Sony is reportedly pushing for major PS5 timed exclusivity deals on otherwise multi-platform games.
The news comes from former Game Informer editor Imran Khan, now a host and contributor at Kinda Funny, who discussed Sony's plans on a recent podcast. Khan and cohost Tim Gettys got on the topic after weighing the controversial PlayStation exclusivity for Spider-Man in Marvel's Avengers, with Khan suggesting that Sony has far bigger exclusivity deals waiting in the wings.
"There are things you will be shocked to find out that Sony is moneyhatting, that they are locking up for timed exclusivity," he says (around 22:20). "'Wow, that is a game that you're choosing?' Not because it's bad, but because it's huge. I'm interested to see where this conversation is going to be in a couple of months because there are games that are widely accepted as multi-platform that Sony is locking up for a little while, so I would not be shocked if they did something insane like that [timed exclusivity on Marvel's Avengers as a whole]."
To be clear, Khan isn't insinuating that Marvel's Avengers itself will be a timed PlayStation exclusive; we already know that it isn't, it just won't have Spider-Man on other platforms. And while there's no evidence to support Khan's claim regarding timed exclusivity on other games – apart from both Sony and Xbox pushing for similar deals in the past – Khan's track record is more than consistent enough to make this particular rumor worth earmarking.
Timed exclusives are to be expected of new console generations – and we've already seen some, with both Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop tied to PS5 for some time – but if Khan is right, PS5 may see especially huge or lengthy acquisitions in its first two years or so. Xbox may well respond in kind, of course, but we know too little to make any assumptions there.
