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It’s been an obvious truth for ages: console manufacturers have been missing out on fat stacks by not releasing their games on PC. Microsoft long ago gave up on pure Xbox exclusives, and is even releasing games on PlayStation now. Sony, meanwhile, has tacitly acknowledged the fact for years, steadily releasing its PS4 and PS5 back catalogue onto Steam, and then last year, releasing Helldivers 2 concurrently on both PS5 and PC to enormous success. Now, former Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida has come out and said it explicitly: releasing its games PC is a license for Sony to print money.
Speaking to Sacred Symbols+ (via Push Square) about his time as head of PlayStation Studios Yoshida explained he wanted to bring Sony games to PC far earlier than when it eventually happened, but it just wasn’t the way Sony thought back then. Eventually though, Sony was sold on the idea through a notion that releasing games on PC now might entice players to buy a PlayStation in the future.
“Releasing on PC does many things: it reaches a new audience who do not own consoles—especially in regions where consoles are not as popular,” Yoshida said in the interview. “The idea is that those people may become fans of a particular franchise, and when a new game in that series comes out, they may be convinced to purchase a PlayStation.”
It’s worked out well for us, but I question whether this argument holds water. PC gamers can be incredibly patient when it comes to playing games on their preferred platform, and since Sony has demonstrated its willingness to put nearly all its major exclusives on Steam (except Bloodborne), PC gamers’ response would simply be to continue waiting. Then again, maybe Sony has access to data that suggests otherwise. In any case, Yoshida also noted that it’s an easy way for the publisher to generate extra revenue, stating “porting to PC is way cheaper than creating an original title. So it’s almost like printing money. And that helps us to invest in new titles now that the cost of games has increased.”
Another factor that swayed Sony to release its games on PC is China, with Yoshida observing that “China is a huge PC game market,” and that “in order to reach the audience in countries like China then it’s crucial to release on PC.” China recently demonstrated its potential to catapult games to enormous success, with almost 90% of Black Myth: Wukong‘s massive sales generated domestically.
So there you have it: console game + PC launch = profit. Yoshida has been dishing all manner of Sony-related details since leaving PlayStation. Last month, he theorised that the reason Bloodborne hasn’t arrived on PC is because Hidetaka Miyazaki would prefer to do the port himself, and that if he personally would have ‘tried to resist’ Sony’s push toward live-service games.
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Kurt Indovina
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