Sony says it doesn’t have enough original IP content to lean on for releases, which is a very odd sounding statement for fans of the company’s original games.
Sony’s CFO, Hiroki Totoki, told Financial Times in an interview “whether it’s for games, films, or anime, we don’t have that much IP we fostered from the beginning.” Totoki made this statement while ironing out a larger idea for a “creation shift” aimed at carving a path for Sony’s future. In order to dominate the market further, the company now needs to find more IP. It’s just… Sony actually does boast plenty from across decades of gaming history.
Recently, PlayStation dropped Concord, a PS5 exclusive that was only given two weeks to live before Sony announced it was being taken offline. Although gamers weren’t really interested in the title, PlayStation’s haste to shutter it is evidence it only wants God of War-sized hits; no room for experimentation. This is a problem to players who appreciated more niche PlayStation games before realizing they weren’t going to see a follow up. Ape Escape used to be one of the brand’s faces, and now it’s a cameo title that hasn’t seen a release in 14 years.
In 2021, Sony shuttered Japan Studio, which was well-known as responsible for some of the biggest hits PlayStation ever had. Titles like Ape Escape, PaRappa the Rapper, And Jak & Daxter, to name a few, are games that have been left in limbo thanks to its closure. The developer also made some of the largest underdogs of the 2010s in the form of Gravity Rush and Patapon. Gravity Rush fans are praying their movie doesn’t get canceled, and Patapon fans crowdfunded a kickstarter for Patapon’s spiritual successor, Ratatan. The demand is present, but Sony isn’t pouncing because it seems like it only plays it safe. One of the brand’s most creative new(-ish) titles is Astro Bot, and even then, the Mario-like platformer is composed entirely of PlayStation exclusive references.
PlayStation has developers like Sucker Punch making strong new entries occasionally, like Ghost of Tsushima. While its fans wait for the sequel, Sucker Punch’s more recognizable icons like Sly Cooper are left sitting on the bench despite their history. Even with an impressive catalog to fall back on, most of these series haven’t received a new iteration for a decade now. The issue isn’t Sony doesn’t have the IPs, it’s that it doesn’t do anything with the IP it has. This is possibly out of the fear these titles won’t hit profit incentives. If Sony had spread the word about these games instead of sticking them on their weakest systems and hoping for a hit, players might be more interested.
Contrasted to a gaming-forward company like Nintendo, the reason Sony even needs to telegraph a “creation shift” is the fact it’s a tech company first and foremost, with PlayStation is just a part of the greater whole. Microsoft’s strategy was to buy up gaming companies before realizing that these companies needed to sell their games on other platforms to make money. Gamers look to Nintendo as a beacon of hope because the company nurtures variety within its ecosystem. E.g., Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is the revival of a 30 year old series, and from the perspective of consumers, it got brought back for the love of the game.
Nintendo isn’t perfect either—gamers have had a bone to pick with the titan about preservation problems, but regardless, games are Nintendo’s bread and butter, with movies and TV an expansion of that. It’s other way around for Sony. If it’s willing to dig up its buried past, PlayStation could find exactly what it’s looking for without having to create anything new.
