With the next generation of consoles on the horizon (with a recent PlayStation 5 leak showing how close it is to completion), competition within the games industry is going to become even stronger. However, in more recent years, business relations between some of the major leading companies have strengthened as well. In fact, Sony's own boss recently alluded to the possibility of PlayStation exclusives being released on PC.
In an interview with Business Insider, Chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) Worldwide Studios Shawn Layden said: "We must support the PlayStation platform — that is nonnegotiable. That said, you will see in the future some titles coming out of my collection of studios which may need to lean into a wider installed base." Considering how large the PC demographic is, releasing more games for the platform seems like an obvious move for Sony to make. While this is not a definitive confirmation, it does suggest that Sony is becoming more receptive to the idea of cross-platform play and promotion.
Cross-play has only become more and more popular over the years, thanks to the likes of Rocket League and Fortnite allowing friends and strangers to still play with each other across different platforms. Sony has been heavily criticized and mocked for its earlier dismissal of the practice, but it seems to have recently come to realize the popularity and potential of cross-play. For example, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds now offers cross-play between Xbox One and PS4 owners.
Sony has most likely also seen how well Nintendo and Microsoft's relationship is doing and how that relationship is bringing in great PR for both of the publishers. For instance, Microsoft is allowing a few of its own exclusives to be released on the Switch, with the incredibly popular Ori and the Blind Forest being the latest example, and Banjo-Kazooie is set to be the next DLC fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Nintendo and Microsoft can only benefit from this new friendship, and it makes sense for Sony to try and follow suit. However, it's unlikely that this will lead to Sony bringing some of its exclusives to either Nintendo's or Microsoft's platforms, and PC is the more probable option.
Sony's PlayStation 5 console currently has no official release date.
Source: The Next Web