As we prepare for a new console generation to hit and as Sony gears up for the launch of the PS5 later this year, they’ve rebranded their entire first party umbrella in pretty significant fashion. Previously called SIE Worldwide Studios, all Sony first parties and their games have now been rebranded under the PlayStation Studios umbrella.
A new opening animation for the same has also been revealed. It’s very Marvel-esque, representing the likes of Horizon: Zero Dawn, LittleBigPlanet, Uncharted, God of War, Ratchet and Clank, and more. But while the similarities to the Marvel Studios animation are plain to see, Sony says the inspiration for this actually came from their own games.
Speaking to GamesIndustry, Eric Lempel, senior vice president and head of global marketing at Sony Interactive Entertainment said: “What we really wanted to do was create a way to bring the consumer into the world. When they play our games that’s the nice robust piece that happens, and then you’re transported into an adventure with rich worlds, old characters, and really captivating stories. We’re all huge Marvel fans. One of our biggest games of all time has a Marvel character in it with Spider-Man. But this is really about doing something specific for our games and our industry.”
Lempel says that the current cinematic is not set in stone, and as Sony’s studios introduce more new franchises and characters, they’ll keep tailoring the cinematic as well.
“The cinematic you’ve seen is the one that has multiple games in it,” he said. “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 PlayStation Studios branding will adorn all Sony games on the PS5, but the branding will also be applied to games developed with non-PlayStation studios as Sony partners, and PlayStation exclusives.
“If our studios are managing the production of these games and working with an external developer, it will still come out under the PlayStation Studios brand,” Lempel said. “It doesn’t mean that we outright own the developer, but it just means we brought it up as a first-party. In a lot of cases we don’t own the developer.”
According to Lempel, the purpose of this rebranding and new imagery 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.”
“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,” he said. “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.”
A PS5 reveal event is rumoured to take place in early June (a report pegs the exact date as June 4), and it’s possible that we’ll be seeing new first party reveals soon. If we do, we’ll be seeing this new cinematic not long from now.