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[SNG32]

"With Sony reportedly pulling single-player games from PC, how do you think this affects console exclusives from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean third-party developers — particularly those where Sony has been involved in publishing?
Do you think these games will still make their way to PC? This feels especially relevant given that Sony's only Eastern first-party studios are Team Asobi, known for Astro Bot, and Polyphony Digital, the team behind Gran Turismo. With such a limited Japanese development presence internally, Sony has historically relied on Eastern third-party partnerships to round out its portfolio — so if those relationships shift, it could have significant implications for both PC players and the broader multiplatform landscape."

 

[Puscifer]

I'm sure the report said internally developed games.


Meaning we aren't getting Saros but Phantom Blade Zero isn't affected. Secondly, China has a huge PC market that's been growing in part of their exploding middle class and consoles are still a new phenomenon after being banned/controlled for so long so no.

 

[Karim]

"With Sony reportedly pulling single-player games from PC, how do you think this affects console exclusives from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean third-party developers — particularly those where Sony has been involved in publishing?
Do you think these games will still make their way to PC? This feels especially relevant given that Sony's only Eastern first-party studios are Team Asobi, known for Astro Bot, and Polyphony Digital, the team behind Gran Turismo. With such a limited Japanese development presence internally, Sony has historically relied on Eastern third-party partnerships to round out its portfolio — so if those relationships shift, it could have significant implications for both PC players and the broader multiplatform landscape."

 

[IDKFA]

"With Sony reportedly pulling single-player games from PC, how do you think this affects console exclusives from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean third-party developers — particularly those where Sony has been involved in publishing?
Do you think these games will still make their way to PC? This feels especially relevant given that Sony's only Eastern first-party studios are Team Asobi, known for Astro Bot, and Polyphony Digital, the team behind Gran Turismo. With such a limited Japanese development presence internally, Sony has historically relied on Eastern third-party partnerships to round out its portfolio — so if those relationships shift, it could have significant implications for both PC players and the broader multiplatform landscape."

I hate to ask, but why the quotation marks? Did you copy this from an article, or is this an AI post job?

Anyway, to answer the question, if this is true then it will only impact first party studios. Personally I think the rumour is BS due to the amount of money its made Sony, all without impacting their console sales as well.

 

[SNG32]

I hate to ask, but why the quotation marks? Did you copy this from an article, or is this an AI post job?

Anyway, to answer the question, if this is true then it will only impact first party studios. Personally I think the rumour is BS due to the amount of money its made Sony, all without impacting their console sales as well.

It was a typo I put in.

 

[diffusionx]

I think that these Sony published games will continue to get published on PC provided the devs want to do it on PC. I don't think this gets affected at all, it's their in-house stuff.

 

[ReasonBeing]

It was a typo I put in.

The same typo at the beginning and end of the post? Cmon now, this is AI copy and paste.

 

[SNG32]

The same typo at the beginning and end of the post? Cmon now, this is AI copy and paste.

Don't know what to tell you bro.

 

[tkminus]

Owned vs timed. Plus the chinese people want PC ports, since PS5 is not a lot there.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

At first I was a little annoyed, but if it's just internal titles, I feel like I'm losing nothing. Sony partners with some good studios, they do not actually possess good studios.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

I hate to ask, but why the quotation marks? Did you copy this from an article, or is this an AI post job?

Anyway, to answer the question, if this is true then it will only impact first party studios. Personally I think the rumour is BS due to the amount of money its made Sony, all without impacting their console sales as well.

The move away from PC is more about keeping Playstation owners in the ecosystem for the PS6 generation than anything else. Steam Machine and next Xbox both threaten that.

And the amount amount of money Sony have made from PC sales is 1% of their overall business. And that includes GAAS games like Helldivers 2 and Destiny, which are not going anywhere

 

[ReasonBeing]

Don't know what to tell you bro.

"Tell — the — truth"

Edit: I had to get in a hyphen joke, regardless of if it is really AI or not. I'm 50 50 on the post.

 

[TrebleShot]

They'll be back.
Imagine shareholders and board will be looking sideways at Xbox publishing and selling millions of copies of games when the next big release comes.

Making games isn't getting cheaper and convincing the public to invest in a closed platform is getting harder. Let's see how long it lasts but I give it three years.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Probably will keep getting released. Restricting third party devs to a single platform would make the deals look less appealing, especially for ones like shift up who have big playerbases in the PC space.

 

[RoboFu]

Robofu says ... "Those big asian countries have always been shunned by consoles or severely limited and will continue to be so/"

 

[PeteBull]

I think its gonna be like on ps3/early ps4 aka tons more proper playstation exclusives and pc platform gonna get some port 1-2years after but not games made by 1st party, rather 3rd party/2nd party only and nothing is guaranteed.
To put it simply more reasons to get ps6 nextgen.

 

[dgrdsv]

We don't even know if Sony is actually pulling their 1st party games from PC or if it's just a momentary decision for Yotei and Saros.
Plans change, games underperform, 3rd party agreements have clauses in them and a lot depends on the wishes of an independent studio.

 

[Durin]

Doubtful for those given the home regions of China and South Korea have more PC users, and you're already seeing the Stellar Blade sequel opt for self-publishing.

The most I'd expect is timed exclusivity if Sony money-hats enough, as pure third-party exclusivity I don't think devs want to chance given the current budgets this gen, and even AA devs like for the Kena sequel are still releasing on PC.

Hopefully not exclusive though, I've enjoyed eastern stuff Sony has worked with more than their first-party games this gen.

 

[StueyDuck]

Both xbox and Playstation have been doing the whole PC thing wrong... like sure bring your new games

But the real strategy was the Sega yakuza approach... as in support PC properly.

Uncharted drakes collection should have been put on PC before 4.

Rare replay and viva piniata and so on should have been moved to PC.

I dont want their generic modern bad games on PC I want their older classics on PC.

At least MS put gears halo forza on PC

 

[Thebonehead]

Making games isn't getting cheaper and convincing the public to invest in a closed platform is getting harder. Let's see how long it lasts but I give it three years.

That's a key point.

What with the hardware prices increasing, it's a pincer movement for costs all round.

 

[The Pleasure]

Probably will keep getting released. Restricting third party devs to a single platform would make the deals look less appealing, especially for ones like shift up who have big playerbases in the PC space.

Aren't shiftup fans just part of the Gooning Empire?

 

[Zathalus]

Unlikely that Sony would try and make them console exclusive. The PC market sells so much now that attempting to buy exclusivity on major titles probably doesn't make financial sense.

Maybe for titles that Sony fully finances?

 

[JoeBlack2027]

The like five games this generation we're gonna miss out on. Tough.

 

[bender]

Don't know what to tell you bro.

Ask ChatGPT.

 

[pepeno]

I mean, Sony publishing games on PC only shown that most of their games are "big and awesome" because they can promote them well on their stores and their pr channels and shove them on front page of their store etc.

In open ocean they are at best good to meh. Which Steam pretty much confirmed.

Imo it did irreparable damage to Sony. I think they bought their own hopium on how awesome their games are and thought that each will be selling like 10-15-20milion on pc.

 

[Aressa]

 

[Icylobster]

Sales are certainly a concern for Sony; after a strong start, its PC games aren't really selling. A report by industry analysts Alinea Analytics from November 2025 begins by estimating that Sony's Steam releases have generated no less than $1.5 billion in revenue. But it's clear that Helldivers 2 is the outlier, with its 12.7 million sales dwarfing the rest of the Sony catalog. More pertinently, sales of Sony's core console franchises on Steam are declining. Alinea shows that Steam sales of sequels Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarök, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 all lag far behind those of their predecessors, something the analytics firm attributes to the novelty value of PlayStation games on PC wearing off.

The same trend can be seen in peak concurrent player counts on Steam. Spider-Man hit a peak of 66,436 players in August 2022; Spider-Man 2 managed just 28,189 two and a half years later. God of War Ragnarök's peak was less than half of God of War's 73,529.

PS5 games aren't selling well on PC — so Sony is pulling the plug

Insiders suggest PlayStation may put fewer games on Steam

www.polygon.com

Bloomberg reported it, but there is a paywall.

Stellar Blade was another exception they listed. I also believe some bad ports doesn't help.

I think the delay hurts too. People raved about Spider-Man and when I played it I was underwhelmed. I had fun, but by the time it came to PC I feel like we had enough of a taste for really good open games. Games with better stories, cinematics, etc. Spider-Man has a lot of repetition in it.

I liked GoW but I never came back for Ragnarok. Not really sure why. Maybe I was tired of Atreus lol.

 

[pepeno]

No thanks. I like to play my games on something that lasts longer than 5-8 hours.

I had it for a while and I can't believe anyone can release pad that last only few hours when competition can last you for weeks sometimes months.

 

[Signalis]

"With Sony reportedly pulling single-player games from PC, how do you think this affects console exclusives from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean third-party developers — particularly those where Sony has been involved in publishing?
Do you think these games will still make their way to PC? This feels especially relevant given that Sony's only Eastern first-party studios are Team Asobi, known for Astro Bot, and Polyphony Digital, the team behind Gran Turismo. With such a limited Japanese development presence internally, Sony has historically relied on Eastern third-party partnerships to round out its portfolio — so if those relationships shift, it could have significant implications for both PC players and the broader multiplatform landscape."

Thanks for the daily AI slop

 

[mckmas8808]

At first I was a little annoyed, but if it's just internal titles, I feel like I'm losing nothing. Sony partners with some good studios, they do not actually possess good studios.

I love this level of hate.

 

[Jam Dingo]

They'll be back.
Imagine shareholders and board will be looking sideways at Xbox publishing and selling millions of copies of games when the next big release comes.

Making games isn't getting cheaper and convincing the public to invest in a closed platform is getting harder. Let's see how long it lasts but I give it three years.

Their business isn't publishing, though. Their business is the PlayStation platform and the 30% cut. That's it - everything else is subservient to that.

Nintendo understands that and doesn't even bother flirting with the couple of extra % it might make by putting games on PC. They know that keeping players locked on their system is the be all and end all. I don't know why people find this so hard to understand.

This is another reason their mad GaaS push makes so little sense: it's - at best - a distraction from their core activity.

 

[Bernardougf]

"With Sony reportedly pulling single-player games from PC, how do you think this affects console exclusives from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean third-party developers — particularly those where Sony has been involved in publishing?
Do you think these games will still make their way to PC? This feels especially relevant given that Sony's only Eastern first-party studios are Team Asobi, known for Astro Bot, and Polyphony Digital, the team behind Gran Turismo. With such a limited Japanese development presence internally, Sony has historically relied on Eastern third-party partnerships to round out its portfolio — so if those relationships shift, it could have significant implications for both PC players and the broader multiplatform landscape."

I think sony will revamp their partnerships for second/third psrty games .. it seems obvious they are pulling back from some bad strategies this gen and focus on what made them successful and the n.1 ... this might mean that exclusive deals will lock out pc ports more often and/or make the launch wibdow for pc even longer.

Exclusives always mattered in the console space since forever... is nice to be back to reality .. the delusions and revisionist history being pushed since xbox imploded was getting tiresome

 

[TrebleShot]

Their business isn't publishing, though. Their business is the PlayStation platform and the 30% cut. That's it - everything else is subservient to that.

Nintendo understands that and doesn't even bother flirting with the couple of extra % it might make by putting games on PC. They know that keeping players locked on their system is the be all and end all. I don't know why people find this so hard to understand.

This is another reason their mad GaaS push makes so little sense: it's - at best - a distraction from their core activity.

Well its more about the mindset of the wider market that makes this move very risky in the long term and why I think they will revert.

This is a world where people like options, they like to be able to shop around, find deals and do things the way they want.
Sony is trying to treat the market the same way it was in 2020. So they think or assume that a closed ecosystem works with premium hardware and games.

Nintendo is not comparable as they have one system and the cost is 100 more than the nearest competition and has the added functionality of being portable

Nintendo Switch 2 - 384.99
Playstation 5 - 479.99

The games are equally expensive but at a base level you have the option of a physical media which on PS5 comes with a premium. The PSN store costs are outrageous for new releases, for example RESI9 is 65 i believe its 60 on Nintendo eshop but on Steam via loaded.com its 40 both of which offer refunds which the psn store does not.

None of this is a big secret and when you are getting a technically poorer version of a game and it costs significantly more and you cant refund it digitally its impossible to say its a good thing that sony has locked in exclusives.

Ultimately they better hope it pays off because youll be seeing more studio closures and people laid off and less experimental games because ultimately the player base is limited as is the sales potential. It makes no sense commercially to my mind. I have both so I dont care personally, If I want my games cheaper ill just buy them off the indian or malaysian psn store. But ultimately this is a stupid decision and I think they will be back.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

It shows all these "multiplat is the future" know-it-alls that they don't know what they're talking about.

Sony clearly decided that putting their games on PC was costing them too much of their identity and that it wasn't worth the long term costs of not being exclusive.

Their games have had drastically diminishing sales since their first game was released on PC. Sure revenue is revenue.

Microsoft and Xbox on the otherhand, have no choice. The base Xbox usergroup cannot remotely sustain big budget PC gaming.

Meanwhile, Sony needs to get back to expanding their portfolio and getting variety in their games. Getting budgets under control. Wayy too much emphasis on story-driven open world 3rd person games.

 

[Jam Dingo]

Well its more about the mindset of the wider market that makes this move very risky in the long term and why I think they will revert.

This is a world where people like options, they like to be able to shop around, find deals and do things the way they want.
Sony is trying to treat the market the same way it was in 2020. So they think or assume that a closed ecosystem works with premium hardware and games.

Nintendo is not comparable as they have one system and the cost is 100 more than the nearest competition and has the added functionality of being portable

Nintendo Switch 2 - 384.99
Playstation 5 - 479.99

The games are equally expensive but at a base level you have the option of a physical media which on PS5 comes with a premium. The PSN store costs are outrageous for new releases, for example RESI9 is 65 i believe its 60 on Nintendo eshop but on Steam via loaded.com its 40 both of which offer refunds which the psn store does not.

None of this is a big secret and when you are getting a technically poorer version of a game and it costs significantly more and you cant refund it digitally its impossible to say its a good thing that sony has locked in exclusives.

Ultimately they better hope it pays off because youll be seeing more studio closures and people laid off and less experimental games because ultimately the player base is limited as is the sales potential. It makes no sense commercially to my mind. I have both so I dont care personally, If I want my games cheaper ill just buy them off the indian or malaysian psn store. But ultimately this is a stupid decision and I think they will be back.

I don't really understand the relevance of any of that to my argument about Sony's overwhelming imperative to protect its walled garden.

It's really not that complicated - good business usually isn't.

They have a marketplace and want you to shop there and not somewhere else. THE single best way for any shop to gain market share is simply to sell stuff that people want which they can't get anywhere else. These days they also enjoy other protections like people's friends lists and digital libraries, so exclusives aren't as important as they used to be, but they're still pretty damn important. Important enough, I've always felt - and now the industry seems to be catching up with me - not to dilute that value by trying to grab a bit of extra cash here and there by selling older games on PC. It just chips away at the brand, for very little gain.

 

[SNG32]

I think sony will revamp their partnerships for second/third psrty games .. it seems obvious they are pulling back from some bad strategies this gen and focus on what made them successful and the n.1 ... this might mean that exclusive deals will lock out pc ports more often and/or make the launch wibdow for pc even longer.

Exclusives always mattered in the console space since forever... is nice to be back to reality .. the delusions and revisionist history being pushed since xbox imploded was getting tiresome

With maybe some Chinese developers and even that I don't know why they would lockout third party or second party developers when they would probably have to pay a lot of money to do that. Timed exclusive sure they pay a bit but I'm sure it's not as much as completely locking it to PlayStation platforms. From a Japanese developer standpoint the only meaningful one they had was square and they were the last ones to see how exclusives were hurting their sales with final fantasy. Now they are multiplat going forward.