Xbox’s Project Helix was announced the other day with nothing more than a code name and logo. The key takeaway was in what little words were used by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to succinctly package the console, stating that “Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games,” but an abrupt move from PlayStation has already given it its first piece of bad news.
Sony is reportedly putting a fork in the eventual PC ports of PlayStation-exclusive games, according to Bloomberg, with poor sales andbrand risk for PlayStation apparently to blame. It is unknown whether this choice was also made with Xbox’s Project Helix in mind, as users could, in theory, wait and play a future PlayStation exclusive on this upcoming Xbox console, and yet it could turn out to be a big factor that positively affects PlayStation and negatively affects Xbox.
PlayStation Pulls Back On PC Ports For Exclusives
Perhaps Xbox’s Project Helix being capable of playing PC games is precisely PlayStation’s reason for backing out of future PC ports for otherwise console-exclusive games. Even if it is not, it is ironically convenient and fortuitous that PlayStation will not need to potentially lose sales to both PC and Xbox users.
It is unfortunate to hear that PlayStation’s single-player exclusives will no longer be ported to PC, but it is less a curse for PC players and more a boon for PlayStation users. In essence, a console can justify its worth based on its exclusive games, and the inevitable PS6 would have a lot going against it at launch if players decided that they would rather wait until its games were ported.
Xbox’s Project Helix could then play Xbox exclusives, PC games that may or may not be optimized for the platform, and PlayStation games that are later ported to PC, becoming a catch-all console (sans Nintendo games). It makes sense, then, why PlayStation would maybe want to avoid this, assuming the PS6 will not also feature the ability to play PC games.
Project Helix’s PC Games Miss A Big Slice Of The Pie
Obviously, PlayStation choosing not to port exclusives to PC hereafter could be a huge snag for Xbox’s Project Helix, which may have been banking on the idea that the next-gen console would be able to play the likes of Ghost of Yotei, Saros, and Marvel’s Wolverine when they were believed to be ported to PC at some point in the future.
Xbox Project Helix Explains Unexpected PlayStation Exclusives Decision
