Sony has unveiled a new PlayStation Studios branding for its exclusive titles, which will be implemented alongside the PS5‘s launch in late 2020. This means a short video intro will play ahead of every PS5 game made by Sony Worldwide Studios, and feature popular characters from PlayStation history. It’s pretty similar in style to the Marvel Studios intro seen at the start of the more recent MCU movies.
The video intro features Uncharted’s Nathan Drake, Horizon Zero Dawn’s Aloy, Ratchet and Clank, Kratos from God of War, Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet and Ellie from The Last of Us. There’s no sign of PS4 platforming figure Knack, though, probably just to avoid mocking remarks in articles such as this one. Bloodborne, Spider-Man and Days Gone didn’t make the cut, either. Check out the video below:
The logo will appear in games ‘developed and managed’ by Sony’s Worldwide Studios, according to a story on GamesIndustry.biz, which can include titles developed by third-party studios. The branding won’t be rolled out in time for the upcoming PS4 releases The Last of Us 2 or Ghost of Tsushima, nor will it appear on the upcoming PC port of Horizon. If future PlayStation titles launch on other platforms, though, the branding will be included.
So, what’s the point of it?
According to Sony’s Eric Lempel, the point of the PlayStation Studios moniker is to “unite all of these great games under one brand” and give players an indicator of quality, based on titles they’ve previously enjoyed. The branding won’t just appear at the start of games. You can expect to see variations of it in trailers, too, and to see the logo on packaging.
You can also expect newer series to be featured down the line.
“The cinematic you’ve seen is the one that has multiple games in it,” Lempel told GI. “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.”
The video seems a little self-indulgent, but Sony has had a great run of form making big exclusives for its platform, which has undeniably given it the edge over Microsoft in recent years. So why not celebrate the work of the developers who brought them to life?
