using my PSN friends list would be enough for me to purchase games on their launcher over Steam.
 
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