It began last summer with Quantic Dream’s “Heavy Rain,” “Beyond: Two Souls” and “Detroit: Become Human” along with thatgamecompany’s multiple Game of the Year award winning “Journey” and their “Flower” and “Flow” titles.
All PS3 or PS4 exclusives, some nearly a decade old, finally left the platform and made their way to PC. Then two of the more recent major PS4 first-party exclusives – “Horizon Zero Dawn” and “Death Stranding” – came to PC with the latter arriving only half a year after its console launch.
That has begged the question – will there be more? Kotaku says that according to Sony’s full year corporate report, there may well be. The PlayStation business now generates more sales and operating income than any other part of Sony. The company now has about 113 million active PSN users, 45 million PS+ subscribers, and 2.2 million PS Now subscribers.
Now, in an effort to drive further profitability, especially in the wake of reported losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sony is targeting growth in “active users”. One strategy is getting those who aren’t exclusively on the Sony platform – thus bringing more Sony first-party titles to the PC. As the report says:
“Targeted outcomes include growth in active users, stronger retention and a shorter cash conversion cycle, from which expanded cash flow can be expected. We will explore expanding our 1st party titles to the PC platform, in order to promote further growth in our profitability.”
Both “Death Stranding” and “Horizon: Zero Dawn” upon their release made it to the top of the Steam marketplace in June and July respectively. Sony says it intends to “make proactive investments to reinforce content IP, and work to raise brand value, foster communities and user engagement, while enhancing DTC services that get closer to users”.
While the chances of PS5 exclusives like “Horizon Forbidden West” or “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” making the jump to PC are incredibly slim, more likely is the company’s library of exisiting IP titles which are now heading towards the nadir of their sales life potentially reviving income streams via PC ports. This could prove beneficial for franchises with new entries as PC versions of previous entries could yield increased console sales for the PS5-exclusive sequels.
Some titles from franchises like “Uncharted,” “The Last of Us,” “Infamous,” “Ratchet & Clank,” “God of War,” “Metal Gear Solid,” “Killzone,” “Resistance,” “Sly Cooper” along with single titles like “Shadow of the Colossus,” “The Last Guardian,” “Until Dawn,” “Bloodborne,” “Days Gone,” “rain,” “The Unfinished Swan” and (eventually) “Demon’s Souls,” “Ghost of Tsushima” and “Marvel’s Spider-Man” may one day eventually find new life on PC.
