New hardware and stable supply leave company poised to meet lofty sales goal.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick doesn't think AI will reduce employment or lower development costs, and calls it "stupidest thing" he's ever heard.
They already have AI trained to do coding.......
How he thinks it's stupid is beyond me, Especially since we see it happening in real time.
Company A has 300 employees and lays of 200 to replace them with AI to release the same quality game.
Company B has 300 employees and keeps all 300 but instead uses AI to release a game with dramatically larger scale, scope, complexity, short dev cycle etc.
Company B would release a dramatically better product by using humans + AI and consumers would buy the better game.
I actually agree with this concept.
This is key facet. Its how the AI is used. It's actually is impressive as is and really would make an amazing addition to alot of people in their jobs, not just tech. It also has the potential for businesses to use to lay off large amounts of people, as much as they could to save money on labor. I hope too many companies don't go with the latter. But since usually companies are worried about bottom line over people...we will see some try and hopefully fail. But yeah, if its to help workers like in your company B scenario I'm totally down...Just scared Company A may be too enticing to some ceos and businesses.
Value of AI and value of humans will both be increased with human-AI complex. Each, by themselves, will not be independently better than the other. Whether AI will ever be independent from humans is the fear question of humans, ironically because of our doing. At this stage, most of the doing is because of humans, not because of AI. AI is doing exactly that by our design, until we have failed ourselves with an AI development that went awry. The biggest take is that humans have only ourselves to blame when things become wrong, and we have to decide what is the ultimate goal with AI we want to accomplish. It would take a person with high morals and high ethics to make right of AI. I would not want businessman to decide what AI should do or what capabilities it can have. AI should be in the hands of people with high moral fiber, or those operating on love, kindness, and compassion.
AI is SUPPOSED to be used as a tool, not a replacement. It's designed to do two important things artists can take advantage of immediately.
- Make the ideation/reference imaging process much quicker and easier (basically using it as a google search)
- Make mundane and time consuming tasks faster and easier so more time is spent on creation.
Unfortunately, what many have done is used it as a way to replace rather than supplement.
CS7
In the ideal world yes.
In the real world where companies have shown little desire to innovate and spent every effort to maximize profits the end result will be the same quality games (if were lucky) made by less people and more AI.
Company Real World: Fires 200 people and makes the same game cheaper using AI and the executives get record bonuses.
Edit:
Lets look at history, specifically auto manufacturing.
In the 70's and 80's the auto unions tried to oppose automation of jobs (robots) stating that they would take peoples jobs. And the people in charge who wanted to make more money said the exact same types of things that are being said about AI. But we can look at history and see that countless types of jobs were in fact replaced by automation, that was of course even compounded upon by computers.
The net effect was that the rich got richer less jobs were needed so wages were forced down by competition for the jobs that were left.
that concept works in the initial beginning phase of AI but once AI learns and surpasses the knowledge and coding expertise of even the best human employee than this CEO will no longer need competent humans in that line of work.
@Hue_My£D_Long
Yes but that is a choice then by massively increased productivity and this greater income and wealth and stagnating with similar levels of productivity and output and not creating much wealth. Usually the option that creates wealth prevails because a rising tide raises all ships.
You can already make your own SFX with text prompts now as well, of course it will lower development cost and time
WARNING WARNING ‼️ SARCASM AHEAD
Sure Strauss and robots didn’t take jobs from car factories.
Edit:Sad thing is he believes it and unfortunately he won’t be replaced for a long time by AI
He doesn't, he's just lying. These people lay people off so they can get bonuses. If AI takes jobs, their bonus goes bigger and the workforce goes smaller.
Because he sees AI as a tool to aid development. He wants to use AI to help make bigger and better games in the same timeframe. Other CEOs want to replace devs with AI to cut costs and make lifeless games faster for a quick buck. Strauss has the right idea, this is how AI should be used. To extend and expand the capabilities of devs.
There will be few companies who will go overboard and try to replace their employees with AI tech. The ones that will make the most money will be the ones that utilize ai, along with their employee talent, to make the best product possible
AI could handle some of the most time consuming processes. To expediate the development, so in return, costing the publisher's last money end time.
Not reliably they haven't. Coding done by ai is generally abysmal for all but the most generic tasks.
I think maybe sometimes we give people in these positions too much credit when it comes to intelligence.
I think you mean candor, not intelligence.
If you take him to mean what he's saying at face value, sure.
I don't. And I think he's clearly lying.
As long as it doesn't effect his inflated executive salary or his ridiculous bonuses I'm sure he's fine with it.
Hahaha yeah trust the CEO suit over the actual developers making the games. Good one.
A.I use will get worse overtime to the point companies will get so greedy at cutting costs and saving money they'll go the extreme bit by bit. It's the same deal as when we had the concept of Horse Armour and people went "Who cares, don't like it don't buy it, it's just cosmetic, it's not a big deal" yet now look where we are. Concepts that seem innocent during the early stages always blow up in the end because people can't help themselves. They'll go on about ethical issues but by the end they won't give a shit.
At the end of the day there's no cutting off point with stuff like this, we know what studio / publisher heads are like with the amount of brain dead comments they've said over the many years, A.I will start off as "only when needed" and eventually will start to impact more people along with their jobs when higher ups keep pushing it more and more.
Soon as people start using it for stories, narrative, characters, dialogue and more creative elements then we have a problem.
Sad thing is, knowing the industry, people only realise when it's far too late and we can't undo anything.
It's within his best interest as ceo, as a suit, to downplay A.I. being developed and trained to eventually cut costs even further and make more money in the long run. After all, the average consumer won't really give a s*** who developed the game, what tools or means were used to make it. He knows this and will say anything to because when it does really happen he knows you'll not give enough s*** nor will there be big enough s*** stirred up about it.
It's always the ones up top and its shareholders, the ones who aren't game developers nor programmers that'll decide when and where to cut costs and what better to way to do that than with A.I.
Ai is such a buzz word in the film and game industry. and sure eventually it will be a thing. but right now the real problem is out sourcing the work overseas for cheap labour. you're worried about AI replacing your job? they still have to hire a technician to manage it and for less money they could hire 50 human workers overseas to do the same job and probably address notes and feedback more efficiently than AI. they always go for the cheap
As a tool i will always think it's a great way to speed up the process and aid in development. It's not ai i don't trust it's execs, let's hope he isn't a hypocrite in a few years.
Actually I've already seen it reduce positions at companies. What it does do is enable 1 person to do a lot of passable mediocrity and boring stuff rather than hiring a few people to do marketing, secretary duties, manager, other creative and mundane positions. In other cases the costs associated with being a startup company is also making it an easy choice as you fulfill many roles with generative help.
Of course the man with such previous takes as "games should be priced by the hour" and "there was nothing wrong with GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition" and "Red Dead Redemptions re release pricing matches current markets" would say this about the impact of AI.
Please, by all means, do show me in depth how a businessman of your stature wouldn't cut costs for AI.
You can't trust a word that comes out of this guys mouth. Take-Two is a shitty company to work for
We have to remember. These guys get paid to lie. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but they have to be liars to do their jobs.
One game i purchased in early access uses AI image generation to create 2D images. It's one guy churning out a lot of art content when they would've required multiple people to do the same job in the past.
This guy is dumb
People who think if an ai can do a job of a human, the human wouldn’t be replaced, are stupid!
If a company has an option to pay an employee to do the work or get the work done for free. You’re incredibly naive to think that any company will take the moral approach. Until that point these people will happily brutally lie to your face without a hesitation.
As PlayStation announces its new strategy to encourage PC users to choose PS5 it is a bitter-sweet moment for PC gamers.
I mean, it's a business based on hardware market. Do we expect them to not even try? It's not like Nintendo doesn't do the same by not putting any games on PC and Microsoft until recently did the same. I don't care what they attempt, as long as they don't abuse the community or lie about their goals/requirements.
Will it work? Not likely. Should we care? No. Let them waste their time, it doesn't affect anything.
let them try ... at the end of the day, we get few extra PC games ... yay ... and also promotes game preservation via PC ... so double yay.
If only Playstation games provided the ease of pc gaming features.
Primary being very few PS games support m/kb.
If only PC games supported controllers more. Main reason I play primarily on console. So many games have shit support on PC. Playing Dark Envoy now, and it's quite frustrating since I have to switch to keyboard during cut scenes just to make sure advancing conversation doesn't also auto-select a decision. Let alone it's quite rough to select between characters and inventory screens are bad bad bad.
Anywho, similar complaints for both I find. But, I 100% agree that both PC and consoles should support both as best as possible.
PS may push more kb support in the future to get more PC converts, we'll see.
As someone with a high end PC, I feel like the ease is on PS5. Too many PC games are a troubleshooting nightmare, which few people have the time for when all you want to do is pop in a game & play it.
I just use an Xbox controller on my laptop for everything 😆 .. I haven't used a keyboard / mouse combo for PC gaming since 1996
I don't think you understand what I mean by the lack of m/kb support on PS.
Over a thousand titles have PS controller support on PC.
Not even 30 titles have m/kb support on PS5.
Once you are done with the single player title, you'll go back to playing your daily shooter/looter/mmo etc which the pc gamer has mastered with their mouse and keyboard.
Why would any pc gamer make the switch?
PC is secondary to PlayStation for them. Mouse and keyboard would affect development. Live service will have it but most single player games aren’t going to have it as PC is not the focus
I didn't miss it. I explained why I, a former PC only gamer, now play primarily on consoles. I don't play MP games, and the games I tend to play are better supported with controllers on console. Let alone some games aren't even supported with controller at all on PC. On console you are guaranteed the best support since it's the primary input. The fact is, PC isn't the best choice for every gamer just like consoles aren't the best choice for every gamer.
If you wanted to only disparage consoles and ignore any benefit of console, cool. But that's not how it is. There is no perfect platform for everyone. It's why we have the hardware market that we have.
I wish them the best of luck.
But PC players are often a patient bunch, many will even wait for Epic launcher exclusivity to end until a game comes to Steam.
If they didnt buy the console when its games were exclusive, why would they do it now theyre not?
All you need is that one game that'll make a few switch at a time. Like a game a PC player REALLY wants.
It just doesn't work that way though. Plenty of the best games ever made were never available on PC. That didn't make PC gamers buy consoles to play them. This kind of strategy has never worked in the past and it won't work now. It's fine for PS to hold their games back and release on PC later, but to think that will boost console sales is wishful thinking. All this will accomplish is some double dipping, which is obviously good for business.
People aren't going to switch from pc to ps5, why would anyone do that for a game?
Most sony exclusives aren't all that to begin with, and pc has the option to upgrade what they want when they want it. Having access to some ps5 games, gamepass and steam.
Thinking this would happen is naive
I mean if there's 10 million pc gamers out there...getting atleast just 1 million from there is probably a good thing..right?
PC players are not a monolith, I don't know why people keep thinking they speak for the entirety of all PC gamers like they all know each other personally. You think out of the millions of PC gamers not one single person will be impatient?Well Sony is willing to bet there will be. Why would they do it now? People's feelings change and new PC gamers come along all the time that may also feel different about waiting, that's why.
PC gamers are just too patient and loyal to their gaming set ups, something they've spent a lot of money on to perfect. They have backlogs of games which many never get round to finishing or get round to at all and will always have other multiplatform releases to keep them going.
Over the many years Sony has published so many awesome titles such as The Last of Us, Uncharted, Heavenly Sword, Infamous, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, Dreams, Puppeteer, Resistance, Heavy Rain, Gran Turismo, Motor Storm, God of War, Horizon, Ratchet and Clank, Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, Bloodborne
If none of those games BEFORE all these PC ports convinced a hardcore PC gamer to get a PS5 console then why on Earth would porting them them to PC now make any difference? All PC gamers now know 100% is that they just have to be patient, which they are good at anyway to get a PS5 game 2 years later.
I get GaaS games or multiplayer focused titles but if people really want to play these games they'd have gotten a PS console years ago.
Not sure they're aiming to convince the hardcore PC gamer.
Not sure why people are obsessing over his comment...it seems pretty simple to me.
He will do all he can to entice gamers to move to his ecosystem. As you say....exclusives existing hasn't moved many gamers over. But if they get to try them and love the games then they might change their mind about waiting 2 years.
We're in an echo chamber on this site...I've Personally seen people with Xbox and PC setups but no PlayStation. I've also seen people with small PC setups but no console. Not every pc gamer invests thousands and many may decide to put one in the living room.
They're not looking to convince all of players to buy a PlayStation...just a few...and really it is just a PR statement after all...they have to give a reason why single player won't release day 1....not to mention they also have to ensure current PlayStation gamers don't jump ship to PC. It goes both ways and they're ignoring the big L by putting any of their games off their platform.
it's not just about loyalty or sunk cost, pc is an open platform while consoles are closed platforms. If you for example want to mod, you will play on pc, no question about it. Also if you like indie games, steam is a fucking goldmine for that. I've been playing a lot of indie games over the last years and there just seems to be an endless amount of them on steam. Also not having games locked to a certain fps is a prettty big deal for me and I assume a lot of other pc players.
@Walalon Steam sales are basically the same as PS sales. I was going to buy a Steam Deck and I heard about these Steam sales but the games I was interested in were not any cheaper. Indie games were cheap and older AAA were cheap but the same can be said for PS store sales. I didn’t end up getting the Steam Deck as there weren’t any games that I wanted to play that wasn’t already on PS and prices aren’t much different
And how do you know out of the millions of PC gamers that not one single person ever went ahead and bought a PlayStation console for one or more of those games? People keep speaking for the entirety of millions of PC gamers like they know them all personally. Here's one example for you, I'm currently typing on a recently purchased PC that cost me over twenty five hundred dollars and is more than capable of running any game including Sony exclusives that come to PC and yet I still bought a PS5 so apparently I'm not patient or loyal enough to my set up, hope it's not mad at me for not being loyal.
Some of those people will consider getting a PS5 some wont. I was a PC gamer for a long time and I’m a console only gamer now. Everyone’s different.
Who cares? Then just stay on PC and play the waiting game. No big deal. Sony wins in the end anyway.
Yup. If the strategy doesnt work, all they have to do is to change their mind, publish the games on PC, and they still win anyway.
I mean if there's any single player Sony games that I actually want that aren't on PC then I would buy said console to play them on. But the ones that I like that aren't on PC are few and far between anyway so no loss for me.
If I game, it's usually multiplayer titles, otherwise I like playing around with some other software.
Astro Bot is the game that just did it for me. I'm gonna have to grab a PS5 again for that.
I did this for Ratchet Rift Apart too but ended up selling the PS5 after getting my plat. Rebought it on PC and other than GoW Ragnarok and Horizon FW (which eventually I could get anyway), I haven't had a reason to downgrade my graphics, controller features, ease of recording, and increase my game costs and monthly subscriptions throughout this entire generation.
I play on a TV with a controller but this has been the absolute worst console gen for both consoles. Never in my life thought I'd be a PC gamer but I've been spoiled by the cheap costs, cross-platform controllers and mostly the unbelievably useful Steam controller config.
I hate these stupid divisive articles.
Most PC players I know also have a PS and/or a Switch. That way they get to play all the games they want when they want.
Exactly, at least if you have a decent PC and a PS you can play the online games for free on PC, and just use the PS for single player games or something.
Agreed PC+PS5 is a great como. PS5 in the living room to play mostly the new games and PC in the bedroom to play the older games I never had a chance to play like DA O or Fallout LV etc with all the mods
Yeah for example in my case PC for multiplayer and soul likes games. Meanwhile my Ps5 it's for party games when my friends show up and fighting games... We can enjoy whatever we want.. this articles like to create a fire on nothing.
I'm still waiting for FFXVI. I can always wait for a game because there's so many others to play.
Haha spiteful like a kid, because I don't like his favourite toy. Just get a PC bud, it's much better.
You should also tell me what happens in Ghost of Tsushima as I've just started that.
I was jus joking, there's no Christopher lol. Makin a point that may not matter to you but matters to others (spoilers*).
I don't think it's about pushing PC Players to Playstation.
I am pretty sure it's about keeping Playstation relevant.
They've seen how Xbox has been failing ever since they went day and day on all their games on PC.
If all the big hitters like Spider-Man, Horizon, Gran Turismo, Uncharted, Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima etc was released same date on PC, the negative spiral for console sales would start.
I have a Series X, a PS5, a Switch and a 4080 PC Rig. The piece that ain't in use is my Series X.
If all Playstation games were to be released day 1 on PC, my PS5 would collect dust as well.
Console sales themselves doesn't boost profit a lot, but games, accessories and services do but most importantly, brand recognition.
As Sony stated in their reports, every PS5 have $700+ in sales on top of the console sale.
If Playstation Studio games were to be release day 1 on PC, the initial sales would probably be a few percentage higher, but in the long run the profit would be less, boss to the 30% Steam cut but also lower price points, piracy etc.
It doesn't take many brain cells to understand why Sony don't want to fall in to the dame trap Microsoft did.
It doesn't really make sense. Since it's going to be released on PC, players will just wait for it to become available. If they really want to entice players to play on PlayStation, they shouldn't release any of their first-party games on PC at all.
Exclusives are what make a specific console unique from others. It's still working for Nintendo, so Sony should have just kept their games on their platform as well.
Additionally, Sony should stop with these live service games and stick to what they do best, which is making great single-player games. This strategy has worked since the PS1 era up to now.
Sony game budgets are significantly higher than Nintendo game budgets, TLOU2 and H:FW were over 200 million dollars, Nintendo won't be budgeting that for any of their games.
Porting games to PC helps keep their business going, and besides their goal is to maximize profits, at this point there's no going back away from PC ports.
Im no industry analyst but I can tell you this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Like, you have to be completely oblivious to PC gamers.
First off, there’s a reason they’ve stuck to PC and not console. Secondly, they’ll pirate/emulate your game before going out and spending $500 on a console to play an inferior version of the game when the PC release is coming at some point. Lastly, PS5 console sales have sold less than last-gen when you’ve already released many games on PC before the sequels… why would it change now?
Yea, this guy sounds like he knows what’s up. Glad to have him aboard.,,
Seriously, why do people think Sony is going after most PC gamers? There are many gamers who play on a few platforms and you are going to have a small percentage who would be willing and open to not switching, but adding a new system.
Because it has to be black or white with some people, no grey areas allowed that way everything can be "divisive" and "controversial" and blah blah blah. You know the drill.
It's not a new strategy you idiot they've been saying this since 2021. They have the numbers, they know what's important to playstation and where they make their money. Herman was just being nice, pc brings next to nothing to playstation, they made almost 30 billion in revenue last fiscal year of it 700 million was from pc its irrelevant. Day and date at best would have no effect on their bottom line at worst it would delay development times further, expose their 1st party games day 1 to stealing the second it released on pc, they'd have to pay 30% to steam and it would open themselves up to losing their paying customer base. PC fans are delusional and they're more vocal now that the toxic xbox community has migrated over their.
Sony published Helldivers 2 and over 50% of the sales were on PC, not PS5. That is what Sony has to lose if they push any more to try to force PC gamers to use their launcher and PSN.
They've already lost 180+ territories on PC as PSN doesn't exist in those regions. They need to keep what they have left or lose it all.
You seem to think 700 million is worth nothing. That's just a few games ported to PC, not the games and consoles that Sony is selling.
@Seafort, so? That's always been in their plans it's a live service game pc makes sense. People wilthin in those countries (some aren't even actual countries)can keep buying those games using a VPN like they always have. Yes 700 million is small compared to the money they make on their own store front. They're not gonna jeopardize that for a platform that has rampant cheating/stealing that encourages customers to not buy their hardware. PC is an open platform Sony can use it how they see fit, it doesn't owe steam users anything.
No, it's exactly what I said they were trying to do when Zero Dawn was released for PC.
Sony isn't trying to push anyone, pull maybe as in lure them over yes but the way this is worded makes out they're trying to force the issue which just simply isn't true
Yes it's a "terrible idea" to try and sell your console they should do like MS and not even try. Do I need to add the sarcasm symbol? You know it's ok to be a PlayStation gamer and game on PC too, the world wont end if you do.
i mean, they can try, but i doubt that PC players only will make the change. why would they lol
I like consoles I rarely PC game. But there are a lot more games I can run on PC then I can on a console. I can also run emulators on PC I could on console until the system is banned. There are games on PC that have mods that I can't get on console. Like Thomas the Tank Engine in RE2 remake. Epic gives away free games on console I need PS plus or Xbox live to claim the free game then I need to renew my membership just to play that game. On PC I don't need renew a membership to play that free Epic game. And unlike console I don't need a membership to play a game online with friends. Shifting people from PC to console won't work there are people who are strictly PC only and they love that choice they made.
I disagree. Console gaming is unique. The current state of gaming is trash, WORST CONSOLE GENERATION IN GAMING HISTORY, and we don't want to lose Console gaming to PC. We just need to get rid of all the mobile gaming aspects out. Once those business models leaked into the console business, it began to decline. There's PC gaming, console gaming, and mobile gaming, the three should NEVER mix. Keep Console Gaming (and physical media) alive!
neimahi, it is not the worst console generation not even close. I see people mindlessly repeating this propaganda spread by the media. There has never been more great games available to play and more ways to access them.
Article is trying to make this sound malicious. They just hope that people like the games enough that they'll invest more in Playstation. Such a crime wow -_-
I'm pretty sure Sony are not aiming to get the 4090 owners to go and buy a ps5 in order to play Spiderman 2.
They are looking at those Dell Optiplx users. The ones that grabbed a Optiplex on eBay and put in a gtx 1650. The ones that can't afford to build a whole new pc. But they may have the funds to buy a digital ps5. A whole system for the price of a mid range GPU.
The likes of the 1650 and 1060 and 2060 are still very popular amongst the pc community.
I have a high end PC and I would still prioritize getting the console version of a game if it at least runs at 60fps. 🤷
It's a disingenuous headline. Sony isn't "pushing" anything. There have ALWAYS been PC owners who also buy consoles. Sony simply doesn't want to do anything to disrupt that natural tendency for a certain percentage of PC gamers. Sony doesn't expect PC owners to adopt PS5 en masse but enough do to generate a significant amount of revenue for Sony for it to matter to them. Why would Sony sabotage that trend?
They aren’t going to release games day 1 on PC besides the live service stuff so what do you expect? It would really hurt their hardware business. Xbox was looking like they could do better than they released games on PC day 1 and we see the results. As it is now you can wait for PC ports or get a PlayStation.
Thing Is you are all missing the unspoken aspect of this. Any pc players enticed to get a ps5 to play exclusives rather than wait is a bonus for Sony. But more importantly, they make most of their money on the cut they take of 3rd party content sold on their platform abit like steam does on pc. This is more about not giving ps5 players a reason to just buy a pc. Xbox went day and date the next generation of consoles and they have lost half their console sales but retain activity online profiles. They realised and tried to pivot to gamespass. But it doesn't have enough subscribers to make it sustainable. Now they are having to go 3rd party to try and sort their books.
If Sony go day and date on pc, they would lose ps players to pc especially next gen. If they lose half their player base- their revenue decreases significantly. They then have less money for game development and can't take many risks. That means fewer titles in development, fewer new IP's and probably studio closures.
I just don’t really get why people play on a PC there’s no unified trophy/achievement system, one store where everything is, games just work for what system your playing on, no updating drivers/ hardware. Plug any game into a PlayStation/Xbox/Nintendo and it just works all in one place easy. And you get to play on the couch or gaming chair not some small monitor hunched over a desk.
ARK: Survival Ascended has introduced Premium Mods on consoles. Wccftech talked to Studio Wildcard and their partner Overwolf about the rising importance of user-generated content, especially for live service games.
SLIM growing on me.
PS5 will dominate the holidays even though it pretty much dominates everyday of the week as it is.
Attack as in kerbstomp. I mean the direct competition is already passed out at this point..
i always love to see the sales numbers after a big holiday like this :)