While we still know next to nothing about PlayStation 5 and the games it will have when it launches this holiday season, Sony has announced that it will be making a big change to its branding for first-party games with the system, as it will be rebranding Sony Worldwide Studios as PlayStation Studios from here on out.
It’s worth noting this won’t apply to The Last of Us: Part II or Ghost of Tsushima, as the rebranding won’t happen until the PlayStation 5 launches. So what does this mean for you? Not much, but any games that come from Sony’s stable of studios will now sport this fancy new logo signifying they’re from a first party company:
Along with the branding on the cover, there will be a new animation that plays when you boot up any of these games, which is evocative of a the Marvel Cinematic Universe opening (which Sony acknowledged in an interview with GameIndustry.biz). It features shots of games like Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, The Last of Us, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Ratchet & Clank and LittleBigPlanet, but Sony will alter it as time goes on, adding new, recognizable games to it, and in the case of long-running franchises, they might use the animation to showcase the series’ previous entries as you boot up the newest game.
“The cinematic you’ve seen is the one that has multiple games in it,” says Sony’s Eric Lempel. “But over time, as we introduce well established franchises, we can tailor that opening a bit to possibly show the franchise over the years, new characters that have come into play… There’s a lot we can do that we’re really excited about.”
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Given that every game featured in the animation right now is either a PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 game, it will be interesting to see how long it takes Sony to fill it up with PS5 games. It could depend on whether or not some of these games get the reception Sony’s going for by presenting these first-party games as these prestige things worth showcasing in this way. As dope as that game is, I have a hard time seeing Sony put The Order: 1886 on one of these reels because its general reception was not that great, and if the PlayStation 5 takes as long to get a handful of notable exclusives as the PlayStation 4 did, I guess we’ll see when those games start to make their way into the animation as time goes on.
Also, it’s kind of whack that Naughty Dog gets two slots. Yeah, Uncharted and The Last of Us are probably the biggest PS4 exclusives, but Sony’s got plenty of studios with recognizable games and characters that deserve some love too. Show me Infamous: Second Son’s Delsin Rowe zipping through the logo, Sony. It’s the least you can do since you left Sly Cooper to die.
