Stellar Blade represents something we haven't seen from PlayStation in some time

Franz Co

April 1

There's been a lot of talk around the internet about Stellar Blade as of late. Whether it's about the game's use of attractive female characters or the fact that it seems to have the action to back its graphics up, people online can't help but talk about SHIFT UP's seminal AAA title. That said, there's one thing about the game that people haven't been discussing — that it represents something we haven't seen Sony do in quite some time.

Sony's releases as of late tend to follow a familiar formula. These games tend to be cinematic but safe releases from the same set of established studios, many of whom are partly or even wholly Sony-owned.

However, there was a time when this was not the case.

Sony's history of publishing unique games from creative studios

For a fair bit of the PlayStation's history, Sony actually spent a fair bit of time and money looking for interesting new games from promising studios. Even during the time of the original PlayStation — where the console's library was defined by big third-party titles like Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid — Sony was also releasing interesting games like Vib Ribbon and PaRappa the Rapper from NanaOn-Sha, and WarHawk and the Twisted Metal games from SingleTrac.

PaRappa The Rapper™ Remastered — PaRappa the Rapper, a collaboration between Sony and NanaOn-Sha

This continued during the PlayStation 2 era, when Sony worked with studios like Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Guerilla, and the like, releasing unique titles like Sly Cooper and the Thievus Raccoonus, Jak and Daxter the Precursor Legacy, Ratchet & Clank, Killzone, and more.

It was during the PlayStation 3 era that this started to change. Sony's entry into the seventh generation of consoles suffered from a dearth of games (and lackluster ports) due to developers having trouble coming to grips with its unique architecture. As such, it fell to Sony and the studios it was already working with to pick up the slack.

It was at this time that familiar franchises, such as Uncharted, Infamous, and the Last of Us first got their start, helping establish what could be called a "house style" for first-party Sony games. In addition, many of the studios behind these games were soon absorbed under the Sony umbrella. Sony now had an army of studios armed with recognizable IPs that it could use to dominate gaming.

Games like Uncharted help establish PlayStation's familiar "house style."

The legacy of Japan Studio

That's not to say Sony was not releasing interesting titles from lass-established studios during this time. Indeed, the company was still doing so, with a fair number coming from the now legendary Japan Studio.

While Japan Studio primarily focused on unique games built in-house, it also helped push games in conjunction with third-party developers. These range from the classic Wild Arms JRPGs from Media.Vision to the more recent Bloodborne from From Software, with other interesting and quirky titles in between (as anyone who played Pyramid's Patapon on PlayStation Portable can attest to).

As for what this has to do with Stellar Blade? Well the game being picked up and funded by Sony was due to former Japan Studio head turned then-president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida getting to try the game and seeing its potential.

In a way, Stellar Blade also feels similar to many Japan Studio releases — both those developed in-house and by third-parties — in that it looks to represent the singular vision of one creator. Examples include Fumito Ueda for Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and the Last Guardian; and Masaya Matsuura for Parappa the Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy.

Indeed, Yoshida attributed Japan Studio's fall in output during its latter years to having a more "bottom-up" approach without a clear vision.

For Stellar Blade, the game looks to be based on the vision of SHIFT UP president Hyung-tae Kim. Indeed, the game's vision, whether in regards to its attractive character design or challenging gameplay seems to have resonated with more than a few gamers. (Read more: Shift Up mulling NIKKE crossover content for Stellar Blade)

Will we see more games like Stellar Blade

Of course, all this raises the question of whether or not Stellar Blade represents a change in how Sony releases games. Indeed, releasing more games like Stellar Blade could sound like a great idea, especially with how much it costs Sony to develop its usual first-party fare.

Sony's big first-party titles cost a lot of money, for example, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 cost over $300 million to make. This cost is speculated by some to be the reason the company has no big first-party title scheduled for 2024. With this in mind, it seems that Sony is looking to games like Stellar Blade — as well as Team NINJA's Rise of the Ronin, also Sony published — to fill that gap.

Should Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin do well, it's easy to see Sony looking for more titles like them in the future.

In addition, Stellar Blade developer SHIFT UP is also a smaller studio, one that would benefit more from further Sony investment than a more established one like Team NINJA. This is especially with Hyung-tae Kim teasing the possibility of a sequel.

Of course, this all depends on how well Stellar Blade does in retail. Should it — and Team NINJA's Rise of the Ronin — do well for Sony, then we could see the company start investing in smaller, more interesting games again, just like it used to.

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