It seems that Sony may have actually teased a new entry in the Killzone franchise during the PlayStation 5 UI reveal this week. The last Killzone game was Killzone: Shadowfall, which was a launch title for the PlayStation 4. Other than that, the only major development in the franchise recently wasn't a positive one, when Killzone Mercenary's online servers were taken down earlier this year.
Sony has revealed a lot of key details about the PlayStation 5 in the last couple of months. Since the next-gen console's release date is rapidly approaching, it seems that more and more is being revealed about the new console on an increasingly regular basis. Not only this, but a little more than a week ago, the first gameplay preview footage from the PlayStation 5 started coming out of Japan. This truly showed players what the PlayStation 5 was capable of, as players were given their first real and unscripted looks at games like Godfall and Astro's Playroom.
As PlayStation Lifestyle points out, the PlayStation 5 UI reveal may have teased a little more than viewers initially realized. Despite not releasing an entry in the Killzone franchise since 2013, Sony chose to use an image of a Helghast from the series as its user avatar in the UI reveal. On top of this, the account name that Sony chose was Scotty Kenzo, which could potentially be a reference to minor Killzone: Shadowfall character Kenzo Hakan. It's possible that this is just Sony making a reference to its long-dormant exclusive for its own sake, but Sony could also be dropping hints that it's working on a next installment in the franchise.
There is more to this that leads a little more credence to the theory that Sony has another Killzone game in the works. While developer Guerrilla Games has moved on from the Killzone to Horizon: Zero Dawn and its sequel, the studio does have a second team that has apparently been working on a shooter. This doesn't necessarily mean that Guerrilla is coming back to Killzone, but it would make a lot of sense.
Most likely, this is just Sony drawing attention to one of its older franchises with fun little Easter eggs and references for big fans of the series. At the same time, it is also a little strange to reference an older game when it could pull from much bigger titles like Ratchet and Clank that are actually confirmed to be coming to the next-generation console. Time will tell what Sony has planned for Killzone, but for now, it at least hasn't forgotten the franchise completely.
Source: PlayStation Lifestyle