The rumor

This was my first “talking like a pirate ” post. How did I do?

I also heard the Switch would be a thing.

Frankly...I dont want it. We have enough issues between Pc and xbox players complaining about what isnt working and is....we dont need PS players and even Switch players added.

@craftergames706

TBH Switch would be nice, but it would probably have to be a whole separate game, unless...SWITCH 2 HAPPENS!

Now Playstation...ew... Sony hates going along with MS cross play. Almost kept Minecraft out of cross play because MS wanted to require a MS login for cross play on Playstation.

More likely MS negotiates cloudplay with Nintendo first 😂

Rare is a Microsoft exclusive studio. There’s a BIG chance of this so called “rumour” being absolute nonsense.

Normally I wouldn’t care if Sea of Thieves comes to other platforms but a YouTube video I saw makes a good point. If Xbox doesn’t have exclusive games then why buy the Xbox console at all? Since this game is already cross platform by being available on PC it’s not technically exclusive.

I'd happily add PlayStation, more players isn't a bad thing. I don't think it would have a comparative increase to cheating as that is mainly pc players

@ix-indi-xi anyone can claim to have a “source” about rumours, but I’m happy to wait and see. If it becomes legit then fair enough, but if not, it wouldn’t surprise me people lied for clickbait.

@Tesiccl agreed, we need to remember that this is just a rumor.

i sont see how this could ever be a bad thing if the implementation works fine, which im sure it would if its implemented

It makes you wonder if this is why SS became a thing... a way to onboard new players

@foambreaker the benefit is a huge addition to playerbase and paying customers surely.

I'm not claiming its an easy thing to do but surely it's naive to claim there's no advantage to it

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this is going to depend more on what Sony want than Microsoft.

MS have been clear that they see their future in Game Pass and getting it onto as many platforms and screens as possible. When it comes to their games, I think they are also open to selling those on other platforms when it's strategically beneficial - such as after a period of exclusivity.

But Sony are the gatekeepers in this scenario. They may not like a direct competitor selling games on their consoles, even if they make a profit themselves on it. Game Pass is an even bigger risk for them and I don't ever see them agreeing to that.

When it comes to Nintendo, it's more or less the same situation but I don't think Microsoft or Nintendo really see each other as competitors in the same way as Sony and Microsoft. I can't see Sea of Thieves being released on the current Switch (unless it's cloud streaming only) but there are rumours that a Switch 2 is coming this year and that could be a potential platform.

This is all just a rumour at the moment though, and it may have come from Microsoft themselves trying to gauge interest for potential negotiations with Sony and Nintendo. The acquisition of Activision Blizzard King has given Microsoft a lot of bargaining power though, so it will be interesting to see where this goes.

For Sea of Thieves, the console wars hardcores might protest but I don't really see any negative to potential ports. It grows the playerbase significantly and increases revenue - we all benefit from that.

@foambreaker said in The rumor:

@hiradc said in The rumor:

@foambreaker the benefit is a huge addition to playerbase and paying customers surely.

I'm not claiming its an easy thing to do but surely it's naive to claim there's no advantage to it

That's what the PS lovers said when EVE Online went PS, it was a total flop and was canceled in less than 2 years.

To be fair, that game was NOT EVE Online but a FPS spin-off based in the same universe, Dust 514. It was also Free to Play.

If it was actually EVE Online I could almost guarantee it would have done worse as it would not translate to consoles well nor would the gameplay appealed to that player base. This is before even considering the economy and DLC/consumables in the game.

But your point still stands, bringing a product to more platforms is not always a winning proposal. Look what happened to the Udraw franchise when they expanded out beyond the Wii - it totally flopped on PS3 & 360 resulting in tons of unsold product, picked up on clearance racks for $10 shortly afterwards.

@dlchief58 said in The rumor:

But your point still stands, bringing a product to more platforms is not always a winning proposal. Look what happened to the Udraw franchise when they expanded out beyond the Wii - it totally flopped on PS3 & 360 resulting in tons of unsold product, picked up on clearance racks for $10 shortly afterwards.

Using the Udraw product as an example is terrible...that was a super niche product with additional hardware requirements...while it sold OK on Wii (not lighting the world on fire), additional hardware purchases were kind of universally accepted by Wii users.

Expanding to platforms where additional hardware was mostly frowned upon and sold poorly (ie Kinect and PS Move) was predictably going to go as it did. Guitar Hero and similar style games were pretty much the only successful franchises to do it.

This port on the other hand, is just a game...one where you don't necessarily even need to make a disc available to PS users.

Other than the dev work to port the game and maintain the port's stability, it's easy to see this game being a big hit on PS. There's truly nothing else like SOT.

But if they're going to get SOT, I hope that access to The Last of Us is part of the negotiation for XBOX users.

@sweetsandman said in The rumor:

@dlchief58 said in The rumor:

But your point still stands, bringing a product to more platforms is not always a winning proposal. Look what happened to the Udraw franchise when they expanded out beyond the Wii - it totally flopped on PS3 & 360 resulting in tons of unsold product, picked up on clearance racks for $10 shortly afterwards.

Using the Udraw product as an example is terrible...that was a super niche product with additional hardware requirements...while it sold OK on Wii (not lighting the world on fire), additional hardware purchases were kind of universally accepted by Wii users.

Expanding to platforms where additional hardware was mostly frowned upon and sold poorly (ie Kinect and PS Move) was predictably going to go as it did. Guitar Hero and similar style games were pretty much the only successful franchises to do it.

This port on the other hand, is just a game...one where you don't necessarily even need to make a disc available to PS users.

Other than the dev work to port the game and maintain the port's stability, it's easy to see this game being a big hit on PS. There's truly nothing else like SOT.

But if they're going to get SOT, I hope that access to The Last of Us is part of the negotiation for XBOX users.

It is still a good example of how expanding to other platforms is not a guarantee of success like many are naively claiming. Also the first Kinect did in fact sell well, earning world records for how fast it sold. It just could not hold that momentum due to a lack of must-have games, most being not much more than shovelware with poor controls and the ones that were excellent (with good control) were more niche. And SONY basically adopted their standard "fire & forget" strategy with the PS Move - started off pretty good and then just sat on their laurels without much promotion. But that really isn;t relevant to the discussion at hand, just some facts to clarify that situation.

In regards to there being any substance to any of these rumors, I'll believe it when Microsoft says it and not until then. Especially with all the disinfo being pushed out by PS fanbois right now.

@dlchief58 said in The rumor:

In regards to there being any substance to any of these rumors, I'll believe it when Microsoft says it and not until then. Especially with all the disinfo being pushed out by PS fanbois right now.

This 100%.

Obviously no port is a guaranteed success model, but it's hard to argue that this one wouldn't help SOT

@craftergames706

I try to keep my focus and feedback in the game and it's features.

Platforms, what the team thinks it will do to server stability or support tickets.... We literally have zero knowledge as outsiders. Everything is speculation at best and, equally, bee have zero insight on Rare's financials. And this is ultimately a financial decision.

Will the port bring in more money for rare than it costs Microsoft in having an exclusive? (Marketing value also matters here) Will that extra income pay for the added expenses to address any of the "concerns" above? Is it a net positive?

Manybjigjkt paid accountants will crunch data we don't have access to and. Ake their recommendations. And executives will, or have, decided. And we neither have a say nor have enough information to pretend our opinion matters. Why burn the brain cells on it?

I've already burned too many brain cells hudt replying. But that's my take abdny hukbkensuggestiin in handling game feedback in forums like this. The turf wars aren't worth it for us laypeople.

Who's to say if the rumor is true or not? If it is, there's probably going to be an influx of new players, and how awesome would that be.

If it isn't true, and Sony acts like a child because they don't get along with others, I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

It's always important to remember what Microsoft actually means: Micro-computer Software.

It's always been first and foremost a software company, and their entire history in hardware—regardless of market—has been questioned (internally and externally) at every turn.

For awhile the Xbox was actually losing money on hardware sales but recouping it from game sales (but I don't believe they've been selling consoles at a loss since the 360). And despite Xbox being perhaps Microsoft's most successful consumer-facing hardware product, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft is trying to find an eventual "out" to having to build Xbox consoles at all.

Just recently Microsoft partnered with another OEM to take over production of the Microsoft-branded keyboards and mice that have been one of their more successful hardware ventures for the last ~20 years. I wouldn't be happy, but I could definitely see Microsoft doing something like this with their OEMs (especially as consoles become less distinguishable from PCs).

And it's all because the profit-margin on hardware is much smaller than on software.

So porting over SoT (a 5+ yo game) to PS would be pretty on-brand for the company's new MO of making their software services available regardless of device. Or since it's already an old game they could do it just to maximize profits on the title (much like R* released GTAV on 3 different console generations) since it's not the title likely to be moving Xbox consoles at this point.