PlayStation will "always" make single-player narrative games, says studio exec

Screenshots from Horizon Forbidden West running on PS5 — (Image credit: Sony)

PlayStation will continue to make gripping single-player adventures while building its catalogue of live service games.

Sony recently acquired Haven Studios, a development team led by Assassin's Creed veteran Jade Raymond. The team's first game will be a "modern multiplayer experience", which continues Sony's investment in multiplayer and live service games.

This might seem like a step away from the company's roots, but Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst has confirmed that PlayStation will continue to create the kind of single-player story-driven titles that the platform is renowned for.

During an interview with gamesindustry.biz, Hulst says, "Obviously we will always carry on making these single-player narrative-based games such as Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us, and Horizon Forbidden West."

While the likes of Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West have dominated PlayStation's marketing campaigns for its new generation of games, the company is committed to continuing to diversify its catalogue with more multiplayer-focused titles in the future.

"We have invested in live service games, because that's incredibly exciting for us", Hulst explains. "It allows us to build larger worlds, it allows us to create really meaningful social connections between players."

Raymond expressed her enthusiasm for working under the PlayStation umbrella and voiced her thoughts on the brand's success, "PlayStation has its own unique secret sauce to getting to those amazing games", says Raymond. It's not by chance that you see so many 90+ blockbusters [from Sony]."

And whether it's single-player or live service games that PlayStation's studios are making, they don't intend on changing the ingredients of that secret sauce any time soon. "We carry on doing what we've always done," Hulst says. "We're always on the look out for fresh new experiences."

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Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and Games Radar. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.