Microsoft and Sony entering next stage of battle by targeting PC.

According to PCWorld, most people see gaming as a platform war between Xbox and PlayStation, while it's less about the platforms the companies produce and more about the companies themselves (and revenue they generate through whatever means). A decade ago Microsoft was canceling PC versions of multiplatforms to promote Xbox 360, while paid lackeys claimed that PC gaming was dying.

In mid 2010s PC started taking over console market in terms of revenue which encouraged a lot of studios to invest in PC gaming, including third party Japanese developers previously known for sticking to playstation brand exclusively. Microsoft saw the opportunity and expanded over their revenue generated through games by targeting PC as a neutral platform. Many claimed that Microsoft won the battle on the said platform. However that wasn't the case because to win you need a competitor that never showed up before

Seems like now that's changing. Sony wants to bring the war to Microsoft's door step by targeting the platform they previously ignored. And Sony seems to be confident enough about its first party games to make this decision. They think they can cater to wider audiences and steal PC crowd from Microsoft by releasing better games than Microsoft on PC, probably via their own launcher. This will boost Sony's revenue generated by video games further as both companies fight to dominate open/neutral platform on top of console wars. At the end of the day it's all about revenue and competition which will benefit gamers as a whole.

Related Topic: Two credible sources are claiming that Horizon Zero Dawn and Dreams will appear on PC later this year followed by other games. Then today naughty dog posted job listing that invited people who are familiar with Nvidia hardware and PC coding to work for them for The last of us 2.

We'll see. I certainly will purchase PS5 at some point. Probably two or three years after launch. There are some games that you simply have to play on a console. And I like the console gaming experience.

I'll wait for something official. Rumors and reliable sources every time. Not that there's exclusives I'd wanna replay on PC.

Although I want Halo infinite on PC and im getting it. but no thanks i dont want any sony game. they are interactive movies. neither i want last of us 2 on PC which will be another interactive movie.

although i dont think TLOU2 will come to PC since its sony flagship series like uncharted. if anything, Spiderman will release on PC soon.

Oh come on. Please stop with this interactive movie shit. TLOU is a fantastic franchise.

@Cloud_imperium:

Horizon Zero Dawn might happen on pc but I highly doubt Dreams will. That's like expecting Mario to go multi-platform. Not no way, not no how. Though Sony would be right to think that. At least as of right now, Sony has better exclusives than Xbox.

As a PC gamer, I couldn't agree with you more. I for one enjoy TLOU back on PS3 & now, PS4. If it comes to PC, I'll double-dip but if not, no worries, I'm cool with playing it on PS4. Same with HZD but playing Sony games in 60fps would be great if possible. (Same goes for Bloodborne)

Oh and very looking forward to TLOU2.

I can see no downsides of Playstation titles hitting PC 2-3 years after they released on PS5.

Usually when the next gen comes along it's time to throw away the PS4 along with all of its games. While if they were on PC I would be more likely to replay them.

Makes sense it's a business after all keeping games tied up on one system is leaving money on the table.

Yeah, I can't wait for TLOU2. I'm usually very picky when it comes to buying games on PS4, but Naughty Dog's games are just a must-play. I didn't particularly like the gameplay (I'm just really, really bad with playing on gamepad lol), but the story and the characters are just outstanding.

We should rename SW to PC vs Nintendo from now on though I don't know how accurate this will be since PC can play Nintendo games. :D

Cows and lems are done for. The noises you're hearing are just screams of a dying species.

We have gone from PC is dying to consoles actually dying. Thank you Steam and GabeN.

I am with you guys. TLOU is anything but a movie game. Cinematic? Sure. But that's hardly a bad thing. A lot of PC games are cinematic AF; Witcher, Wing Commander, Freelancer, Starcraft etc have several HOURS of cutscenes. As long as the presentation is good and there is a fun gameplay to carry the narrative and the game forward, I don't see the problem. TLOU has pretty good gameplay. Would love to play it on PC with Mouse Keyboard. I own Xbox 360 controller for some sports games but mostly I prefer playing on MK. TLOU on MK? Why not.

If Sony is going this route, I hope, for their sake as well as the players, that they actually look at the state of the PC gaming industry, and listen to the desires of the gamers. That is to say, DO NOT LOCK YOUR GAMES BEHIND ANOTHER NEW EXCLUSIVE LAUNCHER. If you want to have your own store and launcher, fine, but don't make the games exclusive to it. Nobody wants more launchers and stores to deal with, and more and more gamers are drawing a line and refusing to get more. Just let Steam sell your damn games. Doing otherwise is limiting your reach, capping your potential sales, and encouraging piracy.

so the gist is microsoft will make their games available across both windows pcs and xboxes, where they either own the hardware or operating system, and sony will do timed exclusives a la rockstar, so their hardware gets first dibs, then once sales are exhausted they'll release on pc.

in addition ms will evolve their repeating revenue model giving you 100s of games via gamepass on a monthly subscription which is usable across both console and pc. sony don't have anything comparable, just a streaming service for pc with limited games, availability and performance.

i'm trying to see this as anything other than a win for ms. all this manoeuvring in the past couple of years looks like a bit of a gangster chess move by ms on the surface

Well they got kicked in the groin and repeatedly for several years so they HAVE to do something different. Fortunately the changes are a win for gamers whether you on PC, MS, Sony or Nintendo camps. Diluting exclusives is always a win for gamers.

There is another problem though.... :O

@pc_rocks: Do you ever post anything that's not 100% derp worthy?

"They are up to something that will be bad for everyone in the long run"

@Cloud_imperium: Sony games are not better in my experience.

Yes, the battle between idiots who need tv commercials to tell them what to buy.

Did you also called your overlord's word as derp worthy last year when he called you niche? Anyway, not my fault you cows think facts are derp worthy because you take fantasy over real world due to your love for an inanimate object.

Remain mad and butthurt, 'niche' and dying species.

what's that dude? 🤔 dilution in potential system wars material? 🧐

@pc_rocks: Oh ok, still stupidly trolling, gotcha.

Well, I was going to get a PS5... but, with this news coming to light, I may just wait to see what they announce for PC versions of things they'll port. However, I do still need a blu ray player because I think my PS3 went kaput, so we'll see.

@pc_rocks: What the hell are you even talking about? It's no joke that the dumbest comments come from the PC crowd. There aren't any 'facts' yet, and Sony isn't going anywhere. Stop being delusional kid.

PC is rustling cows jimmies.

@fedor: It's more like people get extremely excited over some rumors about a PS game coming to PC, and now they think consoles are going to die. Like you cannot wait to get a taste of one those "movie games" you criticize so much. A bit hypocritical IMO. No one moves a finger when PC games come to consoles. I guess that says a lot about who is in dire need of games.

All videogame publishers are facing a future where the platform is all-digital rather than defined by device. How Sony and MS keep developers hostage to them to continue to collect license fees and other dues is the challenge both of them are trying to find solutions to.

Sorry bud, I enjoy Sony titles. I also have owned every PS. So you can take that little fallacy and stuff it back in your pocket. As for PC not having games, it has more than every other platform. Stop being butthurt about the king of leaks dropping the Sony to PC bomb.

Going to be great playing all these Sony console exclusives the way they are meant to be played. Keep being mad about it.

@fedor: You mean all that indie shovelware? I can't think of single PC title that I'd like to play, and apparently no one can. Having 10 posts a day about rumors of PS games coming to PC says a lot. So you have own consoles, I don't own a PC and don't feel the need to. Again, that says a lot. "The way it's meant to be played"... I can't help laughing at how retarded that sounds. Get a life.

Fedor, it seems you've touched a nerve lol.

@Arkhalipso: LMAO!!! You can't hide your butthurt. Imagine being you, all pissy about your precious exclusives going multiplat. Get a life.

@lundy86_4: Seems I did.

@fedor: I think you're missing the point entirely. This isn't about games going multi-plat, it's about the PC crowd being a bunch of hypocrites. But if believing that I'm triggered makes you feel like you're right, go for it. Apparently if someone wants to have a discussion they must be angry? Huh.

As I said in another thread, this is MS and Sony getting ahead of the curve. The future is digital and streaming, consoles will always be around but hardware will be less important. Therefore, you are reliant on software for your profit, and it is smart to get it on as many platforms as possible to increase sales.

Hope Nintendo gets on this bandwagon, there are some franchises they own I'd love to play on PC, and I am sure some PS and Xbox owners would like to play some Nintendo titles as well.

Same. But hoping all this PC stuff is true because I'd much rather play it on PC than PS. Played the original on my PS4 and it was a great game, great story and characters.

Most of all, however, it's the general principle: I am anti-exclusive, I feel people should play the game on whatever platform they choose.

How have we been hypocrites?

@Arkhalipso: You came at me with hostility, you didn't want to have a discussion. Stop acting like you did. Just a salty cow.

All I said is cows jimmies are rustled and you came through and proved me right. Get a life.

Games meant to be played. Not watched. Stop sabotaging gaming industry with cancerous trends Sony introduced with TLOU, Until Dawn and etc.

In some people's weird little minds all PC gamers are all part of one anti-Sony faction, who does a 180 now that HZD comes to PC.

So PC gamers are like totally hypocrites now.

He's a butthurt fanboy, in other words.

Nah, just roasting you and your fellow drones. Have fun while it lasts niche and dying species. Trolling is writing butthurt one liners.

All the facts are here. Did you forget your overlord calling you niche? The only delusional species are the hivemind.

As for the dumbest comments, time for some history that I already talked about in the other thread:

Oh my. So, the cows have gone from PS Now is only for PS3 games -> PS Now will never be on PC -> There are no Sony AAA games on PS Now -> Games end up on PS Now years later in inferior quality -> PS4 exclusives will never be on PC -> Only 2nd party exclusives will be on PC -> Just MP Sony first party games will be on PC -> It's just one game to slowly bring people to PS5.

A platform agnostic future is the way to go.

Give it 5 years after Sony. Eventually Nintendo will cave in to pressure from their shareholders, awed by the success of Sony's transition.

I don't see Sony putting their games behind a launcher. But I wouldnt be surprised if they supported SEN.

This exactly. Games cost ten's of millions of dollars to make. If Sony and MS can squeeze more money from PC gamers so be it.

Let the devs make it for console first, spend the next 2 years or so porting to PC then re release it. It will help generate interest in the games again and help the devs out

PCWorld is a joke. Don't listen to them.

Exactly, just look at Red Dead Redemption 2 (among other ports), I don't know the exact sales on PC but it I am sure it sold a good amount years after it's initial release.

The opposite is true as well; port games from PC to console, generate buzz. Maybe even make some more niche genres generally found on PC more popular or more available on console.

@Cloud_imperium: in the 360 vs PS3 days, the big argument from the cows was that 360 games "were also on PC". It was literally a broken record comment.

The problem was, no one went out and bought/built a gaming rig to live in the PS3PC world (at least no one in any significant numbers). That is still true today- the only people who really care about console games being on PC are PC gamers. It doesn't affect console sales. But, dont take my word for it - MS is all about Xbox/PC games.

Why would they embrace that strategy if the theory wasnt true?

If Sony is following the UWP footsteps then I would hope that they at least allow for cross-platform ownership. They seemed to flirt with that idea years back with Portal 2's release on PS3, but nothing came of that for other games afterwards.

@fedor is out here rustling jimmies it seems

@remiks00:

Because consoles primarily make money off not selling consoles, but rather through royalties and services. Odds are, those PC gamers would not be buying Call of Duty on the PS3, when they can buy it cheaper and better on PC.

In fact, both the PS3 and 360 were sold at a loss. Only recouperating their money via royalties, accessories and services such as Xbox live.

Selling them on PC means 3 things for MS and Sony.

1. They dont need to waste money on selling a console to a player.
2. They dont lose out on potential revenue due to a player interest in the game, but not enough interest in the console.
3. They make extra money from double dippers.

We're all of a hive-mind lol. Damn shame I wasted money on that PS4 Pro, just to hate everything Sony as a PC gamer...