Between 2020 and 2025, Sony pursued a substantial strategic shift: releasing its prized PlayStation exclusives on PC, albeit often with a significant delay, to maximize profit and reach a new audience. Here's a list of all the games that were released during this timeframe:
| Game | PC launch |
|---|---|
| Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition | August 7, 2020 |
| Days Gone | May 18, 2021 |
| God of War | January 14, 2022 |
| Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered | August 12, 2022 |
| Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | November 18, 2022 |
| Sackboy: A Big Adventure | October 27, 2022 |
| Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection | October 19, 2022 |
| Returnal | February 15, 2023 |
| The Last of Us Part I | March 28, 2023 |
| Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart | July 26, 2023 |
| Helldivers 2 | February 8, 2024 |
| Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition | March 21, 2024 |
| Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut | May 16, 2024 |
| Until Dawn | October 4, 2024 |
| God of War Ragnarök | September 19, 2024 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered | October 31, 2024 |
| LEGO Horizon Adventures | November 14, 2024 |
| Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | January 30, 2025 |
| Stellar Blade | June 11, 2025 |
| The Last of Us Part II Remastered | April 3, 2025 |
| Lost Soul Aside | May 30, 2025 |
It went well at first, so much so that Sony acquired PC port specialist Nixxes Software specifically to craft well-made PC versions of its games. But then sales started to dwindle, possibly because PC gamers weren't too happy about getting the games a year or more later. The PSN account controversy didn't help, either, as Sony tried (and failed) to require PC users to sign up for a PlayStation Network account to play their games.
In March 2026, Bloomberg first reported that Sony would pivot back to full exclusives, at least for single player games, starting with Ghost of Yōtei and Saros. Last month, Bloomberg added that PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst had informed staff of this change.
Now, PlayStation CEO Hideaki Nishino has finally commented in a public statement during an interview with Famitsu:
We’ve always determined platform selection based on each title's characteristics. If releasing a title on PC would maximize the gaming experience, we’ll continue to consider that option. 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. Regardless of the platform, we will make decisions based on the principle of delivering the best possible gaming experience that maximizes each title’s unique features.
So, as mentioned in the previous Bloomberg report, Sony will continue to launch live service games on both PlayStation and PC, while single player games will go back to being exclusives for good.
This strategy change is also reflected in the updated wording in the company's annual strategic summary, published yesterday on Sony's IR website. Whereas last year Sony planned to "continue its efforts to deploy its first-party titles to multiple platforms, such as PC", that phrase has been removed, while they have instead added their recently announced focus on leveraging AI tools:
In addition, Sony is utilizing AI to unleash the creativity of studios and further enhance the PlayStation experience. Within the studio business, Sony aims to improve productivity through the use of AI powered tools, allowing development teams to reinvest their time into building richer worlds and gameplay experiences.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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