PlayStation to Exclude Some Games as it Expands to PC

Sieeka Khan, Tech Times 27 February 2021, 10:02 am

Sony has been slowly accepting the PC platform recently, and it is thanks to its success. The fans had been asking for PC ports, but PlayStation, in particular, has been a stickler with platform exclusivity.

However, when Sony and Guerilla Games decided to transfer "Horizon: Zero Dawn" to PC, the game was immediately met with success in sales.

The game was successful enough that PlayStation is doubling down on its PC support by releasing "Days Gone" by Sony Bend, and followed by more exclusive expected to be released in 2021.

While video games like "Days Gone" and "Horizon: Zero Dawn" are additions that are expected, not all of the exclusive games may be created equal.

The first-party exclusives like the aforementioned titles will be easier to add to PC with Sony's new expansion initiative compared to others.

Also Read: Atlus Reportedly Bringing Persona 4 Golden on PC via Steam

Examples of these are "Persona 5," "Bloodborne," "Final Fantasy 7 Remake," and more. These third-party game developers are dependent on the game's publisher for a PC port.

On the other hand, Sony does not influence the decision to port the games to PC, regardless of whether companies like Sega or Square Enix have shown support for the platform before, according to the report done by GameRant.

Bringing PS4 to PC

For game titles such as "Days Gone" and "Horizon Zero Dawn," it is understandable that each game would be ported to PC. Jim Ryan, the CEO of Sony, stated that a lot of the PS4's exclusives have a chance to expand to a wider audience.

The PC platform, in particular, has played host to numerous examples of renewed success on re-released games, regardless of how old or how new they are.

"Horizon Zero Dawn" is one example of this, as the video game saw success post-release. According to Forbes, with an estimated number of sales said to be more than a million and players reaching more than 56,000 upon its release, moving "Horizon Zero Dawn" to PC was a great idea.

Now Sony wants to repeat the success of "Horizon Zero Dawn" with "Days Gone," especially after it was released on PS4. The game was not a hit with the critics, unlike "Horizon Zero Dawn," but "Days Gone" had the same commercial success.

Most of the release issues that "Days Gone" had were updated or patched out, and the game now performs very well. Because of this, the game can be added to PC as it is the graphical benchmark of a video game's success. However, Jim Ryan's statement about wide acceptance of the PC platform still applies to these video games.

Sony's comments don't apply to all game exclusives

Now when it comes to exclusive third-party games, it is a different story. It does not mean that they won't be ported to the PC platform. It just means that Sony's comments on PlayStation's PC adoption do not carry weight for any titles from publishers like Square Enix.

Square Enix is known to be very welcoming to the PC platform in recent years. In 2018, the "Final Fantasy 18" port to PC started off a series of different ports ranging from "Chrono Trigger" to "Final Fantasy 8 Remastered," according to PCGamer.

Sega and Atlus are now starting the same trend with the "Persona" series, starting with "Persona 4 Golden" and recently the "Persona 5 Strikers."