PlayStationhas made itself known over the past couple of generations as the number one destination for premium, prestige single-player experiences. If you want to sit down and lose yourself in a game’s world, PlayStation is the place to do it. Between the idyllic plains of historic Tsushima, the exciting realms of the Norse pantheon, or, erm, Seattle, PlayStation could take you wherever you wanted to go. But that doesn’t make as much money as you’d think, and it’s clearSonyis going all in on a multiplayer extravaganza.
These single-player titles aren’t going anywhere. Sony is still way ahead ofMicrosoftin the ‘I need X console to play Y’, and building prestige has been a route to success for PlayStation. So much so that Xbox is trying to copy it, buying upBethesda, Activision-Blizzard, and a variety of other studios, most of whom are working on potential killer apps.Redfall,Hellblade,Forza, and most obviouslyStarfieldwill be the four sent into battle by Microsoft this year.
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PlayStation might feelXboxis a little behind the curve, however. The era of single-player games is not ending, but if you get a multiplayer game right, that’s where the money is. Of course, if you get it wrong it can quickly become a money pit. It’s a risky venture. Xbox’s attempts with Halo faltered, butif the Activision deal goes through it will own Call of Dutyand the incredibly profitable mobile arm that comes with King. PlayStation’s acquisitions have gone under the radar, but there is a pattern there.
Sony recently acquired Firewalk Studios, which might have been an eyebrow raiser for some.While gamers have capitalist fantasies of their favourite console manufacturersbuying upUbisoft,Square Enix, andCapcom, this is a more typical buyout. Firewalk has been making a PS exclusive multiplayer game since 2021, and is now officially on the team. It seems Sony likes what it has seen and wants to tie up Firewalk’s services.
This isn’t the only studio Sony has bought up recently. Though it arrived shortly after the much larger Microsoft-Activision deal and therefore went a little unnoticed, Sony bought upBungie. The originalHalocreators, now at the helm ofDestiny 2, know how to make an online shooter that can sense where the genre needs to go and sets trends that shape studios around them. Destiny is staying cross-plat, but Bungie will be cooking something Sony hopes can widen its roster to include must-have multiplayer adventures alongside its respected single-player stable.
We’re still not done.The Last of Us Part 2was meant to ship with a multiplayer mode. We’re three years, a remaster, and a TV series out from that date, but the multiplayer expansion (which will now be its own solo game) is still moving ahead. Creator Neil Druckmann has been cagey on the details, refusing even to call it Factions 2 despite, you know, it being Factions 2. However, he has confirmed it’s being actively worked on andan update, if not a release, is expected this year.
In fact, there are reports that Sony plans to make as many as ten live-service games, and so even with those three above, and even if you have some studios make multiple, there are a few we don’t know anything about. We only really know whatInsomniacis working on right now, withSpider-Mandue out this year andWolverinein development. Those atNaughty Dognot on Factions arerumoured to be on a fantasy title, other than that we have no idea.
Could some of the single-player specialists now be on service games? Or is the play to continue making acquisitions aimed at multiplayer development? Whatever the outcome, it seems likely Sony has looked at the moneyCall of Duty,GTA Online, andFIFAmake and has decided it wants some of that sweet moolah.
Already the most popular console, with PlayStation almost a shorthand for consoles in general just as Nintendo was once upon a time, Sony has a built-in audience. It has earned and kept that audience by throwing fresh adventures at them every few months. Now, it seems it wants just one adventure that can lock people in for months at a time. Well, it wants ten versions of that ‘just one game’. It’s a gamble, but it’s playing with house money and loaded dice. Expect it to pay off.
