Newzoo: “slow release” strategy causes PlayStation games to lose on PC – Game News

A new analysis from Newzoo done for the page Gamesindustry.bizsaid that the sales and number of players of PlayStation games on PC did not meet expectations, the main reason was the “slow release” strategy of the company. Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Over the years, Sony has often released exclusive games first on PlayStation 5, then brought them to PC a few months or even years later. According to Newzoothis approach results in a significantly lower player base on PC compared to AAA titles released simultaneously on multiple platforms.

Manu Rosier said the data of Newzoo shows that PlayStation games that are “ported” to PC after launching on consoles usually only reach about 13% of the total number of PC players in the first three months, from when the two versions were released. Meanwhile, AAA games released at the same time on PC and console usually have about 44% of players coming from the PC platform in the same period.

Rosier also emphasized that this trend does not only happen with games developed by Sony, but also applies to PlayStation-exclusive titles from third parties (third-party studios, ie studios not affiliated with Sony, such as Square Enix).

According to data of Newzoo“first-party” games (made by Sony studios) PlayStation have about 12% of PC players, while exclusive games from third-party partners reach about 13%. This shows that the main reason lies in the “off-time” release strategy, not the demand of PC players for each game brand.

Additionally, the PC player base of PlayStation games is also said to be decreasing over time. Sony’s first wave of “ports” achieved quite positive results on this platform. For example, Horizon Zero Dawn reaching about 22% of PC players with about 4 million players over the product’s lifetime. God of War (2018) reaching 14% with about 3.5 million players, while Marvel’s Spider-Man also recorded about 14% or 3.8 million players on PC.

In contrast, recent console ports have had a significantly lower percentage of PC players. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart reaching about 8% of PC players, Horizon Forbidden West reached 7%, God of War Ragnarök reached 6%, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 only reaches about 5%.

One notable exception is Ghost of Tsushima with about 11% of PC players, or about 2.1 million people. According to Newzoothis result may be supported by the fact that this is the first time the franchise has appeared on PC, helping to attract the curiosity of players on this platform.

According to Rosier, release timing has a huge impact on PC players’ interest levels. When a PC version is released years after the console version, much of the initial market demand has already been met on the main platform, causing a significant decrease in the number of new players on PC.

Analysis of Newzoo appeared in the context of information that Sony was considering changing its strategy for releasing games on PC. According to a report from Bloomberg, Sony Interactive Entertainment is said to be scaling back plans to bring its single-player titles to PC in the future.

This report says some upcoming projects may no longer be planned for release on PC. Among them, the game title Ghost of Yōtei is said to have “cancelled PC plans” recently. Another project is Saros is also expected to release exclusively on PlayStation 5 with no PC version.