Repeating what he originally said in 2022, PlayStation boss Hermen Hulst said during Sony’s latest business update briefing that Sony will not launch most of its first-party “tentpole” titles to PC at the same time as they come to PlayStation 5. The exception here is for live-service titles, which is something Hulst also made clear years ago. Microsoft, on the other hand, launches many of its first-party games on Xbox and PC at the same time, and also as day-one releases on Game Pass.
“We have a dual approach here. On the live-service side, we are releasing our titles simultaneously, so day-and-date on PlayStation 5 and PC. But with our tentpole titles–our single-player, narrative-driven titles that are the backbone of what PlayStation Studios has delivered in recent years and in our history–we take a more strategic approach,” Hulst, the new co-CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said.
Back in 2022, Hulst said the company would not bring its marquee first-party PS5 games to PC for at least a year after they originally debut. The exception is live-service exclusive games like Helldivers II, which launched on Steam and PS5 on the same day earlier this year. The Steam release went over positively at launch before Sony announced that Steam players would need to create a PSN account to keep playing. This was poorly received by fans and Sony backtracked.