The new GeForce Now beta for Microsoft Edge allows users to play games via the browser, meaning Xbox users can now play PC games. However, users found that Sony exclusive titles such as Death Stranding—which was released for PC in 2020—were noticeably absent from the list of playable games. Considering the fact that these games appear totally fine on PC search results, the most plausible answer seems to be that Sony is blocking the titles from appearing on other consoles.
were you looking forward to playing Sony PC games on Xbox through Nvidia GeForce Now? I noticed something strange. You can’t play Death Stranding, a Sony published game, on Xbox through GeForce Now. It’s blocked from showing up in search results pic.twitter.com/G5qkFOPIwH
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) October 25, 2021
As The Verge writer Tom Warren notes on Twitter, Sony does not publish Death Stranding on PC. Publisher 505 Games was the one that brought the game to Steam and Epic Games Store back in 2020. However, Warren theorizes that there may be some sort of clause in Sony’s agreement with Kojima Productions that forbids the game from being streamed to other consoles, such as the Xbox One.
What’s strange is that, apparently, the search ban only applies to certain countries. Twitter user @biggdogg3223 found that they were able to find both the Steam and Epic Games Store versions of Death Stranding on the console. Regardless, it makes sense for Sony to forbid streaming of its first-party titles and exclusives to other consoles, considering they’re in the console market themselves.
Tom does it work in Russia can this only apply to certain countries? pic.twitter.com/MmrzytA9Yp
— Sergey Maksimov (@biggdogg3223) October 25, 2021
Sony has slowly but surely begun opening up to the idea of releasing its console exclusives to other platforms over the years. In addition to games like Death Stranding, Days Gone, and Horizon Zero Dawn, PlayStation recently revealed that God of War will come to PCs in 2022. Sony even acquired Nixxes Software, a studio specialized in porting games to PC. Sony Interactive Entertainment ex-Chairman Shawn Layden also explained that Sony would bring PlayStation games to PC once the console version sales “reach saturation.”
Unfortunately for other console owners, it seems like PC is the end of the line; those exclusive titles probably won’t be heading anywhere else anytime soon.
[Source: VGC]
