Sony ends PC releases for major single player PlayStation games

10:20

By: Dakir Madiha

Sony ends PC releases for major single player PlayStation games

Sony Group Corp. will stop releasing its major single player PlayStation 5 titles on PC, ending a six year experiment with cross platform launches that the company now considers commercially ineffective, according to Bloomberg.

The decision means several high profile games will remain exclusive to the PS5. These include last year’s samurai themed hit Ghost of Yotei and the upcoming action title Saros from Housemarque, scheduled for release on April 30. Future releases such as Marvel’s Wolverine from Insomniac Games, planned for September 15, and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet by Naughty Dog are also expected to remain console exclusives.

Sony will continue releasing online multiplayer titles on multiple platforms. Bungie’s extraction shooter Marathon, for example, is launching on March 5 across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox.

The shift follows declining sales performance for Sony’s PC game releases. Data from analytics firm Alinea, cited by The Gamer, shows that the original God of War sold about 2.5 million copies during its first 427 days on Steam. Its sequel God of War Ragnarök reached only around one million copies in a similar timeframe, representing a migration rate of roughly 13 percent.

Other titles show a similar trend. Marvel’s Spider-Man sold about 1.4 million copies on PC within 294 days of release. However, Spider-Man 2, which moved to Steam about 15 months after its console debut, had sold roughly 725,000 copies during a comparable period.

Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier reported the strategic change in late February on the Triple Click podcast. He said Sony’s PC releases never generated major commercial success and that withdrawing from the platform would likely have limited impact on the company’s overall strategy.

Industry insider NateTheHate said the decision was made internally last year. Some PC ports already in development could still be released, but expanding the platform is no longer a strategic priority.

The move comes as Valve prepares to expand further into the console market with a new Steam Machine device. Former Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra suggested the development may have influenced Sony’s strategy.

According to Ybarra, Sony may view its own PC releases as strengthening the appeal of Valve’s ecosystem by giving potential customers more reason to choose a Steam Machine instead of a PlayStation console.

Valve’s Steam platform now has close to 150 million monthly users, surpassing the combined installed base of PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Sony’s strategy contrasts sharply with Microsoft’s approach. Microsoft has largely moved away from hardware exclusivity for Xbox titles and increasingly publishes its games on multiple platforms, including PC and PlayStation. A remake of Halo: Combat Evolved is expected to launch on PlayStation 5 later this year.

These opposing strategies highlight a growing divide within the gaming industry over whether long term success comes from platform exclusivity or from expanding the reach of major game franchises across multiple systems.