Get ready for a deluge of great PS5 games to come. PlayStation Studios currently has more than 25 PS5 games in active development, and almost half of them are new IP. PlayStation Studios head Herman Hulst confirmed this number in a new interview with Wired, looking back on the PS5’s first six months on market and what the future of the console holds.
The 25 games in development under PlayStation Studios include both first and second-party releases under the umbrella. Think Housemarque and Returnal, for example. Housemarque is an independent studio that released the PS5-exclusive Returnal as a PlayStation Studios title with the support of Sony.
“There’s an incredible amount of variety originating from different regions,” Hulst said. “Big, small, different genres.” A cursory glance at the upcoming slate of first-party PS5 games from PlayStation Studios includes Insomniac’s Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart next month, Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Forbidden West later this year, and Sony Santa Monica’s God of War sequel (which is increasingly looking like it will get pushed to next year).
But there’s also PlayStation Studios’ partnerships with other studios to consider. Jade Raymond’s new Haven development team is working on a new IP for PlayStation. Firewalk is hard at work on a new multiplayer game exclusively for Sony’s platform, staffed by devs who have worked on Destiny, Call of Duty, and Mass Effect. Ember Lab is bringing Kena: Bridge of Spirits to PlayStation consoles with the help of PlayStation Studios. While not all are PS5-exclusive (some like Horizon and Kena will also release on PS4), the development teams are still making sure that the next-gen console versions take unique advantage of the PS5’s capabilities and features, whether its exclusive or not.
And that’s just a fraction of the “more than 25 games” that are in active development for the PS5. Many are yet unannounced. We still have to wonder what studios like Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, and Bend Studio are working on right now. What has Asobi Team been up to since bringing Astro’s Playroom to every PS5 console? Bluepoint? And what other second-party partnerships is Sony courting under the PlayStation Studios umbrella to bring diverse and engaging experiences to the PS5?
Some of these title may not be released or even revealed for years yet; Active development could mean virtually anywhere within the development process. And with “nearly half” being new IP, that also means that a significant portion of the games in development are either sequels, remakes, or in some other way associated with existing franchises. At this point we can’t do much more than speculate, but we can rest assured that the future of PlayStation exclusives is bright for everyone, whether you want something brand new or a return to existing series you know and love.