Sony reportedly working on 'Cross-Buy' feature for unified game ownership between PlayStation 5 and PC — Leaked icons indicate Sony's answer to Xbox Play Anywhere is coming

(Image credit: Sony)

The past few years have witnessed a shift in Sony's strategy for first-party exclusives, as more and more titles make their way onto PC. While there's no sign of those titles also showing up on Xbox, the Japanese game company seems comfortable giving them up to Microsoft's other baby: Windows. And now we have our first look at what could be PlayStation's version of Xbox Play Anywhere — "Cross-Buy," a service that will let you purchase one game and own it across multiple platforms.

New Symbols will be added soon (website & tool), but here some nice new features from PlayStation (yes, some are old, other are unseen):- A kind of "echo mode"- PS5/PC games- "Cross-Buy" pic.twitter.com/YxIAXp750gNovember 4, 2025

The news was first spotted by Amethyst on X, and now popular leaker billbil-kun on Dealabs is corroborating that they've found a "Cross-Buy" option in PSN, along with a "PS5 / PC" icon — both hints suggesting the new feature could be dropping soon. Billbil-kun reportedly managed to access the CSS files for PlayStation Store's website and discover a reference to "crossbuy-tag," which was recently added in June 2025.

Sony used to have a Cross-Buy feature back in the day, where you could buy one game and own it across PS3, PS4, and PS Vita, but it's been dormant for some time. The June 2025 date confirms that we're looking at something new. Since it was found alongside a PS5 / PC logo, it's pretty easy to connect the dots and conclude that you may soon be able to buy a game on PS5 and also own it on PC.

Microsoft already does this with its Xbox Play Anywhere program, in which buying the game on Xbox also gets you the Microsoft Store version. But Sony doesn't have a native PC launcher — it relies on Epic Games and Steam to distribute exclusive games, so it'll be interesting to see what sort of licensing deals are chartered up to make this whole ordeal work.

I didn't think this and @Zuby_Tech's post would go viral, so:- The screen is real (see video below)- The symbols are present on PS5 (not PS4)- The symbols are official Sony 'fonts' (uf-code: EF5B to EF61)You can see them yourself by searching for my ID: yAmethxst https://t.co/abU35ihfHG pic.twitter.com/xz6e5u14v6November 4, 2025

The other, more exciting possibility could pertain to the long-rumored PS6 handheld in the works. Since Cross-Buy is already associated with the PS Vita in some way, a spiritual successor building upon its legacy would be the perfect time to revive this branding. Realistically speaking, such functionality wouldn't be added in the files this early for a product that's at least two years away. Only time will tell if Cross-Buy extends to the next generation, though, while we wait for it to show up in the current one.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

TOPICS

Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.