There’s been some concern that Sony might be moving away from single-player games toward live service multiplayer titles, but PlayStation studios chief Hermen Hulst insists that isn’t the case.
During an interview with Axios, Hulst spoke on PlayStation’s reputation for prestige story-driven titles and how the company isn’t typically known for multiplayer games like Fortnite or League Of Legends.
“We have a history and a reputation for building these incredible narrative-driven single-player games, such as The Last of Us and Horizon and the upcoming God of War Ragnarok,” Hulst said. “We’re also diversifying now. And we have stood up 12 projects in total in the live ops multiplayer space.”
Back in February, PlayStation announced plans to launch 10 live services titles over the next few years. An effort that Bungie, the Destiny 2 studio that Sony acquired for $3.6 billion, will help bring to fruition. When successful, persistent multiplayer games tend to make more money than single-player affairs — but that isn’t always the case.
“Some of our biggest titles in the single-player narrative-driven space are also our most profitable titles,” Hulst continues.
Despite the commitment to single-player, it seems PlayStation might turn some of its current franchises into live service games.
“We’re not excluding bringing some of our beloved existing franchises into live games,” Hulst says.
This statement lines up neatly with the rumored PS5 re-release of Horizon Zero Dawn that allegedly contains a multiplayer component.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
