Fans may have noticed that original PlayStation titles or intellectual properties (IPs) have been waning in terms of numbers for the past several years. In a recent interview with GQ, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan recently revealed why that came to be for the current and next generation consoles.
He explained that original IPs or “blockbuster games” are expensive to make, therefore resulting as a risky move to pull off. “The thing with those blockbuster games is that they need a box office release,” he said in the interview. “They cost more than $100m dollars to make these days and in order to be able to do that and bring new IP to the market.”
Ryan noted that throughout the PS4 generation, only four new IPs were introduced. These include the highly acclaimed Horizon: Zero Dawn franchise and the recently released Ghost of Tsushima. Even for existing Sony IPs, the company will still have to make a careful decision even for deciding to release a follow-up or spinoff, he added.
“We have a management organisation that sits over the individual studios and one of the things that we look at a lot is the portfolio and we look at is the balance between new iterations of much-loved series such as God Of War or Uncharted and shaking things up with new IP such as Horizon: Zero Dawn or Ghost Of Tsushima,” the CEO said. “We’re making great games now and we certainly plan to continue making great games.”
With the new PlayStation 5 console released (at least in some regions), there is still a chance that we would see new original Sony-made titles, or even sequels and spinoffs to past IPs such as Killzone, Infamous as well as Uncharted. However, just don’t expect the company to churn out as many games as they did in the past, and also not forgetting the fact that these titles could cost more than US$60 (~RM245) in the near future.
