PlayStation eyes new investment for PC, mobile push

Sony Group Corp's gaming business is looking at fresh investment to bolster its push into PC and mobile, a senior executive said, as the PlayStation 5 maker competes for talent with deep-pocketed rivals and as industry dealmaking heats up.

"Further investments in areas that will strengthen the expansion on to PC, on to mobile and into live services, that's definitely a possibility for us," Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, told Reuters in an interview without providing further detail.

[sparky77]

If that leaked document is correct it looks like most of the new IPs coming from Sony's Europe devs will be day one PS5 and PC. I am kind of surprised they have made the transition to leave PS exclusivity so fast I thought we had a least another generation before they switched to MS's strategy.

[blue88]

Mostly live service games /remastered games will be day one on pc.

[MrVux000]

''If that leaked document is correct it looks like most of the new IPs coming from Sony's Europe devs will be day one PS5 and PC.''

Yes, that is referencing live service games, which ties into Jim Ryan's report that Sony plans to bring 25% of their games to PC, another 25% to mobile and the 50% will remain on PS5 only. It implies nothing on SONY leaving platform exclusivity behind, as i doubt they want to piss off their loyal fanbase and further cannibalize their sales.

Which is not something i look forward to as someone that despises most of the live-service games as noted in here:

''While PS4 and PS5 titles are expected to make up more than two-thirds of releases this year, PC and mobile titles will make up almost half of new games in 2025/26.

"The initiatives to broaden our audience... will have a fundamental effect on the shape of our game portfolio," Ryan said.

With the shift, PlayStation is aiming to keep pace with industry change that has seen cloud technology and the increased computing power of smartphones untether users from bulky hardware and more money spent by gamers in free-to-play online titles.''

I just hope single-player first party games wont suffer too much cuz of this.

[MrVux000]

@Fairmount68

Never claimed anything about SONY caring about anyone's feelings. Just like any corporation they care about maintaining a balance of profit and platform attraction (what consumers cares). If they keep on focusing on profits only, it will backfire like it did during PS3 era.

[CrimsonWing69]

You’re fooling yourself if you think they won’t start releasing all titles on PC. Jimbo is all about making money and doesn’t care about brand loyalists as you can well see since his reign as CEO of SIE.

[MrVux000]

@CrimsonWing69

There are over 60 PS4 only games remaining, which includes 3rd party and 1st party games ... this is without including cross-gen games (PS4/PS5) and PS5 only games.

I highly doubt SONY will port all of these games to PC, and those that do have plans to be ported will be minimum 2 years post release.

If they do release them all (again, i don't have a crystal ball so its anyone's guess), i wont lose sleep over it. Exclusives were always just a bonus to console strong points vs PC counterparts, and i dont see those ever changing.

The question remains, will SONYs current actions impact first party single player quality.

[Crows90]

@fairmount

Umm so hypothetically let's assume their loyal fan base leaves Sony because they didn't care...what do you think happens to their bottom line when millions leave?

If sony ignores their fanbase and tries to compete purely on money alone they will fail. Microsoft has more money. If sony drops their games day 1 on PC then I no longer need a PlayStation and therefore won't stay in their ecosystem. That's not good for them.

[CrimsonWing69]

I'm replying to your response to me.

I'm not saying they are going to go backwards and release all PS4 games on PC. What I'm saying is they're making a move very similar to Xbox where going forward their games will all release on PC. At first it was thought some and several years down the road, but now it's a year from console release and it's seeming to be all releases (This is judging from leaks such as Returnal and Sackboy being added to the PC release list).

You're nuts if you think this model will last. It's a constant evolving model to produce the most revenue. Sony sees their fans losing their sh*t so here's their PR response. Let's say next-generation when they have their established PC platform I'm pretty sure all games will release closer to each other. Until eventually the same time.

[ABizzel1]

None of this is really new except their push for PC with their own IPs. Sony already had a mobile gaming sector back in 2016, they just kept it separate from PS, and now it has been rebranded to PS Mobile and they added more studios.

Sony also dipped their toes into PS+PC since the PS3 generation especially for online games. So Live Service and online games makes 100% sense to be day and date. It drastically expands those communities and longevity, however, there always needs to be an option to play without PC players. Remakes and Remasters also make sense, considering PS fans have already played those games. Everything else coming 2 or more years after release (sooner if sales are poor) seems fair.

The growth in PC and mobile is for purely for profit, Tecent has grown to be one of the top 10 publishers in less than 10 years thanks to mobile ownership and are now a real competitor in consoles / PC gaming. Sony and MS would be foolish not to follow suit in some form to grow their profits and fight off Tencent from becoming a 4th publisher/ console maker (because at this point they very well could, especially the now overcrowded handheld market).

Sony needs the money for the company, acquisitions, and game development. The PC sales of their games have generated enough money per game to pay for the entire development of the sequel and the later PC port, so why not invest in the platform.

[darthv72]

I see they are also wanting to make more entertainment projects for amazon and netflix. Shows based on horizon, god of war and even fromsoftware titles like bloodborne.

[TheColbertinator]

Sony once ran its own PC studio that was dedicated to online PC gaming. They are not a stranger to the PC market by any stretch.

[Father__Merrin]

They can't leave exclusivity behind as they have to sell consoles. I've personally acepted and warmed upto certain games hitting pc

[blackblades]

Half of us did, it doesnt hurt me I still wouldve bought a ps5 if I hadn't won one. All the negativity is pointless, trolls are pointless

[anast]

PC will get all of the jank games day 1 and the good games will come years later.

[PitbullMonster]

Thanks Hulst and Rayen for making it easy to switch to pc. Last week I sold my PS5 and next year I'm going to build a new PC. After 20 years of Playstation I say goodbye and thanks for the memories but I don't like the way this company goes.

[Imalwaysright]

Welcome to the dark side https://c.tenor.com/uWhsgmD...

[King Nezz]

I'm in the same boat. Selling my PS5 also. This gen is weird. It's like consoles are not required to play AAA games. Sure, there is the period of time a game launches on a Sony console and then PC months or a few years later. But with patience, you can have a better experience performance and visual wise.

[moriarty1889]

Yes it seems Sony are going the route of MS with their games. Live Service as well. Never thought I would see Playstation go down this road. Oh well, I guess you never know anymore. Gaming will never be the same for me.

[MrVux000]

''It's like consoles are not required to play AAA games.''

Not sure what are you implying with this. You certainly never needed a console just to play AAA games. Consoles were always about being the cheapest option overall, having best price-per-performance/ optimization and accessibility ... this gen being different with majority of games running 60FPS and or checkerboard 4K. The only thing that has changed is gap between consoles and PC being much smaller than in (for example) PS3 era.

''But with patience, you can have a better experience performance and visual wise.''

A very marginal difference especially when you consider money-spent. And this is with assumption all first party games release on PC in the first place.

Patience applies to both consoles and PC gamers alike, there is no rule to the experience.

I have been gaming on both PC and consoles since the 90s, and honestly this could not be a better time to be a console gamer, especially when you consider the PC HW prices in the last 3 years or so.

It really comes to two things ... which games are you interested in (for example, i like RTS games, as such i game on PC) and how much you value game mods (which mostly revolves around a dozen games most of them being from Bethesda).

If you are not interested in those games and mods, then the best experience will be on consoles for the user IMO.

[Vengeance1138]

If only you actually had a PS5 to begin with

[Silly gameAr]

Somebody would be happy as hell to get that PS5. You'd be doing somebody out there a favor. When the games start rolling in, and they will, the person that bought your PS5 will get some good use out of it.

[KeeseToast]

I also prefer PCs, but Consoles are great because of the price to performance; plug and play nature and general ease of use compared to PC. I'm glad Sony doesn't try to rely solely on exclusives anymore.

[LOGICWINS]

Happy for you! Thanks to Jim Ryan, I can play these games on PC/Steam Deck. Absolutely no reason to buy a Playstation anymore.

Once the MS/ActiBlizz acquisition goes through, Sony will absolutely double down on PC ports to make up for future lost revenue when mainline COD games leave Playstation indefinitely.

[lonewolf10]

Interesting take RE CoD.

[Levii_92]

Yeah i don’t like them anymore as well i mean holy jesus have they fallen in my eyes (this coming from a longtime loyal fan) but selling the ps5 and switching to Pc like that just seems like a bigger hassle and more expensive to me. 😂

[MrVux000]

Take it from someone, that uses both. Transition is not really hard per-say, the difficult part would be leaving your library behind.

If you don't have appreciation towards your money spent, or don't have a big library in the first place, the transitioning to PC only wont be a big problem ...

To me personally, it comes down to where my friends are, we jumped back and fort between consoles and PC over the last 20+ years, and its likely we will stay on PS5 this gen since we think its better value.

Cant go wrong with PS5 and PC combo tho (if you can afford it).

[Number1TailzFan]

Console/Sony fanboys will be extremely salty with this comment, lmao.

[Shadowsteal]

What are you gonna do between now and next year?

[blackblades]

Sit and look stupid

[FlavorLav01]

Did you sell your Xbox too? Just asking since you haven’t needed one to play ANY exclusive games for quite sometime now. Genuinely curious…

[King Nezz]

The beauty of the Xbox/Windows ecosystem makes having an Xbox important if you are not always at home. I plan on playing Starfield on a 4090 if I'm lucky. But there are some weekends I am not home. Luckily for me, I have a Series X at my girlfriend's home. So as is the case for most Xbox 1st party games, I can continue my progress at her house and not feel like letting her spend the weekend alone.

And before you ask why she can't come home with me certain weekends, welp, she has kids that are minors. So in my case and speaking for myself, why would I sell my Xbox? With Microsoft's play anywhere feature and being able to play digital games on PC when I can and on Xbox when I am away from the PC, again, why sell the versatile Xbox?

I love how you use "ANY" in caps and then "genuinely curious". I can see the shot taken. But I am too mature to be offended. Especially when I have all the major consoles.

[Vengeance1138]

Highly doubt you had one in the first place. You'd have to be a real extremist to sell your PS5 over nothing.

[King Nezz]

@Vengeance1138

If the doubt was towards me, here's my PSN ID (RuthlessNezz83). Now doubt that. Gahahahahaha!

Heaven forbid someone doesn't bend over for Sony consoles that have left the buyer disappointed.

[lonewolf10]

Smart move I reckon, we seem to get more "exclusives" on the PC albeit with a wait sometimes.

[tay8701]

have fun spending at least twice as much to get the same performance and waiting a yr at minimum to get any non live service 1st party game.

[blackblades]

Troll

[CaptainHenry916]

That's what I'm planning to do as well. But I'm doing it after this generation and be making that transition. I only used my PS5 for the exclusives I'm interested in but most of the time I'm playing on my PC. All of Sony live games I'll play on PC. Online multi-player games are free as well on PC

[CS7]

Man, Sony.

Sticking to SP games when everyone was moving away from them worked SO WELL during the PS3-PS4 era.

As an SP gamer, this hard turn is really is disappointing.

Once they taste the money of live service there is no going back.

I may be wrong but Spiderman is the only AAA first party PS5 exclusive announced for 2023… 3 years into the generation.

This is weird.

[Crows90]

So you think Sony is going to release only 1 triple A game in 2023....that would be a first in ever...I think.

[CS7]

I really want to doubt it. But Sony usually has their games announced AT LEAST one year in advance.

I’d love to be surprised but I’m not setting up myself to be disappointed.

[Crows90]

Agreed. It is strange they nothing has been announced yet. We know wolverine is in the works and I'm sure sucker punch is working on something as well as days gone devs. It's been a while since anything from them too. I'm betting tlou 2 multiplayer will release next year as well..

[Silly gameAr]

I don't see a problem with games coming to PC. More money and more fans that get to see how good Sony's games are. Mobile, I'm not to fond of. As long as they don't say they're going to start focusing on GasS, and stop making single player games, I don't care what they do on PC or mobile.

Though, I wouldn't mind a game Like MAG or Warhawk coming out. This day and age, they'll probably have microtransactions, because companies seem to think gamers like that shit in games. But, I bet games like that would thrive on PC.

[FortWaba]

I hate this direction Sony is taking. I want 2016-2020 Sony back.

[Hauntedasylum8]

It’s definitely no longer a fun time supporting them when the moves they make don’t take the fanbase into consideration. This gen feels so strange.

[anast]

The mobile part is gross.

[Orchard]

I can’t help but feel that the leadership of Jim Ryan and Hulst just isn’t good overall.

Good for Sony Corp and shareholders, bad for us as consumers and gamers.

[Elda]

I will always support PlayStation first,second & third party exclusives including their consoles but I have no interest in mobile or PC gaming. Gaas games would have to be very interesting to play otherwise I won't be supporting those either.

[ApocalypseShadow]

It's the typical news then nonsense that comes after anything Sony related.

Sony announced PS5 and there was the nonsense about BC, overheating, low teraflops. Turned out that Sony made a high quality system with over 4,000 BC games that made 12 teraflop talk disappear. Talk about Sony not having games or cross gen and Sony has PS5 exclusives while their competitor struggles releasing any and their flagship title is in shambles. Talk about Sony's online but Sony made an even better, combined online structure with tiers that still offers more games than their competitors. Talk about Sony not having any future games announced when we already know that Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine are coming. Talk about Sony not releasing a new VR headset but we clearly see they are and it already blows the media away with features no one else has.

Now we have talk about live service games. I'm not a fan. But Sony could turn live into something worth while as they turned paying for online something good with giving hundreds of dollars in games back to play every month when Microsoft went from OG Xbox and 360 giving nothing away for 10 years. And had lackluster Gold releases to force gamers onto game pass.

I will support them like you because they are consistent in making great games and hardware.

[chronoforce]

Evercrack 3 incoming!

[GoodGuy09]

I wonder if eventually their single player games as well. I'm glad Sony and Mcsft have decided the PC market is also where they want to be.

However their new strategies are getting more and more...odd. Let us do hope they keep bringing out banger SP games. I also really wish they could bring back MAG someday lol.

If Sony does a crap job, then well, we will complain and shout so they can get the message. If this leads to a better future for them, then why not.

[Father__Merrin]

I've settled with my series x and pc for now. Don't think Il bother with ps5 supported them long time and don't agree with the direction they going if all games bar few will come to PC then there's no rush to get one anymore