Sony Tips PlayStation Games Expanding Beyond Console

There's no question that Sony has been on point with its lineup of exclusive games this generation. From Spider-Man and Uncharted 4 to God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn, the PlayStation 4 is home to some excellent games that you can't play anywhere else. While you might think that this would cause Sony to focus even more on locking down exclusives in the next generation, that may not be the case.

In a brief interview with Bloomberg, SIE Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden suggested that Sony may eventually look the broaden the audience for PlayStation exclusives. "We must support the PlayStation platform – that is nonnegotiable," Layden said. "That said, you will see in the future some titles coming out of my collection of studios which may need to lean into a wider installed base."

Layden didn't elaborate more on the need for a "wider installed base," for Sony's exclusives, but it isn't hard to imagine what he means. We almost certainly won't see PlayStation exclusives come to Nintendo or Microsoft platforms, but we could one day see them come to PC. Indeed, Bloomberg notes that the games that could see broader distribution might include "multiplayer titles designed to be played on personal computers."

Making games exclusives to consoles while launching those same titles on PC is a strategy that Microsoft has been using this generation. For a number of years now, titles made or published by Xbox Game Studios have launched on both Xbox One and PC, including Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 4. Halo will soon join that list of games that are available on Xbox and PC, as Halo Infinite is slated to launch on both platforms at the same time.

Just yesterday, Sony announced plans to purchase Insomniac Games, the studio behind PlayStation exclusives like Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, and Spider-Man. With the total number of studios under the Sony Interactive Entertainment umbrella now up to 14, there will be plenty of PlayStation exclusives that could one day find life on PC as well.