Console Club

[paul]

Ubisoft da afara pana la 380 angajati si inchide studiourile Winnipeg si Belgrad:

Over the past months, Ubisoft has been evolving its organization to simplify how it operates, reduce its cost base. and strengthen the company for the long term. These decisions also reflect adjustments to the level of activity following recent portfolio reviews.

As part of this effort, we have made the following announcements today regarding our teams and operations.

In Production. difficult decisions were made to close our studios in Winnipeg and Belgrade, and we have initiated consultations regarding a proposed restructuring of our Barcelona studio with a refocus of activities on Rainbow Six subject to employee representative consultations.

Changes are also underway across the global Publishing organization, to adapt how teams are structured and deployed, while maintaining a strong presence in key markets.

Pending consultations, these decisions mean that up to 380 employees could be impacted.

These changes do not reflect the talent, commitment, or contributions of the people affected.

Local management teams are engaging directly with employees to provide information, answer questions, and ensure appropriate support throughout the process.

[paul]

Daca vreti, puteti semna petitia europeana "Stop Killing Games":

Stop Killing Games

Raspunsul Comisiei (se poate selecta traducere automata in limba romana): Commission will engage with industry following European Citizens' Initiative on videogames.

[Papillon_]

Sony pulling back from PC also means it's pulling back from China https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...ck-from-china/

“ Thanks to restrictive import regulations, console gaming never took off in China the way PC and mobile have.

Sony's surprise decision to reverse its strategy of porting singleplayer PlayStation games to PC has been scrutinized plenty. Bluepoint Games' head of technology suggested it was likely because Sony's more worried about Valve than about Xbox, while our own Morgan Park pointed out that Sony is only robbing us of maybe four half-decent games.

Alinea Insights has been analyzing sales of PlayStation games more generally, but with some interesting info about the PC side of things for us to dig out. Like the fact a full 42% of Death Stranding 2's PC sales came from China, which was its "biggest Steam market". Alinea notes that "China is a top market for Stellar Blade on Steam as well."

According to Steam's last hardware survey, 39.48% of Steam users have their language set to English and 21.85% to Simplified Chinese, making it the second-most popular language by a large margin—every other language is a single-digit percentage or less.

It's difficult to figure out how many actual people that comes to though, since a bunch of those accounts will inevitably belong to internet cafes. Some estimates put the number over 30 million. Whatever the actual figure, it's a sizable chunk of players to up and ignore because you want people to fork out for a PS5 to play Wolverine.
…
Alinea also noted that releasing games on PC didn't seem to hurt sales on PlayStation. In fact, it had the opposite effect, with Death Stranding 2 having "its best two-week stretch since launch on Sony's platform" after coming to PC.

And while it was on sale at the time, the same discount had run twice before with less effective results. Stellar Blade, which wasn't discounted on PlayStation when it was ported to PC, also enjoyed a simultaneous boost in PS5 sales.“

Consolele au fost interzise in China o perioada de timp iar acolo PC-ul si telefoanele fac legea.
Avem un lucru in comun cu China PC-ul si comunismul.

Inteleg ca le e “frica” de PC / Steam / schimbare dar pe termen lung eu vad aici o greseala din partea Sony.
Sony nu e Nintendo si ei sunt prinsi in modelul tradițional care nu mai exista. Suntem in 2026 nu in 2000 pe vremea PS2.

PS. Am 5 console un desktop si un laptop.

[sexbobomb91]

Din nou discutam despre asta, dar pe Sony nu i-a interesat neaparat sa scoata profit din vanzarile pe PC. Ei au vrut sa atraga utilizatori noi pe platforma lor si lansarea jocurilor first-party nu au dat rezultatele dorite, ba e posibil ca multi oameni sa fi renuntat la a cumpara PS5 in favoarea cumpararii unui PC. Deci mi se pare un lucru logic sa revina la exclusive, si Xbox vor sa faca acest lucru dar pentru ei cred ca e prea tarziu deoarece platforma lor devine din ce in ce mai mica.

[Papillon_]

Cum sa nu ii intereseze profitul extra de pe PC? Firmele in general sunt manate doar de cifra de afaceri si profit!
De ce crezi ca au "ingropat" atatia bani in jocurile "live service"? Ca sa faca si mai multi bani, sa aiba venit recurent.

Poate sperau sa convinga mai multi jucatori sa cumpere un PS5 sau sa aiba vanzari mai mari pe PC dar aici au facut mai multe greseli.

Sony sucks at porting games to PC https://www.neogaf.com/threads/sony-...to-pc.1644781/

Why So Many PlayStation Games Struggle When Ported to PC https://gamerant.com/playstation-exc...les-explained/

"PlayStation's recent PC ports have had mixed results, with some games selling well and others flopping. Games like Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War have performed well on PC, while titles like Uncharted and The Last of Us Part 1 have struggled.

The success of these ports is influenced by factors such as launch issues and replayability.

Further, with long gaps between the console release and the PC port, fans of each franchise have likely already played the games on a PlayStation long before their arrival on PC."

Vedem cum o sa rezolve in timp problema tot mai mare pe care o au cu jocurile exclusive first party care sunt tot mai scumpe de produs si nu se vand suficient de bine pe o singura platforma.

Din cele 93.7 milioane de utilizatori de PS5 care e rata de conversie la exclusive? Au vanzarile pe care le are Nintendo? Nu prea.
Majoritatea cumpara GTA5, COD, Fifa etc.

[sexbobomb91]

Nu vorbeam de live-services, alea se vor lansa in continuare si pe PC. Hermen Hulst a declarat clar in 2024 ca lanseaza jocuri pe PC pentru a atrage utiilzatori pe console: Sony Wants PC Players to Play PlayStation Single-Player Narrative Game Sequels on a PlayStation Console:

Sony wants to tempt PC players to purchase and play sequels to single-player narrative games on a PlayStation console.

Si nu au doar 93.7 milioane utilizatori, pentru ca multi inca folosesc PS4, si in total sunt defapt 125 milioane monthly active users.
Si e un lucru important pentru ei sa vanda jocuri pe propria platforma, pentru ca primesc 30% comision din orice vanzare, nu conteaza ca e GTA, COD, Fifa, etc.
Exclusivele nu sunt facute neaparat ca sa fie cele mai profitabile, ci ca sa atraga jucatori pe platforma lor - asta e un principiu de baza in industria jocurilor.

[Papillon_]

Data Shows Sony Made Good Money on Steam, Then May Have Realized PC Gamers Don’t Need a PlayStation https://respawnfirst.com/data-shows-...a-playstation/

"PlayStation Sold Millions of Games to PC Players But Failed to Sell them the Ecosystem.

For the past few years, PC gamers were forced to act like patience was the ultimate PlayStation accessory. There was no need to grab a PS5 to play God of War, Spider Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, and The Last of Us. All you needed was a decent enough rig, a Steam account, and of course, a lot of patience.

That may be exactly why Sony is planning on pulling back from PC.

According to data from Alinea Analytics, PlayStation Studios games made more than $1.5B in gross revenue on Steam. After Valve’s cut, Sony made $1.2B while overall PlayStation ports sold roughly 43M copies on Steam. That is not a failed experiment, in fact, it is a reminder that PC players will buy PlayStation’s blockbuster IPs when Sony lets them.

The biggest success for PlayStation on PC was Helldivers 2, which sold an estimated 12.7M copies on Steam and made Sony $400 million in gross revenue. Even more telling, Alinea data shows the co-op shooter sold more than twice many copies on Steam as it did on Sony’s own platform, PS5.
.....

But the same data also shows a clear problem. The novelty of PlayStation is fading on PC.

Alinea found that God of War sold 2.5M copies after 427 days on Steam. That is more than 2.5 times what Ragnarok sold in the same launch aligned window. Data shows only 13 percent of God of War players played Ragnarok as well. Spider Man is not different. After 294 days, the game sold 1.4M copies on Steam, more than twice as many as Spider Man 2 on Steam in the same timeframe.

Less than 12 percent Spider Man players played the sequel on Steam. That’s doesn’t necessarily mean PlayStation is struggling on PC. Ragnarok made $45M on Steam while Spider Man Remastered made $32M. Not a bad number but money is not the only goal here. Sony wants to sell boxes, PS Plus subscriptions, the controllers, and its entire ecosystem as well as the idea that Sony’s blockbuster games are a reason to own a PlayStation."

[eagle-eye]

Eu zic ca era planuit sa faca schimbarea asta si sanchi sa dea vina pe faptul ca nu au vandut cum voiau. Think about it:
- ani de zile trebuia sa iei Playstation sa joci exclusivele lor mult ravnite.
- brusc incep sa le puna pe Steam si sa faca bani cu ele, practic au aruncat carligul.
- acum declara ca nu o sa mai porteze pe PC, dar alea deja facute raman acolo, indeajuns cat sa joci tlou 1 si tlou 2 si sa mori de ciuda ca nu poti sa joci tlou 3 cand o sa apara.
- asta o sa te faca si mai mult sa vrei sa-ti cumperi o consola ca sa vezi cum continua povestea + deja ai gustat din drog, ai vazut ca-i bun, asa ca mai vrei.

*tinfoil hat off*

[sexbobomb91]

Ar fi posibil, daca ar fi fost aceleasi persoane la conducere acum, ca si atunci cand au luat decizia sa porteze pe PC. Dar conducatorii din Japonia nu au fost multumiti de ce au facut Jim Ryan si Hermen Hulst in ultimii ani asa ca i-au inlocuit cu Hideaki Nishino care pare sa ia decizii mult mai bune in ultima vreme - prioritizeaza PlayStation ca platforma si reduce numarul de investitii in live-services.