PlayStation might bring its live-service games straight to PC
Most PlayStation exclusives will take at least a year to launch on PC, but live-service games are "possibly" an exception
PlayStation's future live-service games could launch simultaneously on console and PC, said SIE boss Hermen Hulst in a new interview.
We've been seeing a bunch of previously PlayStation-exclusive games come to PC in recent years, with Uncharted 4 finally hitting the platform later this month, more than six years after its initial launch. Going forward, Hulst said PlayStation games bound for PC will stay exclusive to PlayStation consoles for "at least a year," although he notes that live-service games could be an exception to that rule.
"Live-service games are a little bit different in nature because you want to have a really strong community, strong engagement right away, right when you go live," Hulst told Paris-based YouTuber Julien Chièze (timestamped here). "So we might, in the case of our live-service offerings, go day and date with PC and PlayStation."
Of course, Sony recently boosted its in-house live-service operation dramatically with its acquisition of Destiny 2 maker Bungie. It's yet to be seen what's next for the studio, but it's safe to assume PlayStation will want to capitalize on its expertise in the live ops space. Meanwhile, we recently learned the studio that helped bring God of War to PC is turning one of PlayStation's "flagship" IPs into a live-service game.
We've seen hints that The Last of Us 2's standalone multiplayer mode could be a free-to-play live-service game, but it's been a minute since we've heard from Naughty Dog on that project.
Despite the push toward live-servicey type stuff, Hulst made clear that PlayStation isn't straying from the single-player narrative-driven games which have become synonymous with PlayStation consoles.
"We will always make these kind of games because our fans expect them from us, they want them, but also because we love making them."
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After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.