Home Gaming Releasing a new IP is apparently “super risky” says Jim Ryan, PlayStation boss man

Releasing a new IP is apparently “super risky” says Jim Ryan, PlayStation boss man

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Jim Ryan, a man known for both not mincing his words and stating the blatantly obvious, has been discussing the process of developing and releasing new video game IPs. By IPs, he means “intellectual properties” and not the home residences of that very talented martial artist. During an interview with GQ, who presumably also asked him where he gets his suits and what cologne he’d dabbed around his neck, Ryan spoke of the massive costs involved with bringing a new property to the market and why the whole process is always such a risk.

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“We’ve invested a lot organically over the course of the PS4 generation, more than people realise,” said Ryan.

We’ve added Insomniac Games through acquisition. We’re making great games now and we certainly plan to continue making great games.

Certainly one of the ways to best marketing and push a new IP is through the good names of developers themselves, which makes sense given the amount of cash needed to develop the average AAA game.

“The thing with those blockbuster games is that they need a box office release. They cost more than $100m dollars to make these days and in order to be able to do that and bring new IP to the market – which is a very risky thing that we did four times in the PS4 generation – you’ve got to have a box office release,” continued Ryan.

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Two of the PlayStation 4’s biggest and most beloved titles are new IPs from studios that have garnered a lot of respect and trust over the years; Horizon” Zero Dawn was a massively different creative leap for Guerrilla Games and Ghost of Tsushima, while playing almost identically to Sucker Punch’s last three games, was still an unknown entity when it was announced. Ryan continued his sentiment by adding, “We have a management organisation that sits over the individual studios and one of the things that we look at a lot is the portfolio and we look at is the balance between new iterations of much-loved series such as God Of War or Uncharted and shaking things up with new IP such as Horizon Zero Dawn or Ghost Of Tsushima. We think about this very deeply and very carefully”.

Last Updated: November 23, 2020

2 Comments

  1. Insomnia is fun

    November 23, 2020 at 16:46

    I’m thankful for every new IP out there. Bad or good. We wouldn’t have Mortal Kombat, Batman Arkham or Borderlands if not for people willing to risk something.

    Reply

  2. CodeDisQus

    December 1, 2020 at 20:55

    Risks is needed on both ends of the gaming spectrum! glad that Sony pushes for it

    Reply

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