In brief: Sony is revising its position on PlayStation exclusives following months of speculation on the matter. While it's not a total shutout of competing platforms, the development will impact fans of a particular genre.
According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst recently told employees during a town hall meeting that the company will start restricting single-player narrative games to the PlayStation. It is unclear when the change will occur, and which upcoming games it might impact.
The good news is that multiplayer titles will still be eligible to be ported to other platforms. But for single-player, non-multiplayer games, it sounds like it will be PlayStation or nothing.
As Neowin highlights, multiple factors likely led to the decision. Sony reportedly has not been satisfied with PC game sales figures, and some inside the company believe the multi-platform strategy is harming the PlayStation brand and could hamper future hardware sales. The publication also notes that some games take a year or longer to find their way to the PC, and are often buggy at launch. Sony's requirement of a PlayStation Network account also rubbed some gamers the wrong way.
Sony launched the PS5 in November of 2020 and by this point in its lifecycle, you wouuld expect to be able to pick one up for far less than its initial MSRP. Instead, the current climate prompted Sony to increase the cost of the console back in March. A standard PS5 will now set you back $649, a full $150 above launch price. The PS5 Pro now commands a staggering $899.
Continuing on the hardware front, Sony is internally shifting its focus to the PlayStation 6. Rumors suggest the next-gen console could arrive in 2027 despite the ongoing memory shortage. Earlier reports claimed the system might be delayed until 2029. Recent leaks suggest the PlayStation 6 could offer up to three times the performance of the PlayStation 5, putting it on par with an Nvidia RTX 4080.