PlayStation Exclusives Skipping Nintendo Switch 2 Entirely

There are new reports from inside the company that say Sony might not be planning to bring its big first-party games to the next version of Nintendo hardware. People have been talking about the possibility that Sony and Nintendo will work together on the next Switch, but new reports say that these hopes may not be realistic.

There had been rumors for months that Sony might release games previously available only on PlayStation on other devices as well. This led to the discussion. Over the past few years, the company has been releasing more of its own games on PC. 

This has led to rumors that other systems, like Nintendo's rumored Switch 2, might finally get the same treatment.

But it looks like the link between Sony and Nintendo is more complicated than just adding more platforms. Sony has seen Nintendo as both a rival and a distinct game ecosystem in the past. Some executives at PlayStation have said that Nintendo's fans are like players who might "graduate" to PlayStation hardware at some point in their gaming careers.

Because of this, many experts thought Sony might be open to releasing a few games on Nintendo platforms, especially spin-offs or projects developed with other companies. When Lego Horizon came out on Nintendo Switch, it seemed to back that idea and led to more rumors that Sony's exclusive franchises might start to cross platform lines.

But new stories say that the situation that led to that release might not have anything to do with Sony's long-term plans at all. Sports TV show MLB The Show is a well-known example. Many platforms have the baseball series, even though it was made and published by Sony. This is because Major League Baseball needs the franchise to be available on multiple consoles.

That is, the choice to release the game on platforms other than PlayStation wasn't made by Sony itself, but by the person who owned the license. If Lego Horizon followed a similar path, it could mean that Sony is still mostly set on keeping its big brands closely connected to PlayStation hardware. That chance grows stronger when you add in another recent event: reports that Sony may be rethinking its overall PC release strategy.

A recent look at PlayStation's PC versions suggests that some ports may not have done as well as planned.

Sony has often put out PC versions of games months or even years after the PlayStation version came out, which seems to have lessened their commercial effect. Industry reports and commentary quote research that shows these delayed releases often sold a lot fewer copies than the original console versions. People are wondering if Sony's staggered method is working the way the company wanted it to because of the gap.

Sources in the business say that Sony Interactive Entertainment may be changing some of its PC plans, especially when it comes to single-player games. With this plan, PlayStation's most popular story-based games—the kind of games that are often linked with the brand—might only be available on PlayStation 5 for a while.

Multiplayer or live-service games may still come out on PC at the same time, since these kinds of games do better with more players and groups that work across platforms. But single-player games with a focus on stories might only work on PlayStation devices. If Sony is really cutting back on PC releases, it's even less likely that those same games will be on Nintendo's next system.

A lot of people thought that Nintendo's Switch 2, which is said to have better tech, might make it easier to port PlayStation games. Some people even thought Sony might try limited releases to get Nintendo's huge fan group. But if Sony goes back to a more traditional form of exclusivity, those chances may be going away.

That means Nintendo fans shouldn't expect big titles like Horizon, God of War, or other PlayStation hits to come out on Nintendo hardware any time soon.

Smaller projects might be able to work on more than one platform. For example, there is the 2D God of War spin-off with a Metroidvania-style design. Insiders said at one point that the idea might have been thought about for Nintendo hardware. But more recent comments suggest that these ideas may not have gone very far in development, even though they may have been talked about within the company.

In the end, Sony's possible change would be in line with a fact that has been around for a long time: exclusive games are a big reason why people buy consoles. When big games are only available on one platform, players are often pushed to buy that device in order to play them. This approach has been a big part of the competition between console makers for decades.

PlayStation has always counted on high-quality single-player games to set itself apart from other platforms. Games like God of War, The Last of Us, and Horizon have become important parts of the PlayStation brand.

If Sony thinks that keeping its products to itself is still the best way to sell consoles, it would make sense for the company to tighten its grip on them instead of giving them to other companies.

For now, that means that hoping that a lot of PlayStation games will come out on Nintendo's next system might not be the best idea.

In some areas, the gaming industry is still moving toward cross-platform ecosystems, but it looks like the old battle for exclusive material is still going strong. And while Sony thinks about its next move, PlayStation's biggest titles might not directly support Nintendo's new hardware after all.