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Industry murmurs suggest Sony will no longer release PS5 exclusives on PC — New leadership might be willing to forgo PC revenue to fortify console platform

| 2 Min Read
Reports from around the gaming world are heavily pointing toward the end of Sony's first-party AAA games being available on PC. Single-player PlayStation Studios titles are apparently now going to be ...

Industry murmurs suggest Sony will no longer release PS5 exclusives on PC — New leadership might be willing to forgo PC revenue to fortify console platform

Sony PlayStation Q Lite handheld rumors
(Image credit: Sony)

Sony has released PlayStation exclusives on PC for a few years, starting with Horizon: Zero Dawn back in 2020. At the time, the gap between its PS4 release and its PC launch was 3 years, but those windows have shrunk considerably, with just 8 months between Death Stranding 2's debut on both platforms. Now, it seems like Sony is reconsidering this strategy from the ground up.

Bloomberg reporter Jason Schrier, speaking on the Triple Click podcast, revealed that Sony is "backing away from putting their exclusive console stuff like traditional single-player stuff on PC." He implied that Sony no longer sees PC as an important outlet for some of its titles and is ready to relinquish the revenue generated from the platform (which apparently wasn't much to begin with).

"Sony is shifting their PC strategy, absolutely," said NateTheHate on the ResetEra forums, backing up Schrier's comments. Another prominent leaker, SneakersSO, also agreed. If that's not enough, even Digital Foundry's John Linneman said he has "an inkling that [they’re] pulling away from PC," going on to add, "PC has become less important" for Sony under the current leadership.

Schrier brought up Insomniac's Wolverine, which is due for release this September on PS5, citing it as an example of Sony's new strategy — that game may never come out on PC. "I'm not sure how successful those PC releases were," said Schrier, implying that they didn't sell well enough to justify keeping first-party titles on the platform. Sony can afford to lose that audience to focus on fortifying its home base.

That audience has been very vocal about this development online. Scouring through a few subreddits presents wildly different perspectives on Sony's purported decision. Zooming in on r/pcmasterrace, the comments unanimously infer they would never buy a console and that Sony has foolishly given up the chance to potentially recoup their investment via a PC release. That's precisely the point.

Not everyone has a competent gaming PC, and many can't build one these days, even if they wanted to. Consoles are still a significantly cheaper entry point (barring online play fees), and Sony wants to ensure people make the jump quicker and more easily, not leaving the option open that PS5 prestige will eventually land on PC. The audience that's open to exploring different platforms is Sony's fishing ground.

The timing of the decision makes sense when you look around the gaming landscape. Nintendo is an indirect competitor, and Xbox seems pretty much done for with Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond leaving the outfit. Sony has no real rival except for PC, and with a global component crisis, even that seems to have sorted itself out for now. Valve's upcoming console-esque Steam Machine is not even in the same price bracket.

With the next-gen Xbox essentially being a PC, PlayStation wants to stand tall as the only option (left) in its class. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume the Japanese giant doesn't want people on the Green Team easily playing its first-party exclusives, no matter the nuances of the platform. The PS5-PC "Cross-Buy" feature we reported on earlier also seems to have been cancelled now. In addition, Sony recently shut down Bluepoint Games, its in-house remaster/remake specialist.

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Hassam Nasir
Contributing Writer

Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.

  • usertests
    If NextBox ends up as a PC with multiple storefronts instead of a walled garden, then competing directly with that offers no benefits to Sony.
    Reply
  • Dementoss
    I play on PC and, PC only. If Sony's games aren't available, meh, don't care. The last Sony game I played was Everquest 2 and, as Everquest Next never materialized, that's the way it has stayed.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    usertests said:
    If NextBox ends up as a PC with multiple storefronts instead of a walled garden, then competing directly with that offers no benefits to Sony.
    If that happens then sony doesn't have anything with which they could compete...a few exclusives are not going to change anything, on the other hand MS could stop releasing COD for the PS if sony tries to keep exclusives....
    Reply
  • Blacksad999
    Silly decision all around, if true.

    When those games release on PC, it's simply a ton extra revenue for them. They've already gone through their release cycle, and have largely sold what they're going to sell. 90% of game sales are within the first 90 days.

    They're just leaving money on the table, and getting a ROI for AAA games that cost 300-500 million to produce is difficult when you're relegated to only one corner of the gaming market.

    Sony's position with PC, and how they delay the releases, is flawed. Their stated goal is that those PC players will play one of their games, enjoy it, and then promptly rush out to purchase a Playstation. Never, ever going to happen, and it shows a fundamental lack of understanding about the PC gaming market.

    They should just release the games on PC as the same day/date that they do on Playstation so that they can capitalize on their excessively expensive marketing campaigns for both markets. Releasing their games a year, or sometimes years, after the fact once all hype has died down, people have moved on to other things and forgotten about said games, and at which point there are more new and interesting competing titles releasing was always a dumb proposition for getting the best return on investment in the PC market.
    Reply
  • usertests
    TerryLaze said:
    If that happens then sony doesn't have anything with which they could compete...a few exclusives are not going to change anything, on the other hand MS could stop releasing COD for the PS if sony tries to keep exclusives....
    They're widely anticipated to hit a lower price point with the PS6. I expect a $600 PS6, and estimates for a PC-like Xbox Magnus are high, maybe $800-1200, even if sold at cost/loss. Probably in the higher half if the memory crisis is ongoing.

    Xbox is generally in turmoil, as seen with relatively low sales, the Game Pass vision not succeeding as they had hoped, and this week's change in leadership.

    Analyst declares new Xbox console dead, slamming Microsoft for Game Pass price increase
    Sony is in a position of strength, Xbox is going to try a hail mary. I wouldn't bet against exclusives being a good thing for Sony. On the other hand, I have no interest in buying the PS6, but I am interested in a subsidized Xbox gaming PC if Linux et al. can easily be installed on it with no rugpulls.
    Reply
  • Blacksad999
    usertests said:
    They're widely anticipated to hit a lower price point with the PS6. I expect a $600 PS6, and estimates for a PC-like Xbox Magnus are high, maybe $800-1200, even if sold at cost/loss. Probably in the higher half if the memory crisis is ongoing.

    Xbox is generally in turmoil, as seen with relatively low sales, the Game Pass vision not succeeding as they had hoped, and this week's change in leadership.

    Analyst declares new Xbox console dead, slamming Microsoft for Game Pass price increase
    Sony is in a position of strength, Xbox is going to try a hail mary. I wouldn't bet against exclusives being a good thing for Sony. On the other hand, I have no interest in buying the PS6, but I am interested in a subsidized Xbox gaming PC if Linux et al. can easily be installed on it with no rugpulls.

    Yeah, I don't care about the console market or the lame "console wars". I haven't owned a console since the PS2, 26 years ago. This is a, fundamentally, PC gaming and hardware website, so I imagine most other people don't care either.
    Reply
  • LordVile
    usertests said:
    They're widely anticipated to hit a lower price point with the PS6. I expect a $600 PS6, and estimates for a PC-like Xbox Magnus are high, maybe $800-1200, even if sold at cost/loss. Probably in the higher half if the memory crisis is ongoing.

    Xbox is generally in turmoil, as seen with relatively low sales, the Game Pass vision not succeeding as they had hoped, and this week's change in leadership.

    Analyst declares new Xbox console dead, slamming Microsoft for Game Pass price increase
    Sony is in a position of strength, Xbox is going to try a hail mary. I wouldn't bet against exclusives being a good thing for Sony. On the other hand, I have no interest in buying the PS6, but I am interested in a subsidized Xbox gaming PC if Linux et al. can easily be installed on it with no rugpulls.
    If Xbox can release a competent PC at 800 I’d expect a lot of PC gamers would consider it considering he current cost of hardware.
    Reply
  • txfeinbergs
    If the games aren't available on PC, then Sony isn't going to get my money. Simple as that. I won't buy one of their inferior consoles.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    usertests said:
    They're widely anticipated to hit a lower price point with the PS6. I expect a $600 PS6,
    Maybe with a 10 year PSN+ subscription at full price...
    There is exactly 0% chance of a $600 PS6 otherwise, if sony could do that they would do it for the ps5 already to get more users and more sales.
    Well ok, second option if it's just a terminal and is streaming the games like the stadia.
    Reply
  • usertests
    TerryLaze said:
    Maybe with a 10 year PSN+ subscription at full price...
    There is exactly 0% chance of a $600 PS6 otherwise, if sony could do that they would do it for the ps5 already to get more users and more sales.
    Well ok, second option if it's just a terminal and is streaming the games like the stadia.
    Digital Edition has a $399 MSRP, and you're saying there's ZERO chance of $600 MSRP for the PS6? Nah.

    If it's delayed to 2028-2029 as some suggest, it could be released after RAM/storage prices decline.
    Reply

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