Hermen Hulst has been head of PlayStation Studios for about 17 months, but despite being on the job for over a year, he hasn't been around for a single Sony E3 keynote. That's about to change starting next week, and to set the stage, Hulst just did a wide-ranging interview for the Official PlayStation Podcast that talks about the future of PlayStation Studios.
The big question for Hulst was just how many new games are in development. "Well, we have a lot going on right now," Hulst replied. "PlayStation Studios has more than 25 titles in development. Almost half of these are new IPs. The other half, they’re titles that are set in franchises that PlayStation fans already know and love."
Hulst said that "new IP is incredibly important to us" and that he wants to encourage PlayStation Studios to be "daring" and "take risks."
As for what those new IPs might be, the only clue Hulst provided was for Bend Studio, which is "working on a very exciting new IP" that builds on the open-world systems of Days Gone. Other than that, your guess is as good as ours.
It’s also possible that not every new IP in development will be for the PS5, either. Hulst promised that the PS4 “very much is" a factor in future game development, noting Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, and God of War 2 will all straddle the PS4 and PS5. This seems to tacitly acknowledge the fact that PS5 penetration will be slow due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage preventing them from making enough to meet sky-high demand.
However, we should note that Hulst only named sequels for the PS4, and that "it’s also very important to have showpieces for PS5, hence the development of Returnal and Ratchet that are exclusive to PS5."
PC players will also have something to look forward to. Hulst said Sony is still in the early planning phases for its PC strategy but did at least hint that more PlayStation Studios titles will make the journey to PC.
"But I want to emphasize that PlayStation will remain the best place to play our PlayStation Studios titles at launch," Hulst added.