The "right time" to bring PlayStation exclusives to PC is right now

Sony's enormous back catalog of PlayStation exclusives offers an unparalleled opportunity to bring a collection of classics to PC straight away.

Speaking on the PlayStation blog, Herman Hulst, Sony's head of PlayStation Studios, explained that Sony is "still early on in our planning for PC," but that it would "continue to look at the right time" to bring its games to PC, espousing how much the company values PC gamers and how much it wants to reach new audiences, all while citing the success of ports of Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone, which came to PC around two years after their original PS4 releases. 

To help assuage the fears of Sony fans who might be a little nervous at that news, Hulst also said that PS4 and PS5 remain "the best place to play" the company's first-party offerings. He also confirmed that ports to a new platform "will not come ever at the expense of building an exciting lineup of great console games."

That's a noble (and sensible) show of loyalty - Sony has excelled when it comes to PlayStation exclusives in recent years, and there's no need to sacrifice that in favor of a brand-new cross-platform approach. But right now, that exciting lineup is already firmly in place for the PS5; Demon's Souls and Spider-Man: Miles Morales came screaming out of the gates at launch, while Returnal arrived last month and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is set to release next week. Looking ahead, Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarok are both set to release within the next 18 months, and Final Fantasy 16 is also on its way. Even further out, new games from the likes of Naughty Dog and Sony Bend will eventually round out the release slate. It's an impressive list already, and I've not even touched upon cross-platform releases like Deathloop or Forspoken.

With that console lineup firmly in place, Sony could easily turn to its enviable catalog of PS4 exclusives, many of which released well before the two-year cut-off that Hulst mentions in regard to the PC release of Days Gone. Rumors of a Bloodborne PC port have been circling for years, but that's simply scratching the surface of what's on offer. Sony could start with remakes or remasters of games like The Last of Us, Shadow of the Colossus, or the Uncharted series, or let PC players loose into collaborative spaces, like Dreams or Little Big Planet, while still barely touching its most recent, most prestigious franchises. 

It's hard to imagine that games that fit that description - from Ghost of Tsushima and God of War to The Last of Us Part 2 and Marvel's Spider-Man - won't eventually make their way to new platforms, especially with the iconic Journey having already headed to PC in 2019 and brand-new release MLB: The Show 2021 even making the jump to Xbox Series X. Even with Sony understandably biding its time over ports of some of its biggest exclusives, this could be the perfect time to start cultivating a PC audience via some of its most beloved classics, showing the quality of their exclusives and building out an even bigger audience in the long run.  

For a comprehensive list, here are all of the upcoming PS5 games.