One of Sony’s strengths with its PlayStation brand is the numerous franchises and IPs it has access to. Over the numerous console generations, fans have experienced all sorts of exclusives from Uncharted, to God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Gran Turismo, and plenty more. While fans are well aware of Sony’s larger first party studios, it appears that the company also may have a few smaller and newer teams working on currently unannounced projects as well.
Eagle eyed fans have noticed that the former PlayStation Studio Head, Michael Mumbauer may have revealed some hints as to the future of Sony’s biggest IPs. According to his LinkedIn profile, Mumbauer worked as a Studio Head with a new team located in San Diego until November 2020. In his description of his work there, Mumbauer confirmed that not only did he build a “brand new, all-star, AAA Action/Adventure development team for PlayStation” but that the team was “assembled to expand upon existing franchises and craft all new stories for the next generation of gamers.”
Unfortunately, no additional details as to what potential IP the new San Diego team has been working on but there are a few hints that may connect the dots. While Naughty Dog has seemingly wrapped up Nathan Drake’s story in the Uncharted franchise, the IP is still very lucrative considering how well the games sell in addition to a movie adaptation on the way. Naturally, Sony would likely look to continue that franchise either with the help of Naughty Dog or potentially working with a different internal studio.
What’s interesting here is that Mumbauer seems to add fuel to the Uncharted fire thanks to a strange addition further down in his profile. Under the Featured section, Mumbauer has added a video from a YouTuber known as RobinGaming to go alongside his other videos. This video in particular discusses a secretly made Sony studio specifically to work on Uncharted 5. While this isn’t an official confirmation, it’s a bit strange and interesting that Mumbauer would purposely add a video from a seemingly random creator to his personal profile which also consists of his personal work at GDC and a keynote speech he gave.
Naturally, this new team should not be confused with the existing Sony San Diego studio, which has been responsible for bringing the MLB: The Show franchise to live each year. This first party studio is currently planning a big announcement surrounding the long running franchise next month and shockingly, many fans are anticipating a multi-platform release for the typically Sony exclusive. Back in Dec 2019, the MLB signed a new deal with Sony which included phrasing that mentioned the series would be coming to additional console platforms beyond PlayStation as early as 2021. Even the Xbox Twitter account responded to the news by saying “No more away games.” For Sony, it seems San Diego is becoming a hot spot of game development.
Source: LinkedIn (via IGN); YouTube
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