Since the release of the PlayStation 5 all the way back in 2020, Sony's strategy around first party games has shifted. Instead of maintaining a library of games exclusive to their consoles, they opted for a period of exclusivity, typically around two years, with a more widespread PC release following. Though a fantastic move in terms of larger gaming accessibility, it has lead to many avoiding the PlayStation platform altogether, with the lack of truly exclusive games taking away from a lot of the value it previously had. According to a Bloomberg however, this strategy may be about to change.

Sources familiar with Sony's plans have indicated their major single-player titles will be remaining exclusive, with online-focused titles like Marathon still seeing a more widespread release. There is yet to be an official statement from Sony on the topic, with Ghost of Yotei being the latest release that could be impacted by this change.

Source (via Digital Trends)

 

[subcon959]

So nobody at Sony realised that to get people to stay on the platform there has to be games for them to play? That explains so much about this console generation.

 

[AkiraKurusu]

Goddamnit, NO.

Don't you morons realise that putting your games on Steam results in more people buying them? Especially GOOD ones like Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man/Spider-Man: Miles Morales?

There's a lot of people who won't buy a console but do have a decent PC already, so if you morons restrict your games to your console they won't buy your games - whereas they really might have bought them if they were on PC.
Like, for example, me. My last Sony console was the PS4 Pro - the PS5 has never been appealing, and likely never will be, whilst I've definitely bought Tsushima, the Spider-Man duo, and the Persona games (and Metaphor: ReFantazio) through Steam. I'd happily buy more good Sony games if they were on Steam, too - but never on PS Store, because I don't have the console.

Sure, okay, keep them exclusive for your console - for a year or two only. THEN release them on Steam! I don't mind waiting; I've got a job and plenty of old, fantastic games to replay.

 

[Scarlet]

So nobody at Sony realised that to get people to stay on the platform there has to be games for them to play? That explains so much about this console generation.

It kinda sucks to be honest. The model they have now is solid on paper for basically giving people a platform for early access with some fantastic titles. I guess they just didn’t have enough eyes on their own systems from it in the end.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed that we at least get Yotei on PC, but if not I guess I might be picking up a console down the line lol

 

[Vixi]

Goddamnit, NO.

Don't you morons realise that putting your games on Steam results in more people buying them? Especially GOOD ones like Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man/Spider-Man: Miles Morales?

There's a lot of people who won't buy a console but do have a decent PC already, so if you morons restrict your games to your console they won't buy your games - whereas they really might have bought them if they were on PC.
Like, for example, me. My last Sony console was the PS4 Pro - the PS5 has never been appealing, and likely never will be, whilst I've definitely bought Tsushima, the Spider-Man duo, and the Persona games (and Metaphor: ReFantazio) through Steam. I'd happily buy more good Sony games if they were on Steam, too - but never on PS Store, because I don't have the console.

Sure, okay, keep them exclusive for your console - for a year or two only. THEN release them on Steam! I don't mind waiting; I've got a job and plenty of old, fantastic games to replay.

PC players were a small portion of sales apparently.

 

[AkiraKurusu]

It kinda sucks to be honest. The model they have now is solid on paper for basically giving people a platform for early access with some fantastic titles. I guess they just didn’t have enough eyes on their own systems from it in the end.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed that we at least get Yotei on PC, but if not I guess I might be picking up a console down the line lol

Honestly, I'd never recommend Yotei, personally; the main lead is nowhere near as interesting or well-written as Jin Sakai was.

The only PS-exclusive game I have mild interest in is Astro Bot, frankly. Nothing else is even remotely worth it.

 

[Scarlet]

Honestly, I'd never recommend Yotei, personally; the main lead is nowhere near as interesting or well-written as Jin Sakai was.

I assumed you’d never recommend it either way with the protagonist being female lol

 

[AkiraKurusu]

PC players were a small portion of sales apparently.

If they're "a small portion of sales", then how were they enough to take eyes away from their console...?
Like, that makes no sense to me; a minority customer base shouldn't be enough to doom your console, and they're still customers too, so why not keep them as customers? As income?

 

[GothicIII]

Wow such a surprise. PCs are so much more powerful than consoles.

I'd rather play with real pathtracing, 240fps and graphics on Ultra than having a shitshow with 60fps top (most games "don't support" 120fps), bad frame pacing and low to mid graphics quality.
At least they spend the console a nvme so the loading times are not atrociously long like it was on monster hunter world PS4. 1 min lobby loading vs 5 seconds on PC.
Maybe next time they will spend a potent GPU, too so it is at least a slight competition to midclass PCs.

I bet you get for 500$ a much faster GPU for your old PC than the console you'd buy with it.

 

[AkiraKurusu]

I assumed you’d never recommend it either way with the protagonist being female lol

The reasons I wouldn't recommend it:
The protagonist isn't as well-written or interesting as Jin Sakai; I refuse to support Erika Ishii, and she's not even of Asian descent unlike Daisuke Tsuji (Jin's mocap actor) so she doesn't fit visually; and considering the time period and natural biological differences between men and women, a female protagonist overcoming numerous male enemies is unrealistic and unbelievable.

 

[Robert Newbie]

What surprises me is that Sony's interested in building the brand.

They went through a long ride. Underdogs to fan-favorite big dogs to unpopular institution. I recall thinking they did quite a bit to boost their PS4 exclusives library, but the PS5 is infamously under-supported.

I understand that many will be disappointed that PC ports are going to dwindle, but Sony is probably thinking the Nintendo way (if I may call it that): Big exclusives people want to buy their consoles for. The execution of this plan is where the real questions are: Will they make quality exclusives? Is there more money in their PC ports that they're dismissing for the sake of console sales (and no Steam/Epic/etc. royalties)? Are they going to rebuild the brand?


TL;DR: Sony's actually doing something for Sony and the PS brand. Will they follow through?

 

[MRJPGames]

Goddamnit, NO.

Don't you morons realise that putting your games on Steam results in more people buying them? Especially GOOD ones like Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man/Spider-Man: Miles Morales?

There's a lot of people who won't buy a console but do have a decent PC already, so if you morons restrict your games to your console they won't buy your games - whereas they really might have bought them if they were on PC.
Like, for example, me. My last Sony console was the PS4 Pro - the PS5 has never been appealing, and likely never will be, whilst I've definitely bought Tsushima, the Spider-Man duo, and the Persona games (and Metaphor: ReFantazio) through Steam. I'd happily buy more good Sony games if they were on Steam, too - but never on PS Store, because I don't have the console.

Sure, okay, keep them exclusive for your console - for a year or two only. THEN release them on Steam! I don't mind waiting; I've got a job and plenty of old, fantastic games to replay.

I think from Sony's POV having people buy their console is still better than buying the game on another platform. Simple because that will get more people to own the console. Which will have them instead of Valve take the cut on every other game purchased for the PlayStation.

Obviously not the best for the consumer, but what is most profitable is rarely the best for the consumer.

 

[Marc_LFD]

That's why people buy Nintendo's consoles, to play their exclusives. Duh.

Sony releasing their exclusives on PC gives folks no reason to buy a PS5 and they make matters even worse when they always recycle the same games with a newer edition. Last of Us Part 1: Ultra Mega Definitive Edition in 16K.

MotorStorm Trilogy?? Yeah, I wish. Killzone?? Yeah, good luck. Ratchet & Clank?? Nope. Sly?? Nope.

 

[orangy57]

Not a fan of exclusivity. I keep hearing "the xbox lost this gen because they didn't have any exclusives!!" Like GOOD I dont want exclusives I don't care about who wins each generation

 

[tech3475]

I think from Sony's POV having people buy their console is still better than buying the game on another platform. Simple because that will get more people to own the console. Which will have them instead of Valve take the cut on every other game purchased for the PlayStation.

Obviously not the best for the consumer, but what is most profitable is rarely the best for the consumer.

Also results in people buying accessories, subscriptions, etc.

 

[YoureALoser]

If they're "a small portion of sales", then how were they enough to take eyes away from their console...?
Like, that makes no sense to me; a minority customer base shouldn't be enough to doom your console, and they're still customers too, so why not keep them as customers? As income?

You're absolutely clueless on this subject. A minority customer base hasn't doomed Playstation consoles. The only reason Sony even releases their games on PC is because of how easy it is. They're not making a big profit from releasing their games on PC. They would make more of a profit by keeping their software exclusive to their hardware. Sony does not want to become a complete failure like Microsoft. Look at what happened to Microsoft when they stopped having exclusives on their consoles. Why do you think Microsoft now intends to stop releasing all of their games on PC & instead focus on console exclusives? Why do you think Nintendo refuses to release their games on other platforms? Software sells hardware, hardware does not sell software. People like you would run a gaming company straight into the ground like Phil Spencer did with Xbox.

 

[Moe87]

It would be backfired for Sony - strictly PC gamers aren't going to buy their games and their PS5.

There are my friends who are strictly PC gamers told me that they will not buy PS5 at all, even no matter about how great are exclusive games.

PS5 sold more than PS3, so it should be satisfactory for Sony.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Not a fan of exclusivity. I keep hearing "the xbox lost this gen because they didn't have any exclusives!!" Like GOOD I dont want exclusives I don't care about who wins each generation

With Halo, Gears, and Forza being released on PC/PS5 there's hardly any reason now for anyone to buy an Xbox. Plus, it looks like M$ just wants to kill off the Xbox brand, anyway.

OG Xbox was ahead of its time and I really liked it, it was sort of Dreamcast 2... But the best Xbox? Xbox 360.

Xbox One X is a great little console for BC and a few XO exclusives worth picking up.

 

[DbGt]

good decision. Without exclusives, consoles have no purpose to exist. I didnt buy a ps5 exactly because it has no exclusives

 

[DragonMals]

Instead of maintaining a library of games exclusive to their consoles, they opted for a period of exclusivity, typically around two years, with a more widespread PC release following.

many avoiding the PlayStation platform altogether

While I don't play a huge chunk of modern PlayStation games, I can see this on the perspective of this being a good thing to keep the PS5 revelant in modern console discussion but also a detriment to those that want to play what previously used to be their exclusives on PC. By putting more of their games on PC, it allows for more reach, since unlike Nintendo which wouldn't fit on other systems (for me personally), Sony and even Microsoft doesn't really feel like they need to keep things exclusive anymore. If it's for the sake of people not purchasing their systems though, then I can understand a little bit of the approach. I do hope they revise this however since there's a good chunk of players who play on PC nowadays since that's pretty much the definitive system in terms of raw gaming power.