PlayStation London Studio, the developer of Blood & Truth and The Getaway, has today announced it's making an online co-op game set in a fantasy-based version of London, England. While the project does not have an official name yet, the concept art above should give you an idea of what to expect. In a change of direction for the developer, the game won't utilise any peripherals or gimmicks; this is an out-and-out PS5 game built on the team's Soho Engine.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, co-studio head Stuart Whyte revealed the team wanted to explore new avenues and tackle other challenges. "We definitely wanted to try something a little bit different, and I think this new project really channels our 'brave' value and allows us to push ourselves on the 'curious' front, too. It's an exciting future, it really is."
While the project is a more traditional PS5 title, PS London Studio will still try to innovate. "If you look at our heritage and the titles we've done, there are a lot of firsts in there. And that will continue." Sony is planning to put out 10 live service games between now and 2026, with London Studio's co-op undertaking being one of them. By 2025, Sony estimates more than half of its overall investment into PlayStation will be by way of live-service experiences.
The striking art style of PS London Studio's game may prove popular in the Games as a Service space, which came about after months of planning and idea sharing. "Our overarching theme is about bringing fantastical and magical elements and intersecting that with familiar worlds, and you don't get much more familiar to us than London." Some other live-service titles Sony has in the works are The Last of Us Multiplayer and a rumoured Twisted Metal project.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 43
RIP any hope for a new The Getaway
Don't think I would play, but it's nice seeing London given a chance to make a AAA game.
I am not looking forward to this ‚amazing‘ live-service future of PlayStation.
That is great for people who like that, not me.
Ignoring the haters, this seems like a cool idea and look forward to playing it. Nice to see playstation branching out and trying new ideas, they get bashed constantly for only making realistic looking third party blockbusters but now they are doing something new in terms of genre and art style and they still get bashed? Pathetic
Can't wait to learn and see more of this game.
I hate this 50% live service for playstation.People tell me wait till you've played them but I've not really enjoyed any live service games yet.I like single player story driven,survival,arpgs and jrpgs.I see my future being somewhere other than playstation if this is the furure
I must admit, I dig that bit of concept art.
@ROTTIEMAN16 "I see my future being somewhere other than playstation if this is the furure"
Where's that then, as xbox is full of live service games as well....
This is the future for both playstation and xbox as they bring in a lot more money than single player games and keep players engaged into the game for longer. Having a mix of single player and live service games is the way to go and xbox realised that ages ago.
Maybe Nintendo is for you.
@RBMango I was Just about to say the same thing, not a huge online gamer but never say never, If the right game comes along!
Not much to go on yet and generally I don't play co-op only games (Mostly because it's just difficult to get enough friends together to play on a regular basis) but I actually like the look of it from the concept art. Looks like co-op Infamous with a dragon. Could be cool.
Concept art is super cool. Very interested to learn more about this.
Weird way to announce this. It seems like the rumor of Sonys for October planned showcase being delayed is getting realler almost daily now.
Oh btw it fits to the leaked docoument that it's the PS5/PC Gaas called Camden. Wonder if the rest of the leaks are true too then.
@IonMagi i know right. Id even just take them being added to the classics on premium.
Have to say im disappointed by this news. Not just because another dev that makes great single player games has gone live service but its gone to fantasy london. Sorry but i really want another game about london gangs and was hoping this studio was making one
Looks cool.
Screw everyone who is selfish and thinks everything should be single player.
I just checked their Homepage ( a really nice one btw). Their latest game was Blood and Truth in 2019. Been almost 4 years. This game hopefully comes out soon.
@UltimateOtaku91 I'm already a big Nintendo player but I've loved playstation since day one,they've always innovated and I really like that.Just don't like 'this' innovation its just not for me.I love vr so ill still have a foot in playstation with psvr2 which I'm really excited about
@CapGod or that everything needs to cater to them.
London Studio has earned the right to try something new. Im not sold on the concept art personally but interested to learn more
The way people on this website react to every multilayer game makes me think no one here has any friends 😎
The art looks awesome, but this will probably be another "Fortnite-looking" co-op game with a battlepass. Hard pass for me.
The main issue, to me, nowadays with GaaS/Live Service titles is how much they demand of the player. Every damn game has daily and weekly needs. It's exhausting. Playing games ends up feeling like a list of chores.
Sony should leverage their platform and make their Live Service titles interact. Make completing quests in one count as similar quests (or partial completion thereof) in their other titles. Make me want to play within the PlayStation ecosystem of Live Service games by benefiting from my investment cross-title and make me feel like my commitment to the overarching studio(s) is being respected and rewarded.
I LOVE playing Apex Legends. LOVE playing Rainbow Six Siege. LOVE playing Division 2. LOVE playing Fortnite. And I've loved playing a bunch of other LS or GaaS titles over time. But I only have so many hours in my day, ya know? Give me a bunch of fun games and have them reward me for playing any of them and I'd be more inclined to dip in and out of each of them. Instead, only 1 (maybe 2) at a time gets my time, attention, and (most importantly) money.
Imagine being in the PlayStation GaaS ecosystem (or metaverse, if you will) and being actively encouraged to swap your game time between whatever Bungie does, whatever this becomes, the new TLOU multiplayer game, the next Twisted Metal, and whatever else they launch. It'd be AWESOME.
They could bring back PlayStation Home and make it a literal hub/jump off point to get into any and every GaaS they link to it. It'd be bonkers cool.
no more "live service coop" ***** please
@UltimateOtaku91 Haters are more active here than fans, unfortunately. Just ignore them. While I respect different people's tastes, it is funny to see those haters always moaning with pathetic excuses in every article. Does not help this site (unlike its sister website) ignite the flame with some articles as, obviously, those kinds of articles attract more engagement. But in the long run, that may turn away some of the fans, like on Facebook (especially posts related to vaccines or some sensitive political topics), it is mostly those bots/ paid trolls who comment and in the end, they are the only ones left.
This is definitely a Getaway prequel!
@JAMes-BroWWWn Not really, Sony wouldn't announce a game with just concept art. This was more of a studio interview.
@MFTWrecks That's a really good idea, especially if a lot of these games are F2P. I don't know the logistics of it (maybe an account linking system perhaps)?
I think Sony has an opportunity here to make live service games that respect both player's time and money. If they can reach the kind of quality standards that their SP games do then they will be laughing.
Looks horrible from that screen shot. More games trying to mimic the Fortnite art style and now its infected Sonys games. Can't wait watch most of these live service games fail.
EDIT: @JAMes-BroWWWn I was thinking tge same thing. It's like Sony canceled their showcase and this game was going to be shown and London Studio just announced it anyways. Could be wrong, but feels that way.
@MFTWrecks while I agree with your statement about these live service games and the level of commitment they require. I wouldn't expect that kind of innovation from this Jim Ryan lead Sony. You've got a cool idea but even reading your comment made me feel exhausted, lol. Thats my main issue with these type of games. You have to be committed from day one or feel behind if you jump on a few years down the road. This space is already so over crowded and we are seeing more and more of these games fail because of it and people only having so many hours to play in a week. That's why single player games will always make reliable money not live service Fortnite/GTA5 money, but you also don't run the risk of your title completely bombing because your audience dies off after a few months and goes back the plethora of live service games that have already been around for years.
So, this past week...finally a reveal on London Studios long rumored online project, a detailed trailer for PS5 exclusive FF16, a surprise trailer reveal for PS5 (timed) exclusive Silent Hill 2 remake, a lengthy gameplay trailer for RE4 remake (that sony has an exclusive marketing deal with, and subtly hosted the showcase itself), today also a GoW Ragnarok launch trailer..look at the facts and tell me, why did Push Square dimiss the cancelled PS showcase rumor as ridiculous garbage?
@ThorsHammer I even dismissed it too, but clearly there's truth to it. So many announcements and trailers around the same week. But maybe the reasoning to why it was cancelled was rubbish. I just didn't agree with it being solely due to the Xbox investigation and not wanting PS to seem like its heavy on exclusives. Who knows though
Live service? I'm out
@CapGod I'm pretty sure most of the frustration is not about multiplayer as a whole but rather specifically the live service model.
There used to be a time when multiplayer games were all about fun but that's not the case anymore. Nowadays with live service having taken over everything's all about complete the limited time battle pass in "x" days alongside other FOMO methods, challenge systems affect the gameplay itself (e.g. instead of trying to win the match, players will try to get kills with a very weak weapon because that's the challenge given to them which progresses the battle pass) and microtransactions are everywhere to take advantage of players.
@JAMes-BroWWWn
Applications for their Player One internship closed last week, with the successful applicants starting work on this project in January. It’s possible there will be a slow drip-feed of announcements around then?
@Grumblevolcano
Yeah I know, I got that with multiversus. Felt forced to play it. I might drop the whole battle pass thing altogether. It's not fun. Unless there is not time limit to complete it. I love the game, will still play, but when I want to.
Both interested and excited because the studio is getting a big chance here. Im kinda bummed at the same time because it's a GAAS lol.
@ThorsHammer 1. Sony don't announce games with just concept art so it wouldn't be part of any showcase anyway.
2. Both Silent Hill and Resident Evil had there own showcases with multiple products revealed, that's something you can't put together last minute.
3. God of War has it's own marketing campaign so it didn't need to be part of any showcase to begin with.
The only title that holds any weight is FFXVI but even then it's just one game and since Sony have recently done SoPs with exclusives, the rumour didn't hold much weight.
Microsoft literally buying up big publishers with a lot of gaas titles and take them off PlayStation. You guys expect Sony to just make single player games when they losing big gaas titles like cod some you here are just silly.
Pity. Not for me unfortunately.
@theMEGAniggle i agree with you too that it wasnt the sole reason, just thought it was odd they had such determined kneejerk reaction that there was zero truth to it, espcially when theyve reported on thinner rumors with a neutral or even hopeful tone..guess everyone is getting tired of 'leaker' culture.
I guess we'll never get a reboot of the getaway :/
@AdamNovice i get your stance but disagree for a few reasons, heres why:
1. Who says they wouldve revealed it with a screen cap during a State of Play? Sony have revealed games with just animated titles (e.g GoW Ragnarok) or brief cinematics (e.g Wolverine) so its not reason to dismiss it wouldnt have been shown in some minimal format. This game has been speculated for a while, why reveal it randomly this week? Maybe London was tired of being secrative and negotiated to at least reveal it at some level. We're both speculating, but you got to admit its a little strange...
2. Just because SH and RE had their own showcases is not grounds to write this off either. In fact, its pretty common a game gets its big reveal at a publisher event, then gets a more detailed follow up. Just off the top of my head, the RE4 remake breifly revealed itself in a teaser at a State of Play, then had a more detailed trailer (with gameplay) at a Capcom showcase a week later. Not sure why that couldn't have been the case with SH2 reveal here. Also the fact that the RE showcase had the opening animations of a State of Play plus Sony quietly involved in the presentation, but then no ps blog post or mention of it, seems pretty odd, and leans that there was some linkage at some point.
3. Since when does Ragnarok solely have its own marketing campaign? Its appeared at 3 sony showcases, not to mention was revealed at one.
Lastly, Sony have held plenty of SoP with non-exclusive stuff. Once again, RE 4 remake was revealed at the 2nd to last one and thats third party, before that they held one strictly around Hogwarts Legacy, and thats coming to Switch and Xbox too. Heck, the very last SoP revealed Yakuza Ishin! remake, which is also third party.
Dont misunderstand me, im not saying a cancelled showcase can be fully attributed to the Acti-Blizz buyout, however, personally find it weird to completly call it garbage...theres too much coincidence here. To each there own...
@ThorsHammer yeah it is strange that they dismissed it so quickly, to be fair I kind of did too. I'm sure we'll see an article about it soon though
And yeah I think all the evidence points towards there being a showcase but getting scrapped. The Resident Evil showcase even had the State of Play visuals and everything
@Max_the_German Go Microsoft lol. It is even worse there. Whole idea of Game Pass is exactly even worse.
Live-service/GAAS elements aside, excited to learn more about this fantasy game that would take place in London.
Can't wait to see all these PS live service games fail miserably like Destruction AllStars.
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