Former Sony Exec Views First-party PS5 to PC Porting as "Almost Like Printing Money"

[T0@st]

Last month, Shuhei Yoshida announced his retirement from Sony Interactive Entertainment. His career at the company started back in 1986, and by 1993 he became involved with the corporation's nascent PlayStation division. The Japanese industry veteran has gone on a press appearance blitz over the past couple of weeks; many headlines have been generated by his candid musings. Most recently, Sacred Symbols+ engaged in a conversation with Yoshida—their (paywalled) two-hour long podcast episode (#347) was made available to subscribers this week. The former PlayStation chief divulged that he pushed hard for the conversion of first-party titles from console origins to PC platforms, but his colleagues were reportedly reluctant to adopt this practice (at the time). Yoshida-san outlined the benefits: "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. 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." Sony started readjusting its exclusivity model a few years ago; greater ambitions were revealed in 2024.

He continued with this thought process: "it also adds additional income, because porting to PC is way cheaper than creating an original title...So, it's almost like printing money. And that helps us to invest in new titles now that the cost of games has increased." The ex-SIE boss believes that emerging markets are best served with releases on PC. Yoshida mentioned a huge (almost untapped) market—his ex-colleagues could do well, by targeting said region in the near future: "China is a huge PC game market...And China is a growing but very small console market. In order to reach the audience in countries like China then it's crucial to release on PC. So, I believe PC versions really reach a new audience." PC gamers have largely welcomed an improved flow of ported first-party titles, but Sony has absorbed feedback flak in early 2025; namely an underwhelming reception to Marvel's Spider-Man 2. In late January, Team Sony announced a revised PlayStation Network account policy; backpedalling from a system that featured strict sign-in requirements.



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[Gooigi's Ex]

Weird way to say Xbox was right about branching out to other platforms

“Gamers” are gonna say Microsoft is down bad but not really looking at what Microsoft is doing (besides messing up Windows of course).

 

[phints]

Ok Sony, provide a Bloodborne port and I'll buy. Once ShadPS4 hits 1.0 a lot less people will be interested since it'll likely run and look better than any port/remaster.

 

[rattlehead99]

Exclusives used to be some of the best games ever because they were meant as marketing for the console and the object was to make the best game possible even if it didn't make huge profits.

Now since the launch of the PS5 they view them as timed exclusives, with the exclusivity time frame becoming ever shorter. They now want them to be massively profitable. Perhaps it's because AAA games have gotten too expensive to be exclusives.
Nintendo for all their faults, know not to focus on graphical fidelity and to focus on exclusives.

 

[b1k3rdude]

My first thought was, 'what an arogant pr1ck'.

Second thought - if Sony keep pulling sh1t like -

• making PSN a requirement on PC...
• releasing sh1t ports with more bugs than a bethesda release...
• or seeing no consequence in dictating an agenda to 'paying customers'

They will find short order that 'this easy money' will fcuking dry up...

 

[alwayssts]

My first thought was, 'what an arogant pr1ck'.

Second thought - if Sony keep pulling sh1t like -

• making PSN a requirement on PC...
• releasing sh1t ports with more bugs than a bethesda release...
• or seeing no consequence in dictating an agenda to 'paying customers'

They will find short order that 'this easy money' will fcuking dry up...

He's a good guy. You clearly don't know anything about the man. I'm going to revert to my former statement.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Repeated article?

Oh, never mind. But there's a thread about it on the forum already

[PCGamer] Former Sony exec finally says the quiet part out loud: putting PlayStation games on PC is 'almost like printing money'

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/former-sony-exec-finally-says-the-quiet-part-out-loud-putting-playstation-games-on-pc-is-almost-like-printing-money/ "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,"...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Narg]

I've loved the ports I've played so far. Print more money Sony, we'll be glad to help out.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I’d like to see the entire Uncharted series remastered and ported to PC. Right now you can only get 4 and the one without Drake. I was disappointed that they retired that franchise.

 

[Bruno_O]

print money with game sales, lose money with console and subscription sales

sold my ps5 years ago, after having owned ps2/3/4/5 and having PSN subscription since the ps3...

whats the point if you can eventually play the same games, in a better way, on PC?

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

print money with game sales, lose money with console and subscription sales

sold my ps5 years ago, after having owned ps2/3/4/5 and having PSN subscription since the ps3...

whats the point if you can eventually play the same games, in a better way, on PC?

The same old reason, easy known compatibility.

 

[Raiden85]

This is why limiting your games to a single platform is just stupid, why the hell would you leave millions to potentially hundreds of millions on the table when you could have just ported the game to multiple platforms.

Porting first party titles should have been done a hell of a long time ago, as like he said, it's easy money, and you get far more playing your games which could also lead to hardware sales. It's about time Nintendo started porting, but hell would probably freeze over first.

 

[Space Lynx]

I still agree with their delayed release though, console first, then other platforms a year later or w.e

Otherwise there is a risk of them just becoming another Sega, maybe not, but who knows. PC gaming has really picked up among the masses the last 7 years or so. Historically it wouldn't have been an issue, but things have changed a lot in recent years

 

[Veseleil]

It would be nice, if technically possible, to have a comment section on a news articles like this (that are kinda late to the party) replaced/hard linked to the thread already created and discussed by the community. @W1zzard yay or nay?

 

[mechtech]

"Almost Like Printing Money"​

so like crypto?

 

[doc7000]

You can certainly make the case that from a game developer stand point it make sense to launch your game on as many platforms as possible, however from a hardware stand point it has the potential to hurt your hardware sales if people can buy your games on other hardware. I feel like the big change here has been the growing market in China for PC gamers, sales that they wouldn't make if they purely stuck on play station. I also hear that consoles sales have been down in Japan.

 

[Hyderz]

As long as the titles are of quality it will sell well, and we pc gamers don’t mind one year exclusive on PlayStation gives time for company to iron out the bugs… god of war and horizon has been solid ports

 

[FreedomEclipse]

With the Ps5 being as expensive as it is and it not selling particular well due to limited supply and scalping. It makes sense to allow PS5 exclusives Or just PS games in general to be run on the pc. There are more people that own a pc than a Ps5. A lot of computers these days have more than enough power so why the hell not?

Just have it so that not every PS game is going to make it onto PC to at least give people some incentive to MAYBE picking up a console. You gotta let that worm dangle a little to catch all the fish.

 

[MacZ]

Perhaps it's because AAA games have gotten too expensive to be exclusives.

Some upcoming games seem to have unbelievable graphics, but all of it must be produced and handled and that is not free.

We will see how this plays out, but I see a possibility that going 'always moar' will not be possible anymore for AAA games.

For me at least, games like Doom Eternal from 2020 have so much detail and so much is happening on screen that at times I don't really understand what is going on (yes, I'm old).

 

[Shihab]

For me at least, games like Doom Eternal from 2020 have so much detail and so much is happening on screen that at times I don't really understand what is going on (yes, I'm old).

Doesn't have much to do with age. Except the fact that younger people aren't bothered because they have a the attention span of a concussed fly.

God! Trying to play one of those live service games all but fries half your neurons just navigating the main menus!

 

[Nostras]

I'm a bit annoyed the major reason he cites is because of reaching a market where consoles aren't commonplace.
What about having more graphical fidelity? Fine-grained control over what graphical settings you want (FPS or quality)? Modding? KBM?
At the end the end result is all the same so I won't mind, but I hoped they realized this sooner.

 

[tommo1982]

Exclusives used to be some of the best games ever because they were meant as marketing for the console and the object was to make the best game possible even if it didn't make huge profits.

Now since the launch of the PS5 they view them as timed exclusives, with the exclusivity time frame becoming ever shorter. They now want them to be massively profitable. Perhaps it's because AAA games have gotten too expensive to be exclusives.
Nintendo for all their faults, know not to focus on graphical fidelity and to focus on exclusives.

Exclusives, as they are called, will not make me buy a console. Nintendo is the least likely. A good game ported to PC, I will buy. I invested a lot in my current setup. Buying a console, whichever I'd chose, is a waste of money. It will never replace the versatility of personal computer.

 

[alwayssts]

Exclusives, as they are called, will not make me buy a console. Nintendo is the least likely. A good game ported to PC, I will buy. I invested a lot in my current setup. Buying a console, whichever I'd chose, is a waste of money. It will never replace the versatility of personal computer.

I personally think this sentiment (that I think is shared by many) was very important to get across to Sony, and I personally think they now understand.

It was *never* a competition; some people will simply never buy a console bc they can have better experiences on their PC. If good-quality Sony games are there, they will buy them. If not, just play something else.

 

[rattlehead99]

I personally think this sentiment (that I think is shared by many) was very important to get across to Sony, and I personally think they now understand.

It was *never* a competition; some people will simply never buy a console bc they can have better experiences on their PC. If good-quality Sony games are there, they will buy them. If not, just play something else.

Yup, I'm not buying a PS5 unless it has at least 4-5 console selling quality exclusives that will not move from there ever.

Some upcoming games seem to have unbelievable graphics, but all of it must be produced and handled and that is not free.

We will see how this plays out, but I see a possibility that going 'always moar' will not be possible anymore for AAA games.

For me at least, games like Doom Eternal from 2020 have so much detail and so much is happening on screen that at times I don't really understand what is going on (yes, I'm old).

Doom games are in very enclosed environments without a ton of objects on the screen at a time. Which is how games should be, but yeah, open world + long lines of sight is a performance killer.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Exclusives, as they are called, will not make me buy a console. Nintendo is the least likely. A good game ported to PC, I will buy. I invested a lot in my current setup. Buying a console, whichever I'd chose, is a waste of money. It will never replace the versatility of personal computer.

Except that in the case of the Switch, one is highly mobile and the other is not. That may not matter to you, but at least Nintendo is trying to offer a real gaming experience in a highly mobile platform. The Xbox and PS5 don’t offer that, which does make them more redundant if you have a gaming desktop. The Switch has worked out perfectly for the kids. I’m not going to let them sit down at a desktop PC. For them, I don’t want versatility, because that is more for me to manage. I actually wish they still made internet-less consoles like when I was a kid. Plug in cartridge and play only that. No ads being served, no mystery players online.