PlayStation 4 hit Horizon Zero Dawn is coming to PC, as we reported in January, but Sony isn’t pulling an Xbox with its approach console and PC gaming, the head of PlayStation game development said today. Or at least, if they are, they’re not announcing it yet.
“And to maybe put a few minds at ease, releasing one first-party AAA title to PC doesn’t necessarily mean that every game now will come to PC,” Sony’s new head of worldwide studios, Herman Hulst, said today in an interview posted on the official PlayStation blog.
“In my mind, Horizon Zero Dawn was just a great fit in this particular instance. We don’t have plans for day and date [PC releases], and we remain 100% committed to dedicated hardware.”
The 2017 game about a woman who hunts post-apocalyptic robot dinosaurs is very good, so this is good news for PC owners.
Hulst’s comments indicate that, at least for now, Sony isn’t emulating the approach of its rivals at Xbox, where new Microsoft-published console releases like Gears 5 and tomorrow’s Ori and the Will of the Wisps come out on PC at the same time as the Xbox.
More PS4 exclusives have been finding their way to PC recently. That includes the Sony-published interactive dramas Beyond Two Souls and Heavy Rain from independently-owned studio Quantic Dream. The Hideo Kojima-led Death Stranding is also coming to PC this June. (Sony’s new deal with Major League Baseball will result in the company even releasing its MLB The Show games on non-PlayStation platforms.)
Back in Kotaku‘s early years, we had a lot of fun with the ubiquity of game companies saying they had “no plans“ to do something that, often enough, they’d eventually do. Who knows what Sony is going to do for PC long-term. The fact is that, right now, people can access a ton of PlayStation 2, 3 and 4 games on their PC via the streaming service PS Now, so the company hasn’t exactly avoided giving PC players access to its games. Hulst, however, is clearly sending a different signal than Microsoft’s bosses are.
Xbox execs seem to say that their consoles may be nice to have but are not essential to play the Xbox’s library of games. PlayStation, however, still wants us to think that to play PlayStation we’re going to need a PlayStation.
Comments
11 responses to “Sony Says It Has No Plans To Release PlayStation Games At The Same Time As PC”
Just started playing HZD again. Forgot just how good the game was, and really enjoying it again. Just wish we had news on a sequel. I absolutely love the world they imagined
I imagine we’ll get the sequel announcement alongside the full PS5 review. A few of Sony’s first party studios have been quiet for a couple of years now, so I imagine they’ll have a pretty solid line up of exclusives for the first year or two of the PS5.
While I was aware of the game a few years before release, playing and finishing the game wasn’t realy as great as everyone else seems to say it is. The fact that they are now (perhaps) porting the game to PC just tells me they are looking for as many ways to sell the game to people who don’t have\support PS console. (make $$$).
Its more if they sell their exclusive PS4 games God of War, HZD, Spiderman etc just before the release (3 to 6 months before) of the PS5 sequels… people who love those games will be hooked to go out and buy the next game with a console bundle. Win Win.
“And to maybe put a few minds at ease, releasing one first-party AAA title to PC doesn’t necessarily mean that every game now will come to PC”
Man, that’s a headache of an opinion. Putting minds to ease? Hoping he was joking.
“Don’t worry, we won’t make a habit of ensuring that more people can experience our products, in some cases on a better platform”.
Figures.
i believe that is more directed at uninformed shareholders and investors to behonest. Everyone knows that PC is the superior system due to its upgrading capabilities and there are a lot of people who think why bother getting a console when the game will look better and play better on PC
All the PC gamers I personally know at least own one console, it’s weird to me if you solely play on a single platform in this modern age.
I have a PS4, but i use it solely for watching twitch, youtube/netflix etc. i do all my gaming on PC and only PC and that is due to the fact that i just can not use a controller (plus the PS controller is fucking terrible imo)
You know the old video of the guy from polygon playing Doom 2016? yeah me using a controller is WORSE than that
Same here. I’ll use a controller if I really have to because the game needs it, but I much prefer using a keyboard and mouse (or wheel for car/truck games). I no longer own a console (used to have an xbox360) as I’m happy to be 100% PC gaming.
I play all my games on PC. Newest console I own is XBOX360 which I only bought for GTA5 back when it was released, and apart from a couple of hours in Forza 4 (which it came with in the GTA5 bundle), have not used it or bought any new games for it since.
Dont really see the point in paying hundreds of dollars for a console just for a couple of exclusive games (read: couple of GOOD exclusive games) when it is a significantly subpar experience (low resolution, low frame rate, slow loading, worse graphics, no/little modding, worse controller to kb+m). Already have more games on PC than I have time to play them all anyway.
That’s fair, but for me personally I care more about playing all the best game experiences out there. Platform loyalty/superiority isn’t really a thing to me & I’m well versed in playing both controller & KB+M. I also grew up playing consoles & potato PC’s so low resolution/low frame rate isn’t an issue to me as long as it’s close to a stable 30fps & has no frame pacing issues. I do agree consoles only have a couple good exclusives, but those said games are usually some of the best games of that generation. So to me who’s in it for the best game experiences, buying the next Sony or Nintendo console will always be worth it (I no longer buy Microsoft consoles because they confirmed all their big exclusives are coming to PC).