In a recent interview, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan expressed his dissatisfaction with games being gated by platforms through exclusivity.
Jim Ryan, the CEO of PlayStation, wants the company’s first-party games to reach hundreds of millions of people. Even though PlayStation’s big exclusives sell extremely well, Ryan hopes to broaden the audience in some way in the future. This comes shortly after the release of Deathloop, a game with a one-year PlayStation console exclusivity, which angered Arkane and Bethesda fans.
PlayStation has been investing in PC ports for the past year, but they still plan to space them out by several years between console and PC releases. So far, the platform owner has released games like Days Gone and Horizon Zero Dawn on PC, and next year, the Uncharted franchise will be added to that list. While this is a step in the right direction for PlayStation, fans will still have to wait years to play its games on other platforms.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan stated that he wants the company’s games to be played by hundreds of millions of people. Shawn Layden, the former head of PlayStation, recently stated that he does not believe PlayStation games will be released on PC on day one because the PC ports are intended to entice people to buy a PlayStation. With that said, Jim Ryan pointed out that while almost anyone can enjoy films and music, games are frequently restricted to specific platforms. Ryan said it “frustrates” him, but he didn’t offer any suggestions for solving the problem.
One of PlayStation’s most popular franchises made its console debut earlier this year. MLB The Show 21 was the first game in the series to be released on Xbox, and it was an Xbox Game Pass title that was available on day one. Unfortunately, this was partly due to MLB’s decisions rather than Sony’s, so it’s unclear whether Sony will ever try to release another series on Xbox.
Sony isn’t giving the impression that it wants to make its games available to everyone, with games like Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop being timed PS5 exclusives. Even multiplatform franchises like Call of Duty have had timed PlayStation exclusive modes and remasters. Because consoles are frequently sold at a loss, console exclusives and subscriptions are just two of the many ways that platforms make money. More games may become multiplatform or available through cloud streaming if Sony and other platform owners can find a way to offset these margins.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
