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- Sony seems to be at a crossroads regarding its current multiplatform strategy.
- The company hasn’t announced an official PC port since last year’s TLOU Part 2.
- PC ports generate decent profits, but they can somewhat affect console sales.
In 2020, Sony released its first-ever PS4 exclusive port on PC, marking the beginning of a shift in the industry. Due to massive budgets, multiplatform has become essential for maximizing profits from the investments made during development.
Sony still hasn’t been too aggressive with its policy as its exclusives release only on PC, and that too after it’s been on the PS5 for at least a year. Xbox, on the other hand, has gone all out, even porting games to PlayStation.
In hindsight, the multiplatform strategy looks like the perfect way forward, as it guarantees much more game sales, but there is a major downside to it, especially if you are companies like Microsoft or Sony that make consoles as well.
So, while the game sales are boosted, it comes at the cost of low hardware sales. This has been one of the reasons for Xbox’s huge decline in the market, as it just managed to sell a reported 1 million Xbox Series S units in 2025.
At one point, it seemed that PC would be the promised land for PlayStation’s further growth; however, it’s been almost a year, and Sony hasn’t announced any new first-party PC ports since The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered.
While it did launch Stellar Blade on PC and is technically a PlayStation-published title, the game comes from the Korean studio Shift Up, which is a separate entity and doesn’t fall under PlayStation Studios.
Why it matters: The recent silence suggests PlayStation might have pivoted away from releasing its games on PC and wants to keep them in the walled garden, which it had kept for so many years before.
A Year Of Silence
While this might not be the definitive end of Sony launching its exclusives on PC, they certainly seem to be headed in that direction.
Astro Bot won the prestigious Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2024. That presented Sony with an excellent opportunity to port the game to PC and maximize sales. Even Expedition 33’s sales got a boost when it won.
Let’s go a few years back and analyze more popular names. Demon’s Souls, released in 2020, is perhaps among the most demanded ports, but Sony has kept it exclusive to its hardware. The same applies to Bloodborne.
Gran Turismo 7 perfectly complements Microsoft’s racing game, Forza Horizon 5. It could be a perfect PC title, but it has also been kept PlayStation-locked. Uncharted 4 got a port, but the trilogy never came to PC either.
Even Sony’s latest and greatest title, Ghost of Yotei, doesn’t seem to have a PC port planned for any time soon, based on the lack of information. It could’ve been a good idea, considering its sales couldn’t really take off.
Revenue Vs Hardware Conflict
Sony has released most of the PS4’s games on PC at this point. When they initially released, they seemed like a great idea. Horizon: Zero Dawn was the first port, and it was a massive success, outlining a bright future for Sony on PC.
It continued with a couple of other releases, and God of War recorded excellent figures as well, but then the hype died down. According to reports, PC ports accounted for roughly 3.4% of total PlayStation revenue in 2024.
It still accounted for billions, but it is significantly short of the amount of revenue Sony had expected. Sony stated that the PC ports aren’t that expensive to make, so they continued to develop them regardless.
But this seems to have placed them at a crossroads: to maximize revenue through PC ports or concentrate on hardware. PlayStation CEO Herman Hulst made it clear that their tentpole titles are meant for PS5 only.
So, unlike Microsoft, hardware is Sony’s priority, and that makes sense too, as PS5 has been a huge success, selling over 84 million units so far. They wouldn’t want to sacrifice their hardware for slightly more revenue from Steam.
Is The Experiment Over?
It is improbable that Sony will completely give up on PC. Day-and-date PC releases are crucial for multiplayer expansion, as evidenced by live-service games like Helldivers 2. However, the PC honeymoon phase may be ending for the brand’s defining single-player games.
The lack of announcements over the past year is a loud statement. It implies that Sony has examined the data and determined that safeguarding the PS5 environment is more important than the additional revenue a PC port generates.
So, unfortunately, for PC players who have been waiting for Demon’s Souls or Bloodborne, the wait may now be endless.
What are your thoughts on this matter? Do you wish Sony to continue marking PC ports? Let us know your opinions in the comments or join the discussion at the official Tech4Gamers Forum.
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News Reporter
Abdullah is an avid gamer who primarily plays single-player titles. If you can’t find him anywhere, he’ll probably be at his desk playing The Witcher 3 for the millionth time. When he isn’t playing games, he’s either reading or writing about them.
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