In what could be a signal of Sony’s strategy in the years to come, Kotaku’s Jason Schreier reported on Thursday that PS4 exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn is coming to PC this year. This would be one of the first exclusive games published and developed by Sony to release on any platform other than a PlayStation console.
Horizon Zero Dawn, which launched in 2017, was developed by Guerrilla Games — the studio which once dedicated most of its resources to the Killzone series. Not only was Horizon well-received by critics, but it went on to sell over 10 million copies, making it one of the biggest success stories of the generation. A sequel is all but guaranteed, but even with a new console in the works, Sony is already extending its tendrils beyond home consoles.
Kotaku’s report suggests that Horizon Zero Dawn will hit both Steam and the Epic Games Store when it makes its way to PC. This will be the first time a Guerrilla game has been playable outside of the PlayStation ecosystem since Sony bought the studio in 2005, and the team will reportedly take full advantage of the opportunity by bumping up the quality of the game to match the hardware. In other words, it likely won’t be locked at 30FPS.
As Schreier notes, this isn’t the only big PS4 exclusive coming to PC, as Death Stranding’s move to PC has already been confirmed, but Death Stranding was developed by an independent studio and is being published on PC by 505 Games. Quantic Dream did the same with Detroit: Become Human and some other PlayStation-only games.
This represents a major shift in Sony’s strategy as it pertains to gaming, as it has become increasingly clear over the past few years that regardless of whether or not home consoles continue to be the main attraction, gamers expect to be able to play their games on any device at any time. A few years ago, Microsoft announced that all of its first-party titles would be available on both Xbox and PC. Will Sony follow suit?
