PlayStation has leaned on the PC market for the past few years, with "Horizon Zero Dawn: The Complete Edition" launching on Steam and GOG in November 2020, followed by "God of War," "Marvel's Spider-Man:. Remastered," "Days Gone," and "Ratchet & Clank" were released: Rift Apart, and "The Last of Us Part I" followed.

Clearly, there continues to be interest in the best PS5 games being released on PC. And reading between the lines of recent statements from Sony execs, it's at least possible that more PlayStation titles are headed to a rig near you.

Sony recently held an earnings call to update shareholders on the company's financial performance in the third quarter of last fiscal year, and the PlayStation parent company seemed to be doing pretty well in general, revealing that sales were up 22% year over year to ¥3.747 trillion However, it was not all good news. Especially with regard to the PS5 (thanks to Investing.com)

, sales in the gaming and networking division increased by 16%, despite the fact that PS5 shipments did not reach the target of 25 million units, such a great achievement. On the other hand, sales of the newest game console reached a record high of 8.2 million units. In other words, it is not all doom and gloom for the PlayStation division.

Still, missing the shipment target is hardly ideal, and this may have prompted PlayStation chairman Hiroki Toki to give that answer in a Q&A session after the earnings presentation (thanks, VGC).

After being asked why his division had increased profits, Totoki shifted the topic to hardware manufacturing costs. Chairman Toki stated, "It's really hard to cut costs in this console cycle." The chairman then added that he believes that "multi-platforms are here to stay" and that "there are opportunities to improve margins, and we will be aggressive in improving margins."

It is no secret that profit margins are thin when it comes to console manufacturing, and historically it has usually been easier to make a profit from selling games. Indeed, it is common for companies like Sony and Microsoft to sell systems at a loss and then recoup their profits from subsequent software sales.

What Totoki is actually saying is that there is not much substance there. If you are a hardcore gamer who loves to play PS4 and PS5 titles on your system (despite the fact that it often takes years to do so), you may find the words "improving margin performance" with regard to PS5 multiplatform game sales to be a bit of a stretch, as Sony is could read it as an indication that they want to see more first-party IPs on the PC.

Perhaps so. Given that the original "Spidey Sandbox" and the spin-off "Miles Morales" are already on Steam and other PC digital storefronts, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to expect the excellent "Marvel's Spider Man 2" to appear on gaming PCs and Steam Deck, it would not be a shock to see it appear.

Furthermore, one could take Totoki's words to mean that PlayStation games will be released earlier on the PC. But if you take that line of thinking, then you may be reading into what you want to believe. Exclusive titles remain important to Sony, so if you are expecting a simultaneous PS5 and PC release, like the recent "Helldivers 2," you might want to take a step back and lower your expectations. Remember, the "Starship Troopers"-style co-op shooter is a second-party game developed by Arrowhead, but Sony is the only publisher; unlike Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog, Arrowhead is independent developer, not part of PlayStation Studios.

What is a bit more realistic. Perhaps Sony can shorten the time between a game's appearance on PS5 and its release on PC. In retrospect, the gap between past PC ports and PlayStation OGs has been downright cavernous. Case in point: Horizon Zero Dawn was released on PS4 in February 2017 and the PC version was released over three years later in August 2020. Marvel's Spider-Man came to PS4 and PS4 Pro in September 2018, but it won't be until November 2020 that Pete gets the chance to battle NYC goons on the best gaming laptop. [The apocalyptic tale of Joel and Ellie, a graphic overhaul of the PS3 action-adventure classic, was released for PS5 in early September 2022 and for PC in late March of the following year; too bad it shipped in terrible shape on Steam and the Epic Games Store but thankfully, post-launch patchwork fixed most of it.

PC gamers may be able to look forward to this last example: future PS5 titles will be released on PC within 12 months of their initial release: ...... Preferably minus the terrible bugs in TLoU. Still, that seems pretty optimistic to me. At best, Sony will approach this topic on a game-by-game basis, rather than adopting a comprehensive strategy that would commit them strongly to PG games in the future.