According to former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden, it is unlikely that a Sony game will ever launch on PC and PlayStation consoles at the same time.
Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden recently stated he doesn’t foresee Sony releasing games on both consoles and PCs at the same time. In recent years, several PlayStation exclusives, such as Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone, have made the transition to PC, opening up the titles to a wider audience than before.
The most recent PlayStation exclusives with future PC ports are Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: Lost Legacy, in the aptly titled Legacy of Thieves Collection. This move for the Uncharted franchise has long been expected by fans, with rumors circulating the internet for months prior to the official reveal by Sony in September. As with Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone before, both A Thief’s End and Lost Legacy have been out now for several years, exclusively on the PlayStation 4.
According to former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden, this trend of releasing games on PC after a period of console exclusivity will likely continue indefinitely. Speaking to What’s Up PlayStation (via VGC), Layden stated, “I don’t think you’ll ever see PlayStation do a day and date with PC.” Layden went on to say that part of the strategy for releasing some slightly older IPs on PC was to entice new gamers to PlayStation consoles. Layden said, “We need to go out to where these new customers are, [where] these new fans could be. We need to go to where they are because they’ve decided not to go to come to my house, so I’ve got to go to their house now.” Layden revealed that the Sony team decided the best way to do this would be to port some of the company’s most famous titles onto PC, to show people what they have been missing by not having a PlayStation console.
PlayStation is now under new management, with Hermen Hulst taking the lead. Hulst has previously commented that PlayStation consoles will always be the best place to experience a PlayStation game, and that launching games on its consoles would be the priority for new releases. This ties in with Layden’s hypothesis about PC releases in the future.
This idea of releasing popular PlayStation titles on PC (after the console rush calms down) is certainly a cunning one from Sony. Sales of Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone on PC have both done well for the company. As such, with Horizon Zero Dawn’s sequel – Horizon Forbidden West – coming in February 2022, those who have played the original on PC may wish to continue Aloy’s story as swiftly as possible. And the only way to do this is by having either a PlayStation 4 or a PlayStation 5 by next February.
Source: What’s Up PlayStation/YouTube, Video Games Chronicle
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