Sony to release its own games under new PlayStation Studios brandmerk
Games created by Sony’s own studios, including Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Santa Monica Studio and Guerrilla Games, will be released under the PlayStation Studios banner in the future. That will start as soon as the PlayStation 5 comes out.
Sony shows an opening video on YouTube that will be shown with games that are made by its own studios. It incorporates footage from Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Horizon: Zero Dawn and The Last of Us. Those games are all made by studios owned by Sony. Until now, those studios have used their own names and logos in the games, but that will change with the introduction of PlayStation Studios.
By presenting the games all under the same banner, Sony wants to emphasize that the games are their own productions. The PlayStation Studios logo will appear on the packaging and discs of the respective games. Sony told GamesIndustry.biz that consumers know they can expect an “innovative and in-depth experience” when they buy a game with such a logo.
The brand will also be used in trailers and advertisements. This will all start with the introduction of the PlayStation 5, which should be released around the holidays. Sony’s own PlayStation 4 games will also be provided with the new brand.
The Last of Us Part II and Ghosts of Tsushima, games from Sony studios that will be released this summer, are not yet getting the new logos. The same goes for the PC version of Horizon Zero Dawn, but Sony does say that future games for other platforms will also have the PlayStation Studios logo. Games made by studios temporarily hired by Sony are also provided with the new brand.
Sony is doing good business with its first party titles. Millions of copies of the games are sold and they generally receive high ratings from reviewers and gamers. According to Sony, however, in the current situation, consumers do not always realize that such games are made by Sony itself.
Sony already used the name SIE Worldwide Studios. That is the business unit under which the own studios fall. The new brand is mainly intended for marketing to consumers. Microsoft also shares its own brand under an umbrella name: Xbox Game Studios. However, in the marketing of games from those studios, the names of the individual developers are also used, just as is now the case with PlayStation games.