PS5 Will Not Release "Any New Major Existing Franchise Titles" Before April 2025
According to Sony Group president Hiroki Totoki, there are no plans "to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year." I.e., between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.
As reported by Gematsu, that doesn't mean there won't be any new PS5 games, just no new entries in flagship series' like God of War Ragnarok or Marvel's Spider-Man 2. If anything is released in that window, it'll be new IPs.
Regarding first-party software, we aim to continue to focus on producing high-quality works and developing live service games. But while major projects are currently under development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year.
Sony naturally expects "profit from first-party software to decrease slightly" during that period. Regardless, there are still a few PS5 exclusives on the horizon for us to look forward to. Later this month, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches, followed by Team Ninja's open-world soulslike Rise of the Ronin in March and Shift Up's Stellar Blade in April. We also have the Silent Hill 2 remake underway, launching sometime this year.
Looking to the future of PS5 hardware and third-party games, Totoki said, "We aim to optimise sales with a greater emphasis on balance with profits, so we anticipate a gradual decline in unit sales from next fiscal year onwards.
“We expect third-party software sales to continue to expand gradually due to the expansion of the PlayStation 5 install base and the high level of user engagement. In network services, we expect subscribers to be on par with this fiscal year or slightly less due to the impact of price revision we implemented in this fiscal year, but we expect sales to gradually expand due to a shift to attractive premium services."
Of course, there's the M313 Elephant in the room that is Xbox. Reports surfaced that it has plans to make some of its exclusives multiplatform, meaning that titles like Hi-Fi Rush may come to PS5. Even though it has "no plans" to stop
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