Sony retreats from PC gaming, robbing us of maybe 4 games

It sure sounds like Sony is done sharing its newest toys with the rest of us. Following up on his report from March, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier said today that PlayStation boss Herman Hulst confirmed to staff that singleplayer PlayStation games will no longer come to PC. The news drives a wedge in the company's publishing efforts on the platform, which it ramped up in 2020 with a PC port of Horizon: Zero Dawn.

We've yet to hear Sony's rationalization for the decision, nor its public confirmation (PC Gamer has reached out), but it's the sort of action that explains itself. Much like Xbox's renewed interest in its own box, Sony is responding to a waning interest in consoles by reinforcing its "narrative singleplayer games" as system sellers once again. Multiplayer games like the upcoming Marvel Tōkon will still come to PC, but if you want to play the next prestige action game from the likes of Naughty Dog or Insomniac, you'll need a PS5.

A few years ago, this would've sucked. Sony is responsible for some of my favorite games of all time, and the availability of gems like Horizon: Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima, and God of War on Steam put those games in front of friends who would've never played them otherwise.

But as I gaze at the future of PlayStation studios, I wonder what we're really missing out on. Here's a quick reminder of Sony's upcoming and recent output, with PS5 games likely to be withheld from PC bolded:

Release TBD

• Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet (Naughty Dog)
• God of War remakes
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake (Singleplayer, but if it's ever finished it'll probably get a PC release)
• Fairgame$

2026

• Marvel's Wolverine (Insomniac)
• Saros
• God of War Sons of Sparta
• Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls
• Kena: Scars of Kosmora
• MLB The Show 26
• Marathon

2025

• Ghost of Yōtei
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• MLB The Show 25
• Lost Soul Aside

(Image credit: Sony)

PlayStation is working at a blistering pace of two, maybe three, non-multiplayer, non-baseball games per year. Its most acclaimed studio, Naughty Dog, hasn't released anything new in six years, and its next game is likely years away still. Calm down, don't everyone line up for a PS5 all at once!

And what a poorly-timed switcheroo: Thanks to the AI bubble and tariffs, a PS5 costs $600. The PS5 Pro is $900. Couple that with Trump's war in Iran driving up the cost of being alive, and the idea that those friends will go buy a new box just to play Ghost of Yotei is, frankly, a fantasy.

Honestly, the gap between a PS5's usefulness and its asking price is a crater these days. The prevailing joke about the PS5 is that it has no games, and nearly six years into its run, that's barely a joke anymore. The glacial pace of big-budget development has turned the "prestige" Sony game, once the company's ace in the hole, into an endangered species. For the crowd who will still be able to play 99% of new games on a PC, the loss is a blip.

Meanwhile, the most versatile gaming platform is only getting more versatile. Thanks to SteamOS and Linux, the dedicated living room PC is a certified thing now. I play half of my games on a docked Steam Deck from my couch, and the console-like experience is so good that I understand why folks are excited for Valve's Steam Machine (and custom builds like it).

It's a releif that Death Stranding 2 PC made it out the door before this shakeup, but Kojima probably would've made a PC version happen anyways (as he did with the first game). (Image credit: Kojima Productions)

Owning a decent PC is already better than being stuck on a console in so many ways, and now boxes are rapidly losing the convenience argument, too. At the same time, PC gaming is on the rise as younger generations get hip to the rewards of the platform's extra steps. It's not a new observation, but that is likely a big factor in Sony's PC skittishness: If Valve is on its way to taking the "PC console" mainstream, best to treat them like a direct competitor.

If we still lived in world where PlayStation exclusivity meant missing out on Killzone 2, Demon's Souls, Flower, Infamous, Wipeout HD Fury, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time, and Uncharted 2 in a single calendar year, I'd be bummed. But it ain't 2009 anymore.

source https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/sony-retreats-from-pc-gaming-robbing-us-of-maybe-4-games/