Here’s why Playstation exclusives could stop showing up on Steam
Sony’s Playstation has done a huge favour this generation for all the PC gamers in the world: bringing exclusives to PC. Some of its best titles are on the Epic Games Store and Steam, that too at deep discounts compared to the prices at which they first appeared on the Playstation Store. However, the stream of the Playstation exclusives is likely to run dry on the Steam store, and soon, here’s why.
Sony has purchased a hefty USD 250 million stake in Epic Games, the company that runs the Epic Games Store and Fortnite. The quarter of a billion investment will only fetch a measly 1.4 stake in the US-based game company, which shows how much Epic has grown since the mega popular Fortnite first launched in 2017.
While the purchase of stake in Epic does not mean that Sony will have exclusive console rights to the games that launch exclusively on Epic, it is likely going to mean that Sony may avoid bringing any of its memorable exclusives to Steam, a market place run by Valve, another US-based gaming company.
Sony may lose out on a multitude of gamers who consider Steam their only preferred market place of choice when it comes to PC gaming. Steam currently has the lead with about 30% of the global PC market. By comparison, Epic has about half of Steam’s share at 15%.
Console wars coming to PCs near you
However, Epic’s market share is expected to go higher. The store front’s weekly game giveaways have been a major hit. With more gamers coming in to grab a free copy, the amount of hours played via the Epic Store has been on the rise, catapulted especially by the free giveaways of games like Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA V).
When GTA V was given out for free by Epic, its average peak concurrent user count climbed to as much as 13 million. While this is nothing compared to the about 24.5 million average concurrent user count on the mighty Steam, this clearly shows how Epic has fast laned itself into a competitive position to face Steam.
That means Sony would have no trouble keeping its exclusives restricted to the Epic Store on PC.
While we wonder whether or not Sony would actually end up keeping Steam users away from its Playstation exclusives, it is important to note down a very important aspect of this Sony-Epic deal.
The deal did not originate from the Playstation division of Sony. The decision to sign the deal came from much higher than just the video game unit of the mega electronics conglomerate.
The investment was mainly made to cash in on the events like the recent virtual concert by American rapper Travis Scott in the battle royale sensation Fortnite. The concert was attended by about 12.3 million live viewers!
Sony hopes to bring more of its films and music content to the customers through the game, fetching a better out reach to fans and profits. And the investment is certainly timely, with the rise of the coronavirus led lockdowns, finding innovative ways to reach out to viewers is the need of the hour for entertainment firms. This investment only proves that Sony has proven to be ahead of the curve.
In May, Sony chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida had told the Financial Times that the challenge for the company was how to deliver entertainment choices remotely “that are both immersive and real time”.
So with knowledge in mind, if we look at the stake buy in Epic Games, it could also be possible that Sony may continue to bring its Playstation exclusives on the more popular Steam, since from a business perspective, the aim of the stake buy is to push its music and concerts through a new and interesting medium.
However, on the other, is the fact that the company has invested in Epic, and should choose a side, or end up being ridiculed by its investors, who may question why Sony is unnecessarily fueling up the competition’s revenues.
With the next generation of consoles launching later this year, only time will tell what happens. Only a handful of PS5 exclusives have been showcased for now, but let’s wait and see if any more are shown anytime soon.
