Report: PC Sales For PlayStation Tapered Thanks To Gap In Release From Console

Over the course of the past few years, PlayStation has fully embraced its focus to adopt the PC market. Slowly trickle feeding its releases soon grown to roughly a dozen titles on Steam. And this sentiment is seen to be carried over as of late. The firm last year rolled out PC drivers for its premium ‘Pulse’ peripherals. Additionally, the firm was also witnessed via a datamine with console/PC cross-buy feature implementation as well.

There was even a PlayStation PC overlay that would deliver an in-house experience interface to the platform. However, things began to change as reports pointed to this initiative to find its end in the near future. From Bloomberg, it was understood that titles Ghost of Yotei & Saros are the indicating cutoff for Sony Interactive Entertainment with no more plans for the year-spanning initiative.

According to Newzoo, the data intelligence firm revealed that plenty of the blame is put on the shoulders of the game’s release. The timing of its title coming months after shipping on console prior is the culprit for poor performance on Steam.

“Newzoo’s data shows that PlayStation titles ported to PC after their console launch typically see PC account for around 13% of total players in the first three months across both releases. By comparison, when comparable AAA titles launch simultaneously on PC and console, PC contributes closer to 44% of players in the same period,” director of market intelligence Manu Rosier revealed.

“What’s notable is that this pattern is not specific to Sony’s first-party portfolio. We see almost no difference between first-party PlayStation titles (12% PC share) and third-party PlayStation exclusives (13%), suggesting the outcome is primarily driven by the staggered release strategy rather than franchise demand on PC.” Rosier goes on to note that the impact releasing closer if not at the same time as the console counterpart would show better results for the ports.

“When a PC version arrives years after the console launch, much of the early lifecycle demand has already been captured on the primary platform. […] The key takeaway is that release timing has a significant impact on PC engagement. When a PC version arrives years after the console launch, much of the early lifecycle demand has already been captured on the primary platform.”

Are you surprised by this data report on PlayStation games for PC?

Source: gamesindustry.biz