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PlayStation enthusiasts and opponents infrequently see eye to eye.

But a single issue that has been raised by everyone.

"Why are there so few games?"

High-cost, single-player blockbusters from first-party developers have long been the cornerstone to PlayStation's gaming popularity.

Throughout the last generation days, users received a steady stream of narrative-driven experiences, but the pace has appeared as a drip since last year's Spider-Man 2.

However, Sony's newest game – Ghost of Yōtei – signals a reversion to its established triple-A formula.

What Took So Long?

Sucker Punch's recent game is a sequel to the 2020 samurai-era adventure Ghost of Tsushima, which was the final major PS4-exclusive releases from Sony.

"Titles need a considerable duration to make, so it's an enormous part of your time," says Nate.

Ghost of Yōtei relocates the setting a hundreds of miles north, to the Honshū region area, and the era a several centuries forward, to 1603.

In this installment, the narrative revolves around Atsu, a heroine on a quest to obtain retribution against the group of six – a group of warlords responsible for her clan's murder.

Building on a previous game to expand upon, it's not quite a totally new foundation but, Fox clarifies, the game is nevertheless a massive effort.

Merely having a different protagonist, for case, requires contribution from authors, character animators and design artists, to cite a handful of the roles involved.

Backstage there are countless others contributors.

A Massive Crew Effort

Although the developer has roughly 200 staff at its base near Seattle, numerous others are involved in its games.

The list of contributors for Ghost of Tsushima, for example, contained around eighteen hundred individuals.

Several of them are from overseas, or from third-party studios that excel in specific specialized disciplines.

"Making a game requires all sorts of different skills, from deeply technical individuals... to those who are very guided by emotions, like our story team," comments the director.

"Furthermore all these groups function with synchronization. It's comparable to conducting an orchestra.

"You have to have every pieces aligning."

Fox states that a staggering array of components can go into a individual moment – from soundtrack to the programming that causes leaves float through the screen at a critical juncture.

"All these teams must have a understanding of the overall direction," adds the director.

A Change in Direction

Clear leadership is a quality players have questioned Sony of missing in recent times.

With its previous leader, the ex-executive, the division launched production on 12 online multiplayer projects, known as "live-service" titles in the business.

A few of the most famous titles, such as the popular shooter, the sandbox platform and the FPS series, retain fans hooked for long periods and produce huge amounts of revenue.

The company has had success in the genre with the previous year's Helldivers II, but a unsuccessful failure with Concord, which was taken offline only a fortnight after its release.

It has afterward scrapped multiplayer projects using a number of its biggest series, like God of War and The Last of Us.

Chasing the online sector is a strategy PlayStation has admitted is not wholly "on track", but it's said some releases with connected features, such as the driving simulator and sports simulation MLB: The Show, have performed well.

The stars of its most recent marketing event were a new title, a sequel to the earlier Returnal, and the long-awaited Marvel's Wolverine title from superhero developer Insomniac – each single-player experiences.

Discussion and Attention

Big titles can often be magnets for controversy, as the developer just experienced when a employee's remark about the death of conservative American figure Charlie Kirk triggered a reaction.

The developer ultimately let go the employee at the center, and founder a senior figure commented that "applauding or joking about an individual's murder is a red line for the company", when questioned about it.

Some political video game personalities have additionally targeted Ghost of Yōtei for including a heroine.

Fox notes it was an "unconventional decision", but key to the story the team aimed to share of an unlikely hero defying society's expectations.

While the game progresses, Atsu's reputation as an supernatural being – a wrathful entity seen in Eastern tradition – increases.

"People think it can't be a woman could have taken out figures of the Yōtei Six unless she is a mythical {creature|