A couple of years ago, the idea of PlayStation-exclusive games being ported to PC would have seemed highly unlikely, but times have changed. Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, Housemarque’s Returnal, and the Horizon series are just a few of the big PlayStation properties that have recently made their way to PC since 2020, and former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida recently spoke about how doing so was almost like having a license to print money.
“Releasing on PC does many things: it reaches a new audience who do not own consoles–especially in regions where consoles are not as popular,” Yoshida said in an interview with Sacred Symbols+ (via Push Square). “The idea is that those people may become fans of a particular franchise, and when a new game in that series comes out, they may be convinced to purchase a PlayStation. It also adds additional income, because porting to PC is way cheaper than creating an original title. So, it’s almost like printing money. And that helps us to invest in new titles now that the cost of games has increased.”
The benefit to Sony’s push into PC gaming is that it has also allowed it to reach very lucrative markets like China, where PCs are far more popular than consoles. “China is a growing but very small console market. In order to reach the audience in countries like China then it’s crucial to release on PC. So, I believe PC versions really reach a new audience,” Yoshida added.
Sony’s next PC port will be The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, which comes shortly after the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 earlier this year. Yoshida has participated in several interviews since he bid farewell to Sony in January, a company he worked at for 38 years. Starting in 2019, Yoshida was put in charge of a new indies initiative for Sony, a position that he says he had no choice to accept at the time as it was either that or he would have been forced to leave the company.
Yoshida has also spoken candidly about how he would have attempted to “resist” the push into live-service games had he still been SIE president and why there is no Bloodborne remaster yet.