Sony Returns to PlayStation Exclusivity and Stops Single Player PC Ports, New Report Says

Live service games will still be ported

So the rumored Concord PC port might still happen.

Wise decision. The strength and value of a console brand is more important than the extra bit of revenue gained from porting games to PC. Sony's in a position where it should always strive to be more like Nintendo than Microsoft when it comes to exclusives.

We're healing everyone.

Excellent news. I will always champion PlayStation Studios first-party single-player games staying exclusive to PlayStation consoles. Very few people cause drama when Nintendo games are exclusive to Nintendo consoles, yet when PlayStation does the same thing, it's labeled as "anti-consumer" by some. Cry me a damn river.

@Oram77 God bless whoever that faction is within PlayStation that thought going to PC dilutes their identity.

It's a smart business move. Even I was planning to buy a gaming PC for next Gen and not get the new PlayStation in spite of having every single PlayStation console still hooked up and having hundreds of physical games throughout all system.

Most of my friends that still game got gaming PCs and got rid of their PS5s or they're collecting dust.

Now I'll probably get the new PlayStation system. Also, hope they start coming out with more single player games. Because there have not been many this generation.

The PC crowd is crying and moaning about this but it makes total sense from Sony's point of view. They diluted their brand and now they're reigning it in.

Good. This only drives competition. And competition creates better games.

I knew they were terrified of that xbox strategy lol. Honestly, after steam users mass rejected a PSN requirement it was inevitable. Of course, this would feel like more of a loss if they actually published single player games. I know that they have been drip feeding us, but none of the games released have jumped out at me. I'll probably buy wolverine, but nothing else interests me personally

@Fiendish-Beaver i agree i think exclusivity is an important feature for consoles and what draws a lot of people to each brand.
Id like to see Xbox return to exclusive games, but fear it’s too late for them.

Hopefully this puts an end to PC Supremacist fanboys being so annoying.

Nixxes will be gone with a year or two.

Great news. Long live the exclusives! I hope this signals that they are more focused on new singleplayer games.

GaaS = downfall

This statement + Shift Up wanting to self-publish Stellar Blade's sequel is starting to add up so its not exclusive to PlayStation. I'd say the writing was on the wall.

Between this and the news of the Bloodborne remaster rejections, not a good week to be a PC soulsborne fan

Thats what Im talking about. Thats my Sony. Thats my Playstation. I really considered leaving Playstation for PC, even though I owned every Playstation home console.

I wish Microsoft would do the same so I could justify having an Xbox other than just for backwards compatibility. It'll never happen though since the Xbox brand seems to be being led out to pasture gradually.

Lets get "Only on PlayStation" back on the boxes, cmon chop chop lets go

Good, it’s ultimately great for the long term of the PlayStation platform, revenue from PC ports was minuscule and not worth the devaluation of the console in recent years as how many times have we read “you don’t need a console anymore” or “PS5 no games” trolling online?

Finally some course correction clearly brought forward by Nishino.

I'm glad the higher ups are aware of the threat that both the next Xbox and Steam Machine poses where they were being set up to weaponise their own 1st party games against their own platform.

Really hope this change in strategy doesn't result in Nixxes getting shut down.

@Meowmixes98 The PC crowd was VERY loud in demanding Sony games on PC, but for the most part they didn’t actually buy their games.

Currently the only way to play playstation games in vr (besides gt7), is via mod on pc. If then sony uses the "saved" resources to instead add VR modes to some of the games on ps5 I would be more than happy.

@RBMango believe it or not, there is a pretty vocal audience that wanted Nintendo to put games on PC and other consoles .

I think the upcoming Steam and Xbox consoles is the main reason why they are scaling back, it would be a disaster if Microsoft announces "Wolverine and TLOU 3 now playable on your new Xbox Series YZ!".

Surprised it took them this long, those pc sales were dreadfully low
Only porting their live service outings is mad 😂

This is actually a smart move. If you look at the data Sonys single player games sales on pc were hardly enough to even justify the ports. At the same time porting everything to pc would just encourage people to buy a pc instead of investing into Sonys consoles.

That is extremely disappointing. But then again, I suppose that's a common thing with Sony these days, unfortunately.

I agree with a lot of people here and think that this has been prompted by the fact that the next Xbox and Steam Machine would be able to play PlayStation games.

Kinda funny since Capcom said over 50% of the 5 million sales for RE9 were on pc and they're glad they're shifting more towards pc due to how strong the sales are there.

But I guess this means Nixxes will likely close due to them being bought to help with pc ports.

After a lifetime of seeing "PC Master Race" garbage, I'm not losing any sleep over this one.

So does that mean Nixxes Software is the next PS studio to be axed?

This is a great move. Sony is starting to realize what drives their fan base to the console brand itself. Plus, they weren’t getting enough revenue from single player games on PC, at least not enough to satiate the need to shift in that direction.

Hulst finally has a new studio to close, Nixxes, which was acquired to port PS exclusives to PC.

Hulst learned from Ryan, who closed London Studio (were he worked for some time) basically on his last day before retirement.

Personally I don't mind if Sony go this route BUT I would want them to continue to produce PC ports for game series that have already had them. It's terrible when a series you've supported becomes unavailable on the console/pc you've always played it on.

right, so after 5 years of going in the wrong direction, sony is suddenly listening to the fans' concerns about the brand?

i don't buy that argument. sony hasn't listened to the core fans about anything this entire generation and couldn't care less what we think. sony is scared of steam machines and its pc ports have been a big disappointment. that is what this reversal is about. i'll believe it when i see it.

now, if only sony could learn a lesson or two about service games, get its pricing back down to earth and create some games with fresh ideas again...

The world is healing! I was planning on ditching PlayStation and now I’m
Buying ps6. See how simple this market is.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Even as a primary PC gamer I welcome this news. Yes I had a good run of picking up PS games for my rig, but I stand by my firm belief that a game consoles strength, for a number of reasons, lies in its exclusives. It's why I buy them.

So I guess I was right about Sony closing a loophole allowing Xbox access to PS exclusives should the Microsoft hybrid console with Steam functionality come to fruition.

@Dr_ENT possibly. it doesn't look good for that studio unless they can turn them into a support studio rather than a porting house.

Now get rid of PS+ 'requirements' for basic functionality and we'll be cookin.

I'm not a fan of exclusivity though. My preference is similar to how Sony has operated... deliver a fully optimized/polished first party game on first party hardware first, then port it over to the others. Too many other studios just publish unoptimized slop when they start out as multiplatform.

It was one of the many reasons I got a pc in the 1st place. I mean I'm not just gonna drop it now that I have it lol, but if saros and yotei do stay exclusive then I'm obviously playing them on the ps5 and I don't mind one bit

Now that they've established they should have exclusives, they should start making another astro bot and infamous 😩

I think for Sony the next Xbox is less of a concern, even if it's a PC with an Xbox sticker that plays Steam and Epic games, and who knows when it will release and at which price.

Their bigger problem is Valve's Steam Machine, a console-like gaming PC which connects to your TV, has more exclusives from indie developers by default, has cheaper games and doesn't require a subscription for online gaming.

Good decision! Will sell more consoles even if people mainly play elsewhere. Focus on making plenty of great single player games pushing the PS5 to it's limit to keep PS brand strong

Nixxes also work as a support studio mainly handling UX and accessibility, they probably won't be going away since Sony is also all in in that stuff.

MS and Xbox fans will not like this 😂😂😂

Either way i don't care i shell stay with PS until its no longer a thing if that ever happens.

Is this like the 3rd article about the same topic? 😆

@TrollOfWar I think costing 2-3x as much will put a big damper on that.

Schreier's sources "cautioned that things could change in the future due to the unpredictable nature of the video-game industry and that Sony’s plans are constantly shifting."

Something tells me that, after Sony fails miserably to increase PlayStation console market share by a significant margin, they'll go back to doing PC ports 5 years from now.

This is not gonna go the way they think it is, especially not when the PS6 will be more expensive than ever before.

Where does this leave Nixxes then?

That’s what my Pro is for.

The "PlayStation has no games" crowd sure are quiet today

@wildcat_kickz just put them on porting PS3 games over

doesnt sound very consumer friendly

honestly i thought this was always the plan that they would put some games on pc , and then say if you want to play the sequels or new games you'll need a playstation.

@Meowmixes98 Highly doubt it

@Rob_230 they'll still have plenty of work to do, pretty sure they did the port of horizon zero dawn to ps5 , and that came out amazing.

@Toot1st

How so? Exclusives and consoles have always gone hand in hand. Just because Microsoft are trying to change that paradigm doesn't mean Sony and/or Nintendo have to follow suit. 🤷

@Toot1st It's their games, they can do what they want with them

Good. A console needs its exklusives.

Given Microsoft Xbox's new leadership I wonder if they'll now shift the goalposts in light of this news?

I'm not sure it's enough for me. It really depends on whether there's still a physical option. The overriding factor for me personally is that if I'm being forced into digital for modern releases then I'm going Steam all the way.

This definitely shows that Sony have considered they might have underestimated how important good exclusive games are for a lot of people.

@Oram77 On this we agree 😁

@spikes91 @Toot1st
Good. Sony took decades building the best 1st party portfolio out of any company. By no means should our games land on xbox when they go pc/console hybrid next gen. I don't mind PC getting the TLOU's or Horizon's of our world, after they've been out for 5yrs or so. But sorry PC players, if you don't like it, then go talk to xbox for F'in this all up.

@Greifchen speaking of exclusives, nice avatar by the way. I can't wait

@StitchJones

You just repeated yourself, buddy.

Heartbreak Ridge. Great film by the way.

'They adapted, they overcame'

@Czar_Khastik exclusive to pc

@Gemini53 yeah i wanted to reply, forgot to insert replies, thought i deleted after inserting replies, but turns out i didn't delete, therefore i repeated lol. im sure we've all done this once.

"Swede, Swede, Swede, Swede. Sweeeeddddee?????. "Put your chin up. Higher." (powwww!!!!!)

Another factor mentioned in the report is how Microsoft's next Xbox console will be more of a PC than a traditional games system, which allows it to access multiple storefronts. This puts it in a position where it could theoretically play PlayStation-published games.

So cut off your nose to spite your face. Got it 👍

Well damn, I was one of the PC players happily playing Sony games on Steam. My PC had pretty much effectively become a PlayStation as I primarily use it to play games that I can’t access on my Xbox. So this’ll definitely impact me a lot.

Will have to see how this plays out. I doubt this will make a huge difference to hardware sales. The huge lag and variable gap between titles launching on console and PC means those remotely interested in PlayStation already have the hardware (I have both PC and PS5). I also suspect exclusive first party titles will be under slightly more pressure to hit sales milestones and justify their development.

I do think Sony have been a bit fortunate that Xbox have put themselves in a position where they need to bring their first party titles to PlayStation. Sony suddenly have a slew of extra games to fill any gaps in their own first party output.

Lastly, if I were anyone working at nixxes I’d be slightly concerned about my long term future with the studio.

THANK GOD ! They finally came to their senses. Now fire Hermen Hulst and all is well.

I like the option of being able to play on PC if I choose to, but it did meant there was less incentive to buy a PS5. Obviously, Sony crunched the numbers on whether it made business sense or not for them.

Pc games haven't been taking advantage of the exquisite library offered up so their should be little complaining no it's being stopped

The world is healing. But seriously, reading this news makes me want to buy Saros and Sons of Sparta way before i planned because:

They seem really damn fun games

I really want to support Sony, by showing them that they don't need to put these games on PC anymore (don't care about the live service games and never will)

There's so many reasons to enjoy being a PS5 gamer now

PS5 will last until 2028-2029? That's great

Games like Kingdom Come Deliverance and Divinity 2 having a native PS5 port only makes me enjoy gaming on console more and more, and let's not forget ports of amazing games like South of Midnight and Avowed coming to PS5

Wolverine, GTA VI and Saros this year? Damn, 2026 will be a fun year for us, PS5 bros

Honestly, I think this is a good idea! By doing so, it'll keep Sony in check im regards to single player game quality so to speak. After all, they want their console to sell!

Well its about time , they dont sell well anyway, i remember when God of war was released on pc and there was 575k people downloading it at one point on a torrent site

I don't like exclusivity. It would be better for gamers if games can be played anywhere. Well, at least for the ones not married to one ecosystem.

@themaladroit I agreed with everything you said , then you spoilt it by mentioning avowed ,and I was a little sick in my mouth 😂

Wise choice Sony now make sum decent games to shift some more PS5's.

@Rjak well I want a free laptop with a mobile phone but I cant get one because its exclusive to new customers , I also want to watch knight of the seven kingdoms on netflix , but guess what.......😏

@Oram77 wait. “We’re healing everyone”? Including the terrorists?

@Olskeezy What competition tho? Nintendo is basically in their own corner, and Playstation is the only mid-high-end console. This is more about milking money than driving competition. They can now charge whatever they want knowing that the only place you can buy their games is on their platform with massively inflected pricing just like Nintendo; vs when you could buy them on PC from multiple open store fronts that had pricing from as low as $40-$70.

So schmart Sony, so very schmart. Pff

Good news. It’s not like there are that many games to port yet, or that many first-party exclusives released each year anyway.

But sure, let’s hope for more single-player games too.

@lazarus11 haha I'm genuinely interested in this game. Might as well give it a try when it's on sale. I'm enjoying Grounded so much (also made by Obsidian) that I'm willing to give them a chance with this one 😆

I welcome this shift. They will prioritise the console again. They're making the right moves overall too with the first parties coming back again and the live services being handled smarter.

Good, now start doing games worth a damn.

I clocked this recently lmao, love when I manifest my delusions into reality! Again, for the hundredth time, their games sold POORLY on PC, with Uncharted being an absolute flop. Expect the PCMR weirdos to have a meltdown over this, because it's ANTIII CONSUMERRRRR DUUURRRR!1!!!, but it's not anti consumer when alpha and beta tests for games are only PC, not to mention a lot of other decent titles being PC only...
Glad they have come to their senses, single play first party studio games ARE YOUR FLAGSHIP JUGGERNAUTS that sell consoles Sony!

@anoyonmus Emulator people are throwing a fit today because they found out Pokopia is practically impossible to crack for PC.

I still think it’s a bit sad that we’re not sharing the love with PC, but if the ports ain’t selling, it’s not worth it.

Excellent new, they’re finally starting to move in the right direction.
The PC market is unpleasant and very vocal when it comes to complaining, but then they don’t buy the games or they pirate them.

Strengthen the brand, focus on the console, and keep reigning.

@KoopaTheGamer Disappointing for not making back the money they spent just porting the game to PC? Guurl... If they were ACTUALLY making a sh*t ton of cash from PC, they wouldn't have done this. Sure a couple of their titles, Days Gone being an example have sold reasonably well but again, those numbers are really miniscule, less than 10% of their income compared to console users. So again, how is this "disappointing"? They want their single player games to remain exclusive so that they can sell more consoles and units because we actually buy Sony's first party titles...

Good job hermen!

@AverageGamer it’s been proven time and time again that even if there is no competition, there is no guarantee something will sell well.

@themaladroit ps5 will be part of a cross gen strategy with ps6 and be supported until 2035 more like it.

xbox fans are in tears at this news..

Sony: “Games cost way too much to make and this strategy isn’t financially viable long term.”

Also Sony: “We’re going to limit the amount of money we can make by only releasing our games in one place.”

This isn't the good news people think it is sadly lmao

A seemingly rare sensical decision in this industry for once. Next I’d like to see the end of the live service chase and a recommitment to creating the greatest single player games in the history of humankind. Here’s also some unsolicited advice for Microsoft: (1) Commit to the Series X the next five years, (2) cease Series S manufacturing , (3) drop the parity requirement, (4) sunset Game Pass, (5) offer Xbox Live subscriptions for online play at 6.99 a month, (6) Offer Xbox Live Gold subscriptions for 9.99 a month. The Gold subscriptions grant two “free” games a month and discount purchases. (7) Commit to exclusivity this will sell Xboxes. (8) Abandon a PC/Console hybrid it will make money for Valve and Epic, it will be a second Steam Machine, and Microsoft will get no cut from Steam transactions. (9) Resist the temptation to offer “services” and focus on making great games, (10) drop the online requirements for single player games, (11) abandon microtransactions in singleplayer games and create player goodwill. All skins and cosmetics should be earnable in-game, unless it’s a multiplayer game. (12) Accept that this business is and always will be a hit-driven business, Hollywood accepted that long ago, move on from denial, and recommit to making and encouraging the creation of great hits.

@StitchJones

Yes it's great film. Cheesy, but better for it.

This is great news, this will strengthen the PlayStation brand. I mean just look at Xbox who went all out down the PC route and now look at them. So anything to avoid becoming like Xbox is a win in my book.

I'd prefer Sony to follow in Nintendo's footsteps who's closed platform has done them wonders.

We ***** won!

Isn’t this the third time you post this news?
Also, I cannot believe the extreme fanboyism on the comments, this is not something good.
These games were not hurting PS5 sales considering these were released a year later.

They should at least still release Yotei and Saros as sequel/spiritual successor to fans already released on PC.

Also I hope Xbox doesn’t follow suit because I like having Xbox games on my PS5.

@IOI You already know those same people are gonna be complaining about this.

Welp no need to wait on an improved pc port for ghost of yotei then. Looks like.my bas eps5 will gazher dust considering that they seem.to focus on the pro so much. Just saw a comparison between resident evil requiem.on ps5 vs pro and it made realise just how bad that impulse buy was. So now both my series x and ps5 are gathering dust. It is absolutely sonys right but it just sucks that they tease us with ports and then take it away. Looks like I'll miss out on saros too as shooters rarely feel good on controller imo.

I'm all for console exclusives. Make more games exclusive to one console. It gives them a unique vibe. Playing a Genesis didn't have the same vibe as playing a Super Nintendo. Even playing the same Resident Evil game just felt different on PlayStation versus Saturn.

About damn time. Shouldn't have ported all those flagship games to PC in the first place.

As someone who doesn't play on PC and wouldn't thank you for a PC if I was given one for free this news doesn't bother me in the slightest.

I'm no expert obviously but prior to reading the article, my immediate thoughts were that it will be because of the next Xbox (potentially) basically being a PC.

@Simu001 You have obviously not played Returnal with a DualSense.

@Member_the_game

and wouldn't thank you for a PC if I was given one for free

That's a shame. I have a gaming PC with an RTX 5090/AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D combo I was giving away...

tsk, guess I'll have to look elsewhere.

@Divergent95 How is this disappointing? Let's start with the fact that gamers have less choice where they want to play their games. Sony is limiting their fanbase by excluding people who own a PC but not consoles. In my opinion it's a clear step backwards.

Now, as a consumer, it doesn't matter much to me whether something is good business or not. However, because of the way that PC works as a platform, games released on PC will stay playable for decades. While initial sales may be slow, they will steadily grow as time goes on. Especially since handheld PCs are slowly gaining traction and hardware is growing stronger, making a PC port with good scalability quite appealing.

I don't care about console/platform wars. I have a PS5 (and Switch 2) but prefer playing on PC because I can play games on my desktop PC or my Steam Deck. I like flexibility, that's all. And I'm honestly baffled how so many people here are taking this as good news. It doesn't hurt anyone one bit if more people get to play Sony's first party games.

Great news! This makes a lot of business sense. It strengthens the brand AND keeps Sony in control of pricing by not having to worry about the MFN clause. I see a lot of people saying, basically, that a sale is a sale. If Sony didn’t have their own console, I might agree. Sony, however, DOES have a console and driving sales away from a profitable console is not smart. Plus, pc people going to whine and bitch and moan but if they weren’t buying the games it’s farting in the wind. Who cares what they think? They had a chance to put their money where their mouth was, and overwhelmingly did not. I game on pc and I always will push for ps5 exclusives. Anybody that thinks that exclusives kill a business, has never heard of a small company called Nintendo…..Bravo Sony! Now, can we discuss other common sense changes?

@Gemini53

Firstly I've no idea what any of that means lol, so Yeah please find someone else who would appreciate it more.

Way to complicated for my liking... I very much prefer the plug in and play aspect of a console.

I'm not into having to tinker around with things

@Gemini53 yeah, its kinda cheezy, the only really good top notch acting was by Eastwood and Mario Van P. Everyone else is just filler roles. One subtle line I always found funny in that movie, is when stich is playing clubs and the announcer is introducing him. He says "back from an awesomely successful tour!!!!"

Lmao, awesomely successful???? The dude got into fights and thrown out of every club he played in the movie hahaha

I am just relieved all those wonderful live service games will be coming to PC lol.

I wonder if this affects their partnership with Babdai Namco.

@Questionable_Duck meh people over on pure xbox thought they where getting spiderman and god of war not so long ago , because of what the 'experts' said , apart from live service games , single player games have no advantage to being on pc , they dont sell well , people pirate them , a pc player isnt going to ditch his platform to buy a PlayStation, also if xbox has steam integration on their next machine , theres not going to be any ps games on there , ps will probably remove the games from sale that exist

@Member_the_game

I was joking. 😂

It's not complicated at all running a gaming PC. Used to be, mind. Pain in the ass in the early days. Since the early 2000s it's been much easier and grown easier to the point that now playing games on a PC is as easy as it is on console - and I regularly game on both.
Anyone who says otherwise is basically either lying or being purposely ignorant, but I just ignore that noise.

@Gemini53 your actually saying pc gaming is the same as playing on console with regards to ease of use, oh my word 😂

@StitchJones

I watched it quite recently actually, (part of my Eastwood DVD movie collection). I think the final third of the movie, when they go into battle, it spirals downward, but other than that a very entertaining film.

@lazarus11

Right on cue...

I'm guessing you're from the "being purposely ignorant camp" amirite?

I expect more ignorant noise from your general direction. Carry on.

@Gemini53

Don't worry I knew you were just kidding, as was I 🤣

But PC gaming does genuinely scare me, I bought myself a fairly high spec Samsung 4K gaming monitor to try to get the best out of my PS5. It cost me around £700 so more than the PS5 itself.

It was stressful enough tinkering with that to get the right settings so the thought of having to maintain and update my own PC gives me all kinds of anxiety that I just don't need in my life.

I have friends who are into it and they know what they're doing but it's just not for me haha

I really hate Sony. Time to never support them again. No loss really

@Member_the_game

You like what you like, and that's what you got to go with.
As I say, though, unless you're building your own rig there's nothing to be scared of. Most people go for custom builds by professionals. All you have to do is plug it in, turn it on, set up your preferences, set up a Steam account, or GoG, or both, and away you go.

I've had no more difficulty setting up a modern PC as I have any modern game console. But I'm not here to turn you to PC gaming. Far from it. You gotta go with what's comfortable for you.

@Porco oh, yes, for sure, no doubt about it. I was talking about PS5 "life cycle" before PS6 comes out, but I'm pretty sure PS5 will last as long as PS4, or even more

Besides the obvious business and brand implications, developing for a single fixed platform is way more efficient than having to design your game and engine around the constraints of a multiplatform release, even if the port is outsourced. This is particularly true when a platform as heterogenous as the PC is added into the mix. Scalability doesn't come cheap.

@Czar_Khastik great 1st comment man 🤣🤣🤣💀💀💀

@SaucyPapi Microsoft will either return to exclusives or exit the console hardware market entirely. There's simply no space for this in-between nonsense they've been playing.

The mask slipped, as I knew it would.

As soon as Xbox was as good as dead, Sony returned to their monopolistic fleecing attitude of the late PS2 era, that resulted in the excessively priced PS3.

You all better get saving every penny you have, because the PS6, it's games, and future PSN pricing are going to give you a kicking.

Sony behave the same way every time they think they can get away with it.

I never understood why you all applauded them at the PS4 announcement, given they were only behaving that way because they'd just been walloped by the 360.

Had Xbox not been around, Sony would have been the ones in bed with big publishers in terms of restricting used game sales and all that jazz.

Sources cautioned that things could change in the future [...] and that Sony’s plans are constantly shifting
So basically nothing's definitive, no one knows for sure, most likely not even management. They're just planning to stop for now, see what Microsoft does, punch some numbers, make some graphs and go from there. Roger!

[...]concern that releasing their games on PC risks damaging the console’s brand and will hurt sales of the PlayStation 5 and its successors
PS5's sales were so low as PC ports were releasing a few per year - I mean 84,5 million units in 5 years is definitely cause for concern, pandemics included for half that time too

Another factor mentioned in the report is how Microsoft's next Xbox console will be more of a PC than a traditional games system, which allows it to access multiple storefronts.
While the 2nd point is plain BS, this 3rd one I believe, and it's most likely tied to the 1st point above.
Fear (for the bottom line ultimately) is making management reticent, resulting in contraction, plain and simple...

I believe it's just a transitional period, until each of them knows the competitor's cards, the new gen plans stabilize and maybe until the new consoles launch.
And even if they do stop for a while in the near future, Sony will revisit the PC ports eventually, especially for what will then be older titles.

I'm fine with continuing with PlayStation despite having a beefy PC now. The single player exclusives are more than worth it. I'll never pay to play online again however.

@Art_Vandelay

Microsoft will either return to exclusives or exit the console hardware market entirely. There's simply no space for this in-between nonsense they've been playing

I agree with this. It strikes me Microsoft attempted to force a paradigm shift in the console market and it hasn't gone quite to plan. One might even say it's been disastrous for the brand. Time will tell I guess.

@Dogbreath I don’t think forgoing 2% of their annual revenue to focus on console will have any effect on the next console price.

I really don't see PC players moving over to PS5 because of this. Seems it's more about preventing PS4/PS5 players from upgrading to PC instead of PS5/PS6.

Great decision you don't see Nintendo doing that I never understood why Sony did in the first place if PC players want a certain game just a ps5 like all of us did exclusives is what make consoles sale look what happen at failbox no exclusives, extreme high price console combined with gamepass=Epic failure
In resume if the PC "medium race"wants yotei or saros, wolverine etc...just buy a ps5 instead of crying "I'm saying I'm not gonna buy a ps5"
Like I said before GTA 6 is coming.....for consoles I wanna see this PC warriors keep saying that they will not buy a ps5
Pfffff...why are you lying bro

First party games should always been Playstation exclusive. Word up son

@cainhurst94 Deserved honestly

@Gemini53 best Eastwood movie for my $$$ is "million dollar baby". I'm not too much into the dirty harry's or the westerns he did. I prefer his more modern drama movies, esp the ones he directed himself. Gran Torino was a good movie as well.

@StitchJones

Million Dollar Baby is good, but so damn depressing.

Good. I also believe the MS strategy of putting games on PS and Nintendo should stop. All it does is devalue the brands. Xbox has shifted nearly 40 million series consoles. That’s a healthy number. Just stop trying to compete with PlayStation numbers and do your own thing Xbox

@KoopaTheGamer I genuinely believe it is. If sales numbers are so low on PC what’s the point of keeping them on sale there. So bring the full value back to PlayStation by making it the only place to play what are, let’s be honest, the best games in their respective fields

Generally think why Xbox has gone the way it has with GamePass now of they just did Xbox Play anywhere between console and PC (Xbox App, handheld) kept it's exclusive games to ots own platform then yeah that would have been a far better option personally.

Yes Xbox One reveal really was the worst thing they did completely destroying the Xbox 360 momentum, but competition is needed in the industry

The problem isn't console exclusivity. it's the quality of new fresh or evolution of current first party output. My ps5 continues to collect dust and has now just become an arc raiders machine for my significant other.

I know some eat it up. Yet I'm not looking forward to more samey uncharted, tlou, horizon or marvel reskin sequel factory stuffs. I might play Saros, but even that falls into the above category.

@GamingGod I understand that people like exclusives because it justifies their purchase. Playstation fans can be happy that they bought PS5 because it can play Ghost of Yotei and GT7 etc. However, I think that's somewhat petty. We should instead be happy that more people can experience games made by Sony's first party studios. It doesn't make your box of choice play any less games, so there is no harm in games being available on other platforms as well.

While I love my PS5 and it's games, I think imhaving console exclusive for a year of so and then porting to PC is a good strategy. With the way the video game market has been with studios having layoffs and developers closing, I would rather the games generate as much revenue as possible for our developers so they can keep making great games. Microsoft released all their games for Xbox and PC same day, and while I don't think Sony needs to do that, I think getting extra revenue a year down the road would be beneficial for our devs. I have bought PC versions of games I already have for my PS5 for replaying with enhancements, higher performance and even mods

Good decision, high quality exclusives should be there to attract more users into your platform… and as a result more total (1st and 3rd party games) are purchased on your platform than elsewhere. It’s always been simple… and since digital storefront existed, it’s been even more important. Crazy they lost sight of that for 5 years.

Sony are in the driving seat and I feel this is a good strategy to take if it wants to pull ahead further.

Also don’t most/many of gamers pirate their games? Possibly helps explain the low sales of first party on pc.

@KillerIsD34D I tried but returnal leaned too much into the roguelite aspect for me to truly enjoy it. I managed to beat the firrst 2 biomes iirc. Then it just became a near unmanageable bullet hell. So I missed most of my shots which dragged fights out. When it comes to shooters on console.I need aim assist and strong one at that to be acceptable. Thats why I prefer mouse and keyboadd for shooters that demand precision. Even then I'm just passable. It has been so long since I last tried it and I haven't felt the urge to try again. I'll keep in on my pile of shame.

@KoopaTheGamer why should we be happy with it though. I’m guessing you buy multiple platforms? I may be wrong but just a hunch 💁. I only buy the PlayStation platform as I haven’t got loads of time for gaming. So for my chosen platform I want it too succeed as much as possible so I know it will stick around and I think a big part of that is exclusive software. I don’t think that’s petty I think it’s common sense. I’d love a new uncharted btw. A thief’s end was just exquisite and I need more history based fiction 😆.

I also think Xbox putting halo on PlayStation is a travesty for the Xbox brand. Keep Xbox only!!

Good! Have been saying from day one that it would have an impact on the brand for little return. Good to see someone has the foresight to realign things.

@GamingGod Yes, I own multiple platforms, but I wouldn't need to if games were available on PC (and other platforms). Having games available on PC is 100% a pro-consumer move. You get to decide where and how you play.

Will it affect console sales? A little bit, sure, but console makers make vast majority of their money from software, not hardware. And to be honest, if Sony is going this anti-consumer route and abandoning part of their fanbase, it hurts their image too.

With the Steam Machine (probably) coming soon(ish), this seems like a very good decision.

A lot of people seem to be welcoming this news so they can stick their tongue out at PC/Xbox owners.

@Questionable_Duck that doesn't make any sense. The PC ports are clearly not selling how they're supposed to (as expected), so stopping with these ports are barely doing anything negative to Sony's finance, so there's no reason to go back too

@themaladroit $2 billion is nothing to scoff at, though. And who knows if they'll be able to make that back with additional console sales. I think it's clear the real reason why they're doing this is because the next Xbox can play PC games

@Questionable_Duck 2 billions from 2022 to 2025 isn't that good compared to what they sell on their own platform, thought, especially when most of this money came from just one game (Helldivers 2). I'm pretty sure Sony strategy is that they want people buying games on their platform, even if console sales stagnates (which it won't yet because GTA VI is coming out this year). They need people buying games (including 3rd party ones), DLCs and whatnot on Playstation, because they get a good amount of % from these purchases, and they also profit with every user that pays for PS Plus to play online. Software sales are more important than hardware sales because they're sold at a loss, even though PS5 isn't being sold at a loss anymore, but they make way more money with the other stuff

Obviously selling hardware is important, but they're focusing more on user spending money on their platform. Sony's last earnings call pretty much said that, and i think this is the main reason why they're backing off from PC. Not giving users any reason to go to PC or Xbox = not giving more money to Microsoft or Valve or Epic, and most importantly: giving more money to Sony

And since now we're having a RAM crisis, which can affect when the next PS6 is out (they're planning on subsidizing PS6, like they always do, and that's impossible right now) each user that Sony can keep on their system is a good thing to them

@themaladroit I don't think most of the money came from Helldivers 2. I'm not sure if this is true, but I saw someone claim that $700 million was from that game (including Xbox sales).

Since the next PlayStation will be pretty expensive compared to the PS5, we'll just have to wait and see if they can pull in the additional console users from PC that they desire. If not, then I think they'll go back to doing PC ports.

@Questionable_Duck I'm almost 100% certain that Helldivers 2 contributed the most, but regardless, we indeed have to wait and see when the PS6 will be out and what kind of games, experience and price Sony will offer to its users. I still think it will be difficult for them to go back and put every game on PC if they're really concerned about their brand, and since their live service games and 3rd party console exclusives will be on PC, they technically are still supporting the platform

Anyway, we gotta wait to see what will happen in the next few years

@themaladroit Agreed

Not even a PS owner and I think this is great news!

@StitchJones jesus "our games" do you work for sony? They ain't your games

@Gemini53 making your games available to less people is not consumer friendly it's share holder friendly