Sony believes that Sucker Punch Productions is an excellent example of organic growth among its first-party development studios. The company has emphasized the importance of nurturing studios on several occasions, and has argued against going on “massive spending sprees” à la Microsoft.
This isn’t to say that Sony is against mergers and acquisitions. Sucker Punch itself was an acquisition. However, under Sony’s wing, the studio has reached new heights of success.
Speaking to GQ Magazine UK, Ryan said that Ghost of Tsushima surpassed Sony’s expectations and Sucker Punch has now joined “the top tier of our world class studios.”
Lately I find myself really thrilled with the way Ghost Of Tsushima has outperformed everybody’s expectations. The team at Sucker Punch did Infamous: Second Son at the start of the generation and then they kind of did a little bit of internal R&D with this concept of a West Coast US studio making a game about medieval Japan.
We were a little bit sceptical about it when there were Japanese developers who’ve done that in the past, but they hung on in there and the game has catapulted them into the top tier of our world class studios. As a poster child for the organic growth in our studios over the course of this generation it’s probably the best example we have.
It was recently revealed that Ghost of Tsushima surpassed five million copies sold within the first few months of release. The game earned seven nominations for the 2020 Game Awards.
[Source: GQ]