Sony just shared its plans to release "major" single-player titles annually starting in 2025 to give players more options to choose from.
The news comes as the video game publisher's high-profile live-service games have been struggling to make a big impact. This also follows the cancellation of developer Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer title.
Major Single-Player Games
Another unfavorable development was Sony's recently released and canceled hero shooter, Concord, which also led to the closure of its creator, Firewalk Studios. The situation forced Sony to reaffirm its commitment to major single-player games.
Sony finance and IR chief Sadahiko Hayakawa talked during an investor call, noting that there are no major first-party titles released before the end of the company's financial year which ends in March 2025.
He added they still plan to put out major single-player titles annually from the next fiscal year onwards, according to IGN.
During that same call, Hayakawa mentioned developer Sucker Punch's upcoming Ghost of Yotei game.
This is the sequel to the studio's successful 2020 game, Ghost of Tsushima. The next entry in the franchise is expected to come out sometime in 2025. This would qualify it as one of the "major" titles Sony plans to launch.
Sony is also setting up to publish Death Stranding 2: On The Beach by Kojima Productions as a PlayStation 5 exclusive. The game by legendary video game creator Hideo Kojima is expected to come out sometime next year as well.
Putting More Games Every Year
The company also said that it expects its sales and profits to decline during the second half of the current fiscal year.
This is primarily because of a lack of major releases. This comes as during the same time last year, Sony put out Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Helldivers 2, PlayStation Lifestyle said.
Sony also said that it is making steady progress in developing various new titles as well as improving its live-service game processes. It revealed that the plans to release major single-player games yearly will start with Ghost of Yotei in 2025.
It is not a new thing for the video game company to commit to releasing single-player games. Hermen Hulst said in May 2024 that every calendar year, they plan to have at least one tentpole single-player launch when the holiday season comes around.
This was allegedly to showcase the PlayStation 5 business and brand. It was also due to that time being the peak purchasing season for games across the community, according to Games Radar.