This week, Microsoft is expected to present how it will tackle exclusive titles on rival platforms such as the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. One third of that equation, PlayStation, is also considering how they handle exclusive games, and especially how quickly they can make ports available on PC. This according to Sony president Hiroki Totoki, who hinted that the gaming division of the company is actively looking at ways to make its exclusive games available on PCs faster than in previous years.
Speaking about this during the question and answer session after an earnings call earlier this week, Totoki noted that multi-platform could be a key strategy going forward. During the same earnings call, Sony updated its forecasts for sales of the PS5 console through 2025, revising its estimates down by 5 percent. Totoki also explained that the current gen console is on the downward slope of its life cycle.
"Partly due to entering the latter half of the console cycle, we aim to optimize sales with a greater emphasis on break-even. So we expect a gradual decline in unit sales from next financial year," he explained. "Regarding first-party software, we plan to continue to focus on producing high-quality productions and producing live service games. However, while major projects are currently in development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year like God of War: Ragnarok and Marvel Spider-Man 2," the Sony president confirmed.
Although the prospects for console-powered PlayStation exclusives look slim for the coming year, we could see more PC ports emerging. Here, Totoki noted that a push in this direction could help the gaming division of the company generate more revenue. "In the past, we wanted to popularize consoles, and a first-party title's main purpose was to make the console popular. This is true, but there is a synergy to that, so if you have strong first-party content - not just on our console, but also other platforms, like computers - a first-party [game] can grow with multi-platform and that can help the operating result to improve, so that's another one we will work proactively on," he elaborated.
"I personally think there are opportunities out there for margin improvement, so I want to be aggressive in improving our margin performance," Totoki added. With Sony shares falling on the back of revised PS5 sales forecasts, it looks like PC ports will form a key part of the company's strategy as it possibly prepares an update to its current-gen console, which has been rumored for some time now.