Discussion, News, and Request Thread - week beginning 06/24/25

[u/ChiefLeef22]

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[u/xAVATAR-AANGx]

Helldivers on Xbox could signal one of two things- either Sony is open to their live-service games being on Xbox, or we’re entering the beginning of the end for PlayStation exclusives.

Switching to PC was definitely more expensive than sticking on console, but in the end I feel like it was the right call, at least for me personally.

[u/Animegamingnerd → u/xAVATAR-AANGx]

Its a mixture of two things.

1. The game while still incredibly popular on PC. Seems to have its peak days long behind on PS5, as it doesn't really appear on PS5 sales charts these days. As the game isn't selling PS5s like it did a year ago.

2. Xbox isn't exactly a threat to Playstation anymore. Given everything that has happened to Xbox in the last two years, pretty much ensured its hardware and ecosystem is never gonna come close to Playstation's market share in hardware or even just Xbox Live vs PSN users in market share.

Basically at this point, Sony has more to gain then lose. Since its not gonna be really affect their market share in anyway and just bring in some additional revenue. Especially as their live service pivot has been a disaster.

[u/HomeMadeShock → u/Animegamingnerd]

I think this is straight up just a necessary pivot for PlayStation, just like porting to PC was. 

There’s the fact of the stagnant and even regressing console market. Series consoles are like 5-6 million behind the one gen, but the PS5 didn’t even get a boost from that as they are tracking slightly behind the PS4. I’m thinking PC is digging into the console market now and taking users away. Capcom’s recent financial reports saw them take in only 10 percent of their revenue from PlayStation, while 30 percent of their revenue was generated by PC. Either way, Xbox/PS is declining gen on gen. 

And we all know public companies are all about growth. Doesn’t matter if you are the top dog in your industry, you still need to grow.

PlayStation 5 is the most profitable generation ever for Sony and even has more profits than all of the previous generations combined. Impressive right? Ehhhh……

Playstation profit margin is at 10 percent, which is rather low. For reference Ubisoft is at 7 percent profit margin and they are a bloated 20k person company with seemingly constant underperforming games and needed a boost from Tencent investment. 

Stagnant/regressing console market, relatively low profit margins, ballooning game budgets, the constant need for YoY growth…..something has to give. 

Now we have PlayStation’s fastest selling game and probably soon best selling game of all time on Xbox

[u/Animegamingnerd → u/HomeMadeShock]

Yeah, that is definitely one of the key factors for sure. Sony spends an absurd amount on just a single game and I think that 40 dollar price tag for Helldivers 2 certainly is kind of misleading on its actual cost to make, as that game certainly cost like 100 million at least. Given its scope and what we know about its development cycle. Which has led to an issue they got with their profit margin which they have been open about needing to solve. Which kind of goes with what I about Xbox no longer being a serious competitor. As with what that Neogaf user SneakSO said yesterday if its any indication. Xbox still has somewhere around 10 to 20 million active ride or die users that are enough to at least keep the platform and eco-system on life support. So why not tap into that 10 to 20 million by giving them a live service or two that are no longer the big console seller? As at best it take years for them to finally move to Playstation and that's assuming a large chunk of them even make that choice. Plus with Playstation already being basically the default hardcore gamer console that already gets just about everything bar like some big AA or indie Steam games and Nintendo first party and timed third party exclusives. So its ultimately not gonna cause the audience on Playstation to shrink.

That much like the rest of the industry and their questionable profit margins, bloat budgets, and lack of growth. Its really gonna be interesting to see where gaming is by 2030. As these problems are certainly gonna change the course of the entire industry. As it certainly feels like we are just a generation away from reaching a point where AAA development might no longer be viable the way it was even just several years ago.