After releasing first-party games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarök, and The Last of Us Part II on PC over the past six years, PlayStation is returning to console exclusivity going forward. That’s according to a new report from Bloomberg, which also says single-player games like last year’s Ghost of Yōtei and the upcoming bullet-hell shooter Saros will not be released on PC.
This is part of a wider shift in release strategy, which will see PlayStation still launch multiplayer games like this week’s Marathon and Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls (releasing in August) on other platforms like PC and even Xbox, while single-player releases are expected to remain exclusive to PlayStation 5.
Bloomberg cites sources familiar with PlayStation’s plans for this strategy, adding that reasons for the shift include PlayStation games not selling as well on PC, concerns that PC releases could hurt the console brand (and sales), and a lack of consistency in release quality and schedules. The report says PlayStation is now returning to console exclusives, which is a notable shift away from its biggest rival, Xbox, which now releases most of its titles on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. This year’s Forza Horizon 6 and Fable are launching on PS5, for example.
According to Bloomberg, there were plans to bring Ghost of Yōtei to PC, but those plans were scrapped in recent weeks alongside other planned PlayStation PC releases. That said, previously announced games like the aforementioned Marathon and Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls are safe and still coming to PC, as are others like Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and Kena: Scars of Kosmora.
The report ends with notice that some executives at PlayStation may not be happy that games like God of War Ragnarök, a beloved sequel in a series that has only ever appeared on PlayStation consoles and handhelds (okay, and on mobile phones that one time), will likely be playable on an Xbox in the future, if the anticipated next-gen console from Xbox is capable of playing PC games as rumored.
Though players have seen PlayStation games come to PC over the past six years, it seems those days are over, prompting a returning question: Do you buy a PlayStation 5 to play the company’s next big release, or do you skip it altogether? It seems PlayStation is betting on players to do the former.
[Source: Bloomberg]
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