Sony Reportedly Scraps PC Ports Of PlayStation Single-Player Games

According to a new report from the ever reliable Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, Sony is reportedly cutting back severely on their existing plans to release major PlayStation titles on PC. Whilst they will continue to take a multiplatform approach when it comes to multiplayer games such as Marathon or Helldivers 2, their single-player tentpole titles like the upcoming Saros or last year’s Ghost of Yotei won’t be released outside of PlayStation hardware.

According to Schreier, Ghost of Yotei was already planned for a PC release, but it was only recently that the gaming giant decided to scrap the port and keep it exclusive to PlayStation. The PS5 specifically has been accused by many in the gaming community of having “no games”, with this criticism often referring to its lack of true exclusive titles. Sony’s approach, whilst bad for the growing PC market, could finally put a stop to that narrative. Whilst it could lead to lesser sales, as there are less ways to buy the game, Sony likely sees that the opportunity to promote their games as exclusives will serve as a marketing device not only for each release, but also for whatever hardware they have lined up next.

With rising costs in the technology sector, the PS6 will need a way to justify its price point, and we’d theorize that the decision to abandon the PC market with some of their releases ties to this future conundrum Sony will face, at least in part. More gamers will be incentivized to pick up a platform if it’s the only place to play certain games, as history has shown us.

Whilst we likely won’t be seeing future exclusives like Marvel’s Wolverine coming to PC, there are still two PlayStation ports coming to PC this year that were already announced. The first is Death Stranding 2 which is coming to PC soon following its PS5 launch last year, and the second is Kena: Scars of Kosmora, which is having a same-day release on both PlayStation and PC later this year.

It’s the end of an era seeing Sony pull back of their now six-year long strategy to support PC with their PlayStation Studios releases. However, it’s also potentially the start of a new one, and it’s an era that looks to return to the former age of console-exclusive releases as a key marketing tactic to push sales units and retain players.