From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 15:29 this Tuesday (GMT):

So, Sony has officially announced an end to future ports of
Playstation games to the PC platform. This was rumored some months ago
and is now confirmed. PS5 exclusives --the next "God of War", the next
"Last of Us", the next "Ratchet and Clank", etc.-- aren't going to be
making it to PC.

Meanwhile, they've also announced that they're raising the price (by
about 10%) to their PS Plus streaming plans. Also, Sony has been
pretty vocal about raising game prices to the $80USD level. Oh, and
the hardware's getting more expensive to produce too, so that's
getting a price increase as well.

So even as they jack up the prices, they are purposefully limiting
their audience. All this while console gamer numbers are dropping.

How's that phrase go? "It's an bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it
pays off."

#

That said, I suspect this isn't Sony betting so much on exclusive
games as it is on streaming games. A PS5 is more than adequate to
stream super-high-end games that --with the proper server backend--
could make even the visuals of a $10,000 PC beg for mercy. More, the
console wouldn't need to be upgraded every five years. I think Sony's
aim is hoping to snag all that lucrative subscription cash rather than capture the hardware market. Whether gamers will actually go for it is
a different matter (issues of lag can't be solved even by the most
powerful back-end servers) but this might be Sony's hope.

Wasn't there also a controversy a while back about renting a PS5?
They're definitely going all in on subscriptions...
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

candycanearter07 wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 15:29 this Tuesday (GMT):

So, Sony has officially announced an end to future ports of
Playstation games to the PC platform. This was rumored some months ago
and is now confirmed. PS5 exclusives --the next "God of War", the next
"Last of Us", the next "Ratchet and Clank", etc.-- aren't going to be
making it to PC.

Meanwhile, they've also announced that they're raising the price (by
about 10%) to their PS Plus streaming plans. Also, Sony has been
pretty vocal about raising game prices to the $80USD level. Oh, and
the hardware's getting more expensive to produce too, so that's
getting a price increase as well.

So even as they jack up the prices, they are purposefully limiting
their audience. All this while console gamer numbers are dropping.

How's that phrase go? "It's an bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it
pays off."


#


That said, I suspect this isn't Sony betting so much on exclusive
games as it is on streaming games. A PS5 is more than adequate to
stream super-high-end games that --with the proper server backend--
could make even the visuals of a $10,000 PC beg for mercy. More, the
console wouldn't need to be upgraded every five years. I think Sony's
aim is hoping to snag all that lucrative subscription cash rather than
capture the hardware market. Whether gamers will actually go for it is
a different matter (issues of lag can't be solved even by the most
powerful back-end servers) but this might be Sony's hope.

Wasn't there also a controversy a while back about renting a PS5?
They're definitely going all in on subscriptions...

There was a recent controversy that PlayStation will make practically everything subscription, and you won't own any games. It's laughable.
PS5 was a big improvement over PS4, but this will take them back to Fred Flintstone & Barney playing on the PS6. I'm not falling for it.
--
War in the east
War in the west
War up north
War down south
War War
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sun, 24 May 2026 18:00:04 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> said this thing:

Wasn't there also a controversy a while back about renting a PS5?
They're definitely going all in on subscriptions...

I don't recall a subscription PS5; there was a recent kerfuffle about
online activations requiring you to check-in with the Sony mothership
every now and again to keep your licenses active. Sony walked that
back after this was prematurely discovered, however.

The thing is, while I personally detest the subscription model, I can
totally understand its appeal to both consumers and publishers.

For consumers, there are advantages. Most gamers don't have the same
long-term connection I have with my games; they see them as more
disposable commodities. You play "Call of Duty 87: Warriors of Warring
War" for a while, then move on to CoD 88, then CoD 89. Worrying about
if you can play "Call of Duty 83: Battalions of Battle Lions" from ten
years ago just isn't that important to them. Thus, what I see as one
of the biggest problems with subscription models --your lack of
control over your games and when you can (and cannot) play them-- just
is a big concern to them.

And yes, costs with subscription models are --all told-- tend to be
higher than buying games outright... but that's only in the long run,
and generally people aren't good at long-term planning anyway. Paying
$15 per month for 100 games (even if 99 of those games you'll never
play) sounds better than paying $60 for the two games per year you
actually WOULD play.

Plus, there's a significant hardware advantage. You don't need a
powerful machine to stream games from the cloud... which means you
aren't as tied to the upgrade cycle. Forget paying $2000 for a
high-end gaming PC every five years; you probably wouldn't even need
to pay $500 for a new console!

And on the other side... well, obvious a guaranteed subscription fee
every month makes publishers salivate at the idea. Throw into that all
that user data, and the possibility of advertising and upselling and
its no wonder Software-as-a-Service is the dream. But there are other advantages too. If you're streaming the software to clients, you can
make the back-end gaming machine as custom and powerful as you need it
to be. No need to work around the limitations of a general-purpose
computing device, especially one that may have multiple
configurations. Just the reductions in QA and tech-support make it all
worth it!

And it also has the additional benefit that the cost-of-entry would be
much higher, which would mean that only the existing big-name
publishers would be able to offer it. It kneecaps most competitors
before they even get off the ground!

I don't think subscription services will ever fully replace retail
sales, but I do think it is going to -eventually- become the dominant
channel for video gaming. The apparent benefits are just too strong to
argue against, and most people just don't understand the downsides.


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


A couple months ago, Sony announced that it was ending ports of its
first-party games to PC. Well, more specifically, they were ending
ports of its single-player narrative games. Live-service multiplayer
titles would still get the PC treatment, because even Sony couldn't
turn its back on all that free money. But the big names Sony is most
famous for? It's "Horizon Zero Dawns" and "God of Wars" and "Left for
Deads"? Those were being restricted to the Playstation console alone.

Not everyone agreed that strategy was a good idea, though, and most
recently even Sony of America's former president, Shawn Layden,
expressed that keeping the PS games on PC was actually a good thing
for the Playstation brand.* It puts the games in front of a larger
audience, including many who would never buy a Playstation anyway.
Especially as games become ever more expensive to develop, a bigger
audience is essential to getting in extra revenue. All the more so
since the gaming industry is more competitive than ever before, and
there are more games clamoring for gamer's attention. Hiding your
products behind a door that costs $900 to open (e.g., requiring them
to buy a Playstation) isn't going to work. Exclusives don't have quite
the draw they used to. People will just shrug and play something else.
Despite what Sony hopes, PC gamers aren't going to rush out to buy the Playstation.

Personally, the whole switch in strategy smells of one CEO taking over
and smacking down the project of his predecessor for no other reason
than they want to make a change and/or didn't like their former boss
(something that happens far too often in business). "x initiated the
'sell games on PC' idea? But I'm in charge now so we're doing
exclusives only!" It doesn't really feel to me like something that has
a lot of forethought behind it. But what do I know? ;-)

Personally, I'll miss the Sony games. Their first-party titles tended
to be fairly good and you could feel the money poured into them. I'm
glad I got the chance to play a few of them. I certainly won't be
purchasing a PS5 (much less a PS6) to play their sequels, though.





* story here
https://www.pcgamesn.com/sony/playstation-pc-releases-good-thing
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 7/1/2026 9:49 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

A couple months ago, Sony announced that it was ending ports of its first-party games to PC. Well, more specifically, they were ending
ports of its single-player narrative games. Live-service multiplayer
titles would still get the PC treatment, because even Sony couldn't
turn its back on all that free money. But the big names Sony is most
famous for? It's "Horizon Zero Dawns" and "God of Wars" and "Left for
Deads"? Those were being restricted to the Playstation console alone.

Not everyone agreed that strategy was a good idea, though, and most
recently even Sony of America's former president, Shawn Layden,
expressed that keeping the PS games on PC was actually a good thing
for the Playstation brand.* It puts the games in front of a larger
audience, including many who would never buy a Playstation anyway.
Especially as games become ever more expensive to develop, a bigger
audience is essential to getting in extra revenue. All the more so
since the gaming industry is more competitive than ever before, and
there are more games clamoring for gamer's attention. Hiding your
products behind a door that costs $900 to open (e.g., requiring them
to buy a Playstation) isn't going to work. Exclusives don't have quite
the draw they used to. People will just shrug and play something else. Despite what Sony hopes, PC gamers aren't going to rush out to buy the Playstation.

Personally, the whole switch in strategy smells of one CEO taking over
and smacking down the project of his predecessor for no other reason
than they want to make a change and/or didn't like their former boss (something that happens far too often in business). "x initiated the
'sell games on PC' idea? But I'm in charge now so we're doing
exclusives only!" It doesn't really feel to me like something that has
a lot of forethought behind it. But what do I know? ;-)

Personally, I'll miss the Sony games. Their first-party titles tended
to be fairly good and you could feel the money poured into them. I'm
glad I got the chance to play a few of them. I certainly won't be
purchasing a PS5 (much less a PS6) to play their sequels, though.

* story here
https://www.pcgamesn.com/sony/playstation-pc-releases-good-thing

To go along with that Sony has also announced the end of games on
physical discs. In response to "shifting trends in consumer preference."

Sony has announced physical disc production ends in January 2028 for new
games releasing on PlayStation consoles.

It’s a shock announcement that follows Rockstar’s decision not to sell a physical disc version of GTA 6, which is expected to dominate console
game sales from this November onwards. This new policy will cover all
games released on PlayStation consoles from all publishers after this
cut-off date, which some analysts believe hints at when the PS6 will be released.

“In response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will
be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats
only,” Sid Shuman, Senior Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment
Content Communications, said in a post on PlayStation Blog.

“As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue
to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc
production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028. Following this date, new games will
be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats
only. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or
will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.

“This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt
to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media
significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to
align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and
play games today.

“We’ll continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation in how players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer
to purchase new games, whether that’s at retailers or PlayStation Store.
We remain committed to delivering a world-class gaming experience to our
fans and we thank you for your continued support.”

Piers Harding-Rolls, games industry analyst at Ampere, tweeted to call
Sony's announcement "a watershed moment for the industry."

"Console gaming is the last hold-out for physical media in the gaming
sector, but physical product has been declining in importance," he
added. "Back in 2013 when the PS4 launched, Ampere data shows that only
13% of total full games unit sales for Sony consoles were digital
(including digital-only games). Fast forward to 2025, and this digital
share of full game purchases stood at almost 80% of the total.

"Inevitably there will be concerns from PlayStation gamers around
various aspects of this announcement including choice, accessing older physical games on new consoles, the ability to collect physical games,
and game preservation, however the purchasing trends of gamers are clear."

Just this week, Sony notified PlayStation users that it would soon
delete more than 550 digital movies from their PSN accounts due to a
licensing agreement with Studio Canal, sparking a backlash. There was no
sign of refunds or alternatives for those who purchased any of the
movies on the list.

The Does it play? social media account, which advocates for physical
media, accused Sony of "killing ownership." "You are killing legal preservation," it continued. "You are killing discoverability. You are
killing publishers. You are killing developers. This is a move that
might slightly improve bottom lines, but tear down every other aspect of
this medium. Well done! You f*d up!"

Rockstar has come under fire for its decision not to release GTA 6
on-disc, although in the context of today's announcement from Sony,
perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise. Rockstar is instead releasing a physical version that's just a download code in a box. So, if you want
to play GTA 6, you’ll need to download the game. From January 2028, all PlayStation games will be the same.

Why has Rockstar decided not to go with a disc version of GTA 6, risking angering core gamers in the process? There are a number of reasons,
analysts told IGN this week, and they all make commercial sense.
Meanwhile, some retailers are refusing to sell GTA 6 because the
physical version lacks a disc.

Meanwhile, Sony has announced the closure of its PlayStation Store on
the PS3 and Vita, beginning next month in certain countries.


https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-just-killed-discs-physical-disc-production-to-end-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles

Sony seems pretty dedicated to self-destruction lately....
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 17:27:38 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

On 7/1/2026 9:49 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

A couple months ago, Sony announced that it was ending ports of its
first-party games to PC. Well, more specifically, they were ending
ports of its single-player narrative games. Live-service multiplayer
titles would still get the PC treatment, because even Sony couldn't
turn its back on all that free money. But the big names Sony is most
famous for? It's "Horizon Zero Dawns" and "God of Wars" and "Left for
Deads"? Those were being restricted to the Playstation console alone.

Not everyone agreed that strategy was a good idea, though, and most
recently even Sony of America's former president, Shawn Layden,
expressed that keeping the PS games on PC was actually a good thing
for the Playstation brand.* It puts the games in front of a larger
audience, including many who would never buy a Playstation anyway.
Especially as games become ever more expensive to develop, a bigger
audience is essential to getting in extra revenue. All the more so
since the gaming industry is more competitive than ever before, and
there are more games clamoring for gamer's attention. Hiding your
products behind a door that costs $900 to open (e.g., requiring them
to buy a Playstation) isn't going to work. Exclusives don't have quite
the draw they used to. People will just shrug and play something else.
Despite what Sony hopes, PC gamers aren't going to rush out to buy the
Playstation.

Personally, the whole switch in strategy smells of one CEO taking over
and smacking down the project of his predecessor for no other reason
than they want to make a change and/or didn't like their former boss
(something that happens far too often in business). "x initiated the
'sell games on PC' idea? But I'm in charge now so we're doing
exclusives only!" It doesn't really feel to me like something that has
a lot of forethought behind it. But what do I know? ;-)

Personally, I'll miss the Sony games. Their first-party titles tended
to be fairly good and you could feel the money poured into them. I'm
glad I got the chance to play a few of them. I certainly won't be
purchasing a PS5 (much less a PS6) to play their sequels, though.





* story here
https://www.pcgamesn.com/sony/playstation-pc-releases-good-thing

To go along with that Sony has also announced the end of games on
physical discs. In response to "shifting trends in consumer preference."

Sony has announced physical disc production ends in January 2028 for new >games releasing on PlayStation consoles.

It�s a shock announcement that follows Rockstar�s decision not to sell a >physical disc version of GTA 6, which is expected to dominate console
game sales from this November onwards. This new policy will cover all
games released on PlayStation consoles from all publishers after this >cut-off date, which some analysts believe hints at when the PS6 will be >released.

�In response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will
be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats
only,� Sid Shuman, Senior Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment
Content Communications, said in a post on PlayStation Blog.

�As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue
to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc
production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be >discontinued starting January 2028. Following this date, new games will
be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats
only. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or
will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.

�This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt
to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media
significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to >align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and
play games today.

�We�ll continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation in how >players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer
to purchase new games, whether that�s at retailers or PlayStation Store.
We remain committed to delivering a world-class gaming experience to our >fans and we thank you for your continued support.�

Piers Harding-Rolls, games industry analyst at Ampere, tweeted to call >Sony's announcement "a watershed moment for the industry."

"Console gaming is the last hold-out for physical media in the gaming >sector, but physical product has been declining in importance," he
added. "Back in 2013 when the PS4 launched, Ampere data shows that only
13% of total full games unit sales for Sony consoles were digital
(including digital-only games). Fast forward to 2025, and this digital
share of full game purchases stood at almost 80% of the total.

"Inevitably there will be concerns from PlayStation gamers around
various aspects of this announcement including choice, accessing older >physical games on new consoles, the ability to collect physical games,
and game preservation, however the purchasing trends of gamers are clear."

Just this week, Sony notified PlayStation users that it would soon
delete more than 550 digital movies from their PSN accounts due to a >licensing agreement with Studio Canal, sparking a backlash. There was no >sign of refunds or alternatives for those who purchased any of the
movies on the list.

The Does it play? social media account, which advocates for physical
media, accused Sony of "killing ownership." "You are killing legal >preservation," it continued. "You are killing discoverability. You are >killing publishers. You are killing developers. This is a move that
might slightly improve bottom lines, but tear down every other aspect of >this medium. Well done! You f*d up!"

Rockstar has come under fire for its decision not to release GTA 6
on-disc, although in the context of today's announcement from Sony,
perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise. Rockstar is instead releasing a >physical version that's just a download code in a box. So, if you want
to play GTA 6, you�ll need to download the game. From January 2028, all >PlayStation games will be the same.

Why has Rockstar decided not to go with a disc version of GTA 6, risking >angering core gamers in the process? There are a number of reasons,
analysts told IGN this week, and they all make commercial sense.
Meanwhile, some retailers are refusing to sell GTA 6 because the
physical version lacks a disc.

Meanwhile, Sony has announced the closure of its PlayStation Store on
the PS3 and Vita, beginning next month in certain countries.

https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-just-killed-discs-physical-disc-production-to-end-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles

Sony seems pretty dedicated to self-destruction lately....

Honestly, I find this one not that shocking. Because --whether we like
it or not-- digital downloads are the way the industry is going, and
has been for a while. Even when they do sell a physical version, as
often as not it's little more than a launcher for the rest of the game
to be downloaded.

Sony's move is only 'shocking' because Sony made a big act of how the
PS4 would support physical disks while the Microsoft's XBox One was
pushing towards digital-only games. In 2013, that was probably a step
too far, but now? 85% of all Playstation game sales are digital.

I'm not saying this change-over comes without cost to the consumer... especially with Sony, who has shown a callous disregard to people's
digital libraries. But it was inevitable and, honestly, I'd have been
more surprised if the PS6 /did/ come with an optical drive than I am
that it's not.


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