Sony bills US$1.5 billion on Steam, but sales of sequels drop

A new report from Alinea Analytics estimates that Sony earned $1.5 billion on Steam since started porting its first-party titles to the PC platform. Despite the value being significant, the amount was reached in a five-year period, while the PlayStation division generated about $7 billion in revenue just in the last quarter. Of this total, Sony kept about $1.2 billion, with the remaining 30% going to Valve.

The study from Alinea Analytics points out that Helldivers 2 is by far the best-selling game from the Japanese giant on PC, followed by Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War.

However, the report highlights a worrying phenomenon: the sequels of Sony's major hits on PC are not performing as well as their predecessors. The analysis suggests that Horizon Forbidden West sold three times slower than Aloy's inaugural adventure. The same pattern applies to God of War Ragnarok and Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

This slowdown in sales suggests that the novelty of PlayStation ports on Steam is fading away, with new releases losing their initial impact. Reducing the delay between PS5 versions and PC could help improve sales, but Sony would need to consider the impact of this measure on the sale of its own console, especially with the imminent release of the Steam Machine and Microsoft's intention to turn the Xbox into an open ecosystem.

Recent rumors suggested that Sony could reduce its overall emphasis on PC. For now, assuming these estimates are correct, Steam represents a good addition to Sony's revenue, but it is not the central focus of the business.

What does the drop in sales rate of Sony's sequels on Steam suggest about the PC portability strategy and the potential saturation of the port market?