Summary
PlayStationhas laid out its plans for its lineup of exclusives going forward, explaining that while it will launch live service titles on PlayStation and PC simultaneously, it has no plans to do the same with its “tentpole” single player offerings.
It’s an odd time for exclusives in the games industry at the moment, withXbox releasing its games on PlayStation, Square Enix seemingly committing to third-party releasesdue to poor sales of Final Fantasy, and the PC becoming more of a common factor in the success of a title. It feels as though the entire concept of an exclusive is becoming outdated as the years go by, but PlayStation still thinks they’re enough to sell a console.
In a business meeting that took place on Thursday,soon-to-be joint CEOs Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishinospoke about PlayStation’s strategy regarding its exclusives (thanksVGC). In this meeting, Hulst explained that the company has a “dual approach” when it comes to releasing exclusives, saying that while it will continue to launch its live service titles on PS5 and PC simultaneously - like we saw with Helldivers 2 - it will keep its “tentpole” single player titles exclusive to its consoles.
PlayStation Wants To Tempt PC Players With Its Single Player Exclusives
Despite the massive success of Helldivers 2, it seems as though PlayStation is keen to continue making exclusives the key draw for its console, and hopes that keeping titles like God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Ghost of Tsushima exclusives to consoles for the first few years before bringing them to PC will tempt more people into the PlayStation ecosystem.
“Of course some customers will move from PC to console. Customers who are focused on PC, if they find value, then they will go to console, so rather than cannibalisation, I think this is an opportunity for growth.” - Hideaki Nishino
That’s not exactly a piece of revelatory news, as it’s a strategy that PlayStation has adopted for several years now, and has been working very well. Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut was recently released on Steam,becoming PlayStation’s highest-selling single player title on the platform, proving that there’s an army of PC players ready and waiting to grab the latest PlayStation games. Whether they’ll be tempted to actually get a PS5 is a different matter entirely though.
