[Hermen Hulst Q&A: What’s Next for PlayStation Studios – PlayStation.Blog](https://blog.playstation.com/2021/06/02/hermen-hulst-qa-whats-next-for-playstation-studios/): Sony just published a new interview with Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios, that has revealed some interesting bits of information, especially before E3. I want to go through the blog post and dig into Hulst’s responses. > PSB: Are you able to give us a snapshot of the total number of titles that PlayStation Studios are currently developing for PS4 or PS5? > > Hermen: Well, we have a lot going on right now. PlayStation Studios have more than 25 titles in development. Almost half of these are new IP. The other half, they’re titles that are set in franchises that PlayStation fans already know and love. So, it’s quite a lot. This number of games in development actually broke earlier in May. I have a draft here in MarsEdit of me trying to crack the numbers on these 25 games. So I’m just going to throw that here! - Naughty Dog likely has three projects in some form of production - Insomniac has three – *Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart*, *Spider-Man 2*, and the rumored Sunset Overdrive port or sequel - San Diego with *MLB the Show* - Bend with their new project (more below) - *Horizon Forbidden West* - Haven with Jade Raymond - Firewalk Multiplayer project - Japan Studio/Asobi Astro new game - Sucker Punch with a *Ghost of Tsushima* sequel - Polyphony *Gran Turismo 7* - Media Molecule *Dreams* PS5 port - London Studio probably with a PS VR 2 title - Pixelopus *Concrete Genie* folks - *God of War* (2018) sequel and possibly that space game? - BluePoint’s next project? By my estimation, I came up with 20 of the 25 games, but less than half a straight-up new IP. Speaking of new IP… > And you know, Bend Studio is working on a very exciting new IP that they’re very, very passionate about. They’re building on the deep open-world systems that they developed with Days Gone. So I’m really happy for Bend Studio. Interesting to specifically call out Bend, especially after the [[PlayStation’s Blockbuster Garden|reports]] they were sucked into Naughty Dog support for a brief period of time, which led to leadership departing the studio. Eager to see what is next for that team. > So we have, currently, two very big, very narrative-driven games in development: Horizon Forbidden West and the next God of War. And for both of those, they’re frankly affected by access to performance capture and talent. For Horizon, we think we are on track to release this holiday season. But that isn’t quite certain yet, and we’re working as hard as we can to confirm that to you as soon as we can. Sony seems to be keeping *Horizon*’s date very close to the chest. This helps explain why there was no mention of even a release window during the State of Play last week. > And for *God of War*, the project started a little later. So we’ve made the decision to push that game out to next year, to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing *God of War* game that we all want to play. This is not surprising at all. The real surprising *God of War* news comes next. > Where it makes sense to develop a title for both PS4 and PS5 — for *Horizon Forbidden West*, the next *God of War*, *GT7* — we’ll continue looking at that. And if PS4 owners want to play that game, then they can. If they want to go on and play the PS5 version, that game will be there for them. The [[The Cross-Generational Bottleneck|cross-generational bottleneck]] seems to be going on for a lot longer than I had hoped. It is a shame that *God of War* and *Gran Turismo 7* are cross-generational, especially when they will be released nearly two years post-PS5 launch. This fundamentally limits development potential. By 2022, the PS4 will be nine years old! How can anyone hope for solid PS4 performance and next-generation pushing features when you have to bridge a base-PS4 and the PS5? It can be done, and *God of War* will likely run fine on PS4 and great on PS5. The real detriment is the restriction it puts on potential. If the floor for development was just the PS5, the sky is the proverbial limit. With the PS4 in play, that ceiling is much, much lower. This interviews seems to be a mix of good news and disappointing news that PlayStation wanted out in front of E3. We won’t be seeing Bend’s new game in a couple weeks. *God of War* may appear, but won’t have a 2021 date and is cross-gen. It is extremely exciting to hear about 25 new games, with half being new IP. Hopefully E3 can be a brighter spot, now that some of the more disappointing news is out of the way.