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Sony supporters and critics rarely agree.

But one particular grievance which has been expressed by everyone.

"Why are there so few games?"

Big-budget, solo major releases from in-house developers have historically been the foundation to Sony's gaming popularity.

During the PS4 era, fans received a consistent flow of narrative-driven games, but that has seemed more like a drip since 2023's Spider-Man 2.

But, Sony's latest release – Ghost of Yōtei – marks a reversion to its proven blockbuster formula.

What Took So Long?

Sucker Punch's newest game is a follow-up to 2020's samurai-era title Ghost of Tsushima, which was the final big PlayStation-only games from Sony.

"Titles need a considerable duration to develop, so it's an enormous chunk of your career," says Fox.

Ghost of Yōtei relocates the action a hundreds of miles northward, to the Honshū area, and the setting a few hundred years forward, to 1603.

This time, the narrative follows Atsu, a woman fighter on a journey to obtain vengeance against the Yōtei Six – a band of rulers to blame for her clan's murder.

Building on a earlier release to build on, it's not a brand new start but, Nate clarifies, the game is still a enormous undertaking.

Simply creating a different hero, for instance, demands input from authors, animation artists and design artists, to mention only some of the positions required.

Internally there are numerous additional contributors.

A Massive Team Undertaking

Although the studio has about 200-plus staff at its studio near the Seattle area, many hundreds work on its games.

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

Some of those will be from abroad, or from outside studios that specialise in specific specialized areas.

"Making a title demands various different skills, from incredibly technical people... to those who are very focused on feelings, like our writers," says Nate.

"And these teams work in harmony. It's comparable to directing an symphony.

"We need to have all of the pieces coming together."

Nate states that a overwhelming array of components can be part of a individual sequence – from music to the programming that causes foliage drift through the scene at a crucial moment.

"Each group have to have a sense of the end goal," says Fox.

A Change in Focus

A sense of direction is a quality players have criticized Sony of not having in recent years.

With its prior head, the ex-executive, the division launched work on twelve multiplayer titles, known as "ongoing" experiences in the industry.

Some of the most famous examples, such as Epic's battle royale, the user-generated game and the military shooter, maintain players involved for long periods and earn substantial sums of revenue.

PlayStation has had success in the space with the previous year's Helldivers II, but one unsuccessful flop with another game, which was taken offline just 14 days after its release.

Sony has since scrapped multiplayer games based on several of its best-known IPs, including God of War and The Last of Us.

Pursuing the multiplayer sector is a strategy the company has stated is not entirely "going smoothly", but it's explained certain titles with connected features, such as Gran Turismo and baseball title MLB: The Show, have done nicely.

The highlights of its latest marketing presentation were a new title, a successor to the earlier Returnal, and the long-awaited Wolverine game from superhero developer Insomniac – each single-player titles.

Controversy and Examination

High-profile releases can frequently be sources for conflict, as the studio recently found when a developer's joke about the passing of political US figure Charlie Kirk triggered a reaction.

The studio ultimately dismissed the individual involved, and founder the studio head commented that "applauding or joking about a person's death is a deal-breaker for the team", when asked about it.

Some right-wing entertainment personalities have furthermore attacked Ghost of Yōtei for starring a heroine.

The director says it was an "unusual choice", but essential to the tale the developers wanted to tell of an outsider defying society's conventions.

While the adventure unfolds, Atsu's myth as an vengeful spirit – a revenge-seeking entity featured in Japanese mythology – increases.

"People assume it can't be this woman could have defeated individuals of the Yōtei Six except if she is a otherworldly {creature|