- PlayStation should release its PC ports sooner than it does so that the buzz around them is still high once the PC version arrives.
- Ghost of Tsushima came a whopping four years later but still managed to become PlayStation’s biggest single-player title.
- Console demand has either remained stagnant or declined, so Sony should consider committing to PC for good.
PlayStation’s PC ports are immensely popular among the masses and for all the right reasons. Sony has various brilliant in-house studios that deliver colossal games one after the other. However, it usually brings them to PC quite late, which, in my opinion, needs to change.
The best example is Ghost of Tsushima’s PC port. The title has been delisted in over 100 countries without PSN access. Despite these shortcomings, it even beat God of War to register the highest concurrent player count for a single-player PlayStation title.
I can only imagine how big this game would have been on the platform had it launched earlier, or better yet, from day one.
Why it matters: The PC market is like a gold mine for Sony. Past releases like Baldur’s Gate 3, Hogwarts Legacy, and Palworld have shown how much potential this platform has.
Early PC Ports Will Bring Bigger Audiences
There is no set pattern for when a game launches on PlayStation and comes to PC. For context, Horizon Forbidden West came to PC two years after launch, and Ghost of Tsushima arrived four years later.
According to leaks, God of War Ragnarok is coming next, so it’ll be one of the earlier releases. However, The Last of Us Part 2 still isn’t here more than four years later.
My point is that releasing the ports this late makes these titles less relevant to audiences. Let’s take Stellar Blade, for example; if I knew the game would arrive on PC after a set six months or even a year after the PS5 release, I might’ve waited for the port.
But because there isn’t a set pattern and we don’t even know if the port will arrive, I skipped it entirely and probably won’t return to it until it goes on a heavy discount on PC, my preferred platform.
If Ghost of Tsushima is already pulling in nearly 100K concurrent players, something that even Hellblade 2 has failed at, imagine the splash its sequel could make on the platform in a year.
Console Demand is On A Decline
According to AMD’s recent earnings call, console demand is on a decline. Sony itself, in a recent financial report, revealed that the PS5 missed its sales target. They expect the sales to drop even more moving forward.
While PlayStation has a huge cult following and the demand will always be there, more and more people are shifting towards PC. This will mean a bigger audience on the platform and the opportunity to grow the business.
A smaller gap between PS5 and PC releases could be the answer for Sony. When people know they can expect the titles sooner on PC, they’ll be more excited about them, and the sales will undoubtedly be much higher.
Helldivers 2 is the perfect example. It launched alongside the PS5 version on PC and exploded in popularity. At one point, it even boasted twice the number of players on PC compared to its PlayStation counterpart.
I also think Sony must stop forcing the PSN requirements on Steam. If Ghost of Tsushima hadn’t been delisted in so many countries, imagine how much better it would have done in terms of concurrent players.
With PlayStation looking to push its way into PC gaming, I think the best approach would be to release the ports as soon as possible to make the most of these releases. This will not only be great for PC players but also prove substantially better for Sony in terms of business.
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