Releasing PlayStation's big games on PC via platforms like Steam is "almost like printing money," says former Sony Interactive Studios president and indie initiative boss Shuhei Yoshida.
Speaking to the Sacred Symbols+ podcast (paywalled, and reported by Push Square), Yoshida says he advocated for PC releases of first-party titles when he was president, but Sony wasn't keen on the idea at the time.
However, after testing the waters with a few ports – which, technical issues aside, unsurprisingly found success on PC – and, not to mention, the massive simultaneous launch of Helldivers 2, the company has come around and learned to acknowledge the value of PC gaming. "Releasing on PC does many things: it reaches a new audience who do not own consoles – especially in regions where consoles are not as popular," Yoshida says. "The idea is that those people may become fans of a particular franchise, and when a new game in that series comes out, they may be convinced to purchase a PlayStation." The immediate financial value of such ports is also undeniable. "It also adds additional income, because porting to PC is way cheaper than creating an original title," Yoshida adds. "So, it’s almost like printing money.
And that helps us to invest in new titles now that the cost of games has increased." PC is increasingly being seen as a growth market in a world where the console market hit maturity many years ago.
This is especially true in Asia markets. Yoshida points to the prevalence of PC gaming in China, which has "a huge PC game market" but only "a growing but very small console market." The explosive success of Black Myth: Wukong, which sold the majority of its copies on Steam and in China, is a topical example.