PlayStation is being ‘really thoughtful’ about picking which games to port to PC, says studios boss
Hermen Hulst says Sony wants to ensure PS5 offers the best experience
PlayStation’s studios boss, Hermen Hulst, has said the platform holder is continuing to take a “thoughtful” and “measured” approach to porting its games to PC, as it balances growing its audience and protecting the value of PS5.
Sony has been porting its first-party games to PC for some time. However, unlike Xbox, which releases PC versions day-and-date with console, Sony’s non-live service games, like God of War Ragnarok and Spider-Man 2, have typically arrived at least a year after their PS5 versions.
In the past, Sony has indicated that it would like to be more aggressive with its PC ports. However, speaking during a Sony business segment meeting on Friday, Hulst indicated that it would continue to be conservative with its multiplatform releases in order to protect the value of the PS5 console.
Asked about the industry trend of companies moving towards multiplatform gaming, and how Sony will protect the value of PlayStation consoles, Hulst said: “You’re quite right that we’re continuously exploring new ways for players to interact with their franchises.
“It’s important to realize that we’re really thoughtful about bringing our franchises off console to reach new audiences and that we’re taking a very measured, very deliberate approach in doing that. Particularly on the single-player side, our tentpole titles, they’re such a differentiator.”
He added: “The point of differentiation, I should say, for the PlayStation console, is that they will showcase the performance and the quality of the hardware. So we want to ensure that players get the best experience from these titles. We’re very thoughtful about how and if and how we bring these titles to other platforms.”
Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO, Hideaki Nishino, said the platform holder would continue to monitor players’ patterns and behaviors to “ensure that we serve them appropriately”. The executive was also asked about Microsoft‘s pivot to multiplatform releases, and if he thought it was a good thing.
“We think that competition in the business is healthy and pushes us to innovate,” he replied. “There are multiple participants who together drive the overall gaming industry, and while there are new engagement models being explored, we ultimately think this is a good thing.
“However, as I mentioned earlier, we are confident and committed to our current strategy, and there isn’t an urgent need for us to pivot.”
