Following Sony’s latest financial report call that suggested the PlayStation 5 is entering ‘the latter stage of its life cycle,’ Sony Interactive Entertainment President Hiroki Totoki wants Sony to be more aggressive when it comes to PC releases for its software.
During a Q+A session following a financial call that had Sony reel back their expectations — for PS5 console sales, back from 25 million this fiscal year to 21 million units — SIE President Hiroki Totoki addressed the ‘declining state’ of the PS5 by suggesting the company should embrace a more unified approach with PC releases. This is on the heels of the Helldivers 2 launch, which saw the PS5 console exclusive from PlayStation Game Studios launch concurrently on Steam (with cross-play), and it performed so well that it dethroned the previous highest-played title, Palworld.
According to VGC, during the Q+A, Totoki focused on profitability and engagement with the PlayStation first-party library. Totoki explains, “In the past, we wanted to popularise consoles, and a first-party title’s main purpose was to make the console popular,” then he detailed, “This is true, but there’s a synergy to it, so if you have strong first-party content – not only on our console but also other platforms, like computers – a first-party [game] can be grown with multi-platform, and that can help operating profit to improve, so that’s another one we want to work on proactively.”
He then says, “I personally think there are opportunities out there for improvement of margin, so I would like to go aggressive on improving our margin performance,” regarding the instance of ‘multi-platform’ he suggests in the Q+A session. It’s also important to note that Totoki emphasizes PC as the designation for multi-platform and leaves no room for rumours.
PlayStation is notorious for defending its day-one console releases with an iron fist. While there are plans for a Final Fantasy XVI PC port, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is listed as a ‘timed exclusive,’ previous titles such as Horizon Zero Dawn and Final Fantasy VII Remake have taken at least a calendar year to land on a ‘competing platform,’ as per their former exclusivity plans detailed back in 2022.
While the engagement of Helldivers 2 is proof concurrent console-PC PlayStation releases are lucrative for their business, Totoki’s answers during this session are proof they’re actively taking notice. Fans will just have to wait and see what Sony does next with their PlayStation exclusives moving forward.
