PlayStation Planning More “Titles for Families”

For years now, PlayStation’s first-party output has largely leaned on massive, cinematic experiences aimed at hardcore gamers. Titles like God of War, The Last of Us, and Ghost of Tsushima have been critical and commercial successes, but haven’t done much to appeal to families and younger players. It seems things could be changing, though. The success of last year’s Astro Bot has clearly made the company see the potential benefit of games with wider appeal, and it seems we’ll be getting a lot more of those in the future. In an earnings call held today (via Video Games Chronicle), Sony president Hiroki Totoki indicated that more games aimed at families have become a priority.

“At The Game Awards 2024, our first-party title Astro Bot won four categories, including Game of the Year and Best Family Game – the most of any title,” said Totoki. “In addition, the live service game Helldivers 2, which was released in February last year, won Best Ongoing Game and Best Multiplayer Game awards. The fact that titles in genres we are planning to expand in the future, including titles for families and live service games, have received these awards is a major stride towards building a broad title portfolio.”

We’ve known for a while now that PlayStation is planning to release more live service games like Helldivers 2; that part of Totoki’s statement comes as little surprise. However, it’s notable to hear the Sony president say that more family games will be part of the company’s future strategy. In recent years, Sony seemed to be leaning heavily on third-party publishers to fill that gap in PlayStation’s library. However, more family titles are definitely welcome, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the future.

If PlayStation really is planning to put a bigger focus on games that appeal to players of all ages, the company has no shortage of franchises to draw from. Fans have spent years begging to see the return of dormant PlayStation IPs like Ape Escape and Sly Cooper. PlayStation has a perfect opportunity to bring those franchises back right now, not only because of the recent strategy shift, but also because they’re both fresh in the minds of gamers; both titles are referenced in Astro Bot, while an Ape Escape minigame will appear in this year’s Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

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While Sony is clearly looking to diversify its first-party games, fans that prefer the company’s more mature themed games shouldn’t worry. Those games are still going to be a priority, and will continue to see release on PlayStation 5 and PC. In fact, this year will see the release of Ghost of Yotei, a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. Hopefully we’ll just see more of a diversity in the games Sony offers!

Would you like to see more family friendly titles from Sony? What franchises would you like to see return? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!