PlayStation working on dozens of new PS5 exclusives, studio boss says
Horizon Forbidden West. (Sony)
There are currently over 25 first-party exclusive games on the way for PlayStation 5, according to the head of PlayStation Studios.
And of those 25, nearly half are brand new IPs rather than sequels to existing franchises.
PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst spoke to Wired for a piece on the success of the PlayStation 5 so far.
Hulst previously co-founded Guerilla Games, the studio behind the Killzone series and Horizon: Zero Dawn, before moving to PlayStation Studios in 2019.
“There’s an incredible amount of variety originating from different regions,” Hulst said. “Big, small, different genres.”
So far, we know the likes of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok and Gran Turismo are all first-party Sony PlayStation exclusives on the way.
It’s certainly exciting to consider what else Sony has up their sleeves, especially considering Hulst’s comments on the size and genres. It’s likely that not all of these forthcoming releases will be AAA games, but smaller, more experimental projects.
That marks an interesting counterpoint to recent criticism that Sony is focused heavily on AAA exclusive games, to the detriment of experimental work from smaller internal groups.
Yet the success of Returnal is an indicator that Sony can create original and unique games alongside its biggest selling franchises.
Hulst is, understandably, excited about the future of Horizon Forbidden West, a title he began working on before the move to PlayStation Studios.
“I spent some time yesterday with Horizon Forbidden West for the first time in seven or eight months,” he said. “To step away and to come back to it? Talk about giving me a gift.”
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz last month, Hulst again spoke of the variety of titles on the horizon.
“I think that the games that we make are as distinct and diverse as they can be,” he said.
“From Sackboy to Astro Bot to Dreams to these kinds of games that you’re referring to, like The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima. And you can bet that we will carry on making these games, because they are the heart and soul of what we do here at PlayStation Studios. But at the same time, we are just as committed to making these quality experiences as we are to experimentation and to coming up with fresh ideas.”
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