The future of PlayStation is… on PC? (Picture: Sony)
Sony agrees with Microsoft about supporting multiple formats and has accepted that traditional gaming subscription services are not working.
Microsoft has been in the news a lot lately, following speculation that it might make some or all of its Xbox exclusives multiformat. This is assumed to be a response to underwhelming sales of the Xbox console and yet according to the CEO of Sony, even PlayStation does not see consoles as the future of its business.
For Microsoft, it makes perfect sense to leverage its games, which now include everything from Activision Blizzard, across as many formats a possible, but sales of the PlayStation 5 have been breaking records since launch – and yet Sony’s Kenichiro Yoshida seems to doubt the long-term viability of the traditional console, when asked how he views the future of gaming.
‘Wherever there is computing, users will be able to play their favourite games seamlessly. Gamers will be able to find a place to play in difference spaces,’ he said. ‘PlayStation will remain our core product, we will expand our gaming experiences to PC, mobile, and cloud.’
It’s been assumed for some time now that streaming will eventually make consoles obsolete, but that technology is entirely dependent on the reliability and ubiquity of high-speed Wi-Fi – which Stadia and other services have proven is not currently good enough to do away with consoles.
Yoshida doesn’t focus only on streaming though and instead you could easily mistake his comments for something Phil Spencer and other Xbox execs have been saying recently. Even if there’s no suggestion of ever seeing PlayStation games on Nintendo Switch or Xbox.
He was speaking in a video interview with Norges Bank Investment Management and, interestingly, although he was very keen on supporting PC and mobile he was more sceptical about subscription services such as PlayStation Plus and Game Pass.
‘People usually play one game at a time, so all-you-can-eat type of many games [services] may not be so valuable compared with video streaming services. So we have kind of a balanced, hybrid service on PlayStation Network – subscription as well as pay-per-content.’
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The idea that many gamers have no need for access to dozens of games at once is becoming accepted as one of the key reasons why video game subscription services have not taken off as well as expected, with both Microsoft and Sony already seeing subscriber numbers beginning to plateau.
In the brief interview, there was no indication of any immediate changes of policy for Sony but recent rumours suggest that Ghost Of Tsushima and God Of War Ragnarök are both set to appear on PC this year, as more and more PlayStation exclusives appear on formats other than the PlayStation 5.
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Sony agrees with Microsoft about supporting multiple formats and has accepted that traditional gaming subscription services are not working.
