Sony pulls single-player game line-up from PC, now exclusive to PS5

Sony is reportedly withdrawing from the PC market for its narrative single-player games, making them exclusive to PlayStation consoles. The move was revealed in an internal town hall led by PlayStation Studios chief executive Hermen Hulst. Bloomberg reported that the decision was taken to boost PlayStation 5 sales as the company prepares for the next console generation, the PlayStation 6. ‘The CEO of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst told staff at a Monday town hall that the company’s narrative single-player games will now be exclusive to PlayStation,’ Jason Schreier wrote on Bluesky, as the first journalist to disseminate the news. Under the new policy, highly anticipated single-player titles like Marvel’s Wolverine are expected to land only on PlayStation. The plan to bring games such as Ghost of Yotei to PC is reportedly cancelled. However, the policy is not universal: Sony is reportedly making exceptions for multiplayer or live-service games, such as Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. This mirrors the success of multiplayer games like Helldivers 2 on Steam, where limiting the number of players is seen as a mistake for games that rely on an active community. In addition, existing porting agreements with third-party studios, such as the Ember Lab project titled Kena: Scars of Kosmora, are said to proceed as planned and still release on PC. The move by the Japanese technology behemoth is prompted by several crucial factors. In addition to reportedly poor sales performance of PC ported single-player games missing their targets due to losing momentum at launch, the strategy is also a counter-move to Microsoft, which is currently reassessing the position of Xbox exclusives for release on competing consoles. To date, Sony has not issued an official public statement regarding the PC porting restrictions. The fate of Nixxes, the studio acquired by Sony in 2021 specifically to handle PC porting, remains in question, even though the PlayStation Studios site still lists cross-platform focus in the studio’s description. However, if within the next 12 months the PC market sees no new Sony single-player port releases, the rumours may be proven true.