Sony has already released a few high-profile PlayStation games on PC, from God of War (2018) to Uncharted: The Legacy of Thieves Collection. While it's a pretty small selection at present, that could all change within the next few years. By 2025, Sony plans to grow its PC and mobile categories significantly, with PC and mobile games making up perhaps 50% of that year's release schedule.
Sony revealed this information during an investor meeting. You can find the complete slideshow on Sony’s website, and it’s well worth a look from anyone who’s interested in the business side of gaming. Sony discusses the PS5’s relative profitability (good), availability (not so good) and future plans (versatile). While it’s not a deep-dive prospectus by any means, it still contains some interesting numbers to chew through.
First off, Sony has big plans for both the mobile and PC gaming markets. In a chart comparing game releases for various platforms, Sony explained that in 2019, 90% of its games came out for PS4, while only 10% came out for PC. This year, 70% of its games came out for PS4 and/or PS5, while 20% came out for PC and 10% came out for mobile platforms.
By 2025, Sony says 50% percent of its game releases will be for the PS5, 30% will be for PC and 20% for mobile.
In 2025, things could shift dramatically again, as Sony envisions much greater parity between the console and PC/mobile parts of its operation. Fifty percent of Sony's 2025 release schedule will be for the PS5, while 30% will be for PC, and 20% will be for mobile.
(Eagle-eyed readers may also note that Sony does not plan to release any PS4 titles in 2025. This suggests that the company will stop supporting its last-gen console once PS5s become widely available — which should be in early 2024, according to the same slideshow.)
PC ports of PlayStation games, including Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone and God of War are also off to a relatively strong start, having netted more than $100 million in sales in the last two years. However, Sony intends to earn $300 million on PC ports this year — which seems overly optimistic, when you consider that God of War has apparently earned only $26 million on PC so far. Perhaps there’s another big port planned for later this year.
Sony also wants to develop high-quality, first-party mobile games based on existing franchises, and “expand to cross-platform where relevant.” Whether that means lightweight games that could run on both mobile and console, or better cloud gaming support, we’ll have to wait and see.
There are other interesting tidbits from the meeting, particularly about how consumers perceive PlayStation relative to other tech brands. At present, PlayStation is apparently the 7th-most “relevant” tech brand, coming in just ahead of Fitbit, and just behind Instant Pot. (Apple is in the top spot, followed by Peloton — so it’s possible that the survey results might be a little out-of-date.)
The company also plans a big push into live service games, which we’ve reported on before. The slideshow speaks fondly of Sony’s first-party single-player games, citing successful titles such as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Horizon Forbidden West. However, the only first-party live-service game at present is MLB 22: The Show. By 2025, Sony hopes to increase that number twelvefold. Whether the company could actually sustain that many ongoing games — or whether players could find enough time for them — is another question.
For the moment, Sony's PC and mobile offerings are still limited. However, the company seems to have big plans to change that within the next three years. Whether the company will pick and choose its ports, or adopt Xbox-style parity between the platforms, will be a key issue during that time.
