PlayStation is contemplating expanding the availability of its exclusive first-party titles to additional platforms, notably PC, as part of its strategy to bolster its gaming business.
In a recent earnings call following the unveiling of its latest financial results, Sony’s president and COO, Hiroki Totoki, shared with investors the potential benefits of making PlayStation exclusives accessible across multiple platforms. Totoki emphasized that such a move could contribute to enhancing the company’s operating income, which experienced a decline of 15% to ¥979.4 billion ($6.5 billion).
Addressing investors, Totoki articulated, “A potential driver for [growth] is the first-party title generation because, in the past, we wanted to popularize consoles. The purpose of the first-party title was to make the hardware or the console popular. But there is a synergy to it. If we have strong first-party content, not only with our console but also other platforms like computers [we] can help operating profit to improve.”
Since 2020, PlayStation has already initiated the process of porting some of its flagship first-party games to the PC platform. Notable examples include titles like Spider-Man, Horizon, and God of War, with the recent announcement of the horror title Until Dawn being remastered for both PC and PS5.
Totoki further elucidated Sony’s objective to enhance PlayStation’s profit margin, citing the current economic climate as less than ideal. He attributed this circumstance partially to the diminishing profitability of the PS5 due to recent price promotions.
This development coincides with the anticipation surrounding Xbox’s forthcoming update on its own plans for releasing first-party content, scheduled to be disclosed later today.
In the past few weeks, speculations have surfaced suggesting that Xbox might also be considering expanding the availability of its key exclusives to other platforms, including the PS5.
