Sony unveils new PlayStation Studios brand to accompany PS5 launch

By Oscar Dayus,

Sony has unveiled a new brand to be attached to all its first-party games. The company will label all exclusive games with the new PlayStation Studios logo, indicating they've come from its array of internal developers. In addition, all exclusive games will begin with an animation similar to the one shown in the video below.

"Over the last few years - and even the last decade - the strength of the titles coming out from our studios has been stronger than ever," Eric Lempel, Sony Interactive Entertainment's senior vice president and head of global marketing, told GamesIndstry.biz. "We have been thinking about how we unite all of these great games under one brand, and really the purpose of that is to make the consumer understand that, when they see this brand, they're getting ready for a robust, innovative, deep experience that they've come to expect from games coming from PlayStation. So we came up with PlayStation Studios."

"You've seen the animated asset that will exist primarily during the beginning of our titles, but the brand will exist in a lot of different places. There are different, shorter animations that will exist in trailers... It will exist in advertising. It will be in any other creative assets, such as the game packaging and the game discs themselves.

"We think this is a good way to let consumers know that, if they see it, then the quality games they've come to expect from us are here. And this brand will exist for well-known existing franchises, as well as brand new franchises that we have yet to explore."

The new logo will appear on all titles from first-party developers such as Naughty Dog and Guerrilla Games. It will also incorporate games that are made in conjunction with for-hire studios, where those games' productions are managed by Sony.

The brand will not launch in time for the releases of The Last of Us: Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, or Horizon: Zero Dawn on PC. Instead, it will go live alongside the launch of the PlayStation 5, which Sony maintains will come at some point in 2020.

Lempel added: "The cinematic you've seen is the one that has multiple games in it. 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." He goes on to say a large reason for the new brand is to reinforce to people that lots of their favourite games are all published by Sony itself.

It seems the new brand will be a consumer-facing logo focused on the games themselves, while the list of developers Sony owns will continue to be known collectively as Sony Worldwide Studios. That list contains, among others, the following developers: Bend, Guerrilla, Insomniac, Japan, London, Media Molecule, Naughty Dog, Polyphony, San Diego, Santa Monica, and Sucker Punch.

The move is similar to one taken by Microsoft last year, when the company rebranded Microsoft Studios to Xbox Game Studios. That came as Microsoft bolstered its roster of first-party studios with a number of acquisitions and foundations of new developers.

Written by Oscar Dayus

Oscar is the acting editor of both TrueAchievements and TrueTrophies. He's written for GameSpot, Vice, PCGamesN, Pocket Gamer, VideoGamer, and, to be honest, too many others to name. Send him good memes, if you like.