Returnal has finally been released on PC, with decent PC requirements, and it runs as smoothly as other games ported from PlayStation. This begs the question: Is PlayStation one of the best game publishers on PC right now?
Do you remember when Dark Souls was initially released on PC in 2012? The Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition locked the resolution at 720p and 30 fps, and it did not allow PC players to remap the keys. The same was true for NieR: Automata when it was released on PC initially in 2017; it was a very bare-bones experience, to say the least.
Even in 2022, there are still many games that are not optimized to run on PC, even if those games are not initially exclusive to consoles. Saints Row and Gotham Knights are perfect examples of this.
Meanwhile, Helldivers: Dive Harder Edition was the first game Sony ported to PC. While it has some quirks on PC, it is not a disaster compared to the two other games mentioned earlier. Later on, Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition was released in 2020. This game has kept a good momentum going for PlayStation on PC. Days Gone is also a good port on PC. God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales are also amazing games on PC.
So, it is really remarkable that Sony consistently delivers good quality ported games to PC, even when many other developers cannot regularly deliver games with reliable performance. This is strange because PlayStation is also a gaming console brand that is supposed to be the rival to PC – at least in the debate within the communities of PC versus console. Furthermore, bad ports usually come from Japanese game publishers, while Sony is undeniably one of the biggest companies from Japan.
Check out my other article: The Future of Web3 Games: Could They Reach Mainstream Market?
Are PC-Oriented Publishers Getting Sloppy?
So, who is supposed to be the best game publisher on PC, at least performance-wise? Microsoft, for sure, because of Windows. It is also the same company that developed DirectX, the libraries needed in every game on PC. Yet, it might not be the case.
Age of Empires III Definitive Edition, published by Microsoft in 2020, is also a ported game, although it is an old game ported to be playable on modern machines. The game had tons of bugs and terrible performance, at least when it was initially released. With Microsoft acquiring Bethesda Softworks in 2021, which is known for really buggy games and terrible performance in its early release, it is doubtful to see a change after the acquisition. However, the jury is still out on this.
Blizzard, which is still being acquired by Microsoft, is also supposed to be one of the PC-oriented publishers with its World of Warcraft, Diablo series, and StarCraft franchise. Yet, it is arguably no longer considered the best game publisher for PC gaming.
CD Projekt is also one of the game publishers that made a name starting with the PC platform. The first The Witcher game is still exclusive to PC. Yet, consider the early release of Cyberpunk 2077; it is an understatement to say that it was a disaster. Although, to be fair, it was terrible on every platform and its console versions fared worse.
Finally, it’s not only PlayStation that could deliver more consistent results but also the other big game publishers that need to keep up. Plus, maybe it’s just additional proof that game publishers are also getting more agnostic from time to time. Most games are released on multiple platforms nowadays. Sony becomes one of the best game publishers on PC. Blizzard could potentially get more money from its mobile game. Even Tencent, which gained its momentum from mobile games, owns one of the most popular PC games, League of Legends and VALORANT.
Feat Image: Courtesy of SONY
