Addressing the elephant in the room (PS4 release)

I've long thought that the PS4 release could literally kill the game, at least the pc end of the game. There's a chance that if the release is handled perfectly, that the game pc + ps4 will be strengthened overall, and I do sincerely hope that happens. I've been playing (and supporting) the game since Closed Beta, and I have the most positive hopes for the future of the game. I'll admit I laughed when devs said during Beta that the game will be in development for 10 years, but having watched 2+ years of constant development, the game moving the right direction at least most of the time, I can see that that was true, and I hope it does.

The main issue I am speaking of is that of marketing/monetization. I'll be the first to say that although ps2 for pc is heavily monetized, in the long run, it is worth the investment. It's a great game, and it's literally the only game in the past few years that can hold my attention for longer than a day or two. The game needs recognition for that, because it deserves it.

Where this can get messy is the fact that this game has been played on pc for over 2 years now, and many people have spent many hundreds of dollars on in game items, spending $500 is not so far out of the norm for long time multi-faction accounts. From my point of view, I don't think console players think this way, I honestly do not see a console player spending $200 on a game and still not having everything. I think in order for console players to stay engaged, a lot of items that pc players have paid for will be given for free, or the prices of in game items reduced. This isn't so far out of the question though because pc players play for free while ps4 players have to spend money to play. However, if too much stuff is given for free, or if in game items costs are reduced, it will make high paying pc players feel like they were jipped, having spent hundreds on the game while console players were given most of the items for free with purchase.

I hope this doesn't happen, but it's a difficult matter, and there are three factions after all. $60 spread across three factions doesn't give a whole lot currently, maybe 3 weapons at full price for each empire, or 6/7 cheaper items. Maybe $60 for each faction will have to be given for things to make sense for console players but I can foresee people getting upset about this, because then it's like $60 turned into $180 worth of in game items. Now that I'm thinking about it, there have been numerous Triple SC events given to the pc community since release, so maybe that's not that valid of a complaint. I'm just thinking out loud at this point.

Anyway, love the game and my intentions with this post are entirely positive and I wish the game continues to be played and enjoyed for years to come.

The PS4 release will be free to play, just like the PC version.

I disagree with the rest of your argument too. People are given all they need to succeed in this game from the get-go or easily within one week's play time in certs. Everything else, everything that can be bought with SC, is purely extra. Either cosmetics or simply saving yourself farming time by buying a weapon. Spending money is not a necessity, so there's no reason the PS4 players should get lower prices or even free items.

Can we please stop stereotyping "console players"? Many people, including myself, are "console players" because we love videogames. I have a gaming PC, Xbox One, and a PS4. I play games on everything.

You know who pays the most money in Free to Play games? Casual soccer moms who would never consider themselves gamers, yet they spend thousands of dollars on mobile games.

Most PC-centric gamers I know are actually cheapskates in the long run. They may shell out money for a gaming PC, but then they only wait for Steam sales and buy games at 75% off. On console you pay $400 for the machine, then $50 a year for online play, and then you almost always pay $60 per game.

Every metric points to console gaming being where the real money is. Way larger playerbase, and a playerbase used to spending lots of money to play games.

Regardless, how in the heck would PS2 on PS4 kill the PC version? What is the connection there?

Perfectly said WorldOfForms.

That's my biggest question.

It's not like releasing it on PS4 will just somehow cause all the servers to crap themselves. If anything, that much bigger of a playerbase will help extend the life of Planetside 2.

The ONLY thing I'm worried about is a Team Fortress 2 style fiasco, where one version gets all the new updates, and the other just stays vanilla.

I really hope they've worked out a way to make updates easily applicable to both PC and PS4 versions.

The way updates will work PC and PS4 is going to work a bit like this.

Devs will release a patch to PC and prepare to send said patch to Sony for QA and such,

PC will get patch when SOE decides they want to add something or fix bugs, PS4 patches will take much longer but will tend to have all of the patches that PC had for the last month or so depending on how streamlined the Cert process at Sony takes.

In essence PC will still be the bleeding edge of the game in terms of content/patches. Getting fixes every week to PS4 is simply not feasible since every patch has to go through a lengthy process.

If console gamers had the same sales you bet your *** they would wait for them. Additionally many console gamers have the luxury of the used game market that has gone the way of the dodo concerning PC games (publishers see zero dollars of that money unlike PC sales and they are doing their best to kill that market on console). I wont argue about the size of the markets though, Console defiantly has the larger share (getting into console gaming is far easier since it shares double duty with your TV and costs less to get started), but they have just as many cheapskates. it seems you are starting to stereotype yourself....

As for the PS4 release hurting the PC release I doubt that is going to happen, most people are one or the other, a PC or console gamer when it comes to FPS games not both. As long as we keep playing and randomly kicking in some money now and again they will keep the PC version running.

I thought the elephant in the room this week was H1Z1's oddly buggy release that managed to hinder other SOE game servers. I kinda want to know what happened but at the same time I think it would go over my head.

If it's liked DC Universe Online, the PS4 will have separate servers, and PS4 players will not interact with PC players other than the forums or wiki.

When you point your first finger at someone, don't fail to realize that there are three fingers pointing back at yourself.

I have a PC and an Xbox 360. I enjoy them both. Oh, by the way I play with a Thrustmaster GTX Xbox 360 controller and a mouse.

If there's a danger the PS4 version poses to the PC servers.... It's a gameplay one, not a financial model one.

Less skilled players: IE: the majority of players, will prefer the "evened out skill index" via Assisted aim and simplified UI. They'll also be playing against a much lower initial skill level as well in a more compressed visual range at lower Frame-rate, giving them the false sense that they've improved greatly at the game, leading to a greater sense of accomplishment they've not been getting when being stomped by PC elites with elite PCs. I'd actually call it the "The Helios Effect" b/c that was the first place we saw it actually affect the overall populations and metrics of this game.

Weapon or Vehicle functionality may also end up getting bent over a rail to appeal to Console players more, especially if they become the largest block of the active playerbase. While individual numbers can be tweaked separately per SQL / database, ability & functionality coding has to be consistent across platforms in most cases to reduce workload.

There's only so much that's shared between the 2 platforms, but with limited resources will come the choice on where to focus resources. If the devs are spending more time optimizing and fixing the console version, then the PC version might get to be buggier and less optimized. If the console generates more money, they could well spend more time on the console version... its just the inevitable with a limited set of resources.

I've watched PC gaming get watered down over the years due to consoles so as a PC master race type of gamer, forgive me for not sharing a love of consoles. IMO console gaming has lead to watered down/dumbed down games that could have been far better had they been developed with a PC first mindset or PC only mindset. You get games like the original Crysis, the upcoming Star Citizen, and classics like Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age Origins. Guess that happened to that franchise when the console came into play? Dragon Age 2 is an absolute farce/joke of a game, ultimate console trash, and Dragon Age Inquisition which followed while better I hear tons of PC control issues and not happy PC players.

Console gaming is bad for PC gaming IMO. It has hurt PC gaming greatly, and will continue to do so as games get more watered down and arcadey/simplistic.

In PS2 we can see the console influence into the game already... stuff like ribbons and directives and shiny medals and such are all constructs that came from the console world. Prior to online gaming with Xbox Live, no one really cared one bit about showy achievements and such... now its the THING that you have to have to please the console crowd/generation. But does it add any true depth to the games? Nope - its just frivolous stuff but stuff that a younger, more watered down gamer, expects.

Whats wrong with directives? They dont really harm the game last I checked

Battlefield 2 had shiny medals before consoles if i remember correctly

There is no scenario where the PS4 version does anything but help the PC version. Aside form launch day probably taking us all down (like we didn't expect it at this point). More players, more money, a weaker system to optimize as a baseline spec and a slower patching cycle mean we will get the best of everything. Though that will still include being the first to see busted stuff from patches.

Realistically if the console version is well optimized we will see even larger gains on the PC side. A PS4 is never going to be faster than it is today (barring sdk changes to what resources devs can access). Anytime the game is made to run better across multiple cores pretty much everyone with a computer from the last decade will see gains. Anytime memory footprint is shrunk, or more efficient loading of geometry is implemented people with larger pools of memory and beefier GPUs will benefit. Even if your computer sucks right now it probably has at least one part better than a PS4, and more than that if you upgrade any of it over time, during which they have to target all of that which won't change for the next decade or so.

This is unfortunately not due to consoles so much as economy and changing players. Companies aren't going to make a $60 game that they can't get you to spend more money on (blame the art assets required for a AAA game). Players won't play anything long enough to keep spending that money without a progression system. And most are actively annoyed when there isn't one, hence the forever "where is the end/meta game" posts that popup in every single multiplayer games forums (looking at you titanfall). Retro styled games are popular niches, but players need more hooks these days. If you launched Unreal tournament or Quake 3 with modern graphics they would be super popular...for 6 months. I love the games but it takes a lot to keep people playing without any perceived payout for their time now.

MW2 and p2p matchmaking, Crysis 2 and it's consolish map design, downloadable content and expansion packs for $$$$ like Halo 2 which completely changed gaming industry and every single developer jumped on it and NO MODS. I used to play consoles and may get PS4 for PS2 just so I can play with friends. What sets PC apart from obvious performance and eye candy are dedicated servers. Console gaming is bs latency lag fest of yells and tears; "WHO IS THE HOST". I feel sorry sometimes, but PS2 could and should change all of that especially with PS2's free to play model. I believe PS2 on PS4 is going to be a huge success and I hope PC doesn't end up getting swept under the carpet.

These things by definition don't detract from the game, since they're just generated from in-game stats, not game mechanics in themselves. Considering it's mainly the veteran players who take any interest in directives, I'd say the argument that directives are for "watered down gamers" falls flat.

Yeah, there's some real danger that weapons in the future will be balanced around the console version (aim assist, young/inexperienced players, and all), so in that sense the game could become watered down. But there will also be a lot more cash coming in and the PS4 team will eventually start generating new content, so the pace of development should pick up a lot within a couple months of the release. I'd expect it to be a net gain for the PC version.

If PS2 is a huge success on PS4, expect PS3 to be made first for console then ported to PC.

I would bet my left nut on it

I sincerely hope you are right.

I see only positives in the PS4 release.

1) a larger player base means more complaints will be made regarding performance and will hopefully be fixed quicker.
2) the added income (hopefully) will mean SOE can afford more developers to do buy fixes and new content quicker.

Downsides that I have just thought of.

1) like has already been said. Possibility PS4 gets more attention and PC is forgotten.
2) gameplay mechanics become solely revolved around ps4 gameplay and PC therefore is restricted. How console could affect this, I don't know, more of a cynical feeling after two years of PC gameplay deteriorating patch after patch, each one bringing new bugs with it.

(Tank ejector seats still haven't been fixed)

3) the PS4 release is a complete flop and the games dies within 18 months in which case all the money I have spent on this game, expecting it to go for a decade has just been flushed down the toilet, not that I expected anything better.

Ultimate my true hope is that performance and certain gameplay mechanics are made better. my outfit leaders have a supreme lack of motivation to do any meaningful ops due to the crappy hit reg and latency issues.

So allow me to beg the ps4 players to spend lots of money in order to finance the future of this game. It could be great, might need some new blood in charge for a fresh perspective on things but that's by the by.

Come on PS4!

Lets be fair, those aren't really "games" the soccer moms are playing. Farmville isn't a game, it's an activity. Games have winners and losers, activities just have losers.