PS5 First-Party Game Sales Will Increase Over Next Year, Sony Says

This obviously also includes the first 3 months of 2026 where Saros could (and should) be located, before the GTA craziness.

How about first party SONY studios AAA.
DS2 is not one of those, also Stella isn’t either.

Article title is a bit miss leading.
Really ghost of Yotei will do very well but that is also because we have been starved of Sony Studio AAA Campaign games. I think it is Sony new sales tactic.

@OldGamer999 Games Published by Sony are First Party, that’s how all companies classify games in their accounts. The obsession over labour ownership is a very Xbox centric recent development…

Well then I won't be buying games day 1 and just wait for bargain bin

A moment of silence for Stellar Blade PC release. Can you even imagine those mods? I have some idea, but my god

They are trying to will this into existence

More 1st party games than last year, but for me personally this year is worse than the last with very little variety, humour or colour.

All the very expensive eggs in a very uncertain basket.

Well you have to actually release some first guys 😅

@OldGamer999 Who said we are "straved"? no one is expecting a Sony AAA release every month, yes it's been a slower year but we still have a lots to play regardless.

One thing that i dislike from Sony financial report is they rarely say anything or update their latest 1st & 2nd party games numbers.

I wanna know the numbers for Astro Bot, Helldivers 2, GoW Ragnarok, Horizon FW, GT 7, Spidey 2, TloU part 1 remake, TloU 2 part 2 remaster, R&C Rift Apart, Returnal etc. Heck, i wanna know how's the PS1, PS2, and PSP classics doing on PSN. Did they sold well?

Anyway. Yeah next year there's Saros with big chance for Intergalactic and Wolverine. But who knows if there's also a new game came out from Bluepoint, Bend Studios, Firesprite, Santa Monica, Media Molecule, and Guerilla. I think Firesprite possibly with their new horror game and Guerilla with Horizon multiplayer...

@PuppetMaster Intergalactic will not release in 2026 per Jason Schreier. He said that trailer was "early sneek peak" and game will be out in 2027 at earliest.

Wolverine was slated for 2026 per Insomniac leak.

Considering Sony literally cancelled Bend's and Bluepoint's games in January, there is 0% chance they will release something (new) next year.

Let's see (and hope) that next gen will finally start next year or at least 2027

Sony's got a busy schedule for the rest of the year, Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei are the big ones, but Loust Soul Aside could be a dark horse. Stellar Blades PC release and the next expansions for Destiny 2 should bring in some nice income as well.

Hopefully there's still one more unannounced game to come this year, God of War collection maybe.

@get2sammyb 1st party games are games that have been developed by in-house studios. That's the way it has been since the industry started. Sony trying redefine the meaning to suit their own agenda is irrelevant.

@SMJ No lol. Not in terms of how you are counting revenue from those games.

Do you think Nintendo counts sales of Metroid Dread or Metroid Prime 4 in different "bucket?" No. Those sales are counted in category of first-party sales.

Yes, you don't own studios that are making those games, but you are usually a publisher and also lended dev team supporting studios that you own (like XDev). It's strange to try to count them in different way in you financial report lol.

@zhoont yep probably the closest thing they’ll get to having a girlfriend 😆

I can see at least one surprise first party title being announced and dropping within the year as Astro Bot did last year. As for from which dev I am not sure.

@Godot25 Metroid Dread is a 2nd party game. It was developed by an external developer using a Nintendo IP. Nintendo partnered with them.

Metroid Prime 4 is a 1st party game. It was developed by a studio owned by Nintendo.

I don't care what Nintendo says in their earnings report, the above 2 things are different.

Sony could say anything they want, but it doesn't make Stellar Blade their game.

@Oram77
I sure in my PS4 days there was a few more games from Sony first party AAA especially campaign ones rolling out more regularly.

I think 2 big AAA Sony studios campaign type games a year would be about right. Maybe 3 or a big dlc as well.

If you look at how Nintendo and Microsoft are and will start releasing games per year, Sony seems to getting behind them.

As in the PS4 era and start of PS5 era it felt like Sony were always on it all the time.

I have all 3 consoles and the first 2 years of the PS5 going in the end of year analysis PS5 was most played.
Year 3 they drop to second.
Last year 2024 they dropped to 3rd place.
This year when it’s finished end of 2025 I can tell already with Microsoft’s great start on GPU and switch 2 coming.
PS5 will be third again.

That tells you something from the PS4 era and first two years of the PS5 how they have slipped down my gaming hours played.

@SMJ I guess every company in the video games industry has been doing their accounts wrong for 40 years. Maybe send Sony and Nintendo an email and explain to them what first party games are based on something you read on reddit. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear from you and not at all think you're a total plonker.

@themightyant
It’s because in the PS4 era and first two years of PS5 I absolutely so enjoyed the Sony AAA campaign games, top quality for me.

Now with less of them, Sony seem half the company to me now.
Again they will be third in 2025 as in 2024 on all three consoles at most played hours.

As where in the PS4 era and first 2 years of PS5 they were always top or a close sencond at worst. How times have changed.

If Sony are Publishing, own the IP and part funding the development then it's a first party game, this is why freedom wars didn't class as a first party game, yes it was a Sony IP but they didn't publish it or fund it so it's not classed as first party.

It's like that episode of The Simpsons where the family are fighting over a wash cloth😆

@OldGamer999 Both Death Stranding 2 and Stellar Blade can exist thanks to Sony who green light and funded the projects. Not to mention Sony also gave full creative freedom to Kojima and Shift Up to do whatever they want. Without Sony, Death Stranding and Stellar Blade wouldn't happen or can happen but they could end up as a whole different game.

Also. Fun fact for you; Death Stranding 2 still used Decima Engine, which is Sony own engine created by Guerilla, and Guerilla themself involved a lot in the game development. So it's not wrong to say DS 2 as Sony 1st party game.

@PuppetMaster

Death Stranding 2 still used Decima Engine, which is Sony own engine created by Guerilla, and Guerilla themself involved a lot in the game development. So it's not wrong to say DS 2 as Sony 1st party game.

Nah, bro, you got it all wrong. They shouldn’t have funded the game, they shouldn’t have let them use a high end proprietary engine, they shouldn’t have assisted in the game development at all.

What they should have done is contribute to the game in no meaningful way, then wait until a year before the game is fully complete and only then should they have bought the company, offered no assistance to the development, and then put their name on the box. Now that’s a true first party game. That’s what we should be celebrating. Creating and adding value is overrated, companies just need to focus on capturing and owning the value that already exists. Why do it the hard way?

Not setting the world alight.

A sequel to a literal walking simulator which does have a strong following but is a bit niche and polarising.

Plus another sequel and another Samurai game, which is starting to feel like an overdone genre at the moment.

Not that I buy home consoles for exclusives; I'm more interested in the best performing hardware for third party games.

Huge irony I feel that this generation marks the death of Xbox hardware as a serious rival, mainly because everyone buys PlayStation for the exclusives, yet based on my personal tastes MS has well and truly whipped Sony in that department.

@OldGamer999 Who cares what Studio made the game? I just want good games. Do you complain about Nintendo not have any first party games? Because at lot of them are by studios they don't own.

Let's not forget the rumor god of war title this year and whatever games they'll release in early 2026.

@OldGamer999 It's not misleading if Sony is Publishing and funding the games as that is classes as 1st party still. It doesn't need to be made only by Sony employees to count and it hasn't for a long time.

If that is the case then lets remove all these Xbox 1st party games which have been in development before the companies where bought out, because they are not full 1st party either are they? (ofc they are, and its alll the the same sort of thing)

The constant nonsense over "Full Sony 1st party AAA PS5 no crossgen exclusives" is frankly getting ridiculous and is just a load of silly exclusions to promote console warring.

@OldGamer999 youre probably looking at 4 to 6 year development time , then we had the live service debacle and the hacking of insomniac, we had 2 years pandemic nonsense within that time as well, surely you don't expect them to rush out their products , sonys single player games of which they are known for ,are always excellent , why tarnish that , I know it seems Microsoft release a first party game every month , but that's what happens when you buy multiple studios with games that are complete.

@DonkeyFantasy nintendo don't make original first party games anymore , they just slap a new number on the end of their games.

About releasing more first party and some old ip in a form of remasters or remake.word up son

@SMJ at this point it’s obvious you just come on here to moan mate. Do you really own a PS? 😉

@SMJ well you might not care about what Nintendo says on their earnings report but this is an article referencing the Sony earnings report where they classify them at first party…which is how all the companies classify first party games.

Thats how the industry works. Push Square is just reporting on it

@Ajbr8687 Sony recently announced what they class as a 1st, 2nd, 3rd party game.

What about scenarios where different publishers release the same game in different regions? What are they classed as?

@DonkeyFantasy Exactly, not even Pokémon is made by a studio they own and that's their biggest IP.

sony changed the definition of what they define as first party.

however that doesnt make it correct for the last god knows how many decades unless you own the studio its not 1st party its 2nd party

seems to me they changed their own definition to fit their own narrative

@themightyant Thanks for that summary. It really is eye-opening that so much revenue comes from MTX. Depressing, actually. With numbers like that you can see that even shutting down games like Concord and cancelling all these live service projects isn’t as much of a financial hit as one might expect. In the alternate reality where those studio resources were used for a traditional single player game, it would have to sell extremely well to move the needle from all the MTX money that a successful live service creates. The gamble does appear less foolish when you see those numbers.

@trev666 That's been the definition for the entire history of the video games industry. It's only recently a bunch of guys on the internet decided that a game published by Sony is not first party unless they own the people making it.

Welp still getting ghost of yotei CE. Bring on October!

It’s always amusing to see people not agreeing with what companies consider first party themselves, but rather follow their own made up narrative. Every company considers published and funded games as first party, not just Sony and Nintendo. I bet Xbox sees Ninja Gaiden 4 as a first party title

Alright, I can cross "Not actually first-party" and "Sony changed the definition of first-party" off my PushSquare comment section bingo card!

@ChrisDeku

Nah, bro, you got it all wrong. They shouldn’t have funded the game, they shouldn’t have let them use a high end proprietary engine, they shouldn’t have assisted in the game development at all.
What they should have done is contribute to the game in no meaningful way, then wait until a year before the game is fully complete and only then should they have bought the company, offered no assistance to the development, and then put their name on the box. Now that’s a true first party game. That’s what we should be celebrating. Creating and adding value is overrated, companies just need to focus on capturing and owning the value that already exists. Why do it the hard way?

Truly an underrated perspective!

@themightyant My guy, back at it again giving us the full details and analysis, impressive work as always, appreciate it bro! 👊🏼

These are two HUGE games even if they are not your personal cup of coffee, guys. I am not saying Mario Kart World is "just another Mario racer" even if for me its release has 0 importance whatsoever.

@ChrisDeku Lol i like your post 👍🤝

If we're looking at Nintendo, they still called Super Smash Bros as 1st party games despite it was developed by Bamco & Sora, 2 devs that Nintendo didn't owned. Nintendo also didn't developed Pokemon nor owned Game Freaks but they still called every Pokemon games as 1st party game.

But what i don't understand is why some people got angry and made a fuss when Sony funded, assisted, published, and called Death Stranding or Stellar Blade as 1st party games.

Like does it really that matter if Sony didn't owned Kojima or Shift Up when the important point is Sony provided PS owners with a lot of games to play?

@ChrisDeku nope even sony didnt class it that way till recently.

2nd party was paid for by publisher but not developed internally

@trev666

nope even sony didnt class it that way till recently.

They considered Flow, Flower and Journey to be first party titles, even though they were made by thatgamecompany in the PS3 era. First game goes back to 20 years ago. How far back do you want to go?

@LogicStrikesAgain In regards to Ninja Gaiden 4, bare in mind I could be wrong, but isn't Xbox funding the game in the same way Sony did with Stellar Blade for example? It doesn't bother me either way just as long I get to play it on PS.

@trev666 You understand that the accounts for Sony and Nintendo are all available on the internet going back decades right? You can’t just make up stuff like no one can prove otherwise.

@Oram77
Yes Ninja Gaiden 4, is on Xbox game pass ultimate day one release, so there is of course some deal.

However it does not stop the publisher putting in other consoles like PS5 day one, which it will be.

That’s is the difference, because Sony funded Stella blade for exclusivity for a time period so it can’t release in other consoles like Xbox.

@OldGamer999 "That’s is the difference, because Sony funded Stella blade for exclusivity for a time period " - sorry but that is just not true, try again.

Also I know you love game pass but that had nothing to do with what I was asking.... you are coming across as a door-to-door salesman, next you are going to pitch QUICK RESUME ™ to me again.

@Oram77 Yes, that was exactly my point. It’s not only Sony and Nintendo who consider published or funded games to be first party. Xbox does it as well. It was meant as a counter to people claiming that games like Stellar Blade or Death Stranding 2 aren’t first party because they’re made by external studios, and that Sony is changing ‘the rules’ of what is considered first party.

And LoL at the quick resume comment 😅

@trev666 please go to the Sony Investor relations page and find a single report from their history where they post humber for second party sales. You'll find none as they only list first party and third party since the beginning of PlayStation. Same for Nintendo. Please prove me wrong though, the reports are all there.

@Oram77
You know I love a bit of quick resume.

When Sony finally release a few more big AAA campaign games, which are normally amazing.
I shall sales pitch for Sony Studios.
Hopefully Ghost of Yotei will be that game.

A truly disappointing generation, the worst of any playstation generation ever. Nearly all sequels and Remakes. We are lucky to get 1 or 2 first party developed games a year.

Also to be clear Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin and Death Stranding are not 1st party games the are 2P. To be a 1st party game Sony has to not only own the rights the the IP but the development studio that creates the game.

It's the same as Ninja Gaiden 4 is not a 1st party game even though it's published by Microsoft. Funding a game doesn't mean it's first party or you would have Microsoft claiming all the games it's given Gamepass money to like expedition 33 are 1st party.

There is nothing to stop DS2 coming to any other platform because Kojima Productions is not owned by Sony and the IP is not owned. They even use 505 as the alternative publisher for other platforms.

Companies can use this performative language to please investors but it's just not true.

@darylb24 The whole gen is the worst, because first party isn’t up to your standard so far? That sounds a bit dramatic. We’re only 4,5 years in and still have about 3,5 years to go.

People who haven’t lived through the PS1 and PS2 era might forget that those eras hardly had any first party games at all. And still those generations were amazing! Even in the first 4 years of the PS4 era we didn’t see all the big titles from first party studios.

Also, are we going to ignore great first party games we got this gen like God of War Ragnarok, GT7, Ratchet and Clank, Horizon Forbidden West, Demon Souls, Spiderman 2, Returnal and Astro Bot? Some of them GOTY contenders and winners.

Are we gonna dismiss great exclusive titles from other studios like Stellar Blade, Final Fantasy Rebirth, Silent Hill 2, Helldivers 2 or Death Stranding?

What about great third party titles like Baldurs Gate 3, Elden Ring, Methapor Refantazio, Split Fiction and Clair Obscur? We’re getting some of the best games of all time this gen.

What about upcoming exclusive games like Ghost of Yotei, Phantom Blade Zero, Lost Soul Aside, Saros, Intergalactic or Wolverine?
The generation is far from over, calling it the worst seems a bit premature.

For me, this gen so far has been totally amazing with excellent games coming out every year, can’t even keep up with it

I really hope sony go full steam ahead back to what they are good at making top single player exclusives not anymore live service rubbish I don't see how death stranding is on sonys list if it's a Konami game though?

@LogicStrikesAgain I have to agree with you about the number of quality titles this gen. They haven’t all come from Sony owned studios but we’ve seen some exceptional games and my backlog has never been bigger!

Death Stranding and Stellar Blade are not first party.

@Glorioso You don’t say? I’m glad you shared that insightful perspective with us

@LogicStrikesAgain I know, you know, but who wrote this article obviously don't.