Sony changes strategy, focusing on exclusives and AI in studios

The hardware market is facing an extremely hostile economic environment, and a recent report from Embracer revealed that the traditional seven-year cycle between generations is nearing its end. Instead of seeing a new console in 2027, projections now indicate the arrival of the PlayStation 6 could be as late as 2028 or 2029. This delay is attributed to the AI boom, which has driven up memory prices and resulted in fierce competition for chips, along with global inflation impacting NAND technology. Launching a new console under these conditions could push the product's price to a prohibitive range of over 1000€, an absurd amount that would deter most consumers and render the project commercially nonviable.

Since the PS5 is leading sales comfortably compared to the Xbox Series X and faces no threats from the newly released Switch 2, the Japanese giant has ample time to capitalize on the current generation. To curb the billion-dollar budgets straining developers worldwide, Sony's latest financial report unveiled the aggressive deployment of Artificial Intelligence tools in their productions. The company claims to be using technology to "unleash the studios’ creativity and enhance productivity." This corporate justification is convenient but raises questions about the potential degradation of artistic work in favor of automatic cost-cutting.

The drastic shift in plans, previously anticipated by Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, was confirmed by PlayStation's CEO Hideaki Nishino in an interview with Famitsu magazine. The executive outlined the brand's new business division:

"Our current main policy is that for internally developed single-player titles, we will continue to enhance the value of the gaming experience that PlayStation can offer. At the same time, we believe it is important for live-service games to reach a broader audience through online multiplayer, so we will continue to see releases for both the PS5 and PC as a standard."

This stance discards the old approach to PC collaborations, which in recent years yielded a robust list of delayed ports on the platform:

Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition — August 7, 2020

Days Gone — May 18, 2021

God of War — January 14, 2022

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered — August 12, 2022

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales — November 18, 2022

Sackboy: A Big Adventure — October 27, 2022

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection — October 19, 2022

Returnal — February 15, 2023

The Last of Us Part I — March 28, 2023

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart — July 26, 2023

Helldivers 2 — February 8, 2024

Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition — March 21, 2024

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut — May 16, 2024

Until Dawn — October 4, 2024

God of War Ragnarök — September 19, 2024

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered — October 31, 2024

LEGO Horizon Adventures — November 14, 2024

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 — January 30, 2025

The Last of Us Part II Remastered — April 3, 2025

Lost Soul Aside — May 30, 2025

Stellar Blade — June 11, 2025

Locking major blockbusters within the plastic confines of the console is a decision that displeases those who prefer the freedom of computers, but it makes sense to prolong the brand's ecosystem. In Nishino's view, the home console remains central, and devices like the PlayStation Portal work to keep users within this bubble without feeling the need to switch to open hardware. With the end of this spree of cinematic epic ports, anyone wishing to follow the future steps of the main franchises will have to accept the manufacturer's terms and invest in the closed ecosystem.