Herman Hulst Promises Sony Will Deliver "At Least One" Singleplayer Tentpole Game A Year

Functionally speaking, some of the games in this list, like Nioh, are still with PlayStation - only the name of the publisher on the box has changed from Sony to Koei Tecmo.
Actually, it was always Koei Tecmo. Sony just handled localization outside of Japan, it was never a WWS production.
 
Yes they're saying this now because it is now a hit, but they weren't calling it a big franchise in the actual FY when they were gearing up to release it.
You have to look at it in the context of having to explain to investors why you will see a big decrease in first-party revenue coming from having both Spider-Man 2 and Helldivers 2 in the last FY. They were already heavily mentioning Astro Bot as one of the emergent series in last year's Business Segment Presentation.
 
Being annoying is not a virtue.
You are either on a payroll or in a strapped jacked in a padded cell because no one is that much of a fanboy. And no Death Stranding 2 and Rise of Ronin doesn't count, Death Stranding 1 is on Xbox for fuck's sake
 
You have to look at it in the context of having to explain to investors why you will see a big decrease in first-party revenue coming from having both Spider-Man 2 and Helldivers 2 in the last FY. They were already heavily mentioning Astro Bot as one of the emergent series in last year's Business Segment Presentation.
I am merely trying to point out that context lol.
 
Eh, they have consistently delivered at least one (and usually more) big single player game every year in the last five:

  • 2020: The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima
  • 2021: Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, Returnal
  • 2022: Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok
  • 2023: Spider-Man 2
  • 2024: Astro-Bot
  • 2025: Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yotei
They did fuck up 2023 and 2024 in terms of "tentpoles" (though 2024 still has a lot of cool smaller stuff), but otherwise they have been reasonably consistent.
Throw Gran Turismo in there as well. People just don't like video games.
 
Herman
Get Out Theatre GIF by Tony Awards
 
Looking at people's lists above, they do 1-2 big SP games per year though I wouldnt put Returnal/R&C big enough to be tentpole games. And one is a remake of a game that came out during the PS3 generation. Never the less, overall there is roughly 1+ per year.

Problem is they're almost all just big franchise sequels.

Where's all the big new IPs like they'd do in previous gens?
 
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2026 - The Last Of Us: Part I Remaster
2027 - The Last Of Us: Part II Ultimate Director's Cut
2028 - The Last Of Us: Part I Redux
2027 - The Last Of Us: Part II Hyper Ultimate Director's Cut Remaster

Wanna bet if TLOUSpart2 will get a PS6 version?

I mean, they showed TLOUSpart2 at PS5pro presentation... a PS4 game.
 
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Where's all the big new IPs like they'd do in previous gens?
Intergalactic 2027
Barlog 2028

That's it for 1st party tentpole new IP. Wolverine also 2026 if you count licensed games. Then X-Men 2030 is my guess. Then maybe Sucker Punch's 1st PS6 game.

New IP AA games, Returnal, Saros, Astro Bot. Media Molecule whatever.
 
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I'm expecting 2 will be the norm moving forward.

Yotei & DS2 this year.
Wolverine, Token & Saros next
Intergalatic & SSM new IP are 2027.
 
I dunno, man. That list kind of crystalizes how dull Sony's output has gotten. I do agree that they need to supplement it with smaller stuff that experiments with a broader range of genres and that feels a bit more focused than the "one-size-fits-all" approach that most of their 1p games have taken for the last decade.
Returnal is a roguelike.
Helldivers 2 is a PVE multiplayer.
Astro Bot is a platformer.
Gran Turismo 7 is a racing.

And they are developing Saros (another roguelike), Marvel Tokon (fighting) and publishing Nioh 3.

Honestly, I don't know how many people can be so blind to about some things.

PS5 output is better than PS4 easily. Better games overall and of a more diverse genres.
 
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One tentpole for year in a 7 year gen.. 7 games. Sounds about right for this new sony
I want two games a year please, one wouldn't be enough for all that period on one platform.
One remake of a remaster per year it is then.

This year said they plan to release at least a tentpole title in the best selling part of the year (holidays season). Last year he said they plan to release at least a tentpole title during the holidays season.

This doesn't mean they will only release only one tentpole title per year, or only a just a single game per year. As an example, in 2025 they will have (at least announced) Death Stranding 2, Lost Soul Aside and Yotei, being that last one in the one for holidays season. In addition to this, they also have the live service games, as this year should be (if not delayed) MLB, Marathon, Midnight Murder Club and Convallaria.

As I remember for 2026 they have (at least announced) the tentpoles Saros and Wolverine. and the live service Marvel Tokon.
 
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I never like him as a Sony boss. But on the bright side , looks like he is not the decision maker anymore but more like a spokesman.
He's the head of PS Studios. In the practically impossible case that he doesn't have the weight that title entails, it means someone who we don't know is actually running 1st party. Just as if not more dangerous.

As I remember for 2026 they have (at least announced) the tentpoles Saros and Wolverine. and the live service Marvel Tokon.
Saros is not going to be a tentpole bro.
Tokon is there, yeah. Wolverine isn't confirmed for anything at all. At this stage, I won't be surprised if it releases in 2027.
 
blow-mind-mind-blown.gif


OMG! Did I read that right!? A WHOLE GAME PER YEAR????

What a fucking commitment right there, Sonybros celebrate, you get 1 Game from Sony Interactive Entertainment per year, imagine that...

Now you can play an actual game between the GAAS flops that keep filling up, enjoy 👍
 
blow-mind-mind-blown.gif


OMG! Did I read that right!? A WHOLE GAME PER YEAR????

What a fucking commitment right there, Sonybros celebrate, you get 1 Game from Sony Interactive Entertainment per year, imagine that...

Now you can play an actual game between the GAAS flops that keep filling up, enjoy 👍
I wouldn't be so proud of those reading skills.
 
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What was the poitn of buying such an expensive console if there's not going to be any big software first party game made by that company? It's just a brick otherwise.

I had rather they ask for a 100 dollars for each game if it causes them to actually produce more.
 
Saros is not going to be a tentpole bro.
Tokon is there, yeah. Wolverine isn't confirmed for anything at all. At this stage, I won't be surprised if it releases in 2027.
Saros is going to be a tentpole 100%: Housemarque is listed under single player studios. Wolverine is confirmed as not FY25 PS5 game and in the leaks appeared as 2026 game.

Tokon is going to be a live service game like any other modern fighting game. So not a tentpole.
 
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Saros is going to be a tentpole 100%: Housemarque is listed under single player studios. Wolverine is confirmed as not FY25 PS5 game and in the leaks appeared as 2026 game.
Their last game struggled to sell 1 million. Saros is not going to boost that ridiculously. It'll probably sell less than Astro Bot. Look at the trailer views.
 
In hindsight was Sony wasting this gen with gaas an actual good thing? Now that we witnessed so many failures, so much money lost for Sony on Gaas, maybe this gives them now a clean slate for next gen in regards to not seeing Gaas anymore or mostly gone. Maybe we'll start to see maybe a ratio of 80%-20% in the favour of single player games. Or maybe that number can even be further to like 90%-10%.
 
Uh huh, and does tentpole include remakes are just new IPs? Also can we have Astrobot Rescue Mission remastered to the PSVR2? I'm amazed this hasn't happened yet.
 
One damn game a year, no wonder why they wanna charge 90 bucks for them. How the days of older generations have passed
It's funny, isn't it? Last time I checked, the majority of gamers were tired of bloated open-world games. Yet, Sony's approach seems to be to make their titles bigger and bigger. Then they complain about rising development costs, claiming that's why games are becoming more expensive. How about not letting the budget get insane and instead following your "recent existing success"?
 
Their last game struggled to sell 1 million. Saros is not going to boost that ridiculously. It'll probably sell less than Astro Bot. Look at the trailer views.
It was a weird niche game, new IP and a next gen only PS5 exclusive for its launch window from devs who until now made only small games, so obviously it would be stupid to expect it to sell like GTAV.

We don't know the Returnal sales until now, but Sony got so happy with them when launching the game that bought their studio a month after shipping the game.

PS5 now has a way bigger install base and Returnal generated a good word of mouth. So pretty likely this one will sell better.

Like Returnal, Rift Apart, Astro or Stellar Blade, pretty likely won't sell many millions of copies but pretty likely will sell a few of them, will be profitable and will win some awards. So Sony will be happy with it.

Uh huh, and does tentpole include remakes are just new IPs? Also can we have Astrobot Rescue Mission remastered to the PSVR2? I'm amazed this hasn't happened yet.
Hermen originally refered as 'tentpole' to new SP AAA games, the traditional big PS Studios game like as could be a new GoW or DS2.

I assume he originally counted Astro Bot as 'experimental' instead (smaller games targeting new genres/audiences/platforms not dominated by their 1st party). But after it won so many awards I think he promoted it to 'tentpole'.

I assume remasters don't count as tentpole, and anything related to VR counts as 'experimental'.

But well, if Astro has been so successful I assume they'll now will want to milk it. A Rescue Mission port would be great, but according to their studio head it was complicated because the PSVR1 headset had the camera in the TV and PSVR2 in the headset, which since this game did use head movement as important game mechanic complicates the port considerably.

Other than this, they didn't announce any 1st or 2nd party game for PSVR2 since a lot of time ago, maybe because didn't sell enough to justify them. And may consider that the potential sales of this remaster maybe wouldn't be enough to make the remaster profitable.

In hindsight was Sony wasting this gen with gaas an actual good thing? Now that we witnessed so many failures, so much money lost for Sony on Gaas, maybe this gives them now a clean slate for next gen in regards to not seeing Gaas anymore or mostly gone. Maybe we'll start to see maybe a ratio of 80%-20% in the favour of single player games. Or maybe that number can even be further to like 90%-10%.
They 'didn't waste this gen with GaaS'. MLB, GT7, Destiny 2 and Helldivers 2 are very successful, pretty likely having already providing enough profit to fund budgets of the failed, cancelled, not greenlighted and remaining half a dozen GaaS to be published. It's a successful and profitable initiative before releasing its the second half.

It didn't affect the budget of the non-GaaS games, which also increased. The GaaS initiative was an investment with a separate budget made on top.

From what they released last year and what they have planned for this and next year, seems that their idea is to release a couple of GaaS per year: one backed by top tier devs or IPs and another one more experimental / niche.

They are expanding their 1st/2nd party both in GaaS and non-GaaS to cover all the main genres / audience segment in each business model.

1 singleplayer tentpole game every year and 2 live service dumpster fires as well. I bet people can't wait for Fairgame$ and Marathon.
Regarding tentpoles, their idea isn't '1 per year', it's 'at least 1 per holiday season'.

As an example, this year they'll release minimum (more can be announced) 3 tentpole games: Death Stranding 2, Lost Soul Aside and Ghost of Yotei, being the Yotei one the one for holidays.

For next year they'll have minimum (more can be announced) Saros and Wolverine, being pretty likely Wolverine the one for holidays.
 
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Like Returnal, Rift Apart, Astro or Stellar Blade, pretty likely won't sell many millions of copies but pretty likely will sell a few of them, will be profitable and will win some awards. So Sony will be happy with it.
Sony can be as happy as they like, I'm not, and most of the base isn't.
 
What was the poitn of buying such an expensive console if there's not going to be any big software first party game made by that company? It's just a brick otherwise.

I had rather they ask for a 100 dollars for each game if it causes them to actually produce more.
Oh no, the PS5 isn't dropping a first party blockbuster every time you sneeze? Must be a brick, right? Totally useless... except for, y'know, the hundreds of amazing third-party games it plays better, faster, and prettier than anything from last gen
 
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