Some of the most notable PC game releases of the last few years have been former PlayStation exclusives — albeit several years after they made their debut on Sony’s consoles. It looks like that trend is set to continue, as Sony looks for wider revenue streams outside of the PlayStation 5. In a recent interview with investors, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said that PlayStation games will be expanding to “PC, mobile, and cloud.”
Yoshida spoke with the Norges Bank Investment Management in an extended interview posted to YouTube (spotted by Insider Gaming). The interview is rather long and holistic — remember that Sony makes everything from car stereos to Jeopardy — but the relevant bit starts at about the 12-minute mark.
In answer to the question, “How do you see the future of gaming,” Yoshida said:
“In short, it’d be ubiquitous. Wherever there is computing, users will be able to play their favorite games seamlessly. Gamers will be able to find a place to play in different spaces. While PlayStation will remain our core product, we will expand our gaming experiences to PC, mobile, and cloud.”
That attitude seems to accurately reflect the current state of the company’s portfolio. AAA games either published or significantly bankrolled by Sony come to the PlayStation 5 first, followed by PC, but in relatively small numbers so far. Sony also has at least some interest in game streaming, but it’s fragmented: You can stream games from your PlayStation console to a phone, tablet, or PC. You can even stream over a remote connection if your home internet is good enough as well as streaming a collection of older console games from PlayStation Cloud on PC or mobile. Sony has also begun selling the PlayStation Portal, its first handheld since the PS Vita, but it’s limited to a Wi-Fi connection to a PS5 console.
Horizon: Forbidden West, the sequel to the excellent Horizon: Zero Dawn, is the next major PlayStation Studios release set to come to the PC in the early part of this year. PC gamers are eager for titles like Ghost of Tsushima and Bloodborne to appear on the platform, but so far any future plans are unconfirmed. Sequels to games already released on the PC like The Last of Us Part 2, God of War Ragnarok, and Spider-Man 2 seem like safe bets.
When asked about the rise of subscription models such as Microsoft’s popular Game Pass, Yoshida touched on PlayStation’s own Plus model. PlayStation Plus is required for most online multiplayer on PlayStation and offers an online library of games starting at the $15 a month tier. That said, he isn’t bullish on the shift towards paying for access to newer games in the Netflix model. “People usually play one game at a time,” he said, “so ‘all you can eat’ type of [subscriptions] may not be so valuable compared with video streaming services.”
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.