Sony has confirmed it is scaling back its PC porting program. Titles that were previously heading to Steam are either delayed significantly or quietly removed from roadmaps. The public framing is about protecting the PlayStation platform experience. The real reason is probably more straightforward than that.
PS6 is coming. Sony knows that a portion of its player base has been content to wait for PlayStation exclusives to arrive on PC rather than buying the console. That was an acceptable trade-off during a period when Sony was trying to grow its PC revenue and establish a presence on Steam. It is a less acceptable trade-off when you need people to buy a new console. This and the potential threat that was Project Helix that is coming from Microsoft and having a more open PC format and being able to play games from multiple libraries means Sony’s games for PC could end up on their console.
The numbers from the PC ports have been mixed. Some titles performed well. Others underperformed expectations in ways that made Sony reconsider the value of the window between console launch and PC release. The shorter that window gets, the more it cannibalizes console sales. Sony appears to have concluded the calculus does not work in its favor, at least for now.
From a business standpoint, this is a defensible position. Console sales drive the hardware install base. he hardware install base drives software attach rates, PlayStation Plus subscriptions, and PlayStation Store revenue. If PC porting is eating into that, pulling back makes sense in the lead-up to a major hardware launch.
From a PC player standpoint, it is a straightforward loss which I myself will sorely miss. A portion of Sony’s catalog that was moving toward accessibility on the platform is now moving away from it. The goodwill Sony built with the PC community over the last three years takes a hit but fans are praising as stating this is good for the brand and good for brand loyalty, something XBOX is now trying to fight its way to gain back.
It’s worth noting this isn’t Sony stepping away from PC entirely. Mutliplayer and live service games may still have plans to hit PC while single player experience games won’t but potentially and most likely exclusivity windows get longer, not that ports disappear. The question is how long. Six months to a year is one thing. Three years is another.
This is not a surprise move. It is a predictable one from a company preparing to launch a new console in a crowded market. The timing, landing right as PS6 speculation picks up, is probably not a coincidence.
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