If there's one undeniable thing that Sony's got right this generation, it's the PlayStation 4's first party output. Games like Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and God of War have absolutely blown us away, and even titles like Days Gone and Detroit: Become Human, which weren't quite as well received critically, have brought the company notable commercial success. The Japanese giant has barely put a foot wrong on this front since the PS4 launched back in 2013.
And Sony knows how important these primarily single player, story-driven games are to its audience. Speaking to CNET, Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan talked about how these experiences have become such a key component of PlayStation's identity this generation.
"We've never had greater success with our own narrative-driven, story-based games than we're having right now," Ryan said. "We feel good about that, and it's certainly not a genre of gaming we'll ever walk away from," he continued.
It's a strong quote that's bound to have some fans breathing a sigh of relief. Obviously games like the ones that we've mentioned above have been hugely successful for Sony, but when you've got multiplayer-focused live titles such as Fortnite raking in so much money on a constant basis, publishers are always going to be thinking about whether they can have a slice of that pie. Fortunately, it sounds like Sony is more than happy with its current approach to making PlayStation exclusive games.
Are you happy to hear Ryan speak so highly of Sony's single player output? Give him a cheer in the comments section below.
[source cnet.com, via gamespot.com]
Comments 19
They've found incredible success with their brand. Not sure why they would even need to speak to this.
And I'll never stop buying them 👍
Good, thats why I like sony games
"We'll never stop making third person, over the shoulder plot focused action games." Not saying it isn't working for them, but there's a definite pattern
I Wish they would bring back Some of their Jrpgs and Platformers like Jak And Daxter And Legend of Dragoon
single player games are the best .playstation is the g.o.a.t .word up son
@Broosh
I certainly hope so
Bravo, Sony. Now make some sci-fi games.
@ApostateMage Thats Is Pretty Much Guerrilla Games Specialty Killzone is Milltary Sci Fi and Horizon is Post Apocalyptic Sci Fi
@ApostateMage I'm hoping a part of Naughty Dog is working on a sci-fi game for the PS5 while the rest finish up TLOU 2. There is definitely a gap in the market after the death of Mass Effect.
Well then I'll never stop being a Playstation gamer then, a very high percentage of the games I play are single player and story driven, with the vast majority being Playstation exclusives. For the longest time (since the 80's) Nintendo always had the best exclusives overall for me in each generation but with PS4 Sony, with a little help from Sega and Atlus has blown everyone else out of the water in this regard. I could easily do a top 10 this gen with just PS4 exclusives and that's not including VR goodies such as Astro Bot and Blood & Truth
To me that is stating the obvious!! All of their devs have made Story based single player experiences - even if they have a MP component like Killzone and Uncharted have.
The main change as I see it has been the multi-platform releases in general and companies like EA and Activision in particular dropping game development in favour of monetising their 'biggest' titles with added micro-transactions to maximise profit. Ubisoft have continued to make a lot of games a year. You also have the Battle Royale template that devs/publishers have all tried to jump in on.
Its left a big gap in the market for Single Player Story Driven games and Sony have capitalised on this - almost by doing the same as they have done for years whilst the majority of others changing direction towards online focussed games - that has impacted on 'story' for the sake of replayability and co-operative game-play. I know 'stories' can be replayed but if you want replayability over and over again, the mission structure and cut-scene dialogue has to be catered to.
It seems that most publishers would be happy to make games that don't have a 'great' story, a critically acclaimed game in favour of having a game that can continuously generate money. The story can be weak, lacklustre as long as people stick around and buy micro-transactional content.
Hopefully, next generation can deliver more challenge to Sony on the Story driven Single player experiences. Not only to push Sony's developers to create bigger and better games (not they are bad now of course) but also to give me more high quality games that I love to play...
Sony’s talent isn’t just in creating single player, story driven games, it’s in creating characters within those games that you can invest in. The only exception that comes to mind is Delsin Rowe. As much as I enjoyed Second Son, Delsin Rowe was a bit of an arse.
@Areus Touché. Horizon's story was fantastically told.
@ApostateMage Thats also why i wanted to See them Try and make a Game Like Dead Space in the future
@BearsEatBeets I would absolutely love Naughty Dog to try their hand at a deep space themed sci-fi action RPG game. I can see it now, Drake In Space.
Good! So it should be. And we will never leave Playstation.
The way things seem to be heading, in a few years they might be the only ones offering such games. Everyone else seems to be switching to online/GaaS or bloody mobile.
@Paranoimia if they are they will have a loyal following! I hate the GaaS rubbish and multiplayer. At least Sony have a great strategy and they know single player story driven experiences still sell millions.
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