As a PC player, I've had plenty of reason to be frustrated with the culture of console exclusivity for some time. [The potential compatibility issues on PC are a complete nightmare, especially as the games grow in size. [Genuinely excellent games like "Final Fantasy 7 Remake," 2018's "God of War," and Insomniac's "Spider-Man" have been slow to migrate to Steam. This trend continued with "Rebirth," "God of War: Ragnarök," and "Spider-Man 2. [However, according to the current and former president of PlayStation, the tide appears to be turning, according to an interview with former president Sean Layden, courtesy of GamesBeat.

"When the cost of a game exceeds $200 million, monopoly becomes your Achilles heel. Monopoly is your Achilles heel. This is especially true in the world of live service games and free-to-play. Another platform is just another way to open the funnel and bring in more people.

Layden's reasoning here-that console exclusivity primarily hurts live-service games-is a bit corporate, especially given that many of the PlayStation exclusives I drool over are single-player. Still, "In a free-to-play world, as we know it, 95% of people won't spend a nickel.

The recent wave of live service games follows a very similar pattern to the wave of MMORPGs between 2010 and 2020. As I noted last year, the problem is much the same today. Something big becomes popular, companies want to create their own version of that big thing, spend big bucks to do so, and then watch it collapse under its own weight. The gaming ecosystem can only support a few of these giant companies before the whole thing buckles and breaks.

The golden goose of live services is still being chased by many developers, but getting it off the ground is actually really hard. Layden adds: Helldivers2 was released on PlayStation and simultaneously on PC. Again, we can broaden our funnel. I think part of the success of Helldivers 2 can be attributed to the fairer premium currency system, but it also doesn't hurt that the player base has broadened.

There are also benefits when it comes to single-player titles, says Layden: "For single-player games, we don't have the same need. But if you're spending $250 million, you want to sell as much as possible to as many people as possible, even if it's only 10%. He notes that while the console's user base has increased its raw spending over time, "I look at it and think we're just taking more money from the same people."

This is hardly just more evidence that PC gaming is not dead. It is also cause for stronger fingers crossed that these year-long waits will eventually end, although whether there will be more first-day releases like "Helldivers 2" is another matter entirely. Whether there will be more first-day release titles like "Helldivers 2," however, is another matter. The prestige of "only on PlayStation" games remains a big part of the company's strategy, so it is unlikely to end just because of a shortened launch window.