Going forward, Sony Interactive Entertainment will be launching live service titles on PC alongside their PS5 releases with no delay, says newly appointed Co-CEO Hermen Hulst.
In a presentation to shareholders, he confirmed that this would be the case only for live service games, while the traditional triple-A releases would still be timed console exclusives.
“We have high hopes that we’re actually able to bring people into PlayStation at large, but PlayStation platforms specifically”, he says.
How The PS5 Live Service Plan Works
While PlayStation fanboys have always lamented otherwise exclusive games coming to PC, the publisher has a great case study of day-and-date releases working out: Helldivers 2 was incredibly popular specifically because the game launched on PC and PS5 at the same time.
Hulst did not comment on the finer details of the PS5 Live Service plan, such as the looming threat of mandatory PSN account linking or if those live service titles would also feature crossplay, like Helldivers 2 or Destiny 2.
Meanwhile, in the vein of protecting the PS5 ecosystem, it looks like they’re staying the course on the current strategy for their other games: essentially having the PS5 be a way to play the game years ahead of the PC release.
The idea, Hulst explained, was that after playing the first game in a series like Horizon Zero Dawn, players would then check out the recently released sequel which would be PS5 exclusive.
He also cited the popularity of other media projects, such as The Last Of Us TV series drawing people into the PlayStation ecosystem to check out the games it adapted.
That being said, it’s not like this is true for every PS5 exclusive- PlayStation’s cosmic horror Souls game Bloodborne is famously still missing from the PC catalogue, alongside their Demon’s Souls remake and Shadows of the Colossus.
Still, it’s hard to not see the new PS5 Live Service strategy as anything but a win for players- since so many Live service titles depend on having healthy playerbases to stay afloat,
