Long gone are the days of PlayStation games not being available on Windows PC. While Sony hasn’t quite embraced the day-and-date simultaneous release strategy adopted by Microsoft, the company — which previously developed games exclusively for its line of consoles — has softened in the past couple of years, bringing major PlayStation titles to PC.
Players who want to experience the adventures of Aloy, Kratos, and other iconic PlayStation Studios characters are no longer required to buy a PS5. Instead, they can browse the ever-growing list of PlayStation Studios games available on PC, which means enjoying these across a variety of hardware from the Steam Deck to a custom Windows PC or gaming laptop.
Alternative controller
While the Xbox controller or mouse and keyboard are the standards for playing PC games, Sony’s PS5 DualSense is also available. This allows players to take advantage of its unique features when playing any PlayStation games on PC.
When do PlayStation Studios games come to PC?
According to Hermen Hulst (opens in new tab), head of PlayStation Studios, it’s still the company intent to launch the bigger single-player games on PS5 first, before later bringing the games to PC. This might not be the case for multiplayer games however, which are considered okay to launch simultaneously on console and PC.
There’s no hard rule, but as a general metric, it seems to take at least a year and a half to two years before a PlayStation game will be ported to PC.
Full List of PlayStation Studios games on PC
Days Gone
Developed by Bend Studio, Days Gone is an open-world survival game, where a mysterious infection has transformed both humans and the surrounding wildlife. With only a motorcycle and any weapons that can be scavenged, Deacon St. John has to survive the open road of Oregon.
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
This 2015 PS4 title was developed by The Chinese Room and published by PlayStation, later receiving a PC port in 2016. It’s a simple title that has players investigating why an entire town suddenly went missing in 1984. Eschewing combat for vibes, it’s a relaxing game that doesn’t take a long time to finish.
God of War (2018)
God of War is one of Sony’s biggest franchises, and with the arrival of God of War (2018) on PC, players without a PlayStation console now have access to one of the best PC games available. This game eschews the prior Greek setting for a new world of Norse mythology, as Kratos is trying to raise his young son Atreus. But there are monsters and other gods all across the Nine Realms…
In our review of God of War (2018) on PC, managing editor Jez Corden wrote that “Incredible art meets ambitious storytelling and meticulously precise combat, creating a whole that is greater than its already formidable parts. God of War is utterly incredible.”
Helldivers: Dive Harder Edition
Developed by Arrowhead Game Studios, Helldivers is a top-down twin-stick co-op shooter, tasking players with shooting away alien foes. Ported to PC in 2015, this is actually the first game Sony ever released on PC, though it wouldn’t be until the arrival of Horizon Zero Dawn in 2020 that the initiative was given much more momentum.
Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition
In 2017, Guerrilla Games pivoted from first-person shooters and created an adventure with RPG elements called Horizon Zero Dawn. This game is set a thousand years in the future, well after a mysterious tragedy. Machines now dominate the world, with humanity reduced to tribes. The young Aloy works to unravel just what really happened in the past, as well as trying to keep that same disaster from happening again.
Horizon Zero Dawn was ported to PC in 2020 with the help of Virtuous, and was the first major PlayStation exclusive to be ported to PC by Sony, heralding a new era for the long-running PlayStation brand.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
In 2018, Insomniac Games created Marvel’s Spider-Man, a new take on the story of Peter Parker, superhero. The game was later remastered for PS5, and is now available on PC with a wealth of PC enhancements offered by the porting experts at Nixxes Software.
With all three DLC packs and extra costumes included, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is one of Sony’s premiere offerings on PC right now.
Predator: Hunting Grounds
Developed by Illfonic, this asymmetrical experience pits four human players as soldiers against one skilled Predator in the jungle, alongside AI cannon fodder fighting both sides.
In our review of Predator: Hunting Grounds, former staff writer Jennifer Locke found that “I’d imagine if you can get a group of four together for a complete fireteam, you’ll have much more fun with the game. That generally stands for any multiplayer title, but even more with Predator: Hunting Grounds. Sam and I had a good time laughing at the game.”
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Sackboy, protagonist of the LittleBigPlanet games, gets to go exploring once more with this platforming game developed by Sumo Digital. Minigames and various levels await alongside a surprising stellar collection of licensed music. It’s a co-op title, so you can play with up to three friends.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection includes two different games — Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy — that have been remastered with new graphical features and settings, pushing well above the visual quality of the games when they were first released on PS4 in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End tells the seemingly final story of Nathan Drake, as he reunites with his brother Sam Drake and chases down pirate treasure across the world. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is a slightly smaller game, focusing on Chloe Fraser and Nadine Ross, who are fighting rebels in the Indian Army and looking for the Tush of Ganesh.
PlayStation Studios games coming to PC in the future
There’s a few more PlayStation Studios games that aren’t yet available on PC, but are announced to be coming or will be available in the near future.
The Last of Us Part 1, a remake of the original game’s single-player story by Naughty Dog, is currently available on PS5 and is also coming to PC, though there’s no release date right now.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales from Insomniac Games and Nixxes Software is also coming to PC, and currently has a release date of Nov. 18, 2022.
A leaked Steam listing, clips of gameplay and settings indicate that Housemarque’s PS5 exclusive Returnal will be coming to PC, though this has not yet been officially announced.
