Sony Interactive Entertainment is no longer hiding it: the Japanese manufacturer will capitalize more on online service games. The latest studio takeovers such as Bungie or Haven are moving in this direction and it has been announced that 10 service games will be launched by 2026. A policy that roughly follows what is being done in video games at the moment, but which greatly frightens the PlayStation community, which is very attached to narrative single-player games, since they are part of the manufacturer’s DNA and which also constitute a large part of its first-party catalog.
During an interview dedicated to our colleagues from GamesIndustry.biz,
Hermen Hulst, the boss of PlayStation Studios, wanted to reassure players by stating that Sony will continue to produce narrative solo games, while explaining the takeover of the Haven studio, founded by Jade Raymond.
Obviously, we’ll always continue to make those single-player narrative games like Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us, and Horizon Forbidden West. But you have noticed that we have invested in online service games, because it is incredibly exciting for us. It allows us to build larger worlds, it allows us to create really meaningful social connections between players.
Words that obviously reassure this community attached to these unique experiences of their kind and which has also pushed Microsoft to do the same by buying dozens of studios over the past 5 years. As we know, the war is waged through good exclusives and even if subscriptions to essential services like the Xbox Game Pass, many players are attached to a certain way of telling the video game.
