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Sony has said it will not release any major existing PlayStation franchise games before April 2025.
In a financial call, Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Hiroki Totoki ruled out big new games in the God of War and Spider-Man series during the company’s next fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2025.
Totoki said: “Regarding first-party software, we aim to continue to focus on producing high-quality works and developing live service games. But while major projects are currently under development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year like God of War Ragnarok and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.”
Totoki’s comments appear to rule out everything from a Ghost of Tsushima sequel to a Horizon sequel before April 2025, which leaves a big first-party game gap in the PlayStation 5’s slate. However, Sony will of course release new first-party games for the console from new franchises, such as Haven Studios’ Fairgame$ and Firewalk Studios’ Concord, as well as non “major” franchises. There is also scope to continue to release remakes of previous big franchise titles. Sony released The Last of Us Part II Remastered earlier this year, and it seems likely other PlayStation 4 games will get similar treatment.
Meanwhile, Sony is pushing hard on so-called 'second-party' games to help flesh out the PS5's upcoming exclusive games list. It has secured Square Enix's hotly anticipated Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth as a timed PS5 exclusive, as well as eye-catching action games Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin, all of which are due out during 2024.
Totoki’s comments come after Sony confirmed PS5 sales had failed to meet expectations, despite aggressive promotions. Sony had set itself an ambitious target of selling 25 million PS5s during the current financial year, but after selling 8.2 million PS5s in the third quarter to December 31, 2023, up from 7.1 million sold in the same quarter during the previous financial year, Sony has now revised its full-year forecast to 21 million, four million short.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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