Sony Interactive Entertainment is reportedly working with Ballistic Moon, an independent studio consisting of former leads at Supermassive Games, on a new PS5 game with the codename “Project Bates.” While Sony isn’t officially mentioned in the announcement from Ballistic Moon, some new leaks indicate that PlayStation is the game’s big, unnamed publisher.
Ballistic Moon took to social media to confirm that it’s working on a new, untitled PS5 game with the codename Project Bates. The game will also be developed in Unreal Engine 5. The studio mentions that it’s working with a big publisher, but stopped short of giving any proper details. However, ResetEra quickly managed to spot that it could be Sony.
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According to Angie on ResetEra, who credits user Toumari for first spotting the information, the big publisher is apparently Sony Interactive Entertainment as one unnamed motion capture actor for Project Bates accidentally listed it alongside Ballistic Moon. It will likely be a PS5 exclusive in the vein of Until Dawn, which launched exclusively on PS4 back in 2015.
Ballistic Moon currently employs Neil McEwan as Project Bates‘ creative director. McEwan was a former game director at Supermassive Games, the developer behind narrative-driven horror games such as Until Dawn, The Quarry and The Dark Pictures Anthology.
The studio’s technology director Chris Lamb also previously worked at Supermassive Games, as well as Joshua Archer, who is currently credited as a motion capture artist on Project Bates.
While these former developers’ talents were in creating choice-based, cinematic horror titles, it’s unclear if the studio’s new game will be similarly structured or even be a horror. The codename Project Bates is likely a reference to the Bates Motel, the fictional location seen in the 1960 thriller film Psycho which featured serial killer Norman Bates. It’s not known if the new game will have anything to do with that.
Project Bates is currently in early development.
Source: Ballistic Moon
