“PlayStation PC launcher” spotted in Spider-Man Remastered

pcgamesn.com:

A standalone Sony PlayStation PC launcher could be in the works for PlayStation exclusive games coming to PC, following other such offerings from EA, Ubisoft, and Rockstar. References to a “PlayStation PC launcher” within the game files of the PC release of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered suggest that Sony might be considering a platform to host its upcoming games separately from Steam and the Epic Games store.

The discovery of the files, which have been verified by VGC, have given rise to discussion around whether Sony would launch its own standalone platform as a place to sell formerly PlayStation Exclusive games on PC. Currently, Sony’s PC versions of its biggest games including God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and the recently released Spider-Man Remastered are being sold on both the Steam store and the Epic Games store.

This, of course, means that Valve and Epic take their share of the revenue – it’s certainly possible that deals could have been struck to give Sony a more favourable revenue split (though we must emphasise that this is pure speculation), but a cut is a cut. By running their own launcher, Sony would only have to fork out for the operating costs involved in serving their games up to players.

Another possibility is that Sony could be considering a way to offer PC players games via its PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers, the recently introduced higher-cost subscription services that include a greater range of games in a fashion akin to Microsoft’s Game Pass. Other files in Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered also include references to “PSNAccountLInked” and “PSNLinkingEntitlements” – suggesting that Sony may be planning to integrate their PlayStation Network service into its PC games.

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