Sony’s next-generation console, the PlayStation 5 is just around the corner. With a Holiday 2020 release window, it’s time to speculate what consumers will see in this new machine from some of Sony’s own studios and their development partners.
1. Next-gen is on the Horizon
Guerrilla Games is a prolific member of PlayStation Studios. A collection of game developers that Sony owns. In 2017, Guerrilla launched “Horizon: Zero Dawn” on PS4. An action role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world that is overrun by robotic dinosaurs and animals.
With 10 million sales as of Feb. 2019, it is completely natural for “Horizon” to expect a sequel on PS5. “Horizon” would be the perfect game to showcase the visual fidelity and performance of the new hardware. The game’s character models, environments, and combat segments were top notch on PS4.
Guerrilla is not a stranger to console launches. “Killzone: Shadow Fall” was a launch title for PS4 back in 2013. While “Horizon 2” is not guaranteed to be a launch title for PS5, it is likely we will see it within its first year on the market.
2. The return of the Dynamic Duo
Insomniac Games was a long-time partner of Sony before they were ought right acquired by them last year. The last PlayStation game Insomniac released was “Spider-Man,” which met both critical and financial success selling over 13.2 million units as of July 2019. While a sequel to “Spider-Man” is a given, it seems likely the studio will return to “Ratchet & Clank” first.
“Ratchet & Clank” is an action platformer franchise that started on PS2. The game is about an alien creature, known as a Lombax, and his robot companion going on adventures in space. It seems like the perfect family-friendly title to launch with PS5.
When Sony bought Insomniac, they mentioned that “Ratchet & Clank” was one of the franchises they wanted to focus on. “Ratchet & Clank’s” PS4 release is also the best-selling game in the entire series. It makes complete sense for Sony to bring this iconic franchise to PS5.
3. The soul of a Demon
BluePoint Games is another strong partner that Sony has in video games. Even though they are independent, Most of BluePoint’s games have released exclusively on PlayStation such as remasters of “God of War,” “Uncharted,” and a full-blown remake of “Shadow of the Colossus.” It’s highly speculated that BluePoint is working on a remake of “Demon's Souls.”
“Demon’s Souls” was an exclusive role-playing game on PS3 that was made by FromSoftware. It is considered the start of the Souls genre which is a type of game that is supposed to be very challenging. The game itself is about an adventurer that is tasked with recusing a kingdom from an entity known as “The Old One” and its demon army.
Sony seems quite interested in the Souls genre. Sony would team up with FromSoftware again to make “Bloodborne” on PS4. Sony would also go on to publish Team Ninja’s “Nioh” and its sequel on PS4. A Souls game exclusive to PS5 seems possible.
4. Back on the Track
Polyphony Digital is Sony’s racing team and a long-time member of PlayStation Studios. They are responsible for “Gran Turismo,” a racing simulation series. The last installment, “Gran Turismo Sport” launched on PS4 in 2017 with Virtual Reality support. Sony having a new racing game ready at launch would be perfect for PS5.
Racing games are another great way to show what new hardware is capable of on a performance level because they are capable of displaying almost life-like graphics. “Gran Turismo’s” biggest competitor in this space is Xbox’s “Forza” series. Microsoft has used “Forza” in the past to launch new hardware. Sony can counter them with a new “Gran Turismo” game.
5. A Journey back into the Mist
Sony’s Japan Studio is their oldest game development arm with a long history starting with the original PlayStation. It is heavily speculated that this studio is working on a “Silent Hill” reboot exclusively for PS5.
“Silent Hill” is an iconic horror franchise from Konami that is about a haunted, mist covered American town that is able to manifest the subconscious of its residence and visitors in frightening ways. Just like with “Spider-Man,” Sony does not own this franchise, however in recent activities with Konami, it was indicated a deal might have been made.
Konami’s “Castlevania Requiem” was developed by Sony and released exclusively on PS4. Keiichiro Toyama who is the creator of “Silent Hill” is currently an employee at Japan Studio.
“The team is excited to reveal it, the game is PS5 exclusive and it's in a playable state,” said Dusk Golem, a credible game industry insider who believes this “Silent Hill” game is real.
An exclusive “Silent Hill” game would be a perfect catch for PS5. It will attract horror fans to the console, and it will resurrect a beloved franchise in video games.
Improving Greatness
While players have not seen the final design of the console, PS5 is set to be a gigantic jump over the PS4 with 10.28 Teraflops of computing power, a custom AMD GPU architecture based on RDNA 2, and a super-fast SSD (Solid State Drive) that is capable of drastically improving load times in games to the point where they may be non-existent.
All of this new technology will come together to create new games that were not achievable on previous hardware. Even PS4 games being played on PS5 will look and run better thanks to PS5’s Backwards Compatibility support.
Sony revealed PS5’s controller on April 7. The “DuelSense” contains new features that PS4’s controller doesn't have such as haptic feedback, 3D Audio support, and a built-in microphone for multiplayer games.