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Rabu, 27 Januari 2021

Here's everything PlayStation's Sony Worldwide Studios is working on

Sony's veritable army of developers are working on a new slate of games for the PS5.

The PlayStation 4 generation was an interesting one for Sony Worldwide Studios. It saw internal teams double down on blockbuster, cinematic games while also retaining experimentation from the smaller groups. U.K. developers at Evolution Studios, Guerrilla Cambridge and Manchester Studio were shut down, while Insomniac Games — longtime associate and partner of PlayStation — was finally acquired.

With a new generation comes new games. This is a list of everything we know Sony Worldwide Studios is currently working on, or are at least fairly certain to be developing for the PS5.

Current Sony studios

Recently closed Sony studios

PlayStation Studios Everything we know Sony Worldwide Studios is working on

While officially known as Sony Worldwide Studios, Sony revealed the PlayStation Studios brand on May 12, 2020. This brand is meant to indicate that a game is being developed with Sony's aid as an exclusive title, providing distinction from timed exclusive deals. The intro video above plays for any PlayStation Studios titles on PS4, PS5 or PC. It can also be customized depending on the specific game.

PlayStation Studios How many are there?

Currently, Sony Interactive Entertainment consists of 13 game development studios, with a couple of additional support studios. There's also another team listed here for completion but they do not actively develop console games for PS4 or PS5.

PlayStation Studios vs Xbox Studios

For years, Sony Worldwide Studios was considered larger and more prestige than Xbox Game Studios. That has changed with several major acquisitions Microsoft has made from 2018 through 2020, with the purchase of Bethesda Softworks bringing Microsoft to a total of 23 Xbox studios. Here's the current standings.

Sony Worldwide Studios:

  • SIE Bend Studio
  • Guerrilla Games
  • Insomniac Games
  • SIE Japan Studio
  • SIE London Studio
  • Media Molecule
  • Naughty Dog
  • PixelOpus
  • Polyphony Digital
  • PlayStation Malaysia - Support Only
  • SIE San Diego Studio
  • SIE San Mateo Studio - Support Only
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio
  • Sucker Punch Productions
  • SIE xDev Europe

Xbox Studios:

  • 343 Industries
  • Alpha Dog Games
  • Arkane Studios
  • Bethesda Game Studios
  • Compulsion Games
  • Double Fine Productions
  • id Software
  • inXile Entertainment
  • MachineGames
  • Mojang Studios
  • Ninja Theory
  • Obsidian Entertainment
  • Playground Games
  • Rare
  • Roundhouse Studios
  • Tango Gameworks
  • The Coalition
  • The Initiative
  • Turn 10 Studios
  • Undead Labs
  • World's Edge
  • Xbox Game Studios Publishing
  • ZeniMax Online Studios

What is SIE Bend Studio working on?

SIE Bend Studio is located in Bend, Oregon. Acquired by Sony in 2000, the studio has worked on games like the Syphon Filter series, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and Days Gone. Over the course of several years developing Days Gone, Bend Studio has grown to over 130 developers.

In April 2019, Bend Studio shipped Days Gone, a game about bikers surviving the apocalypse while hordes of mutants called Freakers roam the highways. While Days Gone wasn't a hit with critics, it did sell well, staying in the top 10 games sold in North America for several months per NPD charts. Given this success, it's extremely likely that Bend is now working on a follow-up, though it will probably be some time before we see an announcement.

One of the game directors, Jeff Ross, has told fans to "stay tuned" and wait for more information. He has since departed Bend Studio alongside John Garvin, another director on the game. We're waiting to find out what this team is doing next, Days Gone 2 or otherwise.

What is ForwardWorks working on?

ForwardWorks, established by Sony in 2016, develops mobile games in Japan. Some of these draw on PlayStation games, like Everybody's Golf.

Unless something changes, it's unlikely ForwardWorks will be developing any games that hit PS5, or will even be available in countries outside of Asia. We're mainly listing them here for the sake of total completion.

What is Guerrilla Games working on?

Guerrilla Games, based in Amsterdam and acquired by Sony in 2005, has been responsible for the development of the Killzone games and Horizon Zero Dawn. Guerrilla also maintains and improves the Decima engine and has grown to over 300 staff.

Horizon Zero Dawn released in February 2017, with The Frozen Wilds expansion coming a few months later. Horizon Zero Dawn was well-received critically and has sold over 10 million copies (and we called it one of our games of the decade). Job listings indicated that work is taking place on another project in that game's universe. Meanwhile, new reports indicate Horizon Zero Dawn is now planned as a trilogy. Combined with the success Horizon Zero Dawn has seen, a PlayStation 5 sequel was overwhelmingly likely.

These rumors have been confirmed with the announcement of Horizon Forbidden West, a PS5-exclusive sequel.

Before that sequel arrives however, PC players to get to try Horizon Zero Dawn, which was published by Sony on Steam in Summer 2020. In 2019, Guerrilla also hired Simon Larouche, who previously directed Rainbow Six Siege. At the time, Guerrilla also had job listings asking for multiplayer experience. The studio could be working on a new Killzone game, or another multiplayer shooter in addition to the Horizon Zero Dawn series.

What is Insomniac Games working on?

With a main office in Burbank, Calif. and a satellite studio in Durham, N.C., Insomniac Games has worked with Sony for over two decades on many classic games like Spyro, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance and as of late, Marvel's Spider-Man. It was finally acquired in Aug. 2019.

Marvel's Spider-Man is, quite frankly, one of the most successful PlayStation exclusives of all time, having sold over 13 million copies since release in Sept. 2018.

Insomniac unveiled not one but two PS5 projects in 2020: Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. The former was a PS5 launch title (though it's also coming to PS4) while the latter was described as a PS5 launch window game, though it still doesn't have a release date.

What is SIE Japan Studio working on?

Founded in 1993 by Sony in Tokyo, this studio, which is composed of several different teams, has worked on myriad titles in multiple genres. One major success story was this studio's collaboration with FromSoftware on Bloodborne. As of late, Japan Studio released Astro Bot Rescue Mission on PlayStation VR in 2018 to critical acclaim. Another team released Everybody's Golf VR in 2019.

While we really don't know what the different groups at this studio are up to, it's likely that it will be one of the internal studios continuing to provide PlayStation VR owners with new games. With Knack launching alongside the PlayStation 4 and Knack 2 arriving in 2017, Knack 3...hasn't been announced.

More games have though! Japan Studio is collaborating with Bluepoint Games on a remake of Demon's Souls for the PS5. The team has also used the character from Astro Bot Rescue Mission to develop Astro's Playroom. This platformer serves as a great way to test the DualSense controller and comes pre-installed on every PS5. Several veteran employees of the team have left to start their own independent studio, including Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama.

What is SIE London Studio working on?

London Studio, founded in 2002 after merging the remaining teams at Team Soho and Camden Studio, works on a variety of technology and games. The team has more recently pioneered tech for PlayStation VR, releasing some experiences in PlayStation VR Worlds. This tech was put to further use in 2019's shooter Blood & Truth, while a change of pace brought Erica to PlayStation 4 later in the year.

Having recently released a game, we shouldn't look for London Studio to make any announcements soon. Whenever the studio does pipe up again, it'll likely be with a new PlayStation VR title.

What is Media Molecule working on?

In Guildford, U.K. sits small creator Media Molecule. This studio has worked on the LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway games, and was purchased in 2010 after years of collaboration with Sony. More recently, the team worked on Dreams. It's one of the smaller studios within Sony Worldwide Studios, with around 60 developers.

After several years of development, the ambitious Dreams has finally released as of Feb. 14, 2020. Dreams is essentially a game engine turned into a game, allowing players to create whatever worlds or games they wish and share them with other players.

With Dreams finally completed after seven years of development, don't expect Media Molecule to announce anything else anytime soon. For now, the studio is committed to post-launch support for Dreams.

What is Naughty Dog working on?

Naughty Dog, which was bought by Sony in 2001 with headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif., has a long history in the video game industry. It was responsible for the Crash Bandicoot series, Jak and Daxter, the Uncharted games, and of course, The Last of Us. Naughty Dog is viewed by many PlayStation fans and the gaming industry at large as one of the most premier studios in existence, with a focus on cinematic storytelling, charismatic characters, and strong art direction.

Naughty Dog is now likely resting a bit after finishing development on The Last of Us Part II, which was set to release on May 29, 2020 but was then delayed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It released back on June 19, 2020. This is described as the largest game the studio has ever worked on, having been in development for six years. Despite initially planning to ship the game with the Factions multiplayer the first title had, Naughty Dog has confirmed that The Last of Us Part II will be a single-player-only game. With that said, Naughty Dog is also planning to revisit Factions at some point.

Naughty Dog also houses the ICE team at Sony (Initiative for a Common Engine), which works to provide custom technology to different Sony studios.

There are also rumors that PlayStation is expanding Naughty Dog with a satellite studio or additional team to resume work on the Uncharted franchise under Naughty Dog veteran Quentin Cobb. At this time however, these are just rumors and Cobb has departed to work at ZeniMax Online Studios.

What is PixelOpus working on?

PixelOpus, which is an extremely small studio that was created mainly by students and first-timers at San Mateo in 2014, released Entwined in 2015 and, more recently, Concrete Genie in 2019. The latter game was overall seen by critics as a step forward from Entwined, despite only a little over a dozen developers working on the game.

We don't know what PixelOpus' next project is but it will likely retain the artistic style found in both the studio's games so far.

What is Polyphony Digital working on?

Founded by Sony in 1998, Polyphony Digital has over 130 staff across four different studios in Amsterdam, Fukuoka, Japan, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. Polyphony is most well-known for the Gran Turismo series, the most recent of which is GT Sport, which launched in 2017 and has received a steady clip of updates ever since.

Polyphony Digital has announced Gran Turismo 7 for the PS5, though there's no release date right now. In the past, Polyphony operated on a 3-4-year cycle, so we could even see the next Gran Turismo game in 2021.

What is SIE San Diego Studio working on?

The "MLB studio," as it is now known, was founded by Sony in 2001 in San Diego, Calif. While Sony San Diego has developed or collaborated on a handful of other games, such The Mark of Kri, High Velocity Bowling, LittleBigPlanet Karting, and Drawn to Death, it's best known for the yearly MLB series of licensed baseball games.

MLB The Show 20 was announced and is currently scheduled to release on March 17, 2020. In an unprecedented move for a Sony studio, however, MLB The Show 20 will be the last exclusive game in the franchise. Late in 2019, the MLB organization announced that starting in 2021, the games will be developed and released on other console platforms, with Twitter posts from Xbox and Nintendo making it clear which platforms those were.

With this studio continuing to ship a yearly game and soon beginning to develop for platforms outside of PlayStation, we shouldn't expect them to do anything except continue to deliver MLB games.

What is SIE San Mateo Studio working on?

This studio, located in San Mateo, Calif. and formerly known as SIE Foster City, provides support to external developers (or second-party games) in the U.S. Past collaborations include support on the SOCOM series, the Resistance franchise, and Marvel's Spider-Man. This is part of the headquarters for PlayStation and includes a support team of animators and artists to help oversee development of different games.

What is SIE Santa Monica Studio working on?

Sony Santa Monica, which was founded by Sony in 1999 and based in Los Angeles (no, they aren't actually in Santa Monica, amusingly enough), has been "the God of War studio" for over the past decade. After having a new IP canceled a couple of years back, the studio released God of War (2018) to absolute critical acclaim, with the game going on to sell over 10 million copies a little over a year after release. In 2014, as a result of cancelling a new sci-fi IP, it laid off the production team that worked with other studios, such as Ready at Dawn on The Order 1886. Since rebounding with the development of God of War (2018) under Creative Director Cory Barlog, the studio now has over 200 staff.

With God of War's incredible sales and reception (as well as its cliffhanger ending), a sequel was all but guaranteed. On September 16, a new game was revealed. It doesn't have a title but this tentative God of War 2 is all about Ragnarok. It's currently scheduled to arrive in 2021.

Beyond God of War, there are rumors that Sony Santa Monica is also working on a new IP.

What is Sucker Punch Productions working on?

This studio, located in Bellevue, Wash., was purchased in 2011, making it Sony's most recent acquisition prior to Insomniac Games. Sucker Punch is responsible for the Sly Cooper games and the Infamous series. More recently, the studio's 200-something staff have been hard at work on Ghost of Tsushima.

This new IP was announced in 2017. Players take on the role of Jin, a samurai who has to embrace the ways of ninjas to survive the Mongol invasion of Tsushima island. Ghost of Tsushima originally had a tentative release window in Summer 2020. After being delayed out of June, it arrived on July 17. The team later released a free co-op add-on called Ghost of Tsushima: Legends.

What is SIE XDev Europe working on?

This team, based in Liverpool, U.K. and founded in 2000 by Sony, works with European studios on PlayStation titles. Occasionally, XDev Europe also supports internal European studios. It has assisted the development of games such as Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Tearaway, Until Dawn, Detroit: Become Human and Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Currently, the team is assisting Lucid Games and Wushu Studios with the development of Destruction AllStars.

Since XDev Europe is a support group, it's unlikely it is working on any fully internal games at the moment. When future collaborations with European developers are unveiled, XDev Europe will likely have a hand in things.

Manchester Studio

This studio in Manchester, U.K. was first established in early 2015 as North West Studio to work on PlayStation VR (then known as Project Morpheus) games. It was an odder addition to Sony's roster, as PlayStation was wobbly on even acknowledging its existence. The studio was not listed on the official website for Sony Worldwide Studios, while as far back as 2015, PlayStation spokespeople said the studio was in "early planning stages" and that more news would be coming soon.

There were a small handful of open positions as recent as 2020 that indicate Manchester Studio is still building a "small team." The job listings also re-confirmed that it was working on a VR title — or as it's worded, a "visually impressive" game "within the confines of VR." This team was working on some sort of major PlayStation VR game. Unfortunately, we'll never get to see it, as Sony closed Manchester Studio on February 4, 2020.

More blockbusters incoming for PlayStation 5

While there have been multiple leadership changes at the top of SIE near the end of the PlayStation 4's lifecycle, PlayStation owners shouldn't be too concerned about what is in the pipeline. Hermen Hulst, the new Head of Sony Worldwide Studios, has gone on record to say that "big, spectacular experiences" are a huge part of PlayStation and will still be coming in the future.

We'll be updating this as we learn more about the lineup moving ahead. Regardless of whether you decide to go for a PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition, there will be plenty of good games to grab in the future.

PlayStation 5

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