Sony Reportedly Shifting First Party Development Focus onto PS5

By Joe Skrebels

Sony is apparently having its first-party studios focus on PlayStation 5 game development, but we may not see the fruits of that labour for some time.

Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad – who has previously reported inside information ahead of official confirmation – took to ResetEra to explain that, “in general, most of the focus for Sony [first party studios] is on PS5 right now. It is still early to talk about next gen but I imagine we’ll hear some whispers come out of GDC.”

He added that “PS5 dev kits are out there and I’ve heard positive things about it.”

Sony has already officially confirmed that work’s begun on creating a PS5, and several third-party publishers, including Square Enix, Bethesda and Activision are openly working on next-gen games.

In fact, a reported 18% of developers are actively developing for the next console generation, and it’s no surprise that Sony’s studios would be a part of that.

It seems as though we shouldn’t expect much in the way of news this year, however. Ahmad explains that 2019 will be another successful year for Sony’s current console, and that the company still has “a couple of unannounced games (already existing IP) with PS4 in mind”.

That might not be an industry standard, however. Some expect a new Xbox iteration to be revealed this year, with two models of the (codenamed) Xbox Scarlett rumoured to be released in 2020.

Joe Skrebels is IGN’s UK Deputy Editor, and he still wants PS5 to be a shoe with a projector in it. Follow him on Twitter.