Console exclusivity has become quite a hot topic in recent years, especially after the conflicting stances of Xbox and PlayStation. While PlayStation wants to continue releasing console exclusives, Xbox prefers to keep their arms open and release their titles on all possible platforms. Likewise, the former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has now joined the conversation and believes that his ex-employer’s stance on exclusivity could be their “Achilles’ heel”.
Layden has worked at Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) for over 30 years and even held the position of CEO for SIE America and Worldwide Studios (now known as PlayStation Studios). He was recently interviewed by GamesBeat, where he shared his opinion on how exclusivity narrows down the market for developers, especially when compared to gaming services and free-to-play titles.
“When your costs for a game exceed $200 million, exclusivity is your Achilles’ heel. It reduces your addressable market. Particularly when you’re in the world of live-service gaming or free-to-play. Another platform is just another way of opening the funnel, getting more people in.”
The former SIE America CEO gave the example of Helldrivers 2 to support his argument. It is a third-person shooter released in 2024 by Sony. However, the Japanese giants didn’t keep it exclusive, as Helldrivers 2 was simultaneously released on PC. The game had great sales, as it could reach a wider market than what limiting it to PlayStation users would have allowed it to. However, Layden claimed the industry isn’t doing much for the non-console gamers as of yet.
Sony’s Profits on PC has kept increasing since 2020
Sony has always been very strict regarding the exclusivity of games developed by their first-party studios. However, the Japanese giants have now turned their eyes toward the PC market. A lot of PS exclusives like Spider-Man, The Last of Us Part I, God of War (2018), and Horizon Zero Dawn have been ported to PC.
Lately, it has been Sony’s policy to bring a first-party PS title to PC three to four years after its original release. They might not be turning away from this tactic anytime soon, especially when it helped them collect more than $450 million in sales in 2023, according to GameSpot. Sony collected only $35 million in sales in 2020, followed by $80 million in 2021. As for 2022, the revenue from PC sales was around $250 million.
Although Sony still ports their first-party games to PC after a couple of years of its release on console, the release pattern might be affected by the success of Helldrivers 2. The Japanese giants could experiment with releasing more games simultaneously on PlayStation and PC in the future. Hence, it will be intriguing to see if Sony will get rid of their strict exclusivity policies for profit in the future.
