Well, we knew it was coming, but now it’s more or less official. According to reports coming out of a PlayStation Studios meeting today, major single-player narrative games from Sony’s first-party publisher will no longer be coming to PC. That marks the end of a short but enjoyable time of games like Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn, God of War, and Ghost of Tsushima coming to PC gamers.
Oh, and if you were still hoping for Bloodborne, maybe just give up on that particular pony. I’m so sorry.
It makes sense. As Nintendo’s Switch 2 heats up, Microsoft apparently shows a renewed commitment to the Xbox platform, and Valve plans a console beachhead with the Steam Machine, Sony might feel the need to refocus on its core gaming business. That means keeping hold of the family jewels, specifically its stable of PlayStation Studios games that don’t appear on the Xbox or Switch.
But it’s still a shame. I’ll bet that most PC gamers can find at least one or two titles in the PlayStation Studios PC catalog that they really enjoy — Horizon is one of my personal favorites, and there’s a lot of variety in there. God of War is a gritty mythological combat-focused narrative game, Uncharted is basically Indiana Jones for millennials, Death Stranding is a is surreal game about tripping a lot and peeing in jars, and The Last of Us is widely considered one of the best series in the last decade. Now for further games in these and other series, you’ll need a PlayStation 5…which isn’t getting any cheaper, just like everything else.
I’m actually really bummed. I was looking forward to Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the next big game from Sony’s Naughty Dog. Even though I’m not a huge Uncharted or The Last of Us Fan, it really hits all my sci-fi vibes. Now I’ll have to buy it on PlayStation, which I guess is what Sony wants…assuming I keep my PS5 around for that long.
I suspect that most of the games already available on PC won’t be going anywhere. It would be foolish to throw away the time and money invested in the ports. And it’s not a total loss. According to the quote reported by Bloomberg’s Jason Schrieer, we’re talking specifically about narrative single-player games. That would leave open the possibility of games like Helldivers 2, a co-op action shooter that launched on PC at the same time as the PS5, still coming to a PC near you.
