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Flagging sales of Sony’s PC ports have been blamed on the platform holder’s reluctance to port games day-and-date, according to research from Newzoo.
Up until recently, the manufacturer followed a strategy whereby its tentpole titles would debut first on the PS5, before deploying on storefronts like Steam at a later date.
However, reporting from reliable sources like Bloomberg suggests it intends to scrap this plan, and focus on tried-and-trusted exclusivity instead.
One of the reasons cited for the decision change is slowing sales, as early conversions like Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone sold reasonably well, while more recent efforts, such as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, have struggled.
According to the aforementioned analysis, the firm’s preferred staggered release strategy is having a profound impact on the platform holder’s ability to sell these ports:
“Newzoo’s data shows that PlayStation titles ported to PC after their console launch typically see PC account for around 13% of total players in the first three months across both releases. By comparison, when comparable AAA titles launch simultaneously on PC and console, PC contributes closer to 44% of players in the same period.”
Newzoo notes that this phenomenon is not exclusive to Sony’s first-party titles, but also applies to other timed PS5 exclusives, such as Final Fantasy 16 et al.
Sony, of course, will be well aware of this.
It’s no real surprise to learn that late ports perform worse than day-and-date ones, and the Japanese giant has always maintained that it adopted this strategy in order to protect its own ecosystem.
In fact, PS Studios boss Hermen Hulst alluded to this in a business interview last year:
“It’s important to realise that we’re really thoughtful about bringing our franchises off-console to reach new audiences, and that we’re taking a very measured and deliberate approach in doing that. Particularly on the single player side, our tentpole titles; they’re such a point of differentiation for the PlayStation console. They’re real showcases of the performance and quality of the hardware, so we want to ensure that players get the best experience from these titles. We’re very thoughtful about how, and if, we bring these titles to other platforms.”
Sony’s expansion into PC was always an experiment to see if it could extend the sales tail of each title and reach new audiences in an attempt to attract them back to PlayStation.
It would seem it’s collected the data it needed to make an informed decision, and judging by the recent round of reporting, concluded that the juice is simply not worth the squeeze.
The upper-management at Sony will know that releasing first-party games day-and-date on PC would have improved sales on storefronts like Steam, but it’ll also have data informing the impact on its own ecosystem if it does.
Ultimately, it looks like its decided to put PS5 first, and over 70% of you agree with the company’s conclusion.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
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As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.