5 ms·

While I want this to be true, consoles only exist because of game revenue. Not sure a $2000 PS5 is as appealing

by ajaimk 4y ago

Hamuko 4y ago
The PS5 hardware is already profitable (well, the more expensive one at least). Well, it was before the inflation ramped up at least. But still, even if sideloading was possible on the PS5, PlayStation Store revenue would not dip down to nothingness. https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/ps5-turning-profit-sony/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/ps5-turning-profit-sony...
- threeseed 4y ago
  But Playstation Store revenue would be decimated by piracy. This isn't conjecture we know for a fact it will happen as we see on PCs.
  - wtetzner 4y ago
    > This isn't conjecture we know for a fact it will happen as we see on PCs. Steam seems to be pretty profitable…
izacus 4y ago
All new consoles are sold with profit or breaking even so I don't know where this assertion even comes from. Not to mention that they happily double dip by taxing for games, charging online service subscriptions and getting extra revenue via online stores.
- ksec 4y ago
  >Double Dip. So now earning profits on hardware and charging for software or services are double dipping? I really hate the Apple used this term and it is now spreading everywhere.
  - Hamuko 4y ago
    I wonder how many dips we can count Apple on. First they make money from the hardware. Then they charge money for iCloud storage beyond 5 GB so you can actually get your hardware backed up (I presume this counts as a dip if console "charging online service subscriptions" counts). Then they charge developers a hundred bucks per year to get application on the App Store. Then they take 15/30% off of all digital sales. And finally they charge the developers for keyword search ads on the App Store (so that when I search for "Minecraft", my first hit is an ad for "The Ants: Underground Kingdom"). Am I forgetting something?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
criddell 4y ago
Why would a PS5 cost that much? Has there ever been a console where, over the life of the console, the hardware was sold for a loss?
- dijit 4y ago
  > Has there ever been a console where, over the life of the console, the hardware was sold for a loss? All of them. Speaking about PS5 specifically: there's quite a few advancements in there that you're not thinking about, the kraken decompressor that can run at native NVME speed in hardware and load assets directly into video memory has no PC equivalent. Though PC vendors are trying to do NVME<->GPUMem these days, it still can't do effectively 9GBit like the PS5 can (theoretically). Even ignoring those architectural advantages and the R&D; last time someone did a cost comparison of an equivelant PC (a year ago) it was $1,600: https://gamerant.com/ps5-specs-pc/ https://gamerant.com/ps5-specs-pc/
  - zeroonetwothree 4y ago
    The article says the $1600 PC has “double the graphical power”. Consoles are certainly a good deal at the low end of gaming. If you want high framerates and resolution they won’t do it for you.
    - dijit 4y ago
      People buying consoles are not buying them for epic frame-rates or 8k resolutions.. I bought my console because I absolutely despise Windows, and despite being a gamedev myself I cannot convince other gamedevs to work as linux for a target. Even then, the amount of effort fighting my operating system and the spotty support you would get (even on windows) is troubling.. because PC's generally are running a complicated workload at varying degrees of state. I buy a console game, it's going to work and if it doesn't I'm going to get my money back. My time is too precious to waste on excessive debugging to access entertainment. Ironically the PS4's insane update sizes and slow storage adapter nearly caused me to go over to PC.. So it doesn't always work, admittedly. By "double the graphical power" you mean it has more compute units, not the clock speed, memory or bandwidth, which tend to be more important in my experience.
account42 4y ago
I'd be OK with the current locked down consoles not existing. Having people buy two or three functionally almost identical devices so that they can use all the software they want is wasteful and not something we should protect as a society. If an up front $2000 fee is too much for people to bear then console manafactuers can offer loans directly instead of hiding them in the game prices - that way people will at least be informed about what they are paying.

While I want this to be true, consoles only exist because of game revenue. Not sure a $2000 PS5 is as appealing

by ajaimk 4y ago

While I want this to be true, consoles only exist because of game revenue. Not sure a $2000 PS5 is as appealing

The PS5 hardware is already profitable (well, the more expensive one at least). Well, it was before the inflation ramped up at least. But still, even if sideloading was possible on the PS5, PlayStation Store revenue would not dip down to nothingness. https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/ps5-turning-profit-sony/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/ps5-turning-profit-sony...

threeseed 4y ago
But Playstation Store revenue would be decimated by piracy. This isn't conjecture we know for a fact it will happen as we see on PCs.
- wtetzner 4y ago
  > This isn't conjecture we know for a fact it will happen as we see on PCs. Steam seems to be pretty profitable…

izacus 4y ago

All new consoles are sold with profit or breaking even so I don't know where this assertion even comes from. Not to mention that they happily double dip by taxing for games, charging online service subscriptions and getting extra revenue via online stores.

ksec 4y ago
>Double Dip. So now earning profits on hardware and charging for software or services are double dipping? I really hate the Apple used this term and it is now spreading everywhere.
- Hamuko 4y ago
  I wonder how many dips we can count Apple on. First they make money from the hardware. Then they charge money for iCloud storage beyond 5 GB so you can actually get your hardware backed up (I presume this counts as a dip if console "charging online service subscriptions" counts). Then they charge developers a hundred bucks per year to get application on the App Store. Then they take 15/30% off of all digital sales. And finally they charge the developers for keyword search ads on the App Store (so that when I search for "Minecraft", my first hit is an ad for "The Ants: Underground Kingdom"). Am I forgetting something?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

criddell 4y ago

Why would a PS5 cost that much? Has there ever been a console where, over the life of the console, the hardware was sold for a loss?

dijit 4y ago
> Has there ever been a console where, over the life of the console, the hardware was sold for a loss? All of them. Speaking about PS5 specifically: there's quite a few advancements in there that you're not thinking about, the kraken decompressor that can run at native NVME speed in hardware and load assets directly into video memory has no PC equivalent. Though PC vendors are trying to do NVME<->GPUMem these days, it still can't do effectively 9GBit like the PS5 can (theoretically). Even ignoring those architectural advantages and the R&D; last time someone did a cost comparison of an equivelant PC (a year ago) it was $1,600: https://gamerant.com/ps5-specs-pc/ https://gamerant.com/ps5-specs-pc/
- zeroonetwothree 4y ago
  The article says the $1600 PC has “double the graphical power”. Consoles are certainly a good deal at the low end of gaming. If you want high framerates and resolution they won’t do it for you.
  - dijit 4y ago
    People buying consoles are not buying them for epic frame-rates or 8k resolutions.. I bought my console because I absolutely despise Windows, and despite being a gamedev myself I cannot convince other gamedevs to work as linux for a target. Even then, the amount of effort fighting my operating system and the spotty support you would get (even on windows) is troubling.. because PC's generally are running a complicated workload at varying degrees of state. I buy a console game, it's going to work and if it doesn't I'm going to get my money back. My time is too precious to waste on excessive debugging to access entertainment. Ironically the PS4's insane update sizes and slow storage adapter nearly caused me to go over to PC.. So it doesn't always work, admittedly. By "double the graphical power" you mean it has more compute units, not the clock speed, memory or bandwidth, which tend to be more important in my experience.

account42 4y ago

I'd be OK with the current locked down consoles not existing. Having people buy two or three functionally almost identical devices so that they can use all the software they want is wasteful and not something we should protect as a society. If an up front $2000 fee is too much for people to bear then console manafactuers can offer loans directly instead of hiding them in the game prices - that way people will at least be informed about what they are paying.