Sony will no longer release their biggest PlayStation games on PC, claims report, starting with Ghost of Yōtei

*Country and Western getaway music*

Sony are breaking up with PC, reportedly! The PlayStation creators will no longer release big PS5 singleplayer games on things that are not actual PlayStations, according to "people familiar with the company's plans". In the short term, Sony will no longer publish a PC port of Ghost of Yōtei, sequel to windblown action samurai game Ghost of Tsushima.

It's all part of a pivot back towards the simpler days of console exclusivity, the insiders claim, and forms a stark contrast with rival Microsoft's wheedling ambition to treat every piece of hardware like an Xbox.

The report in question is from Bloomberg. The anonymous sources they've spoken to caution that Sony's strategy is "constantly shifting", so all of this may yet prove to be a wind-up. The sources also assure that online-focussed PlayStation games such as Bungie's imminent Marathon reboot will still be released on several platforms. Seemingly, it's just those grand solo campaigns that are being locked up in console prison.

Ghost of Yōtei was never officially dated for PC - we just assumed it'd show up here eventually, because what kind of fool company doesn't publish games on PC. (Certainly not a company like Capcom, who've elsewhere revealed that PC accounts for around 50% of their sales.) There are apparently no plans to cancel the already-announced PC versions of Death Stranding 2 and the upcoming Kena: Scars of Kosmora, both created by third parties and due to be published by PlayStation this year.

Bloomberg's Jason Schreier offers a mix of speculation and insider info to explain Sony's thinking. He notes that recent PC ports of PlayStation games haven't done big numbers on PC, partly because Sony have released them months or years later, confusing and annoying would-be buyers. He also remarks that Sony have alienated a lot of PC players by asking them to create PlayStation Network accounts, which is certainly true.

According to Schreier's secret contacts, "a faction within PlayStation has also expressed concern that releasing their games on PC risks damaging the console’s brand and will hurt sales of the PlayStation 5 and its successors." Can't think of a time when that hasn't been a risk for Sony. Lastly, Schreier drops a bit of rumourage about the next Xbox, which is apparently going to run Windows and thus, be capable of playing PC games without any porting rigamarole. He thinks Sony executives are worried about people playing PlayStation PC ports on Xbox hardware.

My immediate reactions are as follows. Firstly, I don't care a stuff about Ghost of Yōtei coming to PC. Eurogamer have already backhanded it as a game of "simple pleasures and missed opportunities". The only thing we ourselves have written about it is this announcement piece from Brendan Caldwell, and Brendan Caldwell is a janky quisling who, only today, referred to me in an email as a "synergistic collaborator". People have started wars for less. I hope the ghost of Ghost of Yōtei's PC port haunts Brendy at night. I hope spectral samurai warriors accost him in the lavatory.

Secondly, you can't break up with us, Sony, we're breaking up with you! Your (recently lapsed) PlayStation Network account requirement for PC ports was indeed a thing of ignominy. Besides, I've never cared for your portfolio. Except for Returnal and Bloodborne and Shadow Of The Colossus and all the others I've forgotten.

A Sony spokesperson has already declined to comment on Bloomberg's report, but I will send them an email full of crying kitten emojis, just in case.