Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has launched PlayStation Productions, an in-house studio specially dedicated to bringing the various video game titles from Sony’s intensive catalogue to life, adapting them for film and television.
The new studio will be headed by SIE’s vice president of marketing Asad Qizilbash and overseen by the chairman of Worldwide Studio at SIE, Shawn Layden.
“We’ve got 25 years of game development experience and that’s created 25 years of great games, franchises and stories,” Layden shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “We feel that now is a good time to look at other media opportunities across streaming or film or television to give our worlds life in another spectrum.”
According to Qizilbash, why SIE decided to open up their own production company instead of “instead of licensing our IP out to studios” was because SIE felt that they were “more familiar” with the game titles and know what the community loves better. This move will also allow PlayStation the right to retain creative control of their game titles and ensure that they assign the right people for the right project. Distribution of the finished project will be handled by PlayStation Productions’ sister company Sony Studios.
Though this certainly isn’t a new endeavour, with Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft operating production studios of a similar capacity, what separates PlayStation Productions from the rest is the sheer number of game titles they have under their control (Including but not limited to Uncharted, The Last Of Us, and God of War).
Layden has even suggested that SIE’s new studio will be able to fix the many things that have gone wrong with most video game adaptations currently released. According to Layden, the way to achieve that is by focusing on the “ethos” from the game, and avoid retelling the entire game as a movie.
Another goal of the new studio is to help alleviate the wait for game sequels. In between the long wait from one title to another, fans will be able to revisit their favourite worlds and “have more of that experience and see the characters they love evolve in different ways.”
“This is a passion project for me,” said Layden. “To be the first gaming entity to do something lasting and meaningful in a completely different medium is something I’d like to see us achieve here at PlayStation Productions.”
Germaine is a fun-sized introvert who loves nothing better than sleeping in on rainy days. She can be found reading fanfiction and manga while still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It’ll come eventually.
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