Despite the strong desire for service games on PS5, Sony will not give up on solo productions. PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst wanted to reassure players.
Following the takeover of Jade Raymond’s studio, Haven, Hermen Hulst – director of PlayStation Studios – spoke with our colleagues from the game industry. In addition to the new acquisition, the discussion drifted on the place given to multiplayer games on this generation. Will PlayStation abandon single-player narrative titles on PS5 and beyond? No.
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This isn’t the first time Sony Interactive Entertainment has spoken out on this subject, but it’s always good to give it a go. Indeed, the manufacturer is investing more and more in multiplayer productions/games as a service, which worries the players. Herman Hulst wants to clear all this up: single-player games won’t be sacrificed.
We’ll continue to make single-player narrative games like Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us, and Horizon Forbidden West, that’s for sure.. But you pointed out, quite rightly, that we’re investing in games as a service because it’s extremely exciting for us. It allows us to design larger worlds, to build really meaningful social bonds between players.
We have several in development or being conceptualized, so yes, we are preparing for that internally. That’s exactly why it’s so exciting for us to welcome a group of people who have a lot of multiplayer gaming experience into the family.
The end of the quote refers to Haven Studios.
PS5: the era of service games for PlayStation
10 PS5 service games by 2026 are Sony Interactive Entertainment’s goal. Damn ambitious given the current context, and there must still be no pitfalls. For the moment, no project has been revealed but one of them could be multiplayer of The Last of Us 2. Bungie, which is in the PlayStation Studios family, is also a solid element to start this evolution.
A new studio, Deviation Games, is also cooperating with PlayStation. The structure was founded by former developers of the Call of Duty franchise. Will they succeed in producing such a famous license?
