Hermen Hulst talks Bungie, what’s next for PlayStation Studios

Reflecting on the legendary studio, plus upcoming titles Horizon Forbidden West, MLB The Show 22, and Gran Turismo 7.

Hot on the heels of this week’s news that Bungie will be joining PlayStation, Sid Shuman had a chance to chat with Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios, to learn more about how the developer collective might collaborate with the celebrated studio.

[Sonic-and-Crash]

i hope Capcom Konami or Square would be next ...Sony needs an exclusive Japanese company with big IP names

[-Foxtrot]

I think Japanese companies would fit in better with Sony or even Nintendo....rather than Amazon, Google, Meta, Tencent

Would be nice to see what they could do with either Final Fantasy, Resident Evil or Metal Gear Solid

[Sonic-and-Crash]

at least Capcom and Konami became successful because of Playstation ...their original IPs (Resi, DMC, MonHun MGS, Suikoden , etc) were possible and allowed because the existence of PS ....before that were relasing mainly 16 bit era Disney licenses

[frostypants]

I kinda hate this new acquisition trend, but since we're playing: From Software.

[Michiel1989]

@sonic capcom and konami became sucesfull on the SNES, not ps1......they continued to be succesful on ps1, but thats not where they started. Konami was already successful because of pachinko beforehand i think.

I would actually like to see them acquire Platinum, with a little bit of guidance that studio can pump out hit after hit i think, but since theyre now in bed with Nintendo its probably not that likely. It also wouldnt be such an expensive studio to buy compared to some of the others.

[fr0sty]

Capcom and Konami became successful in the arcade, then the NES, then Genesis/SNES is where they really blew up, as the game industry itself did... they don't owe anything to PlayStation, they would have been successful even if another system ended up being #1, like Nintendo or Sega. They did make a lot of great PlayStation games, no doubt, but they were well established in the industry long before PS was even a thought.

[FPS_D3TH]

Silent hills done right and an exclusive horror series for PlayStation and VR would be ideal

[SullysCigar]

There were persistent rumours along those lines, so hopefully it will materialise.

[purple101]

Sony should buy both kojima + Konami and make them sit next to each other & play nice.

Muahaahaaa

[MaximusPrime_]

if Sony buys Konami, Sony can simply make Kojima in charge of Konami.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

That would honestly sell units.

What would that man do with the power?!?

[Rhythmattic]

Purps 1oh1
XDDDDDelicious......

- Stealth Branding

[Outlawzz]

How bout we keep them independent. This whole acquisition thing doesn't benefit gamers in the long run

[darthv72]

Sony recently closed one of their JP studios and you are saying they should go buy another? It would have been cheaper to keep them open and fill them with staff and projects.

[Sonic-and-Crash]

they closed nothing ...it became a far better studio ..Asobi ....which can build platformers better than mario ....everything else is just bogus from media to have some material to write stuff

[S2Killinit]

As always darth is there to twist things up in the pursuit of anti sony sentiments. You work extra hard darth, I commend your persistence. Truly.

[darthv72]

^^twist what?

https://www.makeuseof.com/s...

Did they or did they not close this studio? Asobi was a team within JP studios so at least they are still around.

[DarXyde]

Why are you advocating for this industry consolidation?

Do you not understand why this is a problem?

[--Onilink--]

Not sure why so many people insist Sony needs to buy a Japanese developer. Xbox is irrelevant in Japan, a lot of japanese developer dont release things for Xbox or they already have a good enough partnership with Sony to get exclusive time windows or similar stuff. It would barely shift the market

[zsquaresoff]

As big as Bungie is, I think an acquisition of a Japanese publisher would be even bigger considering the portfolio of some of those Japanese companies.

[refocusedman]

can someone please purchase konamis gaming division!!!!!! it's a Shame that such classic franchises are being abandoned.

[Atticus_finch]

That's a hard one because they seem to be in some trouble. Their IP are worth it but their devs have to prove themselves.

[Eonjay]

Holy shit it is Silent Hills isn't it.

[Atticus_finch]

It will be interesting to see who Sony goes after. My picks would be Take2, Capcom, EA or Square. It will most likely be Capcom I imagine.

[GhostofHorizon]

EA and Take2 are either acquiring themselves or looking to expand, I feel like they are off the table for now.

[GamingSinceForever]

Since Sony didn’t allow EA Access years ago I can’t see them merging. Take2 is probably too expensive. Square and Capcom makes the most sense.

[TheGreatGazoo30]

I don't think Sony has the money to buy a take 2 or EA.

[AsunaYuukiTheFlash]

Actually they do. Take 2 is worth 18B, while Sony is about 150B.

[EvertonFC]

Agreed it would literally be half of Sony assets to buy take2 or EA, not happening

[TheGreatGazoo30]

@AsunaYuukiTheFlash and @EvertonFC

Thats not how purchase prices of public companies are valuated and Sony's Company "value" is 150b...thats doesn't mean they have 150b worth of purchasing power.

[neutralgamer1992]

I hope they acquire square enix and Capcom next. Both of the publishers own some legendary IP's.

I don't think Konami would sell but if Sony could acquire MGS, silent hills and Castlevania IP's that would be great

Namco is also a real possibility

Sega as much as I want Sony to buy them I think they are going with Ms

Sony could acquire square enix, Capcom and namco for 20+ billion and in my opinion that would be a much smarter investment long term than the 68+ billion Ms spent on Activision

I also don't think Sony came into this generation expecting to acquire a lot more studios but with Microsoft changing the game up I think they have no choice but to compete. Could you imagine if Ms buys square enix and Capcom and resident evil, final fantasy and monster hunter are exclusive to Xbox

[GamingSinceForever]

Would MS as an American company be allowed to own a Japanese company? I heard there were some laws prohibiting that but I could be wrong.

[Sayai jin]

No. Japanese companies have even been sold to Chinese companies and those countries are in direct tension with each other.

[GhostofHorizon]

I think this is a case for technology based companies that could compromise the security for Japan. Gaming is not affected as far as I can tell. There has been plenty of precedent for it already.

[GamingSinceForever]

@ps360owner09 I just read up on that and it seems that Zenimax snagged up Tangoworks before they became a registered company. Tango was founded in March and Acquired 7 months later.

American companies can establish companies in Japan but they aren’t allowed to purchase them.

I guess we will see what happens in the next year or so.

[Workshyskiver]

Its a complete myth that seems to be perpetuated around here for some reason. There are no laws that prohibit American companies buying a Japanese company, which is moort as MS have a Japanese legal entity anyway. It both has happened and can continue to happen. Hell even Sony itself is majority owned by non Japanese stakeholders.

See basic law regarding Japanese aquisitions, note the industries subject to strict government review do not include gaming;

https://iclg.com/practice-a...

And Sonys current shares details; https://www.sony.com/en/Son...

[GamingSinceForever]

This was sort of an unfulfilling interview. We didn’t learn anything new or interesting here.

[IanTH]

Well, this wasn't very illuminating. Hulst gives Bungie a heaping dose of praise, and basically says that any specific discussions of what the relationship between them might bring will have to wait until after the deal is successfully closed. So we're no closer to getting a handle on what's going on than before this interview, sadly.

Kinda thought we'd hear a little more about Hulst's ideas for what live-service would mean/look like from a PlayStation perspective. As a brand built on single player experiences, and Hulst being a developer of one of the old PS tentpoles in Killzone, really thought he'd maybe want to speak to that a bit. To somewhat assuage the uneasyness surrounding the massive purchase of Bungie which came accompanied by the announcement that they are aiming to push an absurd 10 live service titles over the next 4 years. Hopefully they talk about that a little more in-depth soon.

[Echone1]

If Sony buys a studio they already know about working together, it could be Quantic Dream, Fromsoftware, genDESING, Kojima Productions, or BOKEH (New studio from Sillent Hill, Gravity Rush 1/2 creator)

[Chevalier]

Fromsoftware is part of Bandai fyi.

[Vithar]

it's not, parent company is Kadokawa

[Chevalier]

"it's not, parent company is Kadokawa"

Sorry I meant Kadokawa. But still it's already owned by Kadokawa

[FlavorLav01]

-A dream scenario would be they snag EA, but with a worth close to 40billion I think they’re out of reach budget-wise for Sony

-A more affordable and efficient move would be to grab Konami, Capcom, and Ubisoft all for under 20 Billion. That would ensure many quality strategic IPs under the QA of Sony publishing for many years to come.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Both Ubisoft and EA are acquiring themselves, doubt they'd sell. There's no point in buying Konami since they're not producing games anymore (purchasing the IPs alone would be wiser). Capcom and SquareEnix are the more plausible purchases.

[rlow1]

So the conversation for Sony switched to who they should acquire next. As for when Xbox did it, the conversation was on how they were destroying the industry. How the pendulum swings.

[Rimeskeem]

Sony could probably purchase Konami for less than Bungie. Silent Hill, Castlevania, and Metal Gear Solid with loads of talented people who just need a decent publisher.

[arminukxbox]

Sony hasn’t got money like Microsoft do no way they can afford but big publishers maybe a few studios