Sony’s veritable army of developers are working on a new slate of games for the PS5.
The newest generation of PlayStation gaming is in full swing, with the arrival of the PS5. Sony acquired and closed multiple studios over the last few years, leading to an interesting reshuffle for the following lineup. From bringing in the longtime partners at Insomniac Games to closing down teams like Manchester Studio, PlayStation is a different entity now than it was when starting the PS4 generation back in 2013.
With a new generation comes new games, including some of the best PS5 games available. This is a list of everything we know about what the leading 13 development studios at Sony Worldwide Studios are currently working on, or are at least fairly certain to be developing for PS5, PSVR, and possibly PC down the road.
Current Sony studios, primary and support
- SIE Bend Studio
- Bluepoint Games
- Firesprite
- Guerrilla Games
- Housemarque
- Insomniac Games
- SIE London Studio
- Malaysia Studio
- Media Molecule
- Naughty Dog
- Nixxes Software
- PixelOpus
- Polyphony Digital
- SIE San Diego Studio
- SIE San Mateo Studio
- SIE Santa Monica Studio
- SIE XDev Europe
- Sucker Punch Productions
- Team Asobi
- Visual Arts Service Group
PlayStation Studios: Everything we know Sony Worldwide Studios is working on
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While officially known as Sony Worldwide Studios, Sony revealed the PlayStation Studios brand on May 12, 2020. This brand seems to indicate that a game is being developed with Sony’s aid as an exclusive title, providing distinction from timed exclusive deals. The intro video above plays for any PlayStation Studios titles on PS4, PS5, or PC. It can also be customized depending on the specific game.
PlayStation Studios: How many are there?
Currently, Sony Interactive Entertainment consists of 16 game development studios, with a few additional support teams that provide art, animation, and technical skill but do not and will not develop their own games.
PlayStation Studios vs. Xbox Studios
For years, Sony Worldwide Studios was considered larger and more prestige than Xbox Game Studios. However, that has changed with several major acquisitions Microsoft has made from 2018 through 2020, with the purchase of Bethesda Softworks bringing Microsoft to a total of 23 Xbox studios. Here are the current standings.
Sony Worldwide Studios:
- Bend Studio
- Bluepoint Games
- Firesprite
- Guerrilla Games
- Housemarque
- Insomniac Games
- London Studio
- Malaysia Studio – Support Only
- Media Molecule
- Naughty Dog
- Nixxes Software – Support Only
- PixelOpus
- Polyphony Digital
- SIE San Diego Studio
- SIE San Mateo Studio – Support Only
- SIE Santa Monica Studio
- SIE xDev Europe
- Sucker Punch Productions
- Team Asobi
- Visual Arts Service Group – Support Only
Xbox Studios:
- 343 Industries
- Alpha Dog Games
- Arkane Studios
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Compulsion Games
- Double Fine Productions
- id Software
- inXile Entertainment
- MachineGames
- Mojang Studios
- Ninja Theory
- Obsidian Entertainment
- Playground Games
- Rare
- Roundhouse Studios
- Tango Gameworks
- The Coalition
- The Initiative
- Turn 10 Studios
- Undead Labs
- World’s Edge
- Xbox Game Studios Publishing
- ZeniMax Online Studios
What studios did Sony close?
The following studios have been shut down and are no longer part of Sony Worldwide Studios.
- Bigbig Studios
- Evolution Studios
- Guerrilla Cambridge
- Incognito Entertainment
- SIE Japan Studio
- Manchester Studio
- Studio Liverpool
- Zipper Interactive
What is SIE Bend Studio working on?
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- Located in: Bend, Oregon
SIE Bend Studio is located in Bend, Oregon. Acquired by Sony in 2000, the studio has worked on games like the Syphon Filter series, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and Days Gone. With several years of developing Days Gone, Bend Studio has grown to over 130 developers.
In April 2019, Bend Studio shipped Days Gone, a game about bikers surviving the apocalypse while hordes of mutants called Freakers roam the highways. While Days Gone wasn’t a hit with critics, it did sell well, staying in the top 10 games sold in North America for several months per NPD charts.
One of the game directors, Jeff Ross, departed Bend Studio alongside John Garvin, another director on Days Gone. In 2021, we learned that Bend Studio is working on a new open-world IP and, at least for now, is not developing a sequel to Days Gone.
What is Bluepoint Games working on?
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Located in: Austin, Texas.
Bluepoint Games is located in Austin, Texas. The fourth studio acquired by Sony in 2021, the team primarily worked on remasters and remakes in the past, such as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Shadow of the Colossus for PS4 and the Demon’s Souls PS5 remake. The team is currently working on something “original.”
What is Firesprite working on?
Located in: Liverpool, U.K.
The third acquisition made by Sony in 2021, Firesprite is a U.K. team that, somewhat amusingly, is heavily composed of former developers who worked at the now-defunct Liverpool Sony studio. The studio is divided into sub-teams working on a multiplayer game and a blockbuster single-player title. Firesprite has grown to 265 employees with the acquisition of Fabrik Games.
What is Guerrilla Games working on?
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- Located in: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Guerrilla Games, based in Amsterdam and acquired by Sony in 2005, has been responsible for developing the Killzone games and Horizon Zero Dawn. Guerrilla also maintains and improves the Decima engine and has grown to over 300 staff.
Horizon Zero Dawn was released in February 2017, with The Frozen Wilds expansion coming a few months later. Horizon Zero Dawn was well-received critically and has sold over 10 million copies (and we called it one of our games of the decade). Job listings indicated that work is taking place on another project in that game’s universe. Meanwhile, new reports indicate Horizon Zero Dawn is now planned as a trilogy. Combined with the success Horizon Zero Dawn has seen, a PlayStation 5 sequel was overwhelmingly likely.
These rumors were confirmed with the announcement of Horizon Forbidden West, a game initially thought PS5-exclusive, is coming to PS5 and PS4 on Feb. 18, 2022.
Before that sequel arrives, however, PC players got to try Horizon Zero Dawn, which was published by Sony on Steam in Summer 2020. In 2019, Guerrilla also hired Simon Larouche, who previously directed Rainbow Six Siege. At the time, Guerrilla also had job listings asking for multiplayer experience. The studio could be working on a new Killzone game or another multiplayer shooter and the Horizon Zero Dawn series.
What is Housemarque working on?
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- Located in: Helsinki, Finland
Located in Helsinki, Finland, Housemarque is the newest addition to the PlayStation Studios first-party family, having been acquired in June 2021. The team has worked on games such as Returnal in the past, which blended third-person action with arcade gameplay.
What is Insomniac Games working on?
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- Located in: California, North Carolina, U.S.
With a main office in Burbank, Calif., and a satellite studio in Durham, N.C., Insomniac Games has worked with Sony for over two decades on many classic games like Spyro, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, and as of late, Marvel’s Spider-Man. It was finally acquired in Aug. 2019. Marvel’s Spider-Man is, quite frankly, one of the most successful PlayStation exclusives of all time, having sold over 13 million copies since its release in September 2018.
Insomniac unveiled not one but two PS5 projects in 2020: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. The former was a PS5 launch title (though it’s also coming to PS4), while the latter arrived in June 2021, only on PS5.
Insomniac struck again in 2021, revealing two more PS5-only games during the Sep. 2021 PlayStation Showcase. One of these games is Marvel’s Wolverine, while the other is Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. The former does not currently have a release window, while the latter aims to launch sometime in 2023.
Job listings indicate that Insomniac Games is currently working on a multiplayer game that has not yet been announced.
What is SIE London Studio working on?
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- Located in: London, UK
London Studio, founded in 2002 after merging the remaining teams at Team Soho and Camden Studio, works on various technology and games. The team has more recently pioneered tech for PlayStation VR, releasing some experiences in PlayStation VR Worlds. This tech was put to further use in 2019’s shooter Blood & Truth, while a change of pace brought Erica to PlayStation 4 later in the year.
Having recently released a game, we shouldn’t look for London Studio to make any announcements soon. Whenever the studio does pipe up again, it’ll likely be with a new PlayStation VR title.
What is Malaysia Studio working on?
- Located in: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this team is a support group providing art and assets for other developers in Sony Worldwide Studios.
What is Media Molecule working on?
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- Located in: Guildford, U.K.
In Guildford, U.K. sits small creator Media Molecule. This studio has worked on the LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway games. It was purchased in 2010 after years of collaboration with Sony. More recently, the team worked on Dreams. It’s one of the smaller studios within Sony Worldwide Studios, with around 60 developers.
After several years of development, the ambitious Dreams was finally released as of Feb. 14, 2020. Dreams is essentially a game engine turned into a game, allowing players to create whatever worlds or games they wish and share them with other players.
With Dreams finally completed after seven years of development, don’t expect Media Molecule to announce anything else anytime soon. For now, the studio is committed to post-launch support for Dreams.
What is Naughty Dog working on?
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- Located in: Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Naughty Dog, which was bought by Sony in 2001 with headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif., has a long history in the video game industry. It was responsible for the Crash Bandicoot series, Jak and Daxter, the Uncharted games, and of course, The Last of Us. Naughty Dog is viewed by many PlayStation fans and the gaming industry as one of the most premier studios in existence, focusing on cinematic storytelling, charismatic characters, and strong art direction.
Naughty Dog is now likely resting a bit after finishing development on The Last of Us Part II, which was set to release on May 29, 2020, but was then delayed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released back on June 19, 2020. It’s described as the largest game the studio has ever worked on, having been in development for six years. Despite initially planning to ship the game with the Factions multiplayer the first title had, Naughty Dog has confirmed that The Last of Us Part II will be a single-player-only game. With that said, Naughty Dog is also planning to revisit Factions at some point, this time as a standalone multiplayer game.
Naughty Dog also houses the ICE team at Sony (Initiative for a Common Engine), which provides custom technology to different Sony studios.
Naughty Dog is also reportedly working on a remake of the original The Last of Us, a project that started as the Visual Arts Service Group but has since moved in-house.
What is Nixxes working on?
- Located in: Utrecht, Netherlands
Acquired by Sony in July 2021, Nixxes is a software team best known for porting games to PC. Sony has confirmed that Nixxes will not be developing its own games but instead providing support to other teams, including knowledge of how to bring games to PC.
What is PixelOpus working on?
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- Located in: San Mateo, California
PixelOpus, an extremely small studio created mainly by students and first-timers in San Mateo in 2014, released Entwined in 2015 and, more recently, Concrete Genie in 2019. Overall, the latter was seen by critics as a step forward from Entwined, despite only a little over a dozen developers working on the game.
We don’t know what PixelOpus’ next project is, but it will likely retain the artistic style found in both the studio’s games so far. Job listings indicate the title will be developed in partnership with Sony Pictures using Unreal Engine 5.
What is Polyphony Digital working on?
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- Located in: Tokyo, Japan.
Founded by Sony in 1998, Polyphony Digital has over 130 staff across four different studios in Amsterdam, Fukuoka, Japan, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. Polyphony is most well-known for the Gran Turismo series, the most recent is GT Sport, which launched in 2017 and has received a steady clip of updates.
Polyphony Digital has announced Gran Turismo 7 for the PS5, with a PS4 port confirmed later on, despite the initial promise of the game being PS5-exclusive. Gran Turismo 7 was initially slated for 2021, but it’s delayed until March 4, 2022.
What is SIE San Diego Studio working on?
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- Located in: San Diego, California, U.S.
The “MLB studio,” as it’s now known, was founded by Sony in 2001 in San Diego, Calif. While Sony San Diego has developed or collaborated on a handful of other games, such The Mark of Kri, High Velocity Bowling, LittleBigPlanet Karting, and Drawn to Death, it’s best known for the yearly MLB series of licensed baseball games.
In an unprecedented move for a Sony studio, however, MLB The Show 20 will be the last exclusive game in the franchise. Late in 2019, the MLB organization announced, starting in 2021, that the games would be developed and released on other console platforms, with Twitter posts from Xbox and Nintendo making it clear which platforms those were.
With this studio continuing to ship a yearly game and now developing for platforms outside of PlayStation, we shouldn’t expect them to do anything except continue to deliver yearly MLB games.
What is SIE San Mateo Studio working on?
- Located in: San Mateo, California, U.S.
This studio, located in San Mateo, Calif., and formerly known as SIE Foster City, provides support to external developers (or second-party games) in the U.S. Past collaborations include support on the SOCOM series, the Resistance franchise, and Marvel’s Spider-Man. This is part of the headquarters for PlayStation and includes a support team of animators and artists to help oversee the development of different games.
What is SIE Santa Monica Studio working on?
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- Located in: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Sony Santa Monica, founded by Sony in 1999 and based in Los Angeles (no, they aren’t actually in Santa Monica, amusingly enough), has been “the God of War studio” for over the past decade. After having a new IP canceled a couple of years back, the studio released God of War (2018) to absolute critical acclaim, with the game going on to sell over 10 million copies a little over a year after release. In 2014, as a result of canceling a new sci-fi IP, it laid off the production team that worked with other studios, such as Ready at Dawn on The Order 1886. Since rebounding with the development of God of War (2018) under creative director Cory Barlog, the studio now has over 200 staff.
With God of War’s incredible sales and reception (as well as its cliffhanger ending), a sequel was all but guaranteed. On September 16, a new game was revealed. A year later, it got a title: God of War Ragnarok. This game is set to close out the Norse saga for the God of War franchise. It’s set to arrive in 2022 after being delayed in 2021.
pic.twitter.com/VvHuaCKgGn
— Santa Monica Studio – God of War Ragnarök (@SonySantaMonica) September 16, 2020
Beyond God of War, there are rumors that Sony Santa Monica is also working on a new IP. These rumors are emboldened due to Eric Williams taking over as creative director on God of War Ragnarok, with Barlog working on something else.
What is Sucker Punch Productions working on?
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- Located in: Bellevue, Washington, U.S.
This studio, located in Bellevue, Wash., was purchased in 2011, making it Sony’s most recent acquisition before Insomniac Games. Sucker Punch is responsible for the Sly Cooper games and the Infamous series. More recently, the studio’s 200-something staff have been hard at work on Ghost of Tsushima.
This new IP was announced in 2017. Players take on the role of Jin, a samurai who has to embrace the ways of ninjas to survive the Mongol invasion of Tsushima island. Ghost of Tsushima originally had a tentative release window in Summer 2020. After being delayed out of June, it arrived on July 17. The team later released a free co-op add-on called Ghost of Tsushima: Legends and a PS5 version of the game called Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut.
What is SIE XDev Europe working on?
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- Located in: Liverpool, U.K.
Based in Liverpool, U.K. and founded in 2000 by Sony, this team works with European studios on PlayStation titles. Occasionally, XDev Europe also supports internal European studios. It has assisted the development of games such as Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Tearaway, Until Dawn, Detroit: Become Human and Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Currently, the team is assisting Lucid Games and Wushu Studios with the development of Destruction AllStars.
Since XDev Europe is a support group, it’s unlikely it is working on any fully internal games at the moment. When future collaborations with European developers are unveiled, XDev Europe will likely have a hand in things.
What is Team Asobi working on?
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- Located in: Tokyo, Japan
Founded in 1993 by Sony in Tokyo, this studio is technically the last remnant of the now-defunct Japan Studio, composed of several different teams and worked on numerous titles in multiple genres. One major success story was this Japan Studio’s collaboration with FromSoftware on Bloodborne.
In the past, before most of the studio was shuttered, Japan Studio collaborated with Bluepoint Games on a remake of Demon’s Souls for the PS5. The team has also used the character from Astro Bot Rescue Mission to develop Astro’s Playroom. This platformer serves as a great way to test the DualSense controller and comes pre-installed on every PS5. Several veteran employees of the team have left to start their own independent studio, including Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama.
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What is Visual Arts Service Group working on?
- Located in: San Diego, California, U.S.
This team is yet another providing support to the rest of Sony Worldwide Studios. A small group within this team reportedly started work on a remake of The Last of Us, a project now purported to be primarily helmed by Naughty Dog.
More blockbusters incoming for PlayStation 5
While there have been multiple leadership changes at the top of SIE near the end of the PlayStation 4’s lifecycle, PlayStation owners shouldn’t be too concerned about what is in the pipeline. Hermen Hulst, the new Head of Sony Worldwide Studios, has gone on record to say that “big, spectacular experiences” are a huge part of PlayStation and will still be coming in the future.
We’ll be updating this as we learn more about the lineup moving ahead. Regardless of whether you decide to go for a PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition, there will be plenty of good games to grab in the future.
PlayStation 5
- PlayStation 5: Everything we know so far
- PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: How they compare
- PS5 Specs: What’s in the next-gen PlayStation
- Will PS4 games work on the PlayStation 5?
