Due to current lack of notable news regarding the PlayStation 5 and how long it passed since a detailed overview on SIE's current and future line of games here, I decided to lump all them together and gather all notable information, confirmations, reports and rumors we've been hearing over the past 2-3 years.
There are so many repetitive question posts, console warring and the like. So consider this just a nice little ('little') post to go through until we'll have new stuff and interesting news in the coming weeks. I hope this will be informative and organized enough.
In case you have more sources, links, credible tweets and the like, don't hesitate to share them so they can be added to this list.
SIE Worldwide Studios - Projects
Naughty Dog
After over three years of anticipation, fears, doubts, delays and controversies, Naughty Dog finally released The Last of Us Part II back in June to critical acclaim and high sales.
- Naughty Dog's next big project still seems to be lightyears away, and according to vice president and creative director Neil Druckmann mentioned in a June interview with him that at the time he is still unsure what will be Naughty Dog's next project; it could be a third installment in The Last of Us franchise, or it could be an entirely new IP - which would be ND's first new IP since the original The Last of Us in 2013.
- Naughty Dog has been reported (and later confirmed in a tweet) to be working on a successor to "Factions", the multiplayer mode of The Last of Us. The Last of Us Part II was Naughty Dog's first game since Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007) to not include a multiplayer mode at launch, partly to focus most of the resources into the single-player campaign, and partly to fully realize Factions' own ambitions as its own thing. Recently, we also had leaked footage of what appears to be the game in progress.
- Finally, and take this with a massive grain of salt given the source, a post originating on 4Chan and later getting reposted on both Reddit and ResetEra claims that Naughty Dog is already working on a new IP, tentatively called Stray's Cross. This game is rumored to be some post-apocalyptic, Steampunk title with first-person perspective, a departure from Naughty Dog's usual third-perspective style. The rumor also mentions that the two leads are a female scientist and a male fugitive. An even earlier rumor (dates to October 2018) by a man called Daniel Richtman (who is apparently correct with his leaks on entertainment stuff) mentions details of one of the leads' casting preferences, of a black/African-American man in his 40's-60's, with a picture of The Walking Dead actor Chad Coleman. Whether this casting refers to the new IP (whose 4Chan rumor came a year later), or something TLOU-related remains to be seen.
Insomniac Games
At the time of this post's writing, Insomniac Games is the most recent member of the SIE Worldwide Studios, having been acquired in 2019 after decades of close relationship with Sony and the PlayStation. Having shipped 2018's Spider-Man to critical acclaim and extremely strong sales, Insomniac Games was one of the first studios to have its rumored PS5 projects shown in June's Future of Gaming event.
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales were unveiled during the Future of Gaming event. The former has been either speculated or rumored for a while and is built around the PlayStation 5's SSD to allow its unique dimension-hopping design, and features new playable character in addition to series protagonist Ratchet. The latter is a standalone spin-off to 2018's Spider-Man and has been compared in scope and style to Naughty Dog's Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Miles Morales was also said to be a "complete story" and character arc, and offers a performance mode of 4K / 60 FPS.
- Miles Morales, however, is not the only Spider-Man game in works it seems. The first game left several open plot threads for a more proper sequel, and Insomniac Games recently promised that they have plenty to tell regarding Peter's story.
- Also just to clear some things about Sunset Overdrive and an hypothetical sequel: Insomniac Games stated they would love making a sequel for the game. As of 2019, Sony - having acquired Insomniac (who owns the rights for the IP) - is now the owner of the Sunset Overdrive IP. However, former SIE Worldwide Studios head Shawn Layden said that the IP is not a priority for Sony at the time of the interview. Whether this will change or has changed after Layden's departure is to be seen.
Guerrilla Games
Guerrilla Games experienced some sort of new breakthrough with the PS4 generation, releasing the beloved Horizon Zero Dawn to great success and creating the acclaimed Decima game engine which was used for Until Dawn (2015) and Death Stranding (2019) in addition to Horizon and 2013's Killzone Shadow Fall.
- Horizon Forbidden West was speculated & rumored for a while and was all but confirmed before its full announcement in the Future of Gaming event. It was rumored to have originally started as a PlayStation 4 project before shifting away entirely to Sony's upcoming console. It is slated for a 2021 release and will feature new Machines to take on.
- This might be a given, but another pre-announcement report claims that the IP has evolved into a trilogy and Horizon III is all but guaranteed at some point after the second game's launch.
- It also seems that Guerrilla Games is working on another project outside the Horizon series (or maybe related to them?); as early as May 2018, the studio has began recruiting for a new unannounced game, which was about to begin full production. It could very well line up with the aforementioned Forbidden West, but perhaps also with another IP. By October of the same year, Guerrilla amassed talent of Rainbow Six: Siege veterans, among them is director Simon Larouche, who previously worked on the universally acclaimed Killzone 2 (2009). The obvious identity of that game might be a new Killzone game, but some rumors claim the game in question is a revival of SOCOM (which otherwise is said to be developed by SIE San Diego).
Sucker Punch Productions
Sucker Punch Productions just shipped its latest game Ghost of Tsushima so it seems like their next project is still years away. In comparison to some of Sony's other studios, it's a somewhat smaller team, with less than 200 employees. Either way, Ghost of Tsushima's ridiculously high sales and positive reception prove they're not going anywhere.
- The most obvious candidate to Sucker Punch's next game would be a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. There is little to say about it that is not speculation, but it is a very likely project to tackle after Ghost of Tsushima sold over 2.4 million copies in three days, becoming Sony's fastest-selling PS4 IP. It should be noted that the Mongol invasion of Japan resumed in 1281), which could be used as the setting of a sequel.
- Elsewhere, Sucker Punch renewing the domain of the InFamous site sparked some speculation about the studio returning to its previous series.
- Finally, perhaps Sucker Punch will choose to expand on Prophecy, the intriguing tech demo/unreleased game whose footage was leaked during July 2020 and was developed around 2014.
Polyphony Digital
Sony's resident racing game studio, Polyphony Digital is dedicated to the Gran Turismo series. And this isn't going to change any time soon in my opinion. The studio's latest release was 2017's Gran Turismo, which despite being the lowest-rated title in the main franchise, was still a major commercial success and gradually received warmer reception as Polyphony added new content.
- Gran Turismo 7, obviously. Even before its official announcement, the game was heavily rumored and its logo was even accidentally leaked back in May 2020. Current release date is unknown.
PixelOpus
This is gonna be a brief one. PixelOpus is Sony's smallest internal studio, and to this date only shipped two games since its inception in 2014. The latest one was 2019's Concrete Genie, which got favorable reviews even if it wasn't a massive sales story. Whatever the studio is working on nowadays remains a mystery, as they finished support for their latest title.
Media Molecule
Media Molecule is Sony's most unique studio in terms of its projects, aiming to push player creativity and interactions more than any other developer under its umbrella. After nearly a decade, the team finally released its latest project Dreams in February 2020 as yet another critically acclaimed platform for creators and designers.
- It feels obvious that Media Molecule will primarily focus on Dreams for a while, which in the past was said to be designed for support for a decade and even more. They recently added VR support to the game and creative Mark Healey mentioned that a PlayStation 5 edition of Dreams is the "next big step".
- It's currently unknown if Media Molecule is involved in some capacity in Sumo Digital's continuation of its LittleBigPlanet franchise, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, announced during the Future of Gaming event. It should be noted that the studio was involved in LittleBigPlanet 3's early development, which was also primarily developed by Sumo Digital.
SIE Japan Studio
SIE Japan Studio is Sony's biggest studio and its flagship development place. It is a wild card responsible for multiple games of different genres, styles and scope, and tends to collaborate with other developers just as much as it develops its own in-house productions. Some of its most notable games during the PS4 generation include Gravity Rush 2, Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and the Knack duology, as well as co-productions on Bloodborne, The Last Guardian and Shadow of the Colossus remake.
- Current known projects include Astro's Playroom (developed by ASOBI Team) as a pre-installed game for the PlayStation 5 and the heavily rumored Demon's Souls remake in co-production with Bluepoint Games, both were unveiled during the Future of Gaming event in June 2020. The former will serve as a presentation of the DualSense controller, and was recently shown by game presenter and gaming personality Geoff Keighley; the latter was said to offer two performance modes based on fidelity or frame rate. Astro's Playroom will launch with the PlayStation 5 during Holiday 2020; no release window for Demon's Souls has been provided.
- Due to the nature of this studio it's unknown what else they're working on aside from a few speculations and rumors. Back in January 2017, right around the release of Gravity Rush 2, creative director Keiichiro Toyama (Silent Hill 1, Siren, Gravity Rush) mentioned he'll begin a new project after GR2, while everyone's favorite smiling executive Shuhei Yoshida mentioned that SIE Japan is working on multiple games yet to be announced.
- The biggest rumor surrounding this studio is Silent Hill. The rumor apparently dates back to ResetEra, where user KatharsisT claimed that a new game is in development with the aforementioned Toyama as well as series artist Masahiro Ito and series composer Akira Yamaoka, a claim which was apparently verified by the mods there. A fellow 'insider'/'leaker'/whatever you like called Dusk Golem (who got himself caught in controversy recently but I'm sure the majority of you are aware of it) later claimed that it is internally developed by SIE Japan Studio as part of a licensing deal between Sony and Konami. Given Dusk's recent behavior, whether you want to continue to believe his addition to the rumors is up to you.
- While from the leaks it sounds like Toyama will be very busy for the coming years, he expressed his desire to make a third Gravity Rush game, though it will likely wait for the now-announced PlayStation 5.
- In December 2017, SIE Japan was noted to have trademarked something called Ray Space. What exactly this game is, is unknown. But apparently it's a very ambitious science-fiction game with rumors and hints dating all the way back to 2014.
SIE Bend Studio
After over a decade of working on handheld titles, Bend Studio finally returned to home console AAA development with 2019's Days Gone. It didn't get the rave reviews some other big Sony games got, but players absolutely loved it and the game proved to be a surprise hit with pretty solid sales for a new IP by a somewhat obscure team.
- Days Gone ended with a sequel hook, so it's likely that their next project would be a sequel. As of October 2019, the studio was already working on pre-production of their next title and began recruiting new talent. By April 2020, the studio was still recruiting new talent for their next project.
SIE Santa Monica
Santa Monica Studio stands as one of Sony's most acclaimed teams, and is responsible for God of War. After a very uncertain time between 2011 and 2016, including the disappointing results of 2013's God of War: Ascension, lay-offs and the cancellation of an ambitious sci-fi IP, the studio found its footing again with 2018's reimagined God of War, ushering a new dawn on the once-troubled studio.
- Let's get this out the way; a fifth God of War game is inevitable. The game has a few open plot threads and is ripe for an even grander sequel after the smashing success in reviews and sales. Hell, director Cory Barlog even said he has ideas for five more games. Cory also suggested he would NOT direct the next game, and a tweet by him from January 2020 mentioned Eric Williams; is he gonna be the director of the next game?
- As for other projects, it's been hinted that an entirely new game is in works at SIE SM. Cory already mentioned that he pitched (couldn't find the original tweet, it's buried under two years of tweets and retweets) a new idea to Sony, and since then we've been given cryptic tweets and other hints about this mystery title. Film director Duncan Jones tweeted about what's next for Barlog, and Barlog himself dropped some weird tweet that caused wild speculation. Either way, SIE SM apparently assembles a second team.
- Finally, could SIE Santa Monica ever revive their high-profile, cancelled sci-fi game Internal 7? Santa Monica's canned PlayStation 4 exclusive was in development for about three years before lay-offs hit the studio and Sony pulled the plug on the science-fiction game.
SIE London Studio
SIE London primarily focuses on experiences revolving around the PlayStation brand's different applications and accessories. However, after years of being in the background, the studio got the spotlight upon delivering Blood & Truth, a VR shooter that shocked everyone thanks to its quality and production values.
- SIE London already began recruiting for a new project by late 2019. As with Blood & Truth, this title is likely to be VR-based. Given the way Blood & Truth sets itself up (see the pattern here?), a sequel is very likely to happen.
SIE San Diego Studio
Like Polyphony Digital, San Diego is best known for doing one flagship series, MLB: The Show, though unlike the former San Diego Studio has ventured into other IPs in a more frequent rate.
- MLB: The Show 21 is obviously coming in 2021, though the most interesting aspect about it thus far is that starting with this entry, all future MLB titles will be multiplatform as a result of a new contract between Sony and the MLB association. So expect to see those future games on Xbox and likely the Switch as well.
- Also, remember that SOCOM title from Guerilla's part? There is some speculation that the actual developer of the title is not Guerrilla, but San Diego Studio. Given the studio's relatively recent relocation to a new building and a slight revamp to their logo, the studio might work on a new project separated from the MLB series; their last non-MLB games were released in 2017 as collaborations with third-party studios, so there is a notable gap here.
Sony's Secret Studio in San Diego
More or less an open secret by now, Sony founded a new development studio in San Diego circa 2018, within the Visual Art Studio Group of Sony. And for the past two years, it's been recruiting talent from various places, including ex-Naughty Dog environment artist Zack Oliver and Red Dead Redemption 2 senior animator James Martinchek, with senior game designer Quentin Cobb apparently leading the team.
- Their first game's identity is yet to be confirmed, though from what I've seen the chief speculation is an Uncharted continuation. The only things we know right now is that the game is probably a third-person action/adventure game and will be in collaboration with another Sony-owned studio.
External Developers - Confirmed, Announced Games
With the exception of Wild, the following titles were announced during Sony's Future of Gaming event.
- Demon's Souls remake (TBC) - Bluepoint Games (Shadow of the Colossus remake) in collaboration with SIE Japan Studio (co-developer of the original game and the provider of the original pitch)
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure (TBC) - Sumo Digital (LittleBigPlanet 3): A successor to the LittleBigPlanet featuring protagonist Sackboy in a 3D platform style in contrast to the original series' focus on 2.5D levels. Will include co-op mode.
- Destruction AllStars (TBC) - Lucid Games (Travel Bug, PlayStation Vita Pets: Puppy Parlour): A vehicular combat video game with apparent focus on multiplayer. Trailer indicates arena fights in which the player can fight on foot in addition to using a vehicle.
- Returnal (TBC) - Housemarque (Super Stardust, Dead Nation, Resogun, Alienation, Matterfall): A third-person shooter/survival-horror/rougelike title which features an astronaut on a hostile alien planet, stuck in a time loop that relapses every time she dies. The studio had a pretty rough time in recent years, with a decision to stray away from their traditional arcade shooters due to the genre's lackluster footnote in sales. The studio announced its plans to work on an AAA project and licensed the Unreal Engine 4 for the project, putting its other project on hold. It will make extensive use of the DualSense's features.
- Wild (TBC) - Wild Sheep Studio: Sony's ambitious yet uncertain survival game was announced all the way back to Gamescom 2014, but has been missing ever since. The latest we heard about the game was regarding some old art resurfacing this year a few months ago. Whether the project has been scrapped or moved to PlayStation 5 is unknown at the time of this writing.
External Developers - Confirmed, Unannounced Games
- Suppermassive Games, best known for their development of the 2015 game Until Dawn, mentioned that they are working on "several" unannounced PlayStation titles. Don't expect a direct sequel to Until Dawn, though.
External Developers - Rumored Games & Other News
- Impulse Gear, developer of the VR shooter Farpoint, is hiring for its next VR project, said to "redefine AAA VR gaming". Whether this new project is partnered with Sony as a publisher is unknown.
- Kojima Productions which developed 2019's Death Stranding has secured enough funding for their next project thanks to their first project's commercial performance, though a recent project has been shafted. Studio head and game director Hideo Kojima expressed his desire to work on a horror game after Death Stranding, and was in talks with actor Norman Reedus (previously collaborated on both the cancelled Silent Hills and Death Stranding) for a future project. Kojima also expressed that he wants to work on a VR game, but at the time of that statement he was not free enough to pursue that project. It's unknown if Kojima's next project will be partnered with Sony as publisher.
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- While Other Ocean Emeryville shot down rumors about a remake of MediEvil 2 (originally developed by the now-defunct Guerrilla Cambridge), the composer of the first game's 2019 remake noted that the game did well commercially. Whether it will manage to warrant a continuation remains unknown.
- Sanzaru Games expressed desire to work on a fifth Sly Cooper and finally resolve the cliffhanger of 2013's Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, though they confirmed in December 2019 that they were not working on the project and said that fans should let Sony know they want another game. If a fifth game will ever get made, however, it won't longer come from Sanzaru, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2020.
- Ready at Dawn likewise expressed their own desire to make a sequel for its 2015 polarizing game The Order: 1886. And just like Sanzaru, chances for a continuation by the developer are close to zero with the acquisition by Facebook in June 2020. It should be noted that rumors about a sequel to The Order IP formed in January 2020. If such project indeed existed, its current situation is uncertain.
- FromSoftware president and creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki said back in late 2019 that his favorite game to work on was 2015's Bloodborne. However he also more or less stated that Bloodborne 2 has yet to be materialized and he is "not the one to decide" about its future. It should be noted that Miyazaki is currently busy with Elden Ring.
Beyond what's written here, there have been many, many rumors, speculations and other stuff about other Sony-related projects:
Rumors about Sony acquiring the likes of Kojima Productions or Remedy Entertainment (Max Payne, Alan Wake, Control). Rumors about an unannounced multiplayer-focused game by Remedy for the PlayStation 5. Rumors about Bloodborne and Dreams coming to PC alongside God of War and the Uncharted PS3 trilogy. Rumors about Horizon Forbidden West including a co-op mode. A fake 'leak' about Spider-Man 2's plot and gameplay details. Rumors about Kojima making up with Konami to revive Silent Hills. Rumors about Sony acquiring Konami's top three IPs. Etc, etc.
I did like the rumor about Castlevania getting a Bloodborne-esque revival.
That's it for now. If you guys have any other substantial or reliable information to add to the post; some worthwhile rumors or leaks, don't hesitate to share so I can update, correct and improve this list.
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