In a recent interview with Japanese publication Nikkei (translated by VGC), Jim Ryan, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s President, explained that the company has been working to bring more PS5 exclusives than ever before.
“We have been quietly but steadily investing in high-quality games for PlayStation, and we will make sure that the PS5 generation will have more dedicated software than ever before,” Ryan said. This will be welcome news to PlayStation fans since, to date, there have been few meaningful PS5 exclusives to speak of. Returnal, which launches at the end of the month, is the only one of note for 2021 so far.
Ryan went on to say that the company has “repeatedly engaged in mergers and acquisitions, including Insomniac Games in the U.S. We will not rule out that option in the future,” indicating that Sony is in the market for more first-party studios to fill the void of PS5 exclusives that should be swimming with titles such as Ratchet and Clank.
In addition to Returnal and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, 2021 should see the release of Horizon: Forbidden West from Guerrilla Games, as well as possibly God of War: Ragnarök. Gran Turismo 7 was delayed to 2022 in February, which disappointed many fans of the PlayStation exclusive series.
Ryan’s statements on investing in games seem at odds with the closure of Sony Japan Studio earlier this year. Despite that closure, Ryan insists that “we will continue to strengthen our ties with Japanese developers and release content for PS5 that fits the Japanese market.”
Jim Ryan also commented on the supply of PS5 consoles worldwide. He outlined that the pandemic caused many unforeseen complications, and the online distribution pipelines were limited. Suppliers have now been instructed to increase output, which, Ryan says, will flow into the market this year.
Finally, Ryan outlined how “a whole slate” of PlayStation exclusive games are already being developed for PC. Days Gone is set to hit PC on May 18, and this makes it seem as though many more titles will follow.
