Forget PS5 – Sony is making big bucks with PC games

The official Galaxy themed Sony PS5 console faceplates against a starry background
(Image credit: Sony)

Sony’s PC ports of PlayStation games are set to make a load more money in the coming year, although the firm’s PC projects are already doing well in terms of earnings.

This became clear from a shareholder briefing where Sony presented a bunch of slides, one of which outlined income from PC ports, showing that they brought in $80 million over the past fiscal year (running up to the end of March), no less.

Those are the proceeds from Horizon: Zero Dawn, God of War and Days Gone, but there are far greater things to come, Sony predicts. Namely that in the next financial year, the company expects its PC games to earn $300 million, almost quadruple the figure from this past year (and not far off a ninefold increase on the $35 million made in 2020).

That’s a huge leap in takings, of course, and it begs the question: what has Sony got in the pipeline to make it so confident that revenue from PC ports will surge even further?

Analysis: The live-service show must go on…

There’s only one game which Sony currently has officially announced for PC, and that’s Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (which should arrive pretty soon). Obviously, that’s keenly awaited by many, and can be expected to do well, but it’s only going to be one piece of a larger puzzle when it comes to racking up a few hundred million in PC revenue.

As PC Gamer, which spotted the briefing (via an IGN report), points out, the likelihood is that this income forecast is incorporating the boost Sony is set to get from buying up Bungie, and the large amount of cash hoovered up by Destiny 2.

Furthermore, there’s a graph provided which shows that Sony expects to have three live-service games in the next year, doubtless bringing in large slabs of revenue, one of which is presumably Destiny 2. However, the only game actually mentioned in that projection is MLB The Show 2022, though that isn’t on PC. (Not yet – maybe it could be destined, ahem, to be ported to PC, given that in the past two incarnations MLB has been introduced firstly to the Xbox, then the Nintendo Switch with the 2022 game).

At any rate, that leaves a third live-service title which is a complete unknown, and given the money-spinning potential therein with these kind of games, it could well be pushed to the PC, too, and thereby a bigger audience.

Whatever the case, what PC gamers will really be hoping for is not MLB The Show – well, some might – but the real hot topics when it comes to PC ports are the likes of Bloodborne and the Spiderman games.

There’s a sliver of hope that something along those lines could happen given that as many as up to 20% of Sony’s releases are expected to hit PC in the next year – and more like 30% by the time 2025 rolls around. Keep those fingers crossed, then, although the big money expected to be rolling in is likely from those live-service cash cows, more than anything else…

TOPICS

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

Read more
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
Why are we getting so many PlayStation PC ports? Former president says it's 'like printing money'
PlayStation Showcase
2025 could be the start of a new era for PlayStation
How to change your PSN name
PlayStation's 2024 in review: Software and hardware underwhelm, but Sony’s never been stronger
PS5
The PS5 just had its best financial quarter on record, shipping almost 10 million units at the end of last year
Image of GTA 6 protagonists and PS5
GTA 6's console-only launch reminds me of how much I despise console exclusivity - is it worth waiting years for PC ports?
PS3
PlayStation Classics port studio Implicit Conversions appears to be researching PS3 emulation
Latest in PC Gaming
Asus ROG Ally using Steam
I think Asus could be the perfect partner for an Xbox handheld – but I have questions
Playing games on the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma without an external display.
The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma offers Steam Deck owners a premium design and, of course, plenty of RGB
Image of GTA 6 protagonists and PS5
GTA 6's console-only launch reminds me of how much I despise console exclusivity - is it worth waiting years for PC ports?
Image of Grand Theft Auto 6 promotional art and Corsair's PC cases
GTA 6 could reach PCs in early 2026 according to Corsair – but I'm already sick of waiting
An angry PC Gamer sat at their desk looking unhappy
Can’t buy an Nvidia RTX 5080 or 5090 GPU due to stock shortages? If you were hoping GeForce Now might provide a good alternative, we’ve got some bad news
Steam Deck controls close up
Steam Deck fans, you're in for a good one - AMD's FSR 3 frame generation is now available on Valve's handheld thanks to a new Decky plugin
Latest in News
A super close up image of the Google Gemini app in the Play Store
It's official: Google Assistant will be retired for phones this year, with Gemini taking over
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #1147)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #378)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #644)
Three iPhone 16 handsets on show
Apple could launch an iPhone 17 Ultra this year – but we've heard these rumors before
Super Mario Odyssey
ChatGPT is the ultimate gaming tool - here's 4 ways you can use AI to help with your next playthrough