The number of studios working under the overarching PlayStation Studios name has increased dramatically in recent years. Its many development studios, including Insomniac Games, Santa Monica Studios, and Naughty Dog, have put out some of the most well-regarded games of the last two decades. In a recent interview for the PlayStation Blog, Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, said that there are currently more than 25 games in development, almost half of which are completely new IPs.
Hulst pointed out one example in Bend Studio, who are "working on a very exciting new IP that they're very, very passionate about." Bend Studio is the development studio behind Days Gone, and while Hulst did not specifically mention what the project is, he did say that the studio is "building on the deep open-world systems that they developed with Days Gone." He said that PlayStation Studios should take risks and make games that "wouldn't be made anywhere else."
Hulst has been the head of PlayStation Studios since November 2019, after spending many years as the managing director of Guerrilla Games. Guerrilla Games is the development studio behind the Horizon franchise, as well as the Killzone franchise, both of which Hulst helped to oversee. He has plenty of experience creating new IPs – however, Hulst also pointed out that new IPs are just one part of the overall plan for PlayStation Studios in the coming years.
In the interview, Hulst stressed PlayStation Studios' commitment to new IPs while also looking to the entire PlayStation catalog. The sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn was announced during the first few months of Hulst being the new head of PlayStation Studios, for example, as well as Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Most of the 25 games in development at PlayStation Studios will be in already-established franchises, but the other half will be fresh original IPs.
Hulst also gave some insights into how PlayStation Studios operates in general, their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how PlayStation Studios works with partner developers. There are 13 teams officially under the PlayStation Studios umbrella, but Sony also makes partnerships with other studios, like FromSoftware, to work on exclusive games. Bloodborne is one example of a PlayStation exclusive developed outside of PlayStation Studios.
Interestingly, Hulst says that he thinks "there is no difference" in calling partner studios part of PlayStation Studios, although they are not owned or operated by Sony. It's likely that most of these new IPs will be created by in-house developer studios, but there's a good chance that some of the 25 games in development will be created with outside partners.
Source: PlayStation.Blog