For years, Sony was reluctant to release its games outside of its consoles. However, in recent years the company has taken a more relaxed stance, because now it is releasing its games on PC a few years after they stopped being profitable on PlayStation. Well, it seems that the company is thinking much, much further.
A few days ago, Spider-Man Remastered, an improved version of one of the most important games of the last generation, was finally released on PC. And like any title that arrives on this platform, people have already started analyzing its source code and found 2 very important details that may imply that PlayStation wants to expand its presence in this medium: a launcher and integration with the PlayStation Network.
In the lines of code of Spider-Man Remastered references to something called “PlayStation PC launcher” were found, although without further detail. As you know, all the games that Sony has released on PC have come to Steam, but it is possible that the company is developing its own launcher, a program/store where users can buy their games and launch them directly.
Sony could also be working on integrating its PC games with the PlayStation Network, according to lines of code such as “PSNAccountLinked” and “PSNLinkingEntitlements” found in the Peter Parker game. This linking of accounts would make a lot of sense if the company launched its own launcher, as it could involve the addition of trophies to these PC games or cross-play between PlayStation and PC for first party titles.
Now, the fact that these lines of code have been found does not imply that there is an imminent announcement, it simply means that Sony is putting its studios to carry out preparatory work, so that its titles are ready at this time in the event that it is really released.
On the other hand, assuming that PlayStation does launch its own launcher on PC, this does not mean that its games will disappear from Steam, the largest store on this platform. Rather, it could be an extra option for those who want a better integration of the Sony ecosystem. It must be remembered that other big companies like EA tried to leave Steam by removing all their games to put them on their own launchers, but eventually they came back because they were losing too much revenue.
