“Only on PS5”: the return of this historic label sounds the death knell for PlayStation games on PC

Last May, we learned from journalist Jason Schreier of Bloomberg that Sony had decided on a major strategic change of course for its PC ports. If service games like Helldivers 2 continue to be released on PS5 and PC, major single-player franchises like The Last of Us, God of War or Ghost of Yotei will now be exempt.

A new commercial policy which is now evident in the firm's communication, which reinforces the exclusives of the PlayStation portfolio.

PlayStation highlights its exclusives

It was the user @Genki_JPN on X / Twitter who spotted the mention (via Notebookcheck). During an advertising campaign for its new gaming accessories, Sony wanted to illustrate its new 27-inch gaming screen with sequences from the game Ghost of Yotei.

It is just below the game visuals that the words “Only on PS5” appear. This text was originally found on all communication media as well as the covers of console exclusives since 2020.

Since then, Sony has invested heavily in its PC ports, sometimes with success (Spider-Man Remastered / Miles Morales, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn) and sometimes with more difficulty (The Last of Us Part I, Spider-Man 2).

However, the landscape has changed over the last two years as Xbox quickly abandoned the concept of exclusivity to favor the deployment of its major IPs on consoles and PC. The next Xbox Helix will be able to run games under Windows and therefore ports of PlayStation games. Enough to slow down Sony's ambitions to launch ports of its largest licenses.

Likewise, the Steam Machine, despite its delayed launch, could also be a major competitor in the long term if Valve's proposal with its PC console succeeds in convincing a large part of the public. But here again, the components crisis could push the creator of Steam to sell his machine at a prohibitive price.