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Sony is drastically changing its course regarding the release of its biggest hits on personal computers. According to the latest reports from Bloomberg, the giant from Japan intends to abandon the transfer of key single-player games to PC. This means that upcoming titles such as Ghost of Yōtei and Saros may never leave the PlayStation 5 console.
Return to Strategy and Reestablishment of Full Exclusivity
The decision to make PlayStation games available on Steam, initiated in 2020 with titles such as God of War and The Last of Us, seemed like a natural step in development. Both platforms utilise the same processor architecture (x86), which made the lack of ports merely a strategic choice. However, according to various sources, the sales performance of single-player games from Sony's internal studios on Windows has proven disappointing.
As a result, the company is set to abandon plans to port further major single-player hits to PC. This change will directly impact fans waiting for Ghost of Yōtei and the project Saros – both titles are now set to remain exclusive to PS5. The exception will be productions focused on online gameplay, which by their nature require the largest possible player base. The last major single-player games that will "contradict" this new rule and make their way to PC are intended to be Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Kena: Scars of Kosmora.
Sony versus the rest of the world: Two different visions of gaming
Sony's move is surprising in that its main competitors are going in exactly the opposite direction. Microsoft has announced that the new generation of Xbox consoles will be able to natively run games from PC, and Windows 11 will receive a special "Xbox Mode." Furthermore, the giant from Redmond is increasingly willing to release its games on PlayStation 5, while Valve is working intensively to blur the lines between PC and console with its new Steam Machine devices.
Flatpanelshd writes that Sony is in a different situation than Microsoft – the company does not have its own operating system or PC platform, which gives it a much stronger motivation to protect the PlayStation ecosystem and the console itself as hardware. Analytical data from Newzoo, mentioned by GamesIndustry.biz, confirms the waning interest in Sony's ports on PC, although experts suggest that the issue is not the desire to have a console, but rather the lengthy wait for the release of the PC version. However, it seems that instead of shortening this window, Sony prefers to completely close the door for Windows PC users.
Source: Bloomberg, GamesIndustry.biz, flatpanelshd
