🔗 Share this article

PS5 enthusiasts and detractors seldom see eye to eye.

However a single grievance that has been voiced by everyone.

"Why are there so few games?"

Big-budget, story-driven major releases from internal studios have long been the foundation to PlayStation's gaming dominance.

Throughout the PS4 era, users enjoyed a consistent flow of narrative-driven games, but the pace has seemed more like a drip since 2023's Spider-Man 2.

Yet, PlayStation's latest title – Ghost of Yōtei – marks a comeback to its successful premium formula.

The Reason for So Long?

Sucker Punch's recent offering is a sequel to 2020's samurai-era title Ghost of Tsushima, which was the final major PS4-exclusive releases from Sony.

"Games need a long time to develop, so it's a major chunk of your time," notes the creative director.

Ghost of Yōtei transfers the story a several hundred miles to the north, to the island of Honshū region, and the setting a few hundred years forward, to 1603.

In this installment, the plot revolves around Atsu, a female warrior on a journey to obtain retribution against the Yōtei Six – a faction of rulers accountable for her kin's death.

Building on a previous game to build on, it's not quite a completely fresh foundation but, Fox clarifies, the game is still a huge effort.

Merely introducing a different protagonist, for example, requires work from writers, character animators and character designers, to cite a handful of the roles required.

Internally there are numerous additional specialists.

An Enormous Team Project

Even though the studio has approximately 200 staff at its studio near Seattle, many hundreds are involved in its games.

The list of contributors for Ghost of Tsushima, for instance, included approximately over 1,800 people.

Several of them were from abroad, or from outside studios that focus in specific specialized areas.

"Making a title calls for various distinct skills, from incredibly technical people... to individuals who are extremely focused on narrative, like our writers," comments Fox.

"Furthermore all these groups function with co-ordination. It's similar to directing an symphony.

"We need to have all of the components aligning."

The creative director notes that a overwhelming array of factors can go into a single moment – from music to the programming that makes leaves drift across the environment at a pivotal juncture.

"Each group need to have a understanding of the end goal," concludes the director.

A Shift in Strategy

Clear leadership is something fans have accused the brand of not having in recent times.

With its former head, Jim Ryan, the branch initiated development on twelve online multiplayer games, known as "ongoing" games in the industry.

Several of the top games, such as Epic's battle royale, the user-generated game and the FPS series, retain fans hooked for months and produce huge sums of income.

The company has had a hit in the area with last year's Helldivers II, but a unsuccessful disappointment with Concord, which was shut down only a fortnight after its debut.

The company has afterward cancelled online projects using several of its biggest series, like God of War and The Last of Us.

Chasing the multiplayer market is a plan the company has admitted is not completely "on track", but it's said some releases with online elements, such as the racing series and MLB game MLB: The Show, have been successful.

The highlights of its most recent showcase event were Saros, a sequel to the earlier Returnal, and the long-awaited Marvel's Wolverine title from Spider-Man maker Insomniac – the two solo titles.

Debate and Attention

High-profile games can also be magnets for controversy, as the developer not long ago found when a developer's joke about the passing of right-wing American figure Charlie Kirk triggered a reaction.

The developer finally fired the individual responsible, and founder Brian Fleming commented that "celebrating or trivializing a person's murder is a deal-breaker for the company", when asked about it.

A number of conservative video game personalities have furthermore targeted Ghost of Yōtei for featuring a female protagonist.

The director says it was an "unusual decision", but key to the tale the developers set out to share of an outsider challenging society's norms.

When the story advances, the character's reputation as an supernatural being – a vengeful apparition found in Eastern tradition – increases.

"People think it can't be a female would have eliminated figures of the six warlords unless she is a otherworldly {creature|