Bloomberg reporter details why Playstation may have exited PC as a former Xbox head thinks Sony views Valve as a "new competitor"

Blizzard former vice president has chimed in with his take on why reports of Sony holding back its first-party blockbusters from PC going forward “makes sense.” And with Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier expanding on the words that sent the rumor mill into motion a few days back, including claims that Ghost of Yotei and Saros will stay firmly behind the fence of Sony’s tall white tower of a console, there’s a lot to think about.

According to Mike Ybarra, who climbed the Xbox ladder for ten years before taking up the mantle of president of Blizzard for a time, Sony likely views the recent Xbox management shift as the “last nail in the coffin” for Playstation’s long-standing rival in the console space.

But that doesn’t mean Sony thinks it’s now in the clear to sweep the console market. A new level 100 mafia boss is in town (sorry), and its name is Valve. “They [Sony] view Valve as a major competitor now,” said Ybarra, referencing Steam’s attempts to “enter the living room and console market with Steam Machine…”

Following Schreier’s expanded report over on Bloomberg, the ex-Kotaku reporter clearly outlined what Sony stands to gain by pulling back on its PC endeavors. “…when someone buys a PlayStation, Sony doesn’t just get their $500+,” he explained, “the company also gets 30% of everything they buy on the PlayStation Store… Sony makes the most money by getting as many people as possible on its consoles.”

So, yeah, it makes complete sense for Sony to pull back. Valve may have fumbled its first attempt to infiltrate the living room PC market, but with the Steam Deck spawning (or, arguably, reinvigorating) the handheld market and dominating in the admittedly now rather niche PC VR field for a time, there’s a renewed interest in what their Steam Machines could mean for the console industry.

With Valve now coming for Playstation’s breakfast (in Sony’s view, anyway), why would Team Blue want players picking up a Steam Machine to play their first-party hits? Sony would lose a hardware sale and start giving Valve a 30% cut for its software sales, too.

Given the claims that Sony takes its own 30% cut of even third-party micro-transaction sales on its platform, it isn’t too surprising to see it double down on efforts to bring more people (money) over to its ecosystem. It’s a real Uno Reverse situation, and while I’m all of the mind that exclusives ultimately hurt the industry, it’s hard to argue with the numbers from a business perspective. “Valve doesn’t make many mistakes,” says Ybarra,  “and Sony is smart to realize that.”