Earlier this month, Sony’s co-CEO shared that he doesn’t feel that the PC market is a direct rival to the console industry, and judging by the launch numbers of the PC port of God of War: Ragnarok, his words now sound prophetic.
Launching hot on the heels of Final Fantasy 16, which also saw low numbers in its PC launch, one of 2022’s best games—voted as Game of the Year by PlayStation fans—enjoyed only a third of the launch figures of its processor when it first came to the PC many years ago.
As of the moment, God of War: Ragnarok’s peak is at 31,606 players. In comparison, God of War topped nearly 75,000 players in 2022. But before you think that Sony should sound the alarm bells, you might want to consider that Sony is well aware that this was bound to happen.
While Sony has finally relented in recent years and gave PC fans a taste of its best-selling first-party PlayStation exclusives, the Japanese gaming giant is well aware that these experiences are what drives console sales. Thus, those who wanted to play the games have already beaten them on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. These are the games that convinced people to buy a PlayStation, after all. In God of War: Ragnarok’s case, it was launched on both the PS4 and the PS5 during a time when PS5 stocks were still suffering from the effects of a global microchip shortage caused by the pandemic.
With the PS4 population having already peaked at the time while the PS5 playerbase was surging, the sequel likely already made Sony a huge amount of profit, surely enough to secure Santa Monica Studio’s next project/s, and then some.
So, it stands to reason that Sony isn’t expecting God of War: Ragnarok to put up big numbers by crossing over to another platform, unlike its predecessor, which came to PC at a time when the novelty of playing PlayStation exclusives on the so-called “Master Race” still hadn’t worn off yet.
Five years into the launch of the PlayStation Studios initiative, Sony has enough data to know that PC ports of its beloved exclusives don’t move the financial needle. The PC ports are merely a means to supplement their bottom line and keep the brand in everyone’s mouth with minimal effort.
Given the lengthy development times of games and how expensive they’ve become to make—Concord, for example, reportedly cost $400 million to develop—you can’t blame Sony for wanting to squeeze as much money out of its existing properties while cutting costs without compromising the quality of the product.
The near-homogenous state of console and PC gaming gives Sony an opportunity to double dip and make extra money from its best-selling PlayStation titles two to three years following their initial launch for little added cost.
Even if we say that God of War: Ragnarok only ends up selling 1 million copies on PC throughout its lifetime, that’s still at least more than $50 million more added to the company’s coffers—a huge amount at a time when Sony has admitted to struggling to make profit and trying everything it can to remain atop the video game industry.
Of course, God of War: Ragnarok’s PC port could’ve done better under better and more ideal circumstances. For starters, it probably wasn’t a good idea to release it just days after Final Fantasy 16. Most people will likely choose FF16 over God of War: Ragnarok because it’s a standalone title, a PS5 exclusive, and it offers more value in terms of playing time.
And, again, those who wanted to play God of War: Ragnarok likely already had their fill two years ago. On the other hand, FF16 caters more to curious fans who’d like to find out why Square Enix is calling the game a disappointment despite all the praise and accolades.
It also doesn’t help that Sony’s PSN requirement is literally locking a huge chunk of the playerbase out of access unless they find a workaround, which most players are not interested in doing because, again, God of War: Ragnarok is a system seller—anyone who wanted to play it before likely already has.
While finding itself losing half a billion dollars if not more after investing heavily in Concord will sting, Sony isn’t hurting for ways to make money during this holiday season. Aside from the expected continued strong sales of God of War: Ragnarok on PC over the holiday season, it will release the PlayStation 5 Pro, which is already available for pre-order. The upcoming mid-cycle console refresh isn’t a game-changer in terms of performance but many experts agree that it brings a lot of value to the table for hardcore PlayStation fans who want PC-like performance without waiting for a PC port.
Between everything we’ve just mentioned, Astro Bot‘s expected Game of the Year award win, and the 30th-anniversary limited edition bundles that are releasing soon, Sony is in a position to simply brush off the negative talks about God of War: Ragnarok and its “low” launch numbers on the PC.
