Horizon Zero Dawn PS4 PlayStation 4 1

There’s talk of the traditional single player campaign dying out, and looking at E3 2017 there was certainly some evidence of that. Ubisoft’s press conference was filled wall-to-wall with service-based experiences – and not even the long-awaited Beyond Good & Evil 2 could escape the model’s grasp. Sony, however, is one of the few publishers still going big on story, and PlayStation executive Shawn Layden believes it’s in the company’s DNA.

“My philosophy is to play to my strengths,” he told the Telegraph. “And if you look at the studios we have – Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Santa Monica Studio, Japan Studio – that’s what we do well. We do story. We create characters.”

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He continued: “Those are the kind of things we do well. It’s what we’re known for. It really speaks to our entertainment DNA. We wish to entertain. We wish to make you happy. We wish to make you cry. That whole range of emotions we can pluck at to make you have a great experience. We’re big on character. We’re big on story.”

Of course, that’s just one way of looking at Sony’s first-party portfolio, which is much more varied than some people give it credit. The company’s in the service business with games like MLB The Show 17 and Gran Turismo Sport, and it’s also creating more casual games like Everybody’s Golf and Knack 2. And then there’s all of the PlayStation VR stuff like The Inpatient and Bravo Team, as well new initiatives like PlayLink.

That said, while PlayStation does tick a helluva lot of boxes, it’s those big story-driven games that define its output. And with the rest of the industry moving towards a different type of experience, it’s good to see Sony deliver some variety on its platform by sticking to its roots.

[source telegraph.co.uk]