Consoles have always had exclusive first-party games that you could only play if you owned that particular console platform, but things have steadily been changing, and Sony wants to make more of its games multiplatform. To some degree, this has already started happening. Sony has a robust list of games from first-party studios that you can now play on PC. The most recent of these games is the smash hit Helldivers II — a co-op PvE third-person shooter that has you fighting back hordes of alien bugs and androids to liberate planets and spread democracy for Super Earth.
The game has been so popular since its launch last week, that servers became overloaded during the weekend, causing a stream of issues that had to be fixed. To put it another way, it’s been a huge success for Sony as a multiplatform game. And it joins a list of other popular first-party hits. Including God Of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Marvel’s Spider-Man. All of which can now be played on PC via Steam. Sony wants to see more of this success. In the company’s most recent earnings call, on February 14, Sony President Hiroki Totoki said that growing its first-party offerings with multi-platform could improve the company’s margins.
“If you have strong first-party content, not only with our console but also other platforms like computers, first-party can be grown with multiplatform and that can help operating profit to improve. So that is another one we want to proactively work on,” Totoki said. This is in line with what Sony Group CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said back in January about expanding more PlayStation experiences to PC, mobile, and the cloud.
Sony games could become multiplatform more quickly
Sony’s first-party games that have come to PC have typically done so well after they were released on console. The exception to this rule is Helldivers II which was released on PS5 and PC on the same day. But with Totoki’s desire for improving margins, it’s entirely possible that Sony could make its games multiplatform at a faster rate.
Totoki’s statement (which was translated by @Genki_JPN on X) doesn’t explicitly say this. But it would seem like a logical move for Sony. Especially after seeing how well Helldivers II has done with a simultaneous PC release. Now, this doesn’t mean Sony will go down this road. It may continue to release first-party games on PC at the same pace as before. Waiting months or years to port games over. It’s also possible that it will just choose to do this with its biggest franchises. While smaller games similar to Helldivers II would see same-day releases.
Sony President Hiroki Totoki says he wants to go aggressive in improving margins by growing 1st party with multi-platform #PlayStation
“In the past, we wanted to popularize console and the 1st party titles' main purpose was to make the console popular. It is true, but there is a… pic.twitter.com/28zwgLrFxb
— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) February 14, 2024
Sony and Microsoft loosening their grips on exclusives
This statement from Sony comes just a day before Microsoft is suspected to announce that some of its first-party games will go multiplatform. Over the past few weeks, it’s been rumored that Microsoft was considering porting games to PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Games like Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment are rumored to be among the first ports. With consideration for larger titles in discussion. Microsoft of course has not confirmed any of this. But not long after the rumors started, Microsoft announced that a “business update for Xbox” was coming in the next Official Xbox Podcast. That podcast happens on February 15 at 12 P.M. PST.
People are suspecting that the “business update” in question might refer to Microsoft’s plans to start porting games outside of the Xbox ecosystem. If true, then it’ll be a pretty big shift for the gaming industry. Most of all, it’ll be good news for gamers. Especially if both Sony and Microsoft take this approach since more people will be able to play these games.