What Are The 25 Games In Development At Sony Studios?

Last week leadership over at PlayStation sat down with Wired again this time assuring fans that everything is going to be fine. The social media communities have been critical of Sony as of late due to the closure of some smaller Japanese teams. As well as the airing of dirty laundry involving Sony Bend, Visual Arts, and Naughty Dog. One thing of note that did come from that interview was the head of Sony’s own development teams, Hermen Hulst, letting fans know over 25 games were in development internally at Sony Worldwide Studios.

Said out loud, it sounds like a lot. It also sounds like Sony has countless unknown games in development. So we wanted to lay out a collection of everything we know, everything we have heard, and everything we assume. Coming up with 25 games is more simple than it sounds.

What We Know About The 25 Games

Let’s start with everything we know, and work our way down to just random guesses, then see where we come up. We know about Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart. That comes out in three weeks but it still counts. We also know about Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, and God of War: Ragnarok. All of these have been officially announced.

Followed by that, we have the games we know about but have yet to be officially announced. The ugly airing of dirty laundry out of Sony Bend gives us The Last of Us Remake, an Unannounced Uncharted Game, The Last of Us 2 Multiplayer, and a new IP brewing at Sony Bend.

So between one Youtube interview with David Jaffe and Sony’s own announcements we have eight of the 25 games right off the bat. With a little digging, we are well on our way.

Substantiated Rumors

Let’s file all Twitter hints from employees, job postings, and Linkedin profile leaks as substantiated rumors. This list includes Dreams coming to PS5, Guerrilla Games hiring for a multiplayer game, Sony Santa Monica working on a new IP alongside God of War: Ragnarok. 

As well as Naughty Dog studio head, Neil Druckmann, publicly mulling over The Last of Us 3 or a new IP. With just some light job board and Twitter sleuthing, we are halfway there at 12 games. 

Of Course, That Is Happening

There are a number of games I have marked as “General Assumption.” Some of these games fall under the “of course this is happening” category. A perfect example would be MLB The Show 2022. Sony and the MLB agreed to a “multi-year extension” in 2019. The yearly franchise will continue until further notice.

Other games that I would file as no-brainers would be Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. As well as a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. It is fairly obvious that both of these titles are getting sequels. We could even get our first tease of Spider-Man 2 before the end of the year.

Then you have teams like Asobi, Pixelopus, London Studio, and Malaysia Studio. Of course, these teams are working on something. They are clearly not sitting around doing nothing. It is a safe bet that London Studio is working on a AAA PS VR2 game. Pixelopus and the new Malaysia Studio are both most likely working on new IPs. As the Malaysia team has no history, and no one is begging for a Concrete Genie 2 out of Pixelopus.

As for Team Asobi, that is where I believe the real fun is. Astro’s Playroom was a huge success, helping gamers understand the hardware of the PS5 while having fun revisiting the history of PlayStation. It was a fantastic platformer found in an unlikely place. 

I think Sony tries to re-create this with the new PSVR headset. I believe there will be a version or an adaptation of Astro’s Playroom baked into the new hardware as a way to get users acclimated. Look for them to develop this in conjunction with a new Astrobot Rescue Mission title. A big reason why Team Asobi has survived the exodus over at SIE Japan.

Wild Guesses

Now we are at a total of 20 games. All while using information that is readily available. It starts to make you think that maybe these 25 games in development are not as super-secret as it first sounds. Especially now that Sony is going to be developing games for two platforms going forward. 

So this is where we need to get a little nuts and start making wild guesses based on heuristics. For example, I am a firm believer that Sony is not going to charge $70 for a Last of Us Remake. I also do not like the idea of Sony charging $70 for The Last of Us 2’s upcoming multiplayer component. 

My wild guess is that Sony is going to charge $70 for a Last of Us Collection. Which would combine The Last of Us 2 upgraded for the PS5 in a collection with the two aforementioned titles. It would make sense as to why Sony has yet to put the 2020 Game of the Year on PS5. Brining us to 21.

When Sony acquired Insomniac Games in 2019, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Ratchet and Clank became a significant distraction from the multiple VR teams at Insomniac. So much so, that now you can not be entirely certain they still exist. Although if they do, they must be working on at least one AAA PS VR2 game. The VR team(s) there released four VR games in three years. 

Rounding Out The List

On the cusp of wild guesses would be the remains of Manchester Studio’s AAA PS VR2 game. Sony closed the studio in February of 2020 and the departing staff made it well known they were working on a “AAA VR” title. 

Sony cited job redundancy as a reason for closing the studio. With no mention of the future of their game, was Sony telling the truth? If so their game may have been moved to nearby neighbors at Media Molecule or London Studio. Both of which have significant VR experience.

Bringing the list to 25 could be Sony’s XDev studio. Under Hermen Hulst’s leadership, it is very likely he is counting their work towards the “more than 25 games” statement. The XDev Studio has been finished with their share of the work on Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Destruction AllStars, and Returnal for some time now. Opening the door for them to take on three more assist projects, with as many as five in total.