This generation, Sony Interactive Entertainment has largely focused on making narrative-driven single-player games, and that’s not going to change anytime soon according to PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, who claims they’ve never had greater success with it’s story-based games than it’s having right now. That said, the PlayStation boss also took the opportunity to praise different types of games, such as FIFA, which apparently has incredible engagement statistics.
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“We’ve never had greater success with our own narrative-driven, story-based games than we’re having right now,” said Ryan while speaking to CNET. “We feel good about that, and it’s certainly not a genre of gaming we’ll ever walk away from.
“It’s like any category of game or any category of entertainment. There are good examples and less good examples. When they’re done right, and you look at the engagement statistics for FIFA, for example, the engagement is simply unbelievable.”
As you will know, this is a sentiment PlayStation has held for awhile. Earlier this year, fellow PlayStation boss Shawn Layden noted that Sony is going to continue to make narrative-driven single-player games, however, it also has its eyes on different genres and markets.
“I think we have to do both,” said Layden while speaking to Game Informer. “That’s not a cop-out. I think we have set the high-water mark for being the best in long-form narrative gaming. We have some of the best storytellers in the business working on Worldwide Studios projects, whether that’s Sucker Punch or the team at Bend working on Days Gone, and of course Naughty Dog and Santa Monica Studios. I think that’s a super strength of ours. I was very happy to see that three of the five of the game of the year nominees are Worldwide Studios games.
“To know that the choices we’re making to lean heavily into stories and narrative and to create worlds where people will lose themselves in the story of another person or culture or an environment. We’re very proud of that. We will continue to execute our franchises on that.”
As you can see, there’s a clear desire to build on the backbone of what made Sony so successful this generation: single-player story-focused games. But that doesn’t mean all of its eggs will be in this basket.
