Hermen Hulst, the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, recently conducted a string of interviews detailing live-service games plans for PlayStation as well as reassuring fans that its single-player titles remain the most profitable at the company. Sony is leaning heavily into establishing and acquiring new teams to work on its future live-service titles, but seemingly haven’t forgotten about the platform’s roots in single-player offerings either.
Speaking to Axios recently, Hulst talked about PlayStation’s push into live-service territory. Acquiring Destiny developer Bungie was the tip of the iceberg as PlayStation is committed to developing live-service games from both newly acquired teams (such as Haven Studios) and some of Sony’s internal teams as well.
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However, not every new live-service game will be an original IP. Some will likely be based on pre-existing IPs, like the previously announced standalone multiplayer for The Last of Us as well as a leak yesterday that revealed a planned multiplayer game set within the universe of Guerrilla Games’ Horizon series. It’s rumoured that Sony is also working on a Marvel multiplayer project exclusive to PS5, which may involve Marvel’s Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games.
Hulst later talked about PlayStation’s single-player projects, which appear to still take priority at the company, but Sony is also expanding its team to work on new live-service games as well. “We have a history and a reputation for building these incredible narrative-driven single-player games, such as The Last of Us and Horizon and the upcoming God of War Ragnarok,” said Hulst. “We’re also diversifying now. And we have stood up 12 projects in total in the live ops multiplayer space.”
While Jim Ryan previously stated that they “believe in generations”, the company will still handle cross-gen games on a case by case basis. As far as we know, Sony is still committed to PS5 exclusivity for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Marvel’s Wolverine and Final Fantasy XVI, among others, though the latter might be a decision made by Square Enix.
Sony has also been bringing several of its biggest exclusives like God of War and Days Gone to PC, though there’s no signs of slowing down as, according to Hulst, this allows PlayStation to continue investing in bigger projects which makes sense.
Hulst also confirmed that all future live-service games from the company will launch on both PlayStation and PC on day one – something that competitor Xbox has been doing for both its single-player and multiplayer offerings for a few years now.
PlayStation has been quiet regarding any big announcements lately, which is leaving several fans confused about its future rollout and plans. As Hulst reveals, the company is gearing up for a busy early 2023 with the launch of PlayStation VR2, figuring out live-service strategies with Bungie and hopefully, a decent selection of surprises in terms of its high-profile exclusives.
Source: Axios
