Sequels and remakes are tricky to get right. It can be hard to preserve the charm and quality of the original in a follow-up. It can be even tougher to surpass and iterate on what the first game did so well. Some games are just absolutely begging to be expanded upon with a new entry, and it’s those that we’ll be highlighting here. Each of these titles represents a ‘what if’ that gamers are hungry to see happen one day, but whether due to corporate meddling or cancellations, they still seem so far away.

So with that, here are the ten games whose surprise trailers would make the community absolutely lose it.

Days Gone 2

While the odds of a Days Gone sequel remains unlikely, Sony Bend has managed to stir hype thanks to the game’s April 2025 remaster. with its remaster. Days Gone Remaster finally smooths out the original’s rough framerate while enhancing its visuals with better shadows and 4K resolution. That release reignited hope for a sequel, but those hopes were eventually crushed when Sony Bend posted a job listing seeking someone with “experience with multiplayer game development and design.” The studio has a history of outright dismissing any possibility of a sequel in the past as well, but demand remains high, and where there’s demand, there’s money. Knowing Sony, it wouldn’t be completely implausible to eventually see a Days Gone 2 in the future, especially if fans remain vocal about it.

The Saboteur 2

Remember Pandemic? No, not the 2020 one, the studio that brought us Destroy All Humans and Mercenaries Playground of Destruction. The Saboteur was their last game before being dissolved into the rest of EA, and it had a lot of unique things going for it. Sure, it followed the Ubisoft open-world design ethos, but the WWII France setting and the mechanic of restoring color to liberated districts stood out. Now imagine how cool a sequel with top-notch voice talent and an actually compelling story would be. With EA’s enormous budget and the creative potential of that setting, a Saboteur 2 could finally give us a GTA-style game set in WWII Europe, but it’s a long shot at best.

Uncharted 5

The last time we ventured into the world of Uncharted was 2017’s spin-off starring Chloe and Nadine. Lost Legacy seemed to be paving the way for the next generation of Uncharted with its more open-ended exploration and, well, lack of Nathan Drake. Of course, Nathan’s story isn’t necessarily over following the ending of Uncharted 4. Like Indy coming out of retirement in the latest Indiana Jones films, Nathan can be called for one last globe-trotting adventure. Uncharted 5 is rather likely to happen at some point. Naughty Dog has been working on a project led by Uncharted writer Shaun Escayg for years now, and it’s not Intergalactic. It’s unlikely we’ll see Uncharted 5 before Intergalactic releases, but we sure hope to see it at some point.

Bloodborne 2

Is there any video game sequel more craved than Bloodborne 2? Bloodborne is the one gigantic Sony-owned IP that somehow just keeps getting overlooked. The Last of Us got numerous remasters and even Days Gone just received one. What is Sony waiting for? Well, one thing’s certain: if Bloodborne 2 were announced, it would be the only game capable of rivaling GTA 6 in sheer hype. Here’s hoping it avoids the multiplayer-heavy direction of FromSoftware’s recent projects and instead doubles down on the slow-burn, atmospheric exploration that made the original Bloodborne unforgettable.

Titanfall 3

Titanfall 3 occupies the same heartbreaking territory as Bloodborne 2: everyone wants it, yet EA refuses to greenlight it. The first cancellation came in 2019, when EA halted development in favor of Apex Legends, chasing the booming hero-shooter market and its lucrative ongoing revenue. Then, earlier in 2025, The developer had to shutter their planned Titanfall extraction shooter due to layoffs. What made Titanfall 2 so special was its well-paced and wildly inventive single-player campaign. It’s probably the last significant FPS campaign that I can think of that wasn’t a Doom title. It’s still not an impossibility that the developer gets a legitimate opportunity to make Titanfall 3, but a major shift in EA’s priorities needs to happen first.

Sleeping Dogs 2

This one’s more of a pipe dream than others on this list. Sleeping Dogs is a very popular cult classic for a reason; it oozed personality and was a genuine counterpart to GTA. Unfortunately, the development studio, United Front Games, shut down in 2016. The main developer still holds the rights to the Sleeping Dogs IP, though, so maybe there is a snowball’s chance in Southtown for it to happen. The studio’s MMO spin-off, Triad Wars, took place within the universe of Sleeping Dogs. launched briefly in open beta but was quickly shut down after poor reception. But imagine a thoroughbred sequel to Sleeping Dogs, one that wasn’t a sloppy MMO, but a single-player game with a more intricate Hong Kong map filled with fully realized martial-arts combat propelled by modern processing power. A proper Sleeping Dogs 2 could be incredible.

Metal Gear 1 Remake

“I FEEL ASLEEP!!” Imagine that iconic line from the 1988 NES version of the original Metal Gear (first released in 1987) being fully voiced in a modern, high-fidelity remake. Unlike polished and cleaned up script of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, I’d want Konami to preserve the hilarious botched translation of the original. It would both honor Kojima and provide some charm to the game. Of course, the fully blown HD graphics and character renderings would probably make those lines extra awkward, but hey, that’s what makes the series so lovable, right? The good news is a remake of the original Metal Gear isn’t impossible. Konami has shown a willingness to remake classic Metal Gear Solid titles faithfully. And what better candidates than the very first games from the ’80s?

New Dino Crisis

Forget a new Dino Crisis—I’d settle for a remaster or a full remake of the first game. Oh, who am I kidding, I want a new Dino Crisis, sigh. The developer sits on the most beloved dormant IP, barely acknowledging series that fans have begged to see return. Who doesn’t want a new Mega Man (especially Legends), Breath of Fire, or of course, Dino Crisis? Dino Crisis—a 90s survival-horror game —never grew past its more action-oriented 2003 third entry. But fans still swear by the first game, which followed the classic Resident Evil formula in a Jurassic Park-inspired setting. A modern-day game firing on all cylinders would do justice to the original Dino Crisis if RE 2 and RE 3 Remakes are anything to go by. But just imagine what they could do with a completely new entry with the mature horror and first-person perspective of, say, Resident Evil 7.

A New inFamous

Continuing the trend of studios sitting on a golden goose is Sucker Punch and their dormant inFamous series. There was a time when a new InFamous game was the talk of the gaming town. It was a series about open world parkouring around realistic city-scapes. But one element that sets inFamous apart is its Karma system. You can choose your morality in these games, something that shows itself in the powers you unlock as well as key story decisions. With today’s more advanced processing and capabilities, the potential of that system is enormous. Imagine branching storylines, deeper morality-driven powers, and immersive-sim-style world reactions. Heck, just adding more customization elements based on morality would be awesome. But Sucker Punch will need to step away from Ghost to make it happen—and it’s unclear when that day will come.

Sekiro 2

Finally, we have another FromSoftware juggernaut that’s been left alone since its release. Unlike Bloodborne, Sekiro never even received any DLC. None. We all kinda applauded their restraint at the time, but after some years away, it’s hard not to wish the game had gotten an expansion or two. Out of all the Fromsoft games, Sekiro takes the cake for having the most awesome combat. Its very focused and specialized, leading to more intricate and precise controls. Sure, Sekiro didn’t have a lot of playstyles to choose from, but that focus is what made the limited style so polished. A sequel could expand your playstyle selection pretty significantly, and without sacrificing the original’s polish. The core combat system is already built—they’d just need to expand the build options a bit. Fans would love to see it, but as many know, Hidetaka Miyazaki isn’t fond of sequels. So while Sekiro 2 would be a dream come true, we shouldn’t expect it anytime soon.

15. Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2

Sure, the opening title crawl may be pretty standard and expected, but dang does it execute on the cinematic front. The bone-chilling music and slow letterbox transition to Tyranid hordes landing on the planet Kataku is just perfect and that classic green font just oozes grimdark from a mile away. After the cinematic sequence, you’re immediately met with waves of Tyranids and a handy Chainsword to mow them down with. The prologue isn’t a one-off either. The entire game continues that cinematic action fusion all the way to the end.

14. Forza Horizon 5

The Forza Horizon series has always been consistent about jumping right into the good stuff, and in Horizon 5’s case that includes supercars falling out of the sky, apparently. New and familiar players alike get something nice out of the prologue, whether it’s an early taste of hypercar speed or just a quick sampling of the controls and Mexican terrain you’ll be encountering. There’s no gritty plot being used as an excuse for the festive racing either. The Horizon series focuses solely on celebrating cars, and this opener succeeds brilliantly at that.

13. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor

The opening of Jedi Survivor immediately captures Star Wars fans’ attention because it takes place within the capital of the galaxy: the seedy underbelly of Coruscant itself. Not only is there oodles of environmental worldbuilding and ambience, but the level design is supurb from the get-go. Cal is a more experienced Jedi at this point, so wall running, force pushing billboards, and chopping up baddies comes quick and often in the opening hours. The thrilling escape from Coruscant highlights some of the best cinematography I’ve seen from any Star Wars media in a while too.

12. Batman: Arkham Knight

What better way to begin an Arkham game than with Scarecrow and his fear toxin? Your first moments are spent casually ordering food in a Gotham diner. You’re given an ordinary glimpse into Gotham when villains aren’t wrecking the place; well, until Scarecrow’s fear toxin twists everything into a horror show. What follows is the Bat-Signal transitioning to you gliding around the Gotham skyline in search of Scarecrow, touring the best-realized version of Gotham we’ve ever seen in a game.

11. Resident Evil Village

Here’s another game with a subversive opener. Your first foray into Resident Evil Village is met with a Tim Burton-esque fairy tale animation, a very well-done one at that. You’re then placed in the perspective of a mother finishing telling the tale to her child, which dovetails beautifully into a first-person exploration segment around the family home. It’s a necessary little sequence that motivates the main characters and sets the stakes. Besides introducing exploration and controls, this clever opening sets the twisted fairy tale horror tone that Resident Evil Village executes so frighteningly well.

10. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

It may be a full-on remake, but MGS Delta: Snake Eater follows the original to a tee, and what a beauty it is. That cinematic shot of the USAF aircraft flying over Soviet territory, followed by the rising sun shimmering off Snake’s goggles as he parachutes down is simply stunning in its remade form. And the Virtuous Mission itself is so well paced and filled with character-driven tutorials that it gets us excited to play through the classic with a new lens. It’s a tone-setting prologue that does its job perfectly, and it’s never looked better.

9. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

There are few games that establish a character’s friendship and revenge as well as Uncharted 4. You play through a series of high-octane flashback sequences—one with Drake and Sam drifting through bullets on a motorboat, and another with young Drake and Sam on an adventure through town. The flash-forward to an older Drake with a Sam-sized chip on his shoulder sets the impetus for the rest of the game. And the high-action moments and twists that follow match that rollercoaster of an opener.

8. Final Fantasy 16

Like Uncharted 4, Final Fantasy 16 opens with a flashback; one of the most intense and electric flashbacks we’ve seen in a game. Two God-like Eikons battle it out in an almost Lord of the Rings-esque sequence, with you controlling the fire-breathing Phoenix. This battle transitions forward in time to when the main characters are much older, yet Eikons still shake the foundations of the world. This is perhaps the most mature and gritty Final Fantasy yet and the prologue quickly demonstrates that. It’s also in the prologue where you go through Clive’s childhood and see the formation of the tale to come. Even though you don’t get full access to your  DMC-like combat repertoire until much later in the game, the prologue does a good job giving a taste of power with that initial Eikon battle.

7. Ghost of Yotei

I may be getting fatigued by Sony’s obsession with revenge stories, but Ghost of Yotei introduces its particular revenge story in such a simple and gameplay-centric way that I can overlook it this time. The mercenary protagonist, Atzu, gets left for dead by a gang called the Yotei Six. A flashforward to an older Atzu sees her finally exacting revenge on one of the six as she rides to him for a one-on-one duel. I love the video gamey concept of outlining all the bad guys right from the get-go and Ghost of Yotei establishes as clear as a katani slice right in the intro. You can’t help but want to go for immediately to each one, when you’re not distracted by the wealth of side content and beautiful vistas, that is.

6. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Purists and progressives alike get the royal treatment with Rebirth’s top-notch prologue. Rebirth tries (and largely succeeds) to follow the main plot faithfully while also reimagining elements of it. This is immediately made clear with Zack Fair’s placement in the narrative at the start. But OG fans also get the most faithful and thorough portrayal of Cloud’s Nibelheim flashback right after. These two distinct sequences feature plenty of the freshly iterated hybrid ATB combat to top things off. It’s here in the opening where we finally get to control Sephiroth at the height of his SOLDIER career. Pulling off his synergy skills (new to Rebirth) with Cloud is an awesome treat.

5. Silent Hill f

Mystery and suspense? Check. Eerie and haunted atmosphere? Check. Bizarre mutated monsters? Double check. Silent Hill f’s opener establishes everything a Silent Hill game should. You explore a quiet, fog-laden village for answers and only get deeper into the haunted nightmare rabbit hole the further you go. The village is suddenly populated by spider lilies and mask-wearing monstrosities despite hanging out with friends and arguing with family mere moments ago. It may not be set in the traditional location we’re used to, and it may not be numbered, but Silent Hill f still captures all the tension and uneasiness the series has been known for.

4. Hogwarts Legacy

Anyone wishing to virtually attend Hogwarts owes it to themselves to play Hogwarts Legacy at some point. The opener has all the staples from the films—magical flying coaches, Portkey teleportation, the Sorting Hat ceremony, and more. You can even choose which of the four houses to join, each with distinct characters and arcs that reflect your decision. The opener doesn’t start slow either, rushing you off to the Scottish Hylands in an encounter with some nasty cave goblins and a dragon before getting enrolled at Hogwarts proper. It’s the perfect prologue for the aspiring wizard.

3. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

This sequel does what surprisingly few entries on this list do: recap the previous game. I can’t fault it for doing a straightforward recap of Marvel’s Spider-Man and Miles Morales though because it’s so well voiced and captured. This recap immediately cuts to a Venom foreshadow, and who wouldn’t be excited about that? Peter and Miles’ relationship also gets some good screen time here as they go after the notorious Sandman for an awesome boss fight.

2. Dead Space (Remake)

There’s still hardly any game better at capturing classic Aliens-style horror than Dead Space. You’re just one man with a plasma cutter exploring a derelict ship out in space. With quarantine broken, the monstrous Necromorphs stalk the many hallways of the dark ship. But it’s the diagetic HUD displays that particularly stand out when you first walk around. The dark and brooding atmosphere is amplified tenfold since every display and menu is shown via holo projection on Isaac’s own suit and arm.  The creaking Ishimura ship and its Necromorph monstrosities need to be experienced by every horror fan at least once, and the remake is the best way to do that today.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild starts off with an anime cliche. Link awakes with amnesia with no idea of where he is or what he was doing. But it’s okay because the rest of the prologue, and game by extension, was as revolutionary as it comes. You’re left to explore the huge starting zone at your leisure, playing around with all of the systems and objects in front of you. What’s remarkable is that The Great Plateau is just the tutorial of the game. Considering how much content and freedom you have at your disposal in the first handful of hours, it’s probably the greatest tutorial ever conceived for a video game.

God of War 

There aren’t many games that are able to deliver a stunning experience in such a smooth manner as Sony Santa Monica was able to do with the 2018 reboot. This story sets the protagonist in a new setting; new boss fights and outstanding level design. It’s both fresh and recognizable at the same time, and the new combat and the camera on offer also embodies the spirit of modern third person game while making it more intentional. The 2018 reboot is definitely one of the best games on the PS4, and is a great starting point for newcomers.

“Every game I make, every project I work on, I treat it like it could be my last,” he said. “So I just pour everything into it, I leave nothing on the table.”

“When we did the first Last of Us game, that’s how I treated it,” he continued. “I wasn’t sure I could ever get to make a sequel, so it had to have a definitive ending. Likewise, when I worked on Uncharted 4, same thing. When I worked on Last of Us 2, I was like I don’t know if I’ll ever get to do this again. It had this definitive ending.”

Druckmann goes on to expand on his working process, where he likes to focus on individual projects, regardless if the project is a new IP altogether, or a sequel to an older game.

“That is the ending we’re working towards,” he said. “For there to be another one, another thing, another project, so many stars have to align, I can’t guarantee it. So right now, my focus is on this season, and hopefully if HBO renews us, next season. And then I’m working on a new game called [Intergalactic].”

“One project at a time. Got to make it the best that it can be. And then if I get the chance to do it again, I’ll focus on the next project.”

The statement came as an answer to the interviewer asking Druckmann about him having previously said that fans of The Last of Us shouldn’t bet on there being any of the franchise down the line.

“Don’t bet on there being more of Last of Us,” said the interviewer, quoting Druckmann. “This could be it.”

Druckmann had previously spoken about how he doesn’t like to plan out sequels in advance. Speaking with Sony Santa Monica’s Cory Barlog, Druckmann said that he never saw games as franchises. He echoed similar statements in this conversation about treating every project as if it is going to be the only one in the franchise.

“I think you’re jinxing yourself if you’re starting to think about the sequel when you’re working on the first game,” explained Druckmann. “So when I was making The Last of Us 2, yeah, sure. Every once in a while, an idea pops into your head of where it might go if we get the chance to do another one. But I just approach it as, ‘What if I never get to do another one?’…I’m not saving some idea for the future. If there’s a cool idea, I’m doing my best to get it into here.”

The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is on its way to PC on April 3. Check out the required PC specs here, and also check out some of the features and options that will be available in the PC release here. And in the meantime, stay tuned for the second season of HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us, which will premiere on April 13.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear Solid 4 holds the world record for having the longest ending cutscene of any video game, with the epilogue cutscenes cumulatively lasting for well over an hour. And while that might sound tedious at first, such an extensive epilogue was needed to wrap up all essential plotlines in the game. We jump from one beautifully directed scene to the other as characters as they attain some sort of closure to their internal and external conflicts, and finally cutting back to the graveyard where we are treated to an emotionally charged conversation between Old Snake and a stumbling Big Boss which will remain with you long after the credits roll.

Batman: Arkham Knight

How ironic is it that Batman: Arkham Knight looked incredible on PS4 and Xbox One while running better on both consoles than on PC? Probably as ironic as it looking better than Gotham Knights, even though it’s also stuck at 30 FPS on consoles. I digress. Either way, there’s no denying that Arkham Knight is gorgeous with excellent texture quality and character models.

The rain effects and how they realistically interacted with the environment; the lighting and fog quality; the draw distance, and sheer attention to detail – it’s spectacular and ran at a rock-solid frame rate. Regardless of the Batmobile hate, almost everyone can agree that Arkham Knight is a technical marvel. Again, on consoles, but the PC version has improved over time.

For well over a decade at this point, Naughty Dog has been on a constant mission to push the limits of whatever hardware it’s working with to deliver games with stunning visuals that set the standard for the industry at large. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End did just that when it launched for the PS4 back in 2016, to the extent that it’s still considered one of the best looking console games around, while the following year, The Lost Legacy delivered more of that technical excellence. Given that, and the fact that these are both fairly recent releases, neither game was really in any need of technical touch-ups, which means the jump in visual quality was never going to be drastic. By that same token though, when you take two games that still look as good as these two do, there’s very little chance that their remasters aren’t going to be visually impressive as well.

"There’s no denying that the inherent strengths of both these games hold up even now, and getting the chance to dive back into them is, as always, a welcome one."

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection delivers the best looking versions of games that were already technical stunners. Offering up three graphics modes, the two remasters look and run well across all options, running at 4K and 30 FPS in Fidelity Mode, an upscaled 4K and 60 FPS in Performance Mode, and at 1080p and 120 FPS in Performance+ Mode. In the vast majority of games, my preference tends to lie with better performance than with sharper image quality, and that’s what I went with here as well- which turned out well, because Legacy of Thieves Collection hits its performance targets with very few dips, if any. The sharpness of the visuals does drop noticeably from mode to mode, which might bother some, but even with those concessions, both these games still look amazing.

Beyond that, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection also features support for the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, using both pretty effectively in everything from combat and swinging on ropes to driving a vehicle and more. Other recent PlayStation remasters on the PS5 like Ghost of Tsushima and Death Stranding have made far better use of the controller’s feature, but even so, Uncharted does a good enough job of it that I actively noticed its implementation at least a few times while playing the two games. Meanwhile, the console’s SSD is also put to use to cut down loading times- but honestly, load times have never really been much of an issue for Uncharted games.

Put together, Legacy of Thieves Collection offers a fairly small number of upgrades on both the games it remasters. Each improvement is implemented well enough, but they’re all rather conservative in nature- which, of course, is what you expect for games that aren’t really in need of any major upgrades. The collection is obviously going to be a far better value proposition when it launches later this year for PC, when an entirely new audience on an entirely new platform will be able to play these games for the first time. But for those who’ve already played either Uncharted 4 or The Lost Legacy on a PS4, it’s not as easy of a recommendation, especially when even the cheapest possible way to get into it right now is a $10 upgrade.

"Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a great option for anyone who’s itching to experience Uncharted 4 or The Lost Legacy again."

Of course, as I mentioned earlier in this review, the core inherent strengths of Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy haven’t lost any of their luster, which is an automatic point in Legacy of Thieves Collection’s favour. Both games have the best combat in the series so far, and improved mobility and solid implementation of stealth are hugely responsible for that. That improved mobility also makes for better platforming sections than previous Uncharted games, while both titles also embrace a far more open-ended design approach at times as opposed to the persistently linear nature of the series’ earlier entries. Add to that the predictable excellence of expertly crafted high-octane set pieces that Uncharted has always been known for, and what you have is two games that are still as much of a blast to play through as they were a few years back when they first launched. From that perspective, of course, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a great option for anyone who’s itching to experience Uncharted 4 or The Lost Legacy again.

There’s no telling how long it’s going to be when Uncharted will come back with a new entry, what that new entry will look like, whether or not it will be able to live up to the series’ standards, or even who will develop it. What we do know is that whenever that happens, that next game will have a lot to live up to. Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy, which offer perhaps the best realization of the Uncharted formula yet, are perfect reminders of that, and even though their remasters in Legacy of Thieves Collection are a bit too unambitious, I always welcome the chance to go back to these two modern action-adventure classics.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Leaks have strongly suggested that that entry, developed by Infinity Ward, will be a direct sequel to 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and now, we may have more information on what to expect. It seems like Warren Kole, the actor who provided the voice and motion capture for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End villain Rafe Adler, will have a role to play in next year’s Call of Duty game. The information comes from the actor’s own LinkedIn page. Whether Kole will be playing a character in the game’s single player campaign or if he’s playing an Operator for the multiplayer component remains to be seen, though it’ll likely be a while before we find out.

In related news, a recent leak by prominent Call of Duty insider Tom Henderson spilled the beans on several details about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (or whatever Activision ends up calling it), including its single player campaign, its multiplayer component, and the new map it will bring to Warzone. Read more on that through here.

It’s been fascinating to see how observers, many of whom were convinced something like this would never happen, have gradually adjusted their expectations and stances to allow for these developments. Originally, as mentioned, it was believed something like this would never happen; Detroit coming to PC was more because Sony had terminated its relationship with Quantic Dream, surely, and the IP no longer held any value to them. Death Stranding coming to PC was surely because Sony and Kojima enjoyed a special relationship. Horizon Zero Dawn coming to PC was surely because the Decimal Engine had already been ported to PC for Death Stranding, so why not? Days Gone coming to PC was probably because it had flopped, so why not make money out of it? Just a few months ago, a lot of PlayStation fans had formally adjusted these expectations to, well, Sony will probably port smaller to mid tier IP to PC, but flagship stuff, such as God of War, will never come to PC. As of right now, they are at the point where they think PS4 games may get ported to PC, but PS5 ones won’t; which, going by the aforementioned SteamDB and Nvidia leaks, means they are in for another round of expectations adjustment in the relatively short term future.

The point of this isn’t exactly to gloat, but to thoroughly establish that Sony games are coming to PC. That is a fact, a reality. Sony has slowly been working up to this – more and more major first party titles are coming to the platform, it has acquired a whole developer to help with the process, it has created a whole publishing label to help with the process, and yes, based on leaks, there’s a lot more coming in the near future. The question is no longer if a PlayStation first party title will come to PC – the question is, when?

The “when” question is significant, because of the counterpoint posed by PlayStation’s biggest competition in the console market, Xbox. You see, a few years ago, Xbox made a really bold commitment – every single Xbox Game Studios game would come to PC going forward. Day and date. At launch. Effectively, this would mean that Xbox would have no true exclusives, all its games would be shared at the very least with PC. It flew in the face of 30 years of understanding and history of the workings of the console market. It was believed that consoles sold primarily on the back of their software – and if there was no appealing software to buy them for, because you could get that appealing software elsewhere, then why bother spending money on a proprietary, bespoke closed system?

But Xbox head Phil Spencer had a different understanding of things. What he felt was that consoles and PCs were differentiated enough, and each offered enough distinct advantages, that each would have its own market appeal inherently. Meaning that by offering games across two different kinds of platforms, Spencer felt he wasn’t cutting his products’ market appeal – he was expanding it. The Xbox was no longer the product, it was one of the delivery methods for the product, which were the games themselves.

His gambit has paid off – Xbox Game Studios games are more successful now than ever (Sea of Thieves in particular is frequently setting records on Steam); meanwhile, Xbox hardware sales have not suffered. Yes, they aren’t matching PlayStation sales, but they weren’t matching PlayStation sales even prior to the PC day and date releases announcement. Xbox One was always trailing behind PS4 – Xbox games coming to PC didn’t change that pace, and Xbox One continued selling at more or less the same rate as before. Xbox Series X is being outsold by the PS5 – but, again, there seems to be no active impact to its sales pace caused by the fact that those games, that would otherwise be exclusive to Xbox, are available on PC as well. It’s still selling roughly on the same pace as Xbox Series X (and, judging by the fact that it routinely sells out, it is selling more than Microsoft is able to produce).

Would this apply to Sony too? Could they too get away with having their games release on PC day and date? Largely, I think the answer is yes. I think that, obviously, there will be some who would rather just play on PC – particularly since PC offers the best version of any game by definition, and because PC is now a one stop to play pretty much every game ever made in the industry (Nintendo being the singular holdout as of this point), so why not just consolidate your entire game playing to that one platform? But here’s the thing, Spencer was right too. Ultimately, PC and consoles are fundamentally different propositions, and for most people, the perceived and psychological convenience of consoles creates an inherent appeal that PCs do not match. Just as PC gamers love the flexibility and control that the platform offers them over their game playing experience, console players categorically love the convenience of having a platform where things just work with minimal friction. And of course, while PC has gotten far more convenient in the last decade, and consoles have added a lot more friction, in the end, they are still fundamentally different. Playing a game on consoles involves far fewer things to keep track of than playing a game on PC – this isn’t meant as a criticism, it’s meant as a recognition of the objective difference between the two platforms.

Meaning that for many, for most, in fact, console players? PC is a non-factor (just as for most PC players, consoles are a non-factor). The existence of Forza Horizon 5 on PC doesn’t mean anything to someone deciding to buy a console – for them, the choices are Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, which means if they want Forza, Xbox is their only choice. It remains a de facto exclusive, for all purposes.

Meaning that the bulk of the console buying market – the people who buy FIFA and Assassin’s Creed and GTA and Mario Kart, those people, they aren’t going to be swayed by the PC. The existence of a PC version of a game is meaningless to them. Meaning effectively, having a PC version of your game loses you no exclusivity for the broader market (such as the broader market is concerned), and you expand your own addressable market by similarly offering your games to a new audience that, just like console players won’t ever be swayed by PC, will never be swayed by consoles. Your games end up selling a lot more, and your hardware sales remain largely unaffected.

And those increased software sales are essential – games cost a lot to make now, and those costs go up every time a new generation starts. They cost so much to make that it is simply not viable for most games to be profitable enough by selling purely to one audience. This is why every third party publisher eventually went multiplatform – because the profits gained by selling to every audience were the only way to keep up with scaling costs, they didn’t decide to double, triple, or quadruple the hardware they would have to build their games for for fun. Games are simply so expensive that even if they sell a lot on one system, they are limited by only being on that one system – they need a larger addressable audience. This isn’t just something I’m pulling out of thin air, by the way, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden explicitly outlined rising development costs as a reason for concern as far as game development goes.

Those development costs rising are presumably also the reason that Sony’s biggest games have all committed to cross-gen releases at this point; a game like God of War Ragnarok or Horizon: Forbidden West simply costs too much to limit to just the audience of the presumably 12-20 million PS5 owners who exist in the market when those games come out. Even if every single one of those buys God of War or Horizon, they would only match sales for the PS4 games – PS4 games that, as a reminder, were cheaper to produce. And every single PS5 owner won’t buy God of War or Horizon, no matter how good they are. Sony’s games don’t have that kind of attach rate, and they won’t, because the bulk of people who buy a PlayStation buy it to play FIFA with friends. The easiest way to ensure that these upcoming, more expensive games end up actually standing a chance to be financially viable ventures, is to expose them to a broader audience – in this case, a broader audience within the PlayStation universe itself.

Now, in the interest of fairness, it is also important to note that Shawn Layden said he couldn’t see Sony ever doing day and date releases of its games on PC (though he qualified it with “never say never”). But the question I am answering here isn’t if Sony will do them, it’s should they. And the answer is, yes they should. The benefits are too great, particularly as they continue to push game development costs higher with needless generational bumps every few years; the losses? Minimal. Yes, some people will decide to simply buy their games on PC going forward, but a) those people are still buying their games, and b) the people who were only purchasing a PlayStation for exclusives were likely never too invested in the ecosystem in the first place. Sony makes most of its money from PlayStation via third party sales and sales from micro transactions, DLC, and subscriptions such as PS Plus. If you just own a PS4 to play God of War and The Last of Us, and use your PC for everything else, Sony isn’t making much money off of you to begin with – since you’re not spending money on micro transactions, DLC, third party games, and probably you are not spending money on PS Plus when you’re using your PC for multiplatform multiplayer games to begin with. So Sony doesn’t lose anything by you deciding not to buy their hardware (which is often sold at a loss to begin with, don’t forget) – particularly if you continue to buy their games on PC anyway.

So I think it would be beneficial for Sony to do this in the long run. I actually think they will eventually. Not right away, to will take some time – but PS5 development costs will continue to go up, and Sony’s games on PC have all been huge successes, and will presumably continue to be even more so as more and more high profile releases make the jump to the platform. And at some point, Sony will presumably come to the same conclusion Xbox did – that PC and console are differentiated audiences. There’s not as much overlap or potential for cross pollination there. The best thing to do is to serve both simultaneously – and rake in the money.

Everyone wins.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

METAL GEAR SOLID 5: THE PHANTOM PAIN

An obvious first pick for a feature such as this one. There’s no shortage of areas where Metal Gear Solid 5 ended up being drastically different from the game Hideo Kojima and his team had originally wanted to make. From the story’s conclusion being effectively cut out to several gameplay features being dropped to the entire second half of the game being a remix of the first half due to time constraints to several significant narrative changes being made even to some of the primary characters, the Metal Gear Solid 5 that we got was an almost unrecognizable game from what it could have been if things had gone to plan.