The lines that once divided first party exclusives from each other have been getting blurred of late. Microsoft in particular has been taking strides in this area, with games such as Cuphead and Ori and the Blind Forest dropping on the Switch, and the company confirming that it’s something that they’re going to keep doing going forward as well.
As it turns out, it’s something that Sony is looking into as well. Though we’re still probably not going to see games from Sony Worldwide Studios on other consoles, there’s a chance that we might see some on PC. Recently, while speaking with Bloomberg, Sony Worldwide Studios head Shawn Layden said that though Sony will obviously continue to put PlayStation first, for titles that are focused on multiplayer and would benefit from larger audiences, they might look into going beyond their own platform.
“We must support the PlayStation platform — that is nonnegotiable,” Layden said. “That said, you will see in the future some titles coming out of my collection of studios which may need to lean into a wider installed base.”
It wasn’t too long ago that Layden spoke about how Sony might expand its horizons in the coming years to develop more multiplayer titles as well, so it’s no secret that that’s something they’re looking into. Putting those games on PC as well – with cross-play enabled, one would image – would definitely open them up to much larger audiences. Just as an example, the likes of Starhawk or Warhawk during the PS3 generation might have seen much more success had PC audiences been able to play them as well.
In related news, Sony announced yesterday that they had acquired Spider-Man and Ratchet and Clank developers Insomniac Games to officially add them to their portfolio of first part studios. Read more on that through here.