With titles like God of War Laufey, Marvel’s Wolverine, and the enigmatic Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet on the horizon, the future looks bright for first-party single player games from Sony.
And while it’s not abandoning investment into live service entirely, it does feel like the platform holder is once again willing to acknowledge what it’s best at.
As part of a huge financial document, the firm said:
“Regarding Sony’s first-party game software, Sony aims to create a stable base of revenue through consistent, annual releases of single player games, which have traditionally been its core strength, while also building a portfolio of live service games.”
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While I don’t think the firm ever strayed massively from this, it did feel for a period like it was trying to shove live service down our throats. Now it seems more like it’s going to deliver those big single player hits it’s known for, while sprinkling some multiplayer games on the side.
I suppose some fans may not be happy to hear it’s targeting one big single player game per year, but I don’t think this rules out multiple titles releasing, it just wants to have at least one major blockbuster per annum.
I’d expect, for example, next year we’ll get both the aforementioned God of War Laufey and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. This year we’ve had Saros and Marvel’s Wolverine.
I may be in the minority, but I don’t want Sony to stop experimenting with multiplayer games – I’m personally really excited about the upcoming Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, for example.
I think it’s just a matter of approach: it needs to get the balance right and find suitable partners. Teaming up with Arc System Works for the aforementioned fighter is a match made in heaven, for example, and I doubt anyone’s going to complain about that.
Hopefully the company’s beginning to realise it needs a good mix of different things. I’m a little more optimistic it’s on the right path again now, after a little lull in the middle of the generation.
