It sounds like PlayStation is putting its focus back on console exclusives. According to a report in Bloomberg, Sony’s gaming division is moving away from porting PS5 games to PC, which reportedly includes cancelling plans for a PC port of Ghost of Yōtei.
It’s a big change from a few years ago, when Sony said it wanted half of its games available on PC and mobile by 2025. As part of that goal some of the brand’s biggest franchises, including The Last of Us, Horizon, and God of War, made their way to PC. This month alone will see the launch of PlayStation-backed PC titles including the multiplayer shooter Marathon and Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding 2. However, the Bloomberg report notes that the PlayStation ports didn’t sell particularly well, which could be a reason for the shift. It also cautioned that plans could change in the future. Sony hasn’t commented.
Moving away from PC would mean PlayStation would be getting back to a more traditional form of publishing: using exclusives to lure people to their console. It’s a strategy that has served Nintendo well, but over the last few years both Sony and Microsoft have been experimenting with a multiplatform approach. Xbox, in particular, has been aggressive, not only making the PC a pillar of its strategy but also releasing games on rival platforms from Sony and Nintendo. It has led to a somewhat confused strategy that has muddled the vision for what an Xbox is. Sony may be trying to avoid a similar fate with the PlayStation brand.
