Insider claims Sony moved away from PC ports because they “didn’t make enough money”

In recent weeks we’ve seen an increasing amount of talk surrounding PlayStation’s multi-platform plans and their decision to move away from porting their single-player first-party games to PC. While Sony has yet to share a definitive statement on the matter, notable insiders have revealed the primary reasons for this shift in strategy.

Recently we reported on comments from PlayStation CEO Hideaki Nishino who offered a diplomatic statement on the company's position with regards to multi-platform releases, stating:

“Our current main policy is that, for single-player games developed in-house, we will further refine the value of the gaming experience that PlayStation can offer. At the same time, we believe it is important for live-service games to reach a wider audience through online multiplayer, so we continue to view releases on both PS5 and PC as the standard.”

While not directly stated, this seemed to suggest that the rumours are indeed true. In response to these latest comments, trusted industry insider Jason Schreier offered more or a direct explanation on the matter, taking to ResetEra to write: “I guess they're not going to lay this out publicly, but there's no ambiguity in their strategy.”

Schreier continued, “During a townhall a few weeks ago, Hermen Hulst told staff that their single-player narrative games will be PlayStation only, and he explained that they were inconsistent with their PC releases, they didn't make enough money, and they want to keep their IP aligned to their own platform. Confirmed this with two people who heard him say it. There's no ‘case by case’ here.”

While we are unlikely to ever hear a definitive position from Sony themselves, Schreier’s statement does give clarity on the matter. PlayStation are quite selective when it comes to sharing sales numbers, but based on various data points it sounds about right.

Regardless of the reason, it seems like we have now gotten a pretty conclusive answer on the matter – even if it’s not from the horse’s mouth.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Sony’s strategy shift? Were sales the main reason, or was it a case of compounding factors? Let us know your thoughts down below.

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