Key Takeaways
- Sony intends to release a major single-player title every fiscal year from 2025 onwards.
- The first game will be Ghost of Yōtei.
- Sony has cultivated an ecosystem of first-party studios, each with their own IPs.
Over the past decade, Sony has cultivated an ecosystem of first-party studios, each with its own respective major single-player series. These studios include Naughty Dog (The Last of Us), Guerrilla (Horizon), Sucker Punch (Ghost of…), Insomniac (Spider-Man), Sony Santa Monica (God of War), among others. This is an intentional strategy and, according to Sony Interactive Entertainment chairman Hiroki Totoki, the publisher is going to be ramping up its efforts in the years ahead.
During Sony’s financial results presentation today, Totoki outlined the future strategy for PlayStation’s exclusive games (nice spot, Gematsu). “Starting with Ghost of Yōtei, which is a sequel to the smash-hit Ghost of Tsushima, we plan to continue releasing major single-player game titles every year from the next fiscal year onwards,” Totoki revealed.
Sony Intends To Release A Major Game Annually
This isn’t really a departure from Sony, as the publisher has generally released a major single-player title annually. 2020 had Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, 2021 saw the release of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, 2022 had both Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarok and 2023 had Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. This year hasn’t had a first-party major release but Sony did publish Until Dawn (2024), Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade.
It’s unclear if Totoki is specifically referring to studios which are wholly owned by Sony, or all games published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. For example, Kojima Productions is releasing Death Stranding 2: On the Beach next year, and the game is published by Sony, but Kojima Productions is an independent studio. Totoki refers to Ghost of Yōtei but not Death Stranding 2 in his quote, so perhaps he’s referring to only the company’s first-party studios.
It should be noted that fiscal years generally begin and end in April, rather than matching the calendar year. This means that while Sony may not have a major single-player game every calendar year, the publisher intends to have one every April to April period. However, since games tend to be released before the holiday season, this may end up being a non-point.
Ghost of Yōtei casts you in the role of “The Ghost” Atsu in the region of Hokkaido in 1603, with Sucker Punch promising more player agency in shaping the narrative, compared to Ghost of Tsushima.
The sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yōtei is a PS5 exclusive scheduled to drop at some point in 2025. Taking place in 1603, the story will feature a new protagonist and a new Japanese region that is far removed from Tsushima’s setting.