Which Sony tentpole titles do you think will be released during the holiday seasons of 2024, 2025, and 2026?
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I'm not 100% sure, but there are different things that make me think it's the case:
- Timing that matches: assuming Cory's new IP was pitched and approved, would have started late 2018/early 2019, so could be ready to be announced this or next year. Intergalatic was trademarket in February, normally game brands trademarket got announced a bit more than half a year later
- Available "tentpole"-level teams: I don't know who else could be making it: people like ND, Bend, MM, Bungie, Housemarque could have new IPs in the work but aren't ready to be announced (too soon for them). Not sure when Firesprite will be announced their horror adventure game but I'd say it's a Until Dawn or Persistence sequel and wouldn't qualify as top seller/top quality potential
- Cory's Twitter header images in recent years featured space, stars or things that remind it
- Missing 2024 holidays 'tentpole' game: Hermen said they plan to have at least one tentpole game each holiday season and apparently they don't have any of them, so I assume it is this one in case they will also have planned a "tentpole" for this year
- Shocase material: they could make in September/October a showcase or big TGS State of Play announcing this game, Marathon gameplay debut, Death Stranding 2 gameplay debut, Venom announcement, PS5 Pro announcement etc.
After the investment they did in FromSoft and partnership they did with Kadokawa I'm 100% sure Sony and FromSoft will work again in more games, being Bloodborne 2 one of them.
Sony normally doesn't announce/release games for round anniversaries, they do the stuff when ready, independently if it matches or not. I think next year they could announce a Bloodborne PC port or a movie/tv show/anime adaptation. Regarding Bloodborne 2, I think it depends on FromSoft teams availability. In recent times FromSoft bought the Tenchu and EldenRing IPs and will want to use them, so maybe prioritize them over Bloodborne 2. But FromSoft has different teams working on multiple games at the same time, so who knows when they can announce Bloodborne 2.
What I know is that Miyazaki said he wouldn't make a remaster/remake now, he thinks it would make more sense to make it in PS6 to keep two generations of difference, which helps to meaningfully improve the new version and differentiate it enough from the previous one.
Please remember Hermen said "tentpole single player". Meaning Fairgame$ or maybe Destiny 3 wouldn't fit there if they are MP focused, and they include GaaS under "transformational" type of games.
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I've just guessed at the whole lineup
It's too vague to say whether a game is considered tentpole or not
For example Venom might more or less be a Miles Morales style expansion but Miles Morales is one of the best selling PS games ever
Maybe Housemarque and Bluepoint if they have something in the works would be tentpole now. Would Ratchet be tentpole? Maybe not but for fans it'll be a big release
I know it's too late to hope/wish for this, but I really thought we would at least get a Medievil II Remake.
It would go nice with an October 2024 release.
It would go nice with an October 2024 release.
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I'd say isn't vague, in the OP I added the direct quotes, the image and made a recap. The checklist for tentpole is "Single player narrative experiences, either sequels or new IPs, from proven studios regarding quality and success aiming for becoming top sellers in the biggest and top grossing genres".
I think that, considering the Morales huge sales success, Venom will be another shorter standalone game (not expansion) aiming for top tier sales. And since it would a single player narrative title from a proven studio, would fit clearly in their tentpole description.
I think Returnal would have fit under "experimental" because of its mixture of genres and it being their first AAA. I think with their next one, having enlarged their fanbase and now being experienced in AAA, and considering that will sell more at launch just for not being a launch game, they'll aim for way bigger sales so would fit as "tentpole". May aim for something still with their arcade roots but more commercial inside the AAA area. May even get some external IP with a big fanbase that could fit maybe from Marvel, Sony Pictures, or something like that (as could be Lego adaptation of some popular Sony IP that could fit).
Or could try to do another "experimental" game mixing something arcade with other popular modern stuff and give it AAA budget/visuals/etc. Maybe they could do a new IP that would be hardcore 3D platformer mixed with bullet hell with a big focus on platforming, but now in a light hearted kid friendly tone, an area that Sony seems interested to grow with Lego and Astro Bot.
Bluepoint became a support studio for new games after Demon's Souls, they never had their own project since then. Don't have the team needed to do so and had the full team working on GoWR so didn't have anybody free to work in a separate project until their people were done with it. Pretty likely they will be supporting another upcoming SSM game, or who knows if some ND or Bend game.
So for Ratchet, Action 3D platformers are a top selling genre, but mostly in Swicth due to the Nintendo games. I think in PlayStation that genre isn't big but Ratched should be a top seller for the genre (but in PS, not compared to Mario).
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2024 - Astrobot, Lego Horizon (Concord)
2025 - Ghost 2, Venom, Death Stranding 2 (Marathon & FairGame$)
2026 - Wolverine, Housemarque, ND new IP? (Bend, Media Molecule?)
2027 - Barlog's game, Horizon 3, Firesprite, FF7-3, (Horizon MP)
2028 - SM3 part one?, LoU3 + Factions (Destiny 3)
First title is the holiday tentpole, I added the other studios + (GAAS) since I was brainstorming at it anyway.
The reason I think Ghost comes next year is because DS2 is not a guaranteed massive seller over the holiday but also in 2026 with Wolverine it doesn't make sense to put 2 holiday worthy titles next to each other. If GTA6 drops September (fall 2025) makes sense to boost off the momentum and console sales, it could move depending on when GTA drops. There is a crazy theory they drop Ghost 2 this holiday with PS5 Pro but I think it's just too soon for Sucker Punch and the spotlight is for Astro this year to elevate Team Asobi's status within PS.
as well as 2025 have a good use case for the Pro outside of 3rd party with a Decima title, Insomniac's RT and aesthetics of Ghost.
* For 2026; obviously Wolverine per leak, Housemarque got a full 5 year after moving to a new HQ, for Bend it might be too soon but their live-service is built on existing framework and my guess it's a survival GAAS/State of Decay like.
Personally I don't trust Druckman's word but if there is new IP at work it should come out that year, no doubt they will have at least one game with LoU3 this gen at the end due to the TV show, it could swap around but they won't drop it back to back year that's for sure.
Media Molecule will be on the chopping block unless they make it in 2026. I don't think Hermen is going to give them much longer going off his stricter milestone process comments recently.
* Regarding 2027; Relative safe bet Guerilla makes it in the 5 year dev cycle, I put FF7-3 there as well cause it's synonymous with PS. Square is targeting it for it's 30th anniversary. Firesprite had 4 years after their last (VR) launch and they cancelled their MP game.
It depends on how big Corey Barlogs game is, is the entire studio on it with support teams if yes that's their last PS5 game, all we know is from the tweet that early work is coming together so I think it's relatively far off. It could come sooner depending scope but if it's 2027, it will be the holiday release since it's Santa Monica's first new IP in a long overdue time.
* And I think indeed 2028 is the ''final'' year with SM3(^per leak) being holiday likely cross-gen/launch for PS6. Team Asobi will probably have a new Astrobot ready as well for PS6. Next GoW & GT8 is probably saved for next-gen as well.
Bluepoint my bet is they helping ND with their new IP and/or Santa Monica since they got the partner studio label.
Potentially can see them do remakes of the GoW Greek saga or Uncharted trilogy with Nixxes & PC ports.
Highly probable those franchises will get a Lego game as well.
My count of GAAS including Destiny 2 & Helldivers 2 is at 10 with NCsofts Horizon MMO (which is far off).
The other 2 are likely Bungie's & Neon Koi mobile titles.
2025 - Ghost 2, Venom, Death Stranding 2 (Marathon & FairGame$)
2026 - Wolverine, Housemarque, ND new IP? (Bend, Media Molecule?)
2027 - Barlog's game, Horizon 3, Firesprite, FF7-3, (Horizon MP)
2028 - SM3 part one?, LoU3 + Factions (Destiny 3)
First title is the holiday tentpole, I added the other studios + (GAAS) since I was brainstorming at it anyway.
The reason I think Ghost comes next year is because DS2 is not a guaranteed massive seller over the holiday but also in 2026 with Wolverine it doesn't make sense to put 2 holiday worthy titles next to each other. If GTA6 drops September (fall 2025) makes sense to boost off the momentum and console sales, it could move depending on when GTA drops. There is a crazy theory they drop Ghost 2 this holiday with PS5 Pro but I think it's just too soon for Sucker Punch and the spotlight is for Astro this year to elevate Team Asobi's status within PS.
as well as 2025 have a good use case for the Pro outside of 3rd party with a Decima title, Insomniac's RT and aesthetics of Ghost.
* For 2026; obviously Wolverine per leak, Housemarque got a full 5 year after moving to a new HQ, for Bend it might be too soon but their live-service is built on existing framework and my guess it's a survival GAAS/State of Decay like.
Personally I don't trust Druckman's word but if there is new IP at work it should come out that year, no doubt they will have at least one game with LoU3 this gen at the end due to the TV show, it could swap around but they won't drop it back to back year that's for sure.
Media Molecule will be on the chopping block unless they make it in 2026. I don't think Hermen is going to give them much longer going off his stricter milestone process comments recently.
* Regarding 2027; Relative safe bet Guerilla makes it in the 5 year dev cycle, I put FF7-3 there as well cause it's synonymous with PS. Square is targeting it for it's 30th anniversary. Firesprite had 4 years after their last (VR) launch and they cancelled their MP game.
It depends on how big Corey Barlogs game is, is the entire studio on it with support teams if yes that's their last PS5 game, all we know is from the tweet that early work is coming together so I think it's relatively far off. It could come sooner depending scope but if it's 2027, it will be the holiday release since it's Santa Monica's first new IP in a long overdue time.
* And I think indeed 2028 is the ''final'' year with SM3(^per leak) being holiday likely cross-gen/launch for PS6. Team Asobi will probably have a new Astrobot ready as well for PS6. Next GoW & GT8 is probably saved for next-gen as well.
Bluepoint my bet is they helping ND with their new IP and/or Santa Monica since they got the partner studio label.
Potentially can see them do remakes of the GoW Greek saga or Uncharted trilogy with Nixxes & PC ports.
Highly probable those franchises will get a Lego game as well.
My count of GAAS including Destiny 2 & Helldivers 2 is at 10 with NCsofts Horizon MMO (which is far off).
The other 2 are likely Bungie's & Neon Koi mobile titles.
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They released GoT and Legends in 2020, plus Ikki Island + PS5 upgrades in 2021. 2024 is too early for GoT2, and maybe 2025 too.
All Media Molecule games have been profitable (public legal documents show they've been profitable all years), they win many awards with all their games, are a relatively small studio with many juniors. I highly doubt they would be in the chopping block. What I assume they'll do is to ask them for the current project to do something smaller like Tearaway instead of having them 10 years working in a project as was the case for Dreams.
It may be synonimous of PS, but it's a 3rd party game so it isn't included in Hermen's SIE roadmap of SIE tentpole titles releasing every holidays.
According to Schreier the cancelled Twisted Metal was still in early stages and still wasn't under full development. But we know they've been working for years on a MP game and a SP horror adventure. So pretty likely the "cancelled" game/pitch isn't the MP title they have been working on these years.
We know SSM is working on the next GoW set in a new mythology, it's confirmed. Regarding Cory's IP we don't know if they are working on it, but if they are they'd have working on it since late 2018/early 2019 since he was going to send the pitch a few months after GoW 2018 launch.
True but the upgrade was negligible outside of the Island expansion.. 60fps and higher res, basically boost mode. It depends on how COVID affected them in production pipeline, it's not a 400 man studio so 2025 can cut it close. But I think it will have to cause Xbox slated Fable next year and Switch 2 will no doubt have a holiday banger as well. Cause it has to doesn't mean it will be tho.
They havn't delivered for a long time in meaningful sense. Since Totoki the London & California studios especially are under scrutiny regarding cost efficiency and lay-offs. I assume they'll do something as a platformer in the spirit of LBG since they on the multi-genre list. Also a report of them per Kotaku they were high on the list alongside London Studios to be cut but probably got another chance due to their name. Again with Hermens comments if they don't reach the milestones it's prob game over. I am worried cause Sony got Firesprite now and clearly cutting on UK studios.
Yeah seeing them on the SP focused list on the recent business meeting instead of the multi-genre/live-service kinda confirms that's canned. I don't see them dropping a SP only shooter unless they convert it to VR2. Sony bought Bungie a year later, they probably didn't get past the reviews. Probably only the horror game atm.
Yeah speculation on their production process. Are they 2 teams split, or moving in the assembly line with the full team with 2 projects or focused on one. With the help of Valkyrie & Bluepoint? All I am going off is Corey's tweet that early things are coming together recently. He promised to talk soon after Ragnarok since the 2021 showcase, I think the scope is big and seeing Allanah Pearce basically researching Starfield on stream and touting sci-fi.. but then again could be just her content. I do hope Eric Williams got his wish to work on Castlevania from Sony/Konami. I think the next GoW Mythology is PS6, they gotta stretch it. Maybe an Atreus game for PS5 to tie in.
Yes Bluepoint supported GOWR. We don't know if that was since Demons Souls finished, or for a couple months during crunch. That's the only indication that they are just a support studio
It's also a year and a half since Ragnarok released
They absolutely had their own project or were at least pitching projects / new remakes hence their active twitter hints a few years ago. Not clear if those projects ever went full scale development
Was DS2 announced as PS5/PC ( day 1 or year 1) or are you assuming based on the original?
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Their whole dev team was credited in the GoWR game credits, and many of them indicate in their personal linkedin when each one of them (for the people who updated it) did start or and did stop working in on GoWR.
According to their boss after Demon's Souls they moved away from remasters and remakes to codevelop (in a support role until now, don't have enough producers and specially designers to be a lead studio) in new games. Even less during GoWR development, because 2 of the 4 people they have in the design department were hired after GoWR.
Their CM was playful years ago and made a tweet that could be interpreted as hints of them being working on many popular brands, but they weren't working in any of them.
And yes, after they completed their job GoWR (they didn't work in Valhalla) they must be supporting something else. They need to grow to be able to design their own project, something I assume they'll do over time after getting more used to work in new games. Even if some of their leads have experience working on top tier new games since they were in places like Retro or Blizzard.
The biggest asspull I've read in a while, and a load of nonsense. No sources, nothing, just the usual BS wrapped in a "I know more than anyone else" package.
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Nothing in that tweet says they weren't profitable. Their legal and public documents where they report to the UK government their finances prove they have been profitable every year.
And yes, they did stop supporting Dreams after 10 years working on it and around 2022/2023 they moved to a new project, which should be years away from being released. And yes, like most SIE studios had to cut some fat and fire some people to reduce costs and make room for future growth.
In case of Bungie we know they fired around 100 people going down from around 1200 to 1100. And after that they hired around 400 people going up until 1500-1600.
Their games until now were SP, and pretty likely their next project will be the horror adventure, that could be the reason of why they are listed as SP but yes, it also may indicate that their MP was cancelled too.
I don't see whay they would work in a shooter because Sony already has many other teams working on shooters or like Guerrila who even if aren't working on shooters right now could work in the genre. Some of the job offers mentioned that their MP game featured on foot and on vehicle combat, but that doesn't mean it was a shooter. Maybe its combat was more focused on melee.
I don't know the case of SSM, but the typical and more optimal way of working in a AAA studio is that the studio is working on multiple projects at the same time (each one with the help of several support studios), which are in different stages of development, and you keep working in a game until complete your job in the project, and you move to one of the other projects, whatever is the one that requires someone of your area at that moment.
If there is a gap of a few weeks or months until you'll be needed in the next project depending on the case you research or learn/practice/improve some new technique or tool, help to prototype some upcoming feature, mechanic or game, or suppport some friend studio in a different project.
As I remember Cory said in a GoWR interview that they were working on multiple cool things. Which I understand could be GoWR, Valhalla (which partially was a different team), his new IP and I assume overviewing the tv series adaptation and the GoWR port. He's now the creative director of the studio, which means he's involved in all projects even if he doesn't direct them.
Regarding his tweet you mention he could be talking about the next GoW (wheter if it's big or a smaller Morales-like game to transition to the next mythology), his new IP or the tv series adaptation. Or who knows, maybe some remaster or remake made by an external team.
Regarding Alanah researching Starfield, to see what the competition does (both from different games and from similar direct competition titles) it's something devs frequently do to take note and learn stuff from there and get new ideas. Sometimes to spot trends and join them, sometimes to see how they solve specific challenges or approach certain issues and basically copy it, or sometimes to spot things where they failed to don't repeat the mistake and do it better. Since she is a writer makes sense that she'd research the new Bethesda game.
It's also worth mentioning that Alanah has been working as writer in SSM since 2020 but in GoWR was only credited as "accesibility consultant", meaning she was working writing something else instead in a different project (I assume Cory's new IP).
Castlevania is a Konami IP, so it would be very rare, almost impossible, to see a Sony studio making a Castlevania game. And would be even more rare to see them putting one their best studios, SSM to work on it when Sony has IPs like Bloodborne that sells way more or when they could create a similar one.
Regarding Atreus, what I'd like to see is that he gets killed in the intro of the next game so Kratos gets really angry again and goes for revenge, because recently he's been a pussy and I find Atreus too annoying.
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Right without sources? Right by pretending to know what's inside a studio when he can't get anything right?
Nobody is saying they didn't do support work for Ragnarok
Just that such support work can come in a myriad of ways. They may have all worked on Ragnarok during the final phases of development to help get the game over the finish line. There's no indication that is all they did from 2020-2022. Different parts of Bluepoint may have helped in different stages. And there is no indication that they are doing support work since Ragnaroks release
They were also reconfirmed to be working on original content in the Insomniac leaks with probable leaked concept art
Just that such support work can come in a myriad of ways. They may have all worked on Ragnarok during the final phases of development to help get the game over the finish line. There's no indication that is all they did from 2020-2022. Different parts of Bluepoint may have helped in different stages. And there is no indication that they are doing support work since Ragnaroks release
They were also reconfirmed to be working on original content in the Insomniac leaks with probable leaked concept art
