PlayStation Hopes PC Releases Get People to Buy a PS5

PlayStation's future CEO outlines how the company is approaching PC games.

By Marc Deschamps

Over the last few years, PlayStation has increasingly been bringing its games over to PC. Titles like Marvel's Spider-Man, Days Gone, and Ghost of Tsushima have made the jump, but all of those options came to PC long after their initial release on consoles. Helldivers 2 actually did release simultaneously on PlayStation 5 and Steam, but it seems the company's live service games will be the exception, not the rule. During a PlayStation business briefing (via Tom Warren), PlayStation's future co-CEO Herman Hulst discussed this strategy, and his hope that it will convince PC users to invest in a PS5 for future games. 

"Indeed, we are bringing our titles to the PC platform and we have a dual approach here. On the live service side, we are releasing our titles simultaneously, so day and date on PlayStation 5 and PC," said Hulst. "But with our tentpole titles, our single player or narrative-driven titles that are, as you saw in the presentation, the backbone of what PlayStation Studios has delivered in recent years and in our history, we take a more strategic approach, and we introduce our great franchises to new audiences, and we're finding new audiences that are potentially going to be very interested in playing, for example, sequels on the PlayStation platform." 

Are PlayStation's PC Games Helping or Hurting?

When PlayStation started to bring its games over to PC, one of the biggest complaints from fans was that the move could lessen the appeal of the company's consoles, and sales of the PS5. There haven't been any real signs that's happened, of course, and part of that could be the company's current approach; while PlayStation's games seem to be selling quite well on Steam, those sales seem to be additive. 

It's hard to say whether any PC users are actually going to go buy a PS5 after playing Marvel's Spider-Man on Steam just to play the sequel. It seems more likely that they'll wait it out until PlayStation eventually brings Marvel's Spider-Man 2 over. However, PlayStation is clearly thinking about the best approach here, and how it can use PC releases as an extra revenue source. As PlayStation makes moves to cut development costs and bring up profits, Hulst is clearly thinking about long term growth on top of short term, and that's not something a lot of other tech companies can say at the moment. 

Don't Expect Day and Date PlayStation Games on PC

PlayStation's approach to PC gaming is significantly different from Xbox Game Studios, where all games are releasing day and date on Xbox Series X|S and PC. However, there have been indications that Xbox's approach to making its first-party games widely available is doing more harm than good. Given that, it's no surprise that PlayStation is approaching things differently, and anyone hoping to see a similar model from Sony is out of luck. If anyone wants to play PlayStation's "tentpole titles" as soon as possible, they'll have to buy a PS5. 

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How do you feel about PlayStation's approach to PC ports? Do you think this strategy is working? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: PC Gamer]

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