The sony turnaround in recent years it has been clear. The Japanese company seeks to take better advantage of other markets such as PC or even mobile devices. The arrival of Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War or Days Gone on computers is a good example of this.
This time we have more news about the intentions of PlayStation for the future. Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, has revealed in different interviews that the intention is to expand borders when creating games.
“We have a history and a reputation for creating these amazing narrative single-player games like The Last of Us Y Horizon and the upcoming God of War Ragnarok. We are also diversifying. And we’ve launched 12 projects in total in the multiplayer space as games as a service,” Hulst tells Axios.
Haven Studios or Firewalk are examples of developers that are immersed in this kind of projects, although there will be adaptations of all kinds. “We’re not ruling out bringing some of our beloved existing franchises to games as a service,” he says. Of course, he recognizes that narrative titles are still an important source of income for Sony.
Differences between PC and consoles
So far, we’ve seen exclusive Sony releases come about first on PS5 and PS4 to, months later, do the same on PC. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection and The Last of Us: Part I are two examples of this and this will continue to be the company’s policy.
Speaking to YouTube channel Julien Chiènze, Hulst points out that there will be at least a year difference between the releases of console games and PCs. The exception to this rule will be games as a service that will be published on both platforms at the same time.
Let us remember that Sony plans the arrival of a good number of games as a service by 2026. On the other hand, mobile games is another of the objectives set internally, as can be seen with the purchase of Savage Game Studios. In this sense collaboration between studios will helpsince the Decima engine is shared by Guerrilla Games and Kojima Productions, for example.
Additionally, multi-generational games haven’t been completely ruled out, even though there are only PS5 works announced beyond 2022. Hulst indicates that they will evaluate “case by case” when it comes to releasing games on PS4, as “we don’t want to forget the million active players.
improve and listen
The head of the Sony studios has not forgotten to refer to situations as unpleasant as the crunch suffered by Naughty Dog. “I want to see our professionals as people who can have balanced long-term careers with adequate career progression,” says Hulst.
In turn, Hulst himself gave as an example the problematic and poor community response that Gran Turismo 7 experienced with an update. “We have to listen, learn and react quickly,” acknowledged the manager.