sOny and Microsoft have been fighting all-out wars with each other in the console space for over 20 years at this point. The parties are constantly trying one with each other through customer-centric policies, profitable subscription options, and persuasive first-party monopolies. Cutthroat competition is usually a double-edged sword, and the positive aspect is that customers like us make the most of what the manufacturers offer, but the warning is that they need to stick to a single manufacturer, adhere to their set of policies, the type of games they offer, and engage only with players from that platform.
Most of us were reconciled to these issues, but then the concept of cross-play kickstarted a move that was contrary to everything that these constraints exist. Not only can you play your favorite multi-platform games with friends on other platforms, you can also recently release and play your favorite Xbox games on PlayStation. Saga of Senua: Hellblade 2 and Come to the horizon. And now, all of that combinations come together, and fans wonder when they will eventually bring their AAA exclusive subject to Xbox, and enter a gaming platform-independent era?
A simple answer to that question, and definitely something that prefers the end consumer, is yes. It’s obviously great to own one platform like the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 and use that single console to play everything. But obviously, the real-world answer to that question is much deeper than a simple yes or no, and we need to dig into several factors that revolve around how these business units work.
Imagine a manufacturer like Microsoft building a console that will run the latest technology in the game for the next five to seven years and hold the calculation power to sell it for $500. These game beasts are usually sold at loss, and businesses regain lost costs by making profits through the sale of accessories, software such as games, and subscription services dedicated to their platform. So, manufacturers like Xbox need to provide games and services that will help customers stay and continue to invest more on its platform, but that has begun to appear to be a lost cause over the last few years.
Microsoft’s adoption of this model worked well by the last year of the Xbox One, with the current generation pledging some improvements with Xbox GamePath and recent acquisitions like Zenimax and Activision, but those investments don’t seem to work in terms of providing stellar first-party content. Sony’s share in the console market continues to skyrocket, but Xbox continues to fill up in the face of such competent competitors. With Xbox ships steadily sinking, moving to multi-platform for games seems like an easy way to slowly and steadily move from hardware and software only to software.
Such a move is not known, and Japanese gaming giant Sega also suffered from such a stage when the last console, Sega Dreamcast, failed and implemented a similar policy to save the ship. The end result was far from ideal, but we all know that the company is still alive and makes the best IPs like Sonic on all other platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmzxsiyejqe
So it doesn’t make much sense for the business to start selling games when Sony goes on multi-platform and already has an edge on Xbox. It holds a large majority of market share in the current gaming environment, and most of its AAA releases have been extremely successful in terms of critical and commercial reception, ensuring a more or less giant’s smooth sailing vessel. If Xbox offers first-party games on Xbox Game Pass on Day 1, Sony can continue to charge its exclusive premium $70, and customers are willing to pay for their favorite titles God of War: Ragnarok or Horizon: Forbidden West.
This may be a very obvious reason why Sony doesn’t need to bring AAA monopoly to other platforms, but the concept also has a very strong counterpoint. Sony has already begun porting some of its biggest IPs. God of war, horizonand Unknown On your PC. It all seemed immeasurable at one point, but at this point it is a real world reality on earth, and the biggest reason behind the change in thinking is the ever-increasing cost of AAA development.
As open worlds continue to grow bigger and bigger and more, and graphics continue to reach Uncanny Valley territory, production costs have also started to bubble up exponentially over the past few generations. This is a growing problem for AAA developers such as Sony and Microsoft. Open world games of the current generation can cost over $200 million. The unknown 4 It’s already over $100 million. Adding that massive marketing costs and making a significant profit on these games is much tougher, even if it means selling 20 million units.
By keeping it locked on a singular platform like the PlayStation, Sony has ruled out a significant portion of its sales spy. As a result, more and more games are ported to PCs. Sony tried to raise the retail costs of these games to up to $70, which sparked a lot of online debate, but still, it doesn’t seem to be enough to stabilize the business while sticking to traditional methods.
Meanwhile, Nintendo has managed to maintain traditional business practices by managing production costs for first-party releases at scale. When a single obstacle to a valuable release could mean a studio closure, Nintendo’s approach to game development makes the platform extremely strict about exclusiveness, but not the case with Sony.
Recent investments in NIXXESS software almost guarantee that Sony will start porting releases to PCs, and the recent release of Fan Favourite IP is Spiderman Or even Unknown It is solid evidence that the company will make this initiative a norm for the future. So, the natural next step for Sony to increase sales is porting the game to Xbox, and while the possibility that it will happen over the next few years seems very slim, it’s by no means zero.
With the current situation, it appears that it can be undeveloped to start watching games like Horizon or deploying them on Xbox. Also, developing the same game on both Xbox and PlayStation is not a major challenge for developers as the underlying hardware of both these machines is more similar than in the past. If the Xbox 360 used a PowerPC-based architecture and a cell architecture that used PS3, then both rely on the same X86 architecture for the same two generations at this point, making the porting process more seamless, and the recent release of Senua’s Saga or Forza Horizon 5 is a proof of concept.
All this brings us to a rather rocky and difficult place where Sony clearly states whether it should take over the AAA monopoly for Xbox. Because there are many reasons why competing platforms bring AAA monopoly and many reasons why this doesn’t apply. It’s more likely over time, but at this point it’s not.
Even if Sony adopts such a strategy, it is highly likely that it will be implemented in a similar way for PC releases. So, the Sony First-Party game will start on the PlayStation 5, and have been exclusive for around two years, and will eventually be ported to Xbox or PC at the same time. That way, Sony will invite customers to choose their ecosystem over others, reaping the sales benefits that come with their customers’ rather large installation base. Basically, take the cake and eat it. It’s great to see the industry move towards this agnostic concept of this utopian platform, and we’re sure to take a much clearer picture in the coming months and years.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent GamingBolt’s views as an organization.
