Sony Hits $1.5B on Steam, but PC Port Momentum Slows

Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) push into PC gaming has delivered a gross revenue of over $1.5B on Steam, with Sony retaining an estimated $1.2B after Valve’s platform fee of $350M. According to Alinea Analytics, the figure consolidates five years’ earnings, based on breakout successes like Helldivers 2 to legacy ports including God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn.

However, the same report has underscored a worrying trend: low sales of recent PC titles, in comparison to the older ones. Sony's ongoing platform strategy, which has been progressively moving beyond console exclusivity, becomes more complicated due to the slowdown. Alinea Analytics’ report underscores that this is likely the result of the time gap between PS5 launches and Steam ports. 

While Steam has served as a lucrative secondary revenue stream, market behavior now indicates that the high-demand of ports may already be exhausted. As a result, Sony and other publishers that prioritize consoles must deal with challenging issues regarding timing, portfolio selection, and the long-term viability of the port-based revenue model, more so after the introduction of the Steam machine.

Top Sellers Reveal Strategy Blind Spots

The early PlayStation releases on Steam helped Horizon, Days Gone, and God of War perform well on PC, with both Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War selling more than 4M copies. The standout example is Helldivers 2, which sold an estimated 12.7M units, accounting for the majority of the roughly 43M PlayStation-published copies sold on Steam. 

In contrast, follow-up titles such as Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarök, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 have reportedly underperformed. According to the data, Forbidden West is selling 3x slower than Zero Dawn after being on Steam for 608 days, while Ragnarök sold 2.5x fewer copies than God of War at the time of reporting. The report also notes, only 13% of God of War Steam players and 12% of Spider-Man Steam players have played the respective sequels.

This divergence signals sequel fatigue and diminishing audience interest due to most of Sony’s major franchises already being on PC. The early wave of ports benefited from pent-up demand among PC players who had long requested PlayStation exclusives. However, the numbers are now shrinking with PC players expecting day-one PC versions instead of delayed ports.

On the other hand, Valve’s revenue share decreases for top sellers; from 30% to 25% after the first $10M in sales, then to 20% beyond $50M copy sales. With only Helldivers 2 crossing the 10M threshold and most of the catalog accounting for a 30% platform fee, Sony’s PC port seems more unappealing.

Sony’s $1.5M milestone underscores the clear upside of bringing first-party PlayStation titles to PC; however, it highlights the limitations and constraints for retaining engagement. While PlayStation has been reducing the window between console and PC launch, Alinea Analytics notes that simultaneous launch across console and PC might leverage the appetite for premium single-player games on PC and drive growth.