2021 has been a solid year overall for the PlayStation ecosystem. With the brand new PS5 having passed the one year benchmark, and the PS4 continuing to perform well despite being an eight-year-old console, its smooth sailing for Sony on the gaming front. The next generation of gaming is well underway, so the focus for Sony is undoubtedly on the PS5. Since its launch last November, this has been proven with a strong lineup of first-party games and third-party exclusivity deals.
The PlayStation 5 launched with Demon's Souls, a stunning remake from Bluepoint Games of the 2009 original. From here, new first party titles were sprinkled throughout the coming months, with Returnal in April, and then Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart in June. However, outside of the timed-exclusive Deathloop in September, Sony has been quiet regarding new and upcoming PlayStation exclusive games. Updates have been few over the year, outside of a State of Play event a few months back that teased both Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Marvel's Wolverine. This shouldn't concern fans however, as the lack of new information may just be the calm before the storm.
PlayStation and PS5: What's Already Known
Even with minimal information from Sony at the moment, its not as if PlayStation fans are completely in the dark as the what awaits on the horizon. Speaking of horizons, Aloy will return in another grand adventure in February with Horizon: Forbidden West. A gameplay reveal for the title back in May was stunning and sealed the deal on what was already presumed to be a stunning new experience from Guerilla Games.
Aside from this, God of War: Ragnarok is easily among the most anticipated video games of 2022, PlayStation exclusive or otherwise. This follow up to the critically acclaimed 2018 title has fans counting down the days until they can once again wield Kratos' Leviathan axe to slice bad guys to bits. If that's not enough, Insomniac is keeping its marvelous superhero run going with Marvel's Wolverine and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 in active development. These are four big games to look forward to, yet from a certain perspective, its merely a small drop compared to the usual gargantuan offerings fans have come to expect from Sony.
Turn Back the Clocks
It's worth emphasizing that the PS5's lifecycle is only a year old at this point, with plenty of room left to grow. Even though the announced titles are exciting, its safe to assume that this isn't all Sony has planned for the entirety of the PS5's shelf life. Due to the impressive quality and high level of polish, these PlayStation-exclusive games take a considerable amount of time to produce. Titles like The Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima don't happen overnight, and can take years to develop. For this reason, its worthwhile to keep these games in development as long as possible, and maybe hold off on a reveal until its in a more substantial form.
This trend of Sony keeping information close to the chest can be seen beginning a few years back. Rewind the clocks back to E3 2016, and Sony had just come off a stellar presentation, packed with incredible looking content. In one showcase, Sony had reveals for God of War, Death Stranding, Days Gone and Marvel's Spider-Man. The following E3 in 2017, most of the same games were shown again. Once E3 2018 rolled around, once again, it was mostly the same content. This isn't to discredit the quality of these games, but from a marketing point of view, Sony may have frontloaded its announcements for the sake of a mindblowing show, but sacrificed its capacity to spread out information in the coming years.
Sony seemed to understand this, as it chose to skip E3 2019, go back to the drawing board, and come up with a new gameplan leading into the next generation of consoles. It may seem like ancient history now, but there was a time not long ago when the PS5 and information regarding it was a complete mystery for months and months. Outside of the last wave of PlayStation 4 exclusives, fans had no clue what Sony was planning going forward, but this worked to the company's advantage, as it gauged interest and continued hype. Fans were anxious for any scrap of info, and once Sony did pull back the curtain, it worked out in spades.
Patience is a Virtue for PlayStation
After a good amount of time of keeping details under wraps, Sony finally showed off the PS5 in a special showcase livestream last June. Not only were details regarding the console itself shown, but a bevy of new game announcements were all included in one place. The aformentioned Demon's Souls remake was revealed in all of its glory, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales swung into action, and Sackboy: A Big Adenture was a pleasant family-friendly surprise.
Suddenly, in the span of an hour, PlayStation fans went from being in the dark to getting a ton of exciting new game reveals. Then, before the console's release, Sony held a follow-up stream in September for more information and to formally announce God of War: Ragnarok. All of these details have carried the PS5 past its launch and throughout 2021, as well as into 2022. It seems Sony's strategy going forward is to let a certain number of reveals out into the public eye, then let those titles carry them for the next while. Once all of these games have become available, it begins to show off the next wave of content.
With all of that in mind, head of PlayStation Worldwide Studios Herman Hulst has confirmed that there are over 25 PlayStation exclusive games in active development. Considering that at this time, players only know a handful of titles, this means that great things await in the coming years for PS5 owners. All that's required is a little bit of patience, and then gamers will be rewarded with another standout PlayStation console generation.