Sony has been working with Deviation Games, the new studio founded by Treyarch veterans, for well over a year now – but the team’s project is still a “little way out”. Speaking with Eurogamer.net, PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst said “we’re not announcing a game but a partnership”, but clarified that his company is expanding.
“We're always on the lookout for incredible new experiences, no matter where they come from, big or small, whatever the genres are,” the former Guerrilla boss said. “If I come across a core group of people that are building a new outfit, that have gained incredible experience and matured as creatives, and then you take the shackles off, you give them a white sheet of paper, it's just fascinating to see what they're going to do with it.”
It’s something we commented on in a recent article, explaining how PlayStation is avoiding an acquisition war by empowering creators. The company has announced similar partnerships with the likes of Jade Raymond at Haven Studios and the ex-Destiny directors at Firewalk Studios. But why is it taking this direction as opposed to acquiring teams outright?
“It’s a matter of finding ways to bring the most innovative, the highest quality experiences to the audience. And it doesn't really matter to me, at the end of the day, how we set it up organisationally. It's all about, how do we get eventually the best possible experiences to our community?”
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 39
Well, they obviously don't have as much money as Microsoft when it comes to making acquisitions. But I trust Sony to find other ways to bring great games to Playstation. This seems to be one of those ways.
@ViolentEntity yes. Though we have no idea what they’re working on yet, I would bet some type of first person narrative game.
@ViolentEntity Both this studio and Firewalk (with ex-Destiny devs) are working on shooters for Sony.
@Voltan Have they said that it was shooters... Or are we just basing this off their past game history?
He also said recently they only acquire studios when it makes sense for both parties involved. In most cases a partnership is the right way to go. I trust Sony and their instincts when it comes to which studios to acquire. All of these partnerships sound really exciting.
Nah they need to acquire studios bruh. They paid a billie for an anime studio or whatever that was. Go drop a billie for 2 to 3 triple A studios already.
I'ma help ya in the right direction, Sony.
Housemarque
Bluepoint
Team Ninja
You're welcome!
Personally I think all of PlayStation's well-established and proven capable Studios SHOULD be working on two projects. Sucker Punch, Bend Studio, Team Asobi, Media Molecule, San Diego Studio & Polyphony Digital have proven more than capable studios, deserving of being expanded and funded generously in order to meet that two project per studio quota. On top of that; Sony should continue partnering up with big names in the industry, while also nurturing smaller studios / developers, but it also wouldn't hurt to acquire just a few studios, 2 or 3 is more than enough, studios that already have a great working relationship with Sony / PlayStation much in the same way Insomniac Games had before being acquired. As well as building a new studio or two from the ground up.
I’m sure the executives at Sony know what they are doing better than I. It’s just curious that they acquired Insomniac in the fall of 2019 for $229 million, then $250 and $200 million in Epic games in 2020 and 2021 for a...what is it now? 3% ownership? I just don’t understand it, but that’s why I don’t make the big bucks.
@Texan_Survivor - And Spider-Man Remastered too, sure it was just a Remaster but it took a years worth of time, money and effort to make happen. Plus I think Insomniac has another one or two unannounced games in the works aside from Spider-Man 2. I highly doubt that now that they've finished work on R&C Rift Apart, that they're only working on Spider-Man 2, Insomniac Games are masters of juggling multiple projects.
I think Sony should acquire Bluepoint Games imagine what they could do with remaking/reimagining old PlayStation ips that have been left behind
Sony has $18 billion set aside for acquisitions over the next 3 years so I'm sure a few studios will be coming.
@Bagwag82 - Jak & Daxter Trilogy, Sly Cooper, Ape Escape Trilogy & Legend of Dragoon Remake, if any studio could revitalize these incredible games, Bluepoint can. And I know I'm grasping at straws, but should Sony ever decide to make a PlayStation All-Stars 2, I would absolutely trust Bluepoint to helm the project.
@Floki Technically Firewalk said they’re doing an “AAA multiplayer game”. A shooter is probably the safest bet.
@JustPlainLoco Legend of Dragoon is a good call, and am also thinking Dark Cloud.
Sony also needs a first party turn based rpg strategy title to compete with Fire Emblem in my opinion.
@JustPlainLoco. Rogue galaxy remake now that would be amazing.or resistance trilogy remake.word up son
People keep saying "Bluepoint". They already pretty much work as if they are an internal studio. I don't see anything changing as far as their output if they were owned by Sony or not. I don't know if they are even on Microsoft's radar.
I definitely don’t want an acquisition war to happen, because clearly Microsoft could and would buy basically every other publisher if they wanted, but I really think Sony needs to lock down some of their more important partnerships while they still can. Microsoft’s new model is basically: use our mountains of cash to either put all competitors out of business or at least get them to the point that they’re no longer serious competitors; and I would bet that a possible move on Microsoft’s table includes throwing massive amounts of money at studios Sony has historically partnered with to take them out of the equation. I’d be surprised if MS isn’t looking into buying Bluepoint, Housemarque, Team Ninja, Square Enix, Sega (for Altus), etc.
@JAMes-BroWWWn Sony wouldn't be a to buy team ninja... They're already owned by Koei Tecmo.
@Residentsteven I don’t think those studios had good projects. Probably a similar story as Bend studio, good quality but maybe their projects weren’t something Sony aligned with. The order was pretty trash so that speaks for itself and until Dawn was actually really good so I’m not sure why else other than maybe they didn’t like the direction the studio was heading in 🤷🏾♂️
People need to remember that even though certain studios put out good stuff, they shouldn’t always be bought. So far Sony have bought some really good studios and got some really good games out of those acquisitions. But it’s not a certainty, same way MS have been really unfruitful with their acquisitions.
Why partnerships instead of just BuYiNg? Purchasing studios is expensive lol.
This way they fund the game and then own the I.P exclusively, without having to pay running costs of the studio.
Conversely MS are buying studios outright but they havent had a noteworthy console exclusive since launch, which is shocking. And their two marquee titles - Halo and Starfield - look pretty damn mediocre.
I think this is the right way to go. Support new studios and new ip from the cradle. It creates new opportunity for companies in need of investment, and Sony potentially gets rewarded with innovative new ip.
This is the kind of organic growth Sony excel at and should be proud of - unlike Microsoft who buy established brands to gate off multiplatform franchises from the competition. Sony deserve great credit for this initiative.
Its possible some of these games will not live up to expectations - and im always nervous when studios are sold to customers on the basis of who works there - rather than on an actual game being developed, but if this pays off, this could bring much needed originality and creativity to Sony's first party software
@JustPlainLoco i reckon they are working on a sequesl to sunset overdrive and a VR game for PS VR 2 (in addition to Spiderman 2)
It will be interesting to see what happens in say 2 to 3 years from now and see who really has the best games in the end(my money is on SONY. Surprise, Surprise) I just hope Microsoft doesn't buy anymore big gaming companies tho :-/ Well ones I like games from anyway(Bethesda's games don't interest me much because most are PC like games anyway)
It's all well and good saying they don't want an acquisition war but if Microsoft want to stump up the cash for someone they will. With Bethesda all I'll miss is DOOM personally, I know its a lit more for some people, but if they were to go out and buy a Sega or Konami and lock away game franchises that I've been playing since the 90s I'd be gutted (works both ways I don't want Spny buying up any of the 'biggies' either).
@JustPlainLoco it's easy saying that but you don't know how big each Studio is, they might not have the capacity for multiple games at once
Great.. I hope everything pans out in the end for Sony and us, Playstation users.
I am getting some harsh replys here for speaking my mind, so I will refrain myself a bit, but can we at least agree that making State of Plays is lacking in comparison to a full blown presentation like Xbox did yesterday?
@vict0RGM Yeah... After yesterday, I finally realize how depressing E3 is without Sony especially since I only have a PS5 right now. The Xbox conference was great, and the Nintendo Direct tomorrow will be amazing. But I missing see Sony up on stage showing off what they have planned even if it just CGI and in engine demos.
@JustPlainLoco I also think they'll be a great provider of first party VR content when the new headset comes out. Insomniac put out a decent number of Oculus games, so I can see that continuing with new games, and perhaps ports of the older ones depending on if they own those IPs.
@vict0RGM I prefer Sony's approach. You only have to look at the viewing figures for the horizon forbidden West state of play to see how popular they are. I think Sony will have some type of longer show in the next month when all the focus will be on them. And dropping state of plays keeps the interest going in the platform.
@vict0RGM Agreed. I’d much rather see an E3 like showing from Sony then the drip feed we get now.
@JustPlainLoco Legend of Dragoon.
E3 is dead. Sony have the right idea, release stuff separately and when they're ready.
Xbox have all the hype but tomorrow it's Nintendo's turn in the spotlight. Better for Sony to hog the attention and not share it imo.
@Rob_230
I want a PS port of Sunset Overdrive as much as I want a sequel!
@Floki
I'm bummed that it seems Sony doesn't have a State of Play lined up soon. I want to know about these 20+ games in the works that nearly half are supposedly new IP's.
I just hope it's not a FPS.
It should be clear now that it's not a strategy in reaction to Ms acquisitions. This one started 1 year and a half ago. But who am I kidding? Common sense and narrative are different beasts.
Hulst and Ryan are running Sony into the ground
@blackndark Sony doesn't have more than MS but PlayStation brings in alot more money than Xbox. Besides over time PS already has a huge number of devs and are already quite Big
@jly1987 they've been consistent on releasing quality games since launch, selling games like never before and making more money than any other platform.
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