Remember when growing up and exclusive titles were just that, exclusive to a console? You had games like Crash Bandicoot, Croc, Tomb Raider and more exclusive to PlayStation and the likes of Halo and Gears of War exclusive to Xbox. However, many games went on to be cross-platform or even jumped console manufacturers such as when Rare was bought out by Microsoft and its titles went from being Nintendo 64 exclusives to joining Xbox.
The next stage in the evolution was seeing games becoming time-limited exclusives, or being exclusive only for consoles but also available on PC. And this is becoming a more common practice today where is there even a point in a console saying it has exclusives? Especially with more and more PlayStation titles arriving on what is considered by many to be the master race of gaming?
It’s becoming a lot like playing casino games where you find the same ones available on numerous sites so it becomes a harder decision to choose where to play. Fortunately, with casino games you can at least try playing them without using real money can be an option with places like casinobonusesfinder.co.uk/no-deposit-bonus/ where you can find a list of promotions that will allow you to do this through the use of free spins etc. However, it’s not as simple for video games because you can’t just try one for free and decide to go elsewhere if it’s not for you.
So what do you do? Do you go for a system that your friends play on? Maybe. Do you go for whichever you’re more familiar with historically? That’s an option. Do you go for one with great exclusive titles? Not if they are no longer ‘real’ exclusives. But why are we seeing these games shifting to additional platforms?
In both the gaming and iGaming industries, the ultimate goal is always to reach more customers. To this end, any company can begin to appeal to a customer base that it would not normally target.
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This could be exactly what’s happening for PlayStation games: does the future of console gaming lie in the PC? Let’s take a look:
Everything changes in 2022
Sony has been releasing games developed by itself or the studios it owns on the PC platform for a long time. But until 2022, none of these were classed as an “exclusive” game, and they couldn’t even be said to be AAA-class titles. Below you can see a short list of them: to the right are the release years.
- Helldivers (2015)
- Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (2016)
- Guns Up! (2018)
When we come to 2020, we see that bigger names are transferred to the PC platform.
- Horizon Zero Dawn (2020)
- Predator: Hunting Grounds (2020)
- Days Gone (2021)
Although these were more well-known games compared to others, they were still not synonymous with PlayStation with the exception possibly of Horizon Zero Dawn. However, everything changed in 2022 because Sony released the latest instalment of the famous God of War series on PC. This was followed by Spider-Man Remastered, released in August 2022. These were relatively new “console exclusive” titles.
With these two games, console players started to complain: “weren’t these PlayStation exclusive games”? There were even players who bought a console just to play these two titles. However, we cannot say that these complaints were very effective because Sony opened a special page for PC games on its official website and added the following games to the list:
- Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- The Last of Us Part 1 Remake
The Last of Us Remake is especially important because a PC version is expected very soon after the release on PlayStation 5. Naughty Dog has already announced that the PC version continues to be developed. This may indicate that we have now come to the end of “PlayStation exclusive games”.
Maybe Microsoft caused it?
We cannot say that Sony suddenly discovered the importance of the PC: until now, it had ignored all port requests. So, why did it change its strategy in 2022? This may be due to acquisitions Microsoft made in the same year. Microsoft has acquired Bethesda and Activision, and that means the Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Call of Duty, and many more valuable IPs will now be Xbox – PC exclusives. This could cause Sony to lose players.
Sony does not have the economic power to compete with Microsoft, but it may be trying to compensate for the financial loss it will experience by expanding its customer base. Almost all the games listed above reached incredible sales figures. That alone could transform Sony from being a “PlayStation exclusive” developer to a studio that develops games for all platforms.
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