It is now official: Sony has confirmed that PlayStation 5 single-player games will remain console exclusives and will not be released on PC. Consequently, none of the first-party titles the company is developing for PlayStation 5 will eventually be available on PC. Among the games reportedly affected are Marvel’s Wolverine, as well as other titles like Ghost of Yōtei and Saros, which will remain PlayStation 5 exclusive titles.
This new policy will primarily impact major in-house games from PlayStation Studios – those high-budget titles that have traditionally driven console sales. In contrast, online, multiplayer, or service-based games will continue to have PC versions. This means games that may not have widespread appeal, such as the recently launched Marathon, which currently has only around 10,000 concurrent players on Steam. For example, Arc Raiders, released over six months ago, boasts over 83,000 concurrent players daily. Even a single-player title like Crimson Desert, launched in March, has around 50,000 concurrent players daily.
Sony Ends PlayStation 5 Game Ports to PC That Began in 2020
Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, communicated internally during an employee meeting that the company’s single-player narrative games will once again be PlayStation exclusives. This confirms months of rumors indicating such a move. This shift contrasts with the strategy initiated in 2020, when Sony began bringing some of its most recognizable exclusives to PC. The official PlayStation for PC website still features titles such as The Last of Us Part II Remastered, Helldivers 2, Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, among others. For years, this strategy allowed Sony to monetize games that had already recouped their development costs on console and expand the reach of its franchises beyond the PlayStation ecosystem.
The issue is that the commercial performance of these ports has been inconsistent. Helldivers 2 became a major success story on PC. According to Alinea Analytics, games published by PlayStation had sold approximately 43 million copies on Steam. Of these, Helldivers 2 alone accounted for 12.7 million copies and around 400 million dollars in gross revenue. However, that success pertains to a very specific profile: a cooperative, multiplayer, replayable game with an active community and simultaneous PC and PS5 launch. This is not the same performance as a narrative AAA title released on PC years later.
Herein lies one of the key factors. Market analysis data suggests that PlayStation’s delayed ports have been losing traction on PC. While Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, and Marvel’s Spider-Man managed to attract a significant portion of PC players, subsequent releases like God of War Ragnarök and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 have had a less significant impact. The explanation may not be a lack of interest in the franchises themselves, but rather the erosion of interest caused by a late arrival. This is especially true when much of the conversation, marketing, and initial demand has already passed by the time the game reaches PC, having been focused on the PS5 launch.
