Ex-PlayStation boss explains why PC releases were a good thing, as reports claim Sony is ending blockbuster launches

Former President of Sony Interactive Entertainment of America Shawn Layden has explained why PC releases were a good thing for PlayStation, as reports continue to circulate that the company intends to stop releasing its blockbuster narrative games on the platform.

For a long time, PlayStation-exclusive games weren't available on PC, meaning the only way to enjoy the best that the company had to offer was by owning one of its consoles. That came to an end in 2020, when Sony started porting its offerings to PC, although they usually released a year after their PS5 releases.

Unfortunately, that is all coming to an end, as reports suggest that PlayStation will only release online multiplayer and live-service games on PC moving forward, with its narrative games reserved for the console. Layden says that decision will make their future projects more difficult and defends PlayStation games on PC, explaining why it was actually a good thing for other parts of their business.

Speaking to PSI on YouTube, he said that the original strategy behind releasing Sony games on PC wasn't to make money, but to get its biggest games in front of more players, saying his focus was on how to get properties like Horizon in front of people who didn't own PlayStations.

"The PC thing, in my mind at the time, was not to make money, frankly. It was 'How do I get my intellectual property in front of people who wouldn't normally see it? How do I get the world of Horizon to be seen by people who aren't in the PlayStation world?' Not necessarily because they're going to buy a PlayStation, I wasn't that crazy. But as we take our [IP] across other media, whether it's into film, television, comic books; you need to have as many eyeballs that are aware of this character."

"Just concentrating on the PlayStation population and only telling them these stories, and then trying to bring it off that platform into other media, that's going to be a hell of a jump."

Layden also argued that it wasn't costing PlayStation hardware sales either, as if someone was truly desperate to play a game, they'd buy a console to do so, saying: "If someone's waiting 18 months for something to come to PC, we didn't lose a sale to them. They weren't going to buy the hardware anyway."

The former Sony of America boss makes a good point, especially when you consider that games like Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Until Dawn, and The Last of Us have all been made into movies or TV shows in the last five years. Getting those games in front of as many gamers as possible could only have helped build hype, but they may find it more difficult to generate excitement for upcoming projects if they're locked behind one ecosystem.

PlayStation, however, doesn't see it that way, and reports suggest it felt that the quality of the ports was inconsistent and didn't drive enough revenue to make it worth continuing. Whether that'll have an effect on upcoming media projects that are in development like Astro Bot or Bloodborne remains to be seen.