It can be supported for more than three years and it should be if you ask me, the GT5 server shutdown was not a good move and annoyed a lot of people. But GTA 5 shut down PS3/X360 support
at the end of 2021. The game released in 2013. PS3 released in 2006. X360 released in 2005. Shutting down support is understandable - nothing lasts forever and eight years of support for such old hardware is well above and beyond the norm. If Polyphony shut down support for GT7 on PS4 in 2030 after PS6 is out, I've got absolutely no problem with that.
I don't even think there's a problem with only supporting a game for three years, but I think the damage to goodwill from dropping support for a still relevant platform while continuing to support another would outweigh any benefits. Especially when there's the option of releasing GT8 as PS5 only. If you publish a game on a platform, it's a reasonable expectation from the consumer that the company will support it.
I think you're under some misapprehensions about my position on some things.
1. I think GT7 should have been a PS5 exclusive. I think making it cross-platform was a bad move, and I think flip-flopping after announcing it as a PS5 exclusive was the worst possible way to do it. This is not the first time I've said this.
2. I don't own a PS4. Or a PS5. If I get GT7, it will be on PS5. I don't have a PS4 to clutch to anything, and I won't be buying one.
Even though I think that releasing cross-platform is a bad move, it's something that Polyphony have committed themselves to. Given that we're stuck with this bad decision on Polyphony's part, I don't think that people who choose to buy the game on the PS4 should be treated as second class citizens, even though I will never be one of them. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Isn't that wild? Someone holding an opinion that is not directly in their own self-interest?
I can empathise, because I know what it's like to not have an unlimited budget to buy gaming hardware. Some of these people may not be able to afford a new console. Everytime I see someone throw out the solution of "just buy a PS5" I see someone who just doesn't understand that money can be a struggle for people sometimes. Just because someone could afford a PS4 eight years ago, doesn't mean they can afford a PS5 now.
If you don't work for Sony or PD, why are you advocating for them to adopt anti-consumer practices? Do you think that it could never be you on the other side of this? Or are you just confident that you would happily buy a PS7 to continue to receive support for a game you bought on PS6?
Perfect. Then we have more in common than we thought. I am of the exact same mindset as you. I don’t think that GT7 should have ever been a cross platform release. I also didn’t become part of the PS5 club till very recently. I tried for a very long time and couldn’t find one. I do however, think the game should have been delayed until more consoles became available. Or released on time and if you don’t have a PS5, you don’t get to play GT7. I was prepared for that….and ok with it. Knowing that PS5’s would be available sooner or later.
PD going cross platform, although many disagree with it, makes the most financial sense for Sony and PD. I too, am also “understanding” of that.
Where I will differ from you though…is I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to support old hardware any longer than they absolutely have to. Sooner or later they have to move on bot the consumer, Sony, and PD alike. And it’ll probably happen when cross platform games start cannibalizing console sales…because the supply caught up to the demand. That makes financial sense. And financial sense is what these companies base all their decisions on. Not some “rose-colored-good-will-brand loyalty” crap of yesteryear. That business model went out the window decades ago. Right around when social media took off…and it was accelerated in 2009 when iPhones came out. That’s when you can trace back countless cultural shifts….MAINLY CONSUMER habits and all the associated advertising, ad targeting, profile-building, analytics, blah, blah, blah that goes with it. Companies are accountable to their stock holders and NO ONE ELSE. Nothing else matters. The only way we, the consumer matters is wether we buy the game or not.
Case and point. If single player blows again in GT for the second game in a row, my generation who grew up playing this franchise will walk. We’re older now. We have disposable income. And we are the target audience of this game. The young millennials and zennials (or whatever they’re called) are the outliers. Gen Xers and older millennials are the prime buyers of this game. (Fwiw, I don’t really care how good the single player content is, the AI is gonna blow anyways.)
As far as the anti-consumer viewpoints that I have??
I’m blue collar. I’m cheap. I grew up poor. I work really, really, REALLY hard for my money. - We all do…
Buuuut, I’m a capitalist and a realist.
People will go out of their way to get something they want. The video game powers that be know this. And when it’s beneficial for them to cut the umbilical cord on the PS4, they’ll do it in a heartbeat.
Besides, PD creating a ground-up brand new GT title in a few years makes little sense to even someone like me….who doesn’t really know about any of the behind the scenes nerd stuff that goes into making a game.
Perpetual updates makes a lot more sense financially, especially if PD is satisfied with the “bones” of the game.
What is transpiring now, and what will eventually transpire makes perfect business sense to me.
GT7 - for $50, anyone can play it!!!
———-> 1 year from now ——->
For a $20 update and a shiny, New, readily available console….. YOU TOO can enjoy the “latest” rendition of Gran Turismo!
Sony and PD are hedging their bets and they’re smart for it!
If there’s…say, 100 million dollars up for grabs in potential GT game and console sales, and they know that if they release GT7 as a PS5 only title when there’s not enough consoles to support it. They know they’ll Maaaaaaaaybe make 20 million and piss a bunch of people off who might leave the franchise altogether.
Or…. They give them a taste now. And when the time is right, they force you into a new console if you want the latest and greatest. Some will grumble and get a new console….most will just buy a new console…and a few will get pissed and leave.
But wallah!!!! You just get 80 million out of a possible 100 million people in potential revenue! ABSOLUTELY, FRIGGIN NO BRAINER from there perspective.
……and that too, makes a lot of sense to me.
We want companies like PD to keep being successful. Competition will inevitably come from other titles, and THAT is what’s going to drive their innovation. Loss of market share is what will drive PD and others to make better racing games.
And guess who wins ladies????
WE ALL DO!!! 😎
