Sony has seen relatively steady success slowly adapting some of its major first-party franchises to PC, and it’s a process it’ll continue to engage in. However, in an interview with Japanese magazine Famitsu, boss Jim Ryan said that PS5 remains the priority, and the majority of its titles will launch much later on PC. He even admitted that “two to three years” may be the sweet spot.
That’s largely consistent with how PlayStation’s been handling things, although we’ve seen some titles come quicker – The Last of Us: Part I being a recent example, albeit a unique one given it originally released as a PS3 game. PS Studios president Hermen Hulst has hinted that some of Sony’s live service games may launch day-and-date on PC, so Ryan’s probably referring to tentpole single player titles here.
It’s clear that Sony wants its intellectual property to become better recognised, and we’re beginning to see the fruits of its strategy with its television and movie adaptations. It’s also in the early stages of establishing a mobile gaming division, too. Bringing franchises like God of War and Horizon to PC opens up the potential audience, thus enabling them to attract new fans.
But the platform holder is walking a tightrope here: the foundation of its business revolves around flogging consoles, and high-profile exclusives is one of the main ways it’s been able to convince consumers to buy-in. Personally, we reckon it’s been managing its PC initiative fine, and it’s clearly not having any material impact on the PS5’s sales potential – in fact, the new-gen console has been on fire of late, and is showing no real signs of slowing down.
[source famitsu.com, via playstationlifestyle.net]
Comments 46
I think that based on the state of PC ports they should spend 2-3 years making them just so they don't embarrass themselves again lol
I wish that Sony would allow the PSVR2 to operate on PC. It's one of the best VR headsets in the market right now and I'm always steaming about the fact that Sony won't just gog take advantage of the PCVR market. That would be an epic decision.
Sorry about the light rant, had to itch that off my chest. Just hope nobody sees me any less humbly because of this comment.
@HotGoomba If a PSVR2 were compatible with a PC, I'd seriously own one by now. I have zero VR headsets, so I'm basically left torn between getting one for PC or one for the PS5. I'd kinda just like to have the one headset to rule them all.
Sony could absolutely dominate the PC vr market if they allowed the PSV2 to be compatible with PC. VR on PC is basically free territory at this point. Most people are sick of Facebook and HTC. Valve is also a no show when it comes to announcing a index 2.
@HotGoomba Does Trinus not work with the PSVR2? I used it with PSVR to play Dolphin VR which was pretty cool.
As long I can play kids games on PS5, that's already more than enough for me.
I don't even care with PC games.
@HotGoomba It's makes no sense to do that. They would buy their PC games from steam etc and make no income. They are probably selling the headset at break even or a loss.
If they're going to continue pc ports then at least the way they usually do it makes sense business wise. It doesn't interfere with the console side and gives devs more time to actually finish the product. Plus waiting until the games fall out of public relevance allows Sony to give those games a "new" boost and squeeze whatever's left out of them. 🤔
I don't think it's them releasing these pc ports undercooked. I think it's a matter of them not investing in them adequately in favor of maximizing revenue by allocating as little money, time, and the cheapest effort in the port process,... intentionally.
That would explain why the shoddy ports were released knowing they were technically unfinished or well below the original development standards.
Internal Sony/developer communications suggest this is the same strategy and mindset they have had when greenlighting half baked 'remasterakes.'
They really need to put the effort into these ports before hand, because they have now had a few subpar pc releases, the most recent of which is still flawed. They don't want the reputation that the ports are better to wait many months after release, or on discount.
Obligatory bloodborne comment
I really do think in the long term this will come back to bite them. I've purchased everything PlayStation console including the original on launch day and would describe myself as a PS fan boy. And I'm thinking why bother with PS6, I'll pick-up a Steam deck 2 instead. Yes Sony will.still get the money for all the PS exclusives I phase from Steam, but they'll lose all the money from PSN subscriptions and transactions. If I'm thinking of jumping ship I'm sure lots of other will too!
I mean for the most part they sell well so why would they stop?
I hope they maintain this momentum but improve the quality of the ports. I’m going back to PC next gen. At this point for me there is no reason to own all three consoles and PS was always my exclusives box. And many of the exclusives I would buy a PS system for are either on other systems or dead franchises. But this at least means I can still play any 1st party games.
If they're going to continue with this, they need to make sure their developers are putting out high-quality products. TLOU was embarrassing on PC.
Anyway, 2 - 3 years would be a good compromise, I think, in terms of keeping the console worth owning for fans. If you're really into PS stuff, do you REALLY want to wait that long for a game to come to another platform? Much better in that sense than the Microsoft approach, where there is legitimately just no reason to buy the console at all anymore if you own a decent PC.
@K-Wud if the sales of ps5 are any indication, I'm sure they'll be more than fine.
Removed - inappropriate; user is banned
I see these already available PC releases mainly as a by-product of the new Live Service strategy. Live Service games gain a lot of players when multi-platform, and a high player number is key for a long-time success. You can do it single-platform (e.g. Splatoon), but then it’s a tougher fight. So to make some extra profit, to bring the PS brands to PC-focused markets and especially to defend blames like „We PC gamers only get that sh*tty Live Service stuff from SIE“, they also bring TLoU etc. to PC.
Absolutely nothing wrong with this practice either. PlayStations still sell very well regardless. Great aaa games get into the hands of more players which helps when you want to make tv shows and movies.
@HotGoomba fighting to be able to connect a PSVR2 to a PC is one battle that'll net you nothing. 😏
When Jim Ryan said 2-3 years for games to go to PC I hope he meant the big tentpole single player titles will take at least 3 years and not 2. A 3 year gap is just inconvenient enough to make a PS5 purchase worth it but 2 years absolutely isn't. I don't mind if the less successful and more niche titles go to PC within 2 years though like Returnal since they clearly aren't system sellers.
Ideally would have preferred a 4-5 year gap since that's the typical time it takes for a studio to release their next game, so while the old game is releasing on PC the new one is about to come out on PS5.
As long as they make it over here I don't really care when, I have a backlog of hundreds of games to keep me busy. But I'm not buying a PS5 Jim, sorry.
I don't care much for Sony's exclusives personally, they're not my kind of games (Except for Bloodborne and Demons Souls). But please put more effort into your ports in the future Sony.
@Ralizah Even as a PC gamer, I really can't argue with the 2-3 year gap. I mean, I bought a PS5. Clearly their devious scheme worked. However, Xbox console players absolutely moan constantly about feeling like second class citizens, and in ways they really are. The entire Xbox strategy exists by Phil's own admission that they're never going to out console Sony or Nintendo, and Sony isn't really digging around looking for places for people to actually buy their software like MS is.
Same idea as PS+, they aren't just giving away the farm. Exhaust the initial release sales and try to drive some more consoles, then start using alternative distribution channels to squeeze a little bit more out of the software. Interestingly enough, I'm finding that I don't buy PS 1st party games, but I think I will remain subbed to PS+ because they are adding them steadily enough that I'm plenty patient to wait. I figure I have to pay for cloud saves, might as well go the extra mile and buy that cheap year of Extra on Black Friday. It's funny though, I bought the PS5 and I'm finding myself still waiting to play PS5 exclusives. But hey, when you have a Switch, PS5 and a PC, you don't exactly have a shortage of good software.
2-3 years for a PC port it's perfectly fine
However, Sony must consider increasing the quality of those ports if they continue to release them.
Add an extra year if they need to, take their sweet time with each of them, hire 2 separate Quality Check teams if needed... just verify the damned ports properly before release!
What happened with Uncharted and The Last of us Part 1 PC ports must NOT happen again... it was an utter disgrace, a total lack of care and respect shown by the dev teams towards those awesome exclusive Playstation IP's.
I don't think Sony has yet to release an "exclusive" day and date on Playstation and PC simultaneously. Once that occurs regularly, Playstation hardware sales will drop precipitously. I wouldn't be too surprised if at some point in the future, Sony simply releases their own line of Playstation graphics cards for use in PCs. They'll team up with one of the major graphics cards manufacturers making a PS6 or PS7 spec graphics card that can be boxed as its own product giving it the same spec as the console for that part. Who knows.
@Ryu_Niiyama i am the same way i buy all 3 consoles and PS4 and PS5 are just Sony exclusives. All 3rd party on Xbox. So if i went high end PC i would be set. Plus i could play God of War with a Xbox controller and that would be heaven to my hands. it’s the controllers from Sony that makes me not buy 3rd party games on it. PC is only going to continue to grow, but as Sony and Nintendo have shown the Console market is alive and well and PS5 will easily break the 100 million mark, so they are fine there.
@Ralizah that’s the whole idea with Xbox tho, Xbox is know a active user ecosystem, Console, PC and cloud, you choose the way to play, and I think going forward that will pay off, as the console market continues to shrink in dollars spent. Plus Sony and Nintendo crush MS 3-1 in sales in consoles, yet MS has more active users and that’s before the ABK deal. Seems like all 3 have their strategies laid out. I am liking it, and own all 3. But as i get older and have less time to play, i wouldn’t mind a high end PC to just have all my titles in one place to play. One things for sure the industry is always changing and giving us more options to spend money HAHA
As soon as I got wind that basically all major PS exclusives will come to PC I sold my PS5 and XSX and just went full on PC, with some coaxing and nudging from @Splooshdmg. I don't regret that decision and I can easily wait 2-3 years for these exclusives while also being able to play Starfield, Forza and Hellblade 2. PS5 is still going to steamroll Xbox this gen and Sony only stands to gain with these ports so it's fine by me.
A large chunk of their profit pie comes from subs and 3rd party transactions, so it is a tight rope in a long run. I have a feeling they know they can't go very far with it unless they can successfully introduce their own PC launcher, but even Epic and GOG stores seem to be struggling at times.
The day the PC gamers enthusiastically flock to Sony launcher for 3rd party games and monthly subs is the day Sony will truly liberate themselves from PS, but that just seems practically impossible.
I think their best bet is to do PC releases in between generations to fill the revenue gap during the transition period, except for live services which might benefit more consistently from PCs.
The way it should be. I get PC ports em make a lot of money, but what's the point of getting a PS5 if you're not making game specifically for it? Show people why these PlayStation made games are so famous for.
@HotGoomba
They would have to release a PC only version at twice the price though. They can’t subsidise it like they do on console because they don’t get a cut of game sales on PC, apart from the few first party they might make, which is obviously always going to be a minority.
I wonder if Sony upcoming live service games will have a simultaneous PC release. It makes sense getting as many players into those as possible, as if they're not a roaring success they can be abandoned within a year or so.
Even as someone who plays solely on PC, I'm happy to wait 2-3 years for PS5 exclusives to make their way to PC. I transitioned from console to PC to give myself access to the biggest pool of games (basically anything that isn't Nintendo) possible without the need to own multiple machines. If I have to wait a while to play some of those games, that's fine; it's not like there's nothing else to do. As long as the ports are good, Sony can take its time.
As an owner of both a gaming PC and a PS5 I can't see how this is in any way, shape, or form a bad thing
I like how both the winning and losing console manufactures are all about PC and reassuring people that consoles are top priority/the core of the brand...
Future is pc and cloud all but confirmed. Return of the Vaio!
@HotGoomba @SplooshDmg The headset like consoles doesn't really turn much profit and probably turns a loss. Letting it work on PC and skip ps store is basically Sony subsidizing PC gaming as a charity. Can't happen. That problem is part of why meta needs a new headset every other year. They need to turn profit on hardware like GPU mfrs.
Pc master race my arse haha
@Uncharted2007
Sega did that back in the day. They partnered with Nvidia to essentially release a Saturn graphics card. It also included controller port inputs for Saturn controllers. Games like the PC version of panzer dragon ran dramatically better on it.
It didn’t sell very well because it didn’t run other PC games worth a crap and had poor driver support. Plus like many Sega things they dropped support for it quickly.
@BlueBeemer Yeah, for now that's certainly the case, but I'm also getting the feeling kind of like the original push to go to x86, devs are getting tired of having console "platforms"in general and are starting to push towards pc is the only platform and consoles should just be specific pc builds and are starting to push toward that. Which makes a lot of sense. I could see a ps6 or 7 (and obviously xb which is a given) that's literally a.pc. it's 80% of the way there already. Nintendo nope they'll do whatever they do.
@NEStalgia What do you mean?! I thought the video game industry was clearly just a series of non-profit organizations developing video games for the fans in a selfless pursuit of altruism for the betterment of the arts?!
@BlueBeemer A device that is marked as brand name console and as far as consumers are aware is just the latest console yet it's just a plain old PC inside the box where devs are concerned isn't mutually exclusive.
@SplooshDmg No, that's just GoG
As it should be, I don't see myself ever becoming a PC gamer.
Bring out more oh hells yeah.
@Mikey856 🤦 ooooohf don't get them started 😂
And Sony I want the fall of man trilogy ported to PC , change nothing just put it out!
I'd naturally rather see them give some older diamonds Switch versions (from Bound and Gravity Rush 2 to Folklore and MotorStorm), but PC versions are also worth a shot to me now. One of the first things I did after picking up my Deck was splurge on a handful of Steam games (yes, besides the usual bunch of more Switch ones😆) including a discounted Days Gone and a full-priced Horizon Zero Dawn. Sure helps that, unlike several other publishers, Sony's games with the inexplicable exception of the first Spider-Man (Miles Morales still shows up) are still available on local Steam... or maybe it's really just their seeming tendency to forget that Belarus exists?😆
It's Beneficial to Sony's SALES based Business Model.
The game MUST release on Console 'First' to be ONLY on Playstation Hardware so if you 'really' want to Play the game, you MUST own a Playstation and the game is 'locked' to Playstation and now you are in Sony's 'ecosystem' buying games etc...
A year or two later, that game is no longer Selling 'Hardware' and barely selling Software so they can 're-energise' that IP by releasing it to PS+ to get people to Subscribe who still haven't bought it despite the 'sales' and can open it up to a 'new' market who so far hadn't bought or seemed inclined to buy a Playstation to bring in more 'SALES' Revenue - the 'extra' marketing often helps remind people to BUY on Consoles too so you see a 'jump' in Sales on their Platform too - even if 'Fanboys' resent the PC launch, it makes them MORE Money.
Its already served its purpose of being a reason to buy Playstation when it was 'fresh' and new. Its already 'exhausted' the Console gaming Market and certainly not going to affect people's decision to buy a Playstation because those people will still buy Playstation for these games as well as the 'other' games ONLY on Playstation at that time...
No-one cares about games a 'year' later - no-one cared when Ghostwire or Deathloop finally came to Xbox, they still got 'no' games released by 'MS'. Its that 'Old' game mentality, even if its 'new' to that platform, its still an 'old' game - not something fresh and exciting.
Therefore It only makes sense for Sony who are SALES based to try and find ways to 'maximise' sales - and 'releasing' to a Market a year or more later does that - those people who bought Hardware, still have that hardware, still probably game on it and spend more money on games over the years - even if they 'release' on PC later...
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