Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino recently revealed, in an admittedly roundabout way, that PlayStation’s single-player titles will remain exclusive to console. It’s the culmination of rumors that have been circulating for a while, but if there’s still any uncertainty or a smidgen of hope, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier offered further clarification.
“I guess they’re not going to lay this out publicly, but there’s no ambiguity in their strategy,” he said in a ResetEra thread. “During a townhall a few weeks ago, Hermen Hulst told staff that their single-player narrative games will be PlayStation only, and he explained that they were inconsistent with their PC releases, they didn’t make enough money, and they want to keep their IP aligned to their own platform. Confirmed this with two people who heard him say it. There’s no ‘case by case’ here.”
Even if Sony decides to backtrack, it has years of data claiming that its PC porting efforts just aren’t delivering the same returns. Interestingly, the decision was apparently quite recent. Ghost of Yōtei was reportedly slated for PC, but those plans have seemingly been scrapped.
On the bright side, if you can call it that, the company’s live-service games will continue to release for PC alongside PS5. Besides Marathon, it also has the AWOL Fairgame$ and Horizon Hunters Gathering. Neither of the latter has a release date, but Guerrilla Games has held closed betas, and rumors claim that the majority of the studio is working on its co-op multiplayer title.
Whether they can break out and become successful remains unknown, especially given how much Sony has backtracked on its live-service initiative. Time will tell, but until then, if you want to experience the likes of Marvel’s Wolverine, Intergalactic and God of War Laufey, you’ll need a PS5.
