So I've been thinking about this rumour and talk that there may be more Sony games coming to PC, and while I'm sure this has been discussed before, I just want to share some thoughts about why Sony may be doing this.
For the current console generation, it was made clear from day 1 that the consoles were at the very least, breaking even, and that buying one or two games was, at least in Sony's case, putting them into profit. In that scenario, if someone bought a PS4 for the exclusives only and used PC as their main driver for multiplats, then even if it's a small profit all PS4 customers are profitable for Sony.
This hasn't been necessarily true for previous console generations, where hardware is subsidised by game sales. However, back in those days, there was more of a divide between what's available on each platform and there were plenty of third party games that were on the consoles but not on PC that helped the console manufacturers be profitable on subsidised hardware, even if the customer would prefer to play everything on PC.
That isn't the case anymore. Most, if not all, console-only games are first party exclusives. If Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo hasn't plumped up cash for it, chances are it will release on PC. So there's less of a reason for a PC gamer to have a console as a secondary platform to augment their gaming PC, and there's more games available on PC than anyone has any time to play, so it's not like PC gamers are starved of content to enjoy.
With that in mind, what if for the next-generation Sony is going to subsidise their console with revenue from PS+ and third party game sales? In such a case, it's probably better for them that only engaged customers who buy all their games (first and third party) on PlayStation actually buy-in to the platform, especially in its formative years. I assume they want people paying £50 a year for PS+ and buying a £40-£60 AAA game every month or two, plus a bunch of smaller indie titles while investing deep in PS Store sale events.
In those cases, disincentivising people who would not be profitable for Sony from actually buying in to PS5 is probably the most sensible thing to do. They'll probably make more money off of them by releasing on PC than trying to convince people who are deeply invested into PC gaming ecosystems to make PS5 the place they buy third party games and subscribe to PS+, because we all know that isn't going to happen.
So I think, basically, what we're going to see is a PS5 console more affordable than its specs would suggest. In turn, the hardware will only be aimed at people who are only interested in owning one console (i.e. the vast majority of people who bought a console). Without the burden of subsidising console hardware for a primarily PC player, any PC game sold by Sony is inherently profitable.
Obviously I think there's other crossovers, such as PS Now probably being PC-based going forward that may also fuel this decision, but to me it makes more sense to sacrifice install-base if that install-base would otherwise be purchasing subsidised hardware,
At any rate, if Sony does make PS5 affordable, which will be the first sign they're eating a loss on the hardware, I think we can look forward to enjoying their first party games on our favourite platform going forward.
