Some seriously impressive sleuthing on ResetEra suggests Sony has signed English developer Ballistic Moon to create a PS5 exclusive. The Farnborough-based firm, founded in 2019, claims on its Linked In page that it’s working with a “world-leading publisher” on an exciting Unreal Engine 5 project. Earlier in the month, it posted up photographs of a motion capture session, and the actress – playing two different characters, Emily and Hannah – listed the work on her portfolio as Project Bates, published by none other than Sony Interactive Entertainment.
https://twitter.com/ballistic_moon/status/1557049079032594438
Fascinatingly, the director is listed as Joshua Archer, who has worked on games such as Horizon Zero Dawn and Until Dawn – both PlayStation exclusives, of course. It’s likely that this game is being overseen by Sony XDEV, the Liverpool-based unit responsible for exclusives developed outside of the PlayStation Studios family. It’s previously collaborated with teams such as Quantic Dream on titles like Detroit Become Human.
While the developer’s website is seriously impressive – we recommend you check it out – there’s very little information on what it’s actually working on. The studio’s founders – Neil McEwan, Chris Lamb, and Duncan Kershaw – have a fairly eclectic background, having worked on projects such as House of the Dead: Overkill and even Heavy Rain. The game is described as being in its “early stages”, and having “emotive” performances, however.
As part of an MCV interview published in 2021, it’s reported that the team “were able to create and pitch out a strong concept and project which subsequently was signed off by a well-known publisher relatively quickly”. Co-founder Neil McEwan said: “We collectively want to create games which emotionally resonate with people, and mean something to them, not just something disposable which they move on from.”
Clearly the release isn’t ready to be announced just yet, but we’re impressed by the sheer amount of information compiled here – hats off to Toumari for putting it all together. It sounds like this could potentially be a narrative-driven adventure game, similar to The Quarry et al. Although, that’s just us making assumptions based on the back catalogue of some of the staff involved. The studio is hiring aggressively, though, and even mentions that it’s “relocating” soon.
A bigger office required, perhaps?
[source ballisticmoon.com, via linkedin.com, twitter.com, spotlight.com, imdb.com, mcvuk.com, resetera.com]
Comments 19
Happy to see Sony still doing these games. These types of games rock if done well, but Quantic Dream was a cluster****.
Edit: Big IF the game turns out to be a narrative adventure game.
I've always been on-board with Sony's strategy of tapping new studios for second-party exclusives, so I hope this collaboration turns out well.
Good to see they’re investing again in UK studios.
@uptownsoul New studio founded in 2019. This will be their first game.
Must be a live service game.
Well the last time Sony worked with a studio with a moon in it's logo was Insomniac...and that went well.
Sony has always worked with third party studios for something or other, so this would not be news in that sense, but announcing a game is news. I can't begin to speculate what this game may be, although it's safe to say you can rule out a number of genres. This isn't a new Tetris game after all.
That header picture made me do a double take for a second. I almost thought that Sony had bought another studio!
A Psycho movie game ?? Also interested in IKEA Infinite Play
As much hate as David Cage rightfully gets, their games were a great piece of the PlayStation exclusive library for the most part. If this studio ends up being a replacement of sorts, and obviously ends up making a really good game, then great. I'm all for keeping some diversity in the PlayStation library.
How fascinating! Good sluething work, I look forward to learning more about this project.
Nice to see Duncan Kershaws name in the mix, Ive worked with him at EA in the past, so nice to see him still going and making things happen! 😀
@Smiffy01 IKEA Infinite Play has to be a reference to the infamous SCP 3008, right?!
@KidBoruto Shhh its a secret
You mean PS5-Steam-Gamepass exclusive...or shall we simply call it a non-Nintendo exclusive
Hope it's not like The Quarry....That was supermassives worst game so far. I like their games but the actual lack of gameplay and the basic nature of what you did play was really bad..it's literally a glorified trashy American semi horror film.
Until Dawn and The Dark Picture games actually had superior gameplay, and frame rates.
I feel gamers had to pay the high price to pay for the actors in this game...
So, please if this new game is a thing from this Brit Dev team then don't go down Supermassives latest route....
@KilloWertz Cage makes these games better than most. Detroit was a sublime game that kicks the Quarry all over the park.
@KilloWertz
‘As much hate as David Cage rightfully gets,’
Cage eats puppies for breakfast or something?
Haha
@JJ2 Maybe I shouldn't have said rightfully, maybe I should have in some people's minds. Quantic Dream was accused of a horrible work environment (they won an appeal to reverse that), but his treatment of Ellen Page wasn't exactly good (doing things she asked him not to) and his history of homophobic slurs and him supposedly calling all women in his games wh**** doesn't paint a very good picture either.
For me, I care more about the games a company makes than anything else, so maybe I could have worded it differently. Sure, it's possible he's a pretty bad guy, but if he keeps making games I love, then I'll keep playing them. Heavy Rain was one of the most unique experiences I had on the PS3, and Detroit: Become Human was one of my favorite gaming experiences of the last couple of years when I finally played it late last year. Beyond: Two Souls was fine, but clearly in third place for me. I've never played Indigo Prophecy.
@KilloWertz
Well I don’t know the man but I don’t take all the tabloids gossips at face value.
That’s how you can easily be caught into a mob mentality.
It’s either that or they go on about idiotic bashing of supposedly ham fisted story telling yadi Yada. Not interested in speculation.
Happy gaming.
I loved his games.
All the stupid crap in the press I’ve read about his games is proof enough to me that a lot of bs is going on to try bash him at any cost.
@JJ2 That's fair. Like I said, I probably should have worded it better, and in the end I care more about the games than what he might be like in his own life otherwise.
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