Sony has built a blockbuster reputation for the PlayStation brand by releasing AAA games of consistently high quality, such as God of War, Uncharted, and Horizon Zero Dawn. The development teams that created these - Santa Monica Studio, Naughty Dog, and Guerrilla Games - are held in high esteem, with their upcoming releases always greatly anticipated. All of these franchises and studios had to start somewhere, though, and that's what makes Sony's current approach to PlayStation 5 development so concerning.
Sony appears to be working on a service that will compete with Xbox Game Pass, but development goals for first-party PS5 games seem to be almost singularly focused on delivering surefire AAA blockbusters. More sequels and spin-offs don't sound like a bad thing, but an entire generation of Sony riding its own coattails doesn't sound particularly enticing.
Worries on the subject arose thanks to a recent report from Bloomberg that outlines a few strange situations involving Sony's project management. In one, a small internal team hoping to remake The Last of Us had the project taken away and placed under the ownership of Naughty Dog. Meanwhile, Sony Bend was denied the opportunity to create a sequel to Days Gone. Instead, the studio was split into different teams to support Naughty Dog projects. Fearing absorption into Naughty Dog, Sony Bend sought and ultimately received permission to work on a new, non-Days Gone game of its own.
Sony Should Continue To Take Risks With PlayStation Games
The news that Bend was ultimately allowed to work on its own project is at least somewhat promising, but hearing Sony has assigned a The Last of Us remake to Naughty Dog and effectively taken it out of the hands of its progenitors is alarming. One would think Sony would want to promote the initiative of a smaller team looking to establish itself; after all, it might start with a remake of an already beloved game, but it could eventually turn out the next big PlayStation hit.
Sony didn't get its reputation by limiting developers to what it knows they're good at. Many critically and commercially successful PlayStation franchises have stemmed from letting studios take risks. Naughty Dog itself was known for 3D platformers Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter before the first Uncharted shifted the studio towards its reputation for cinematic, action-adventure games. Similarly, Guerrilla Games was most closely associated with the Killzone first-person shooter franchise. Guerrilla's first foray into open-world action RPGs with Horizon Zero Dawn was a surprising success, and now the sequel is one of the most anticipated upcoming PlayStation exclusives.
There's little doubt studios under the umbrella of SIE Worldwide Studios are constantly thinking up new IPs, and Sony will likely capitalize on some of these new ideas. But word of the The Last of Us remake being taken from a group of proactive developers and of Sony Bend not getting a chance to take another crack at Days Gone brings up the question of whether or not Sony is playing it too safe in the PlayStation 5 generation.