Rating and Ranking PlayStation First Party Studios

Back in September of 2021, we ranked PlayStation Studios, which is made up of 22 amazing teams. Rather than just give our opinion, we approached the subject from a non biased perspective using a formula that accounted for quality, frequency, and a bias towards recency as it’s more indicative of where the studio currently is, as opposed to where it was.

How it works!

The first thing to figure out before trying to give these studios a rating is to set out some rules.

Rule 1: No one hit wonders! We are only going to be including studios with at least two games on their resume.

Rule 2: The studio needs to be fairly active, which means that only studios with at least two games over the past decade would be included.

Rule 3: There will be a recency bias. This means that the last effort means the most and carries more weight towards the studios final score. This will be achieved by multiplying the most recent release score by 1.1.

Rule 4: No mobile focused studios.

The List

The Rest (10-6)

Before we start talking about the best of the group, we should give a shout out to the ones that weren’t included, just missed the cut, and the ones that are currently ascending.

Media Molecule and Bend have only developed and released one game in the last 10 calendar years, which means that they weren’t included due to the rules laid out before creating the list. Sony San Diego is also not going to be included since they are just making MLB: The Show, which is always great but is also now on other platforms.

Housemarque placed 9th with 83.25 and is PlayStation’s biggest up and coming studio after their transition from arcade indie style titles to the premium AAA release of Returnal.

Now that Bungie is officially part of PlayStation, they placed 8th with 84.75, which doesn’t take into account the live service experience the studio brings to PlayStation. Bungie is also one of three studios that makes sense should PlayStation need an answer if Call of Duty goes Microsoft exclusive sooner than later Bungie is on the short list for studios that could make a flagship, system selling FPS, whether that be a Destiny or a brand new IP, they make some of the best shooting mechanics in the business.

Polyphony placed 7th with 85.35 on the strength of Gran Turismo 7 that seemed to sell well but also seemingly came and went. Finally, to speak of the quality of PlayStation Studios, there is no better way than to mention that Suckerpunch isn’t considered in the top 5, as they just missed by a little over one point placing 6th with 89.35. However seeing the studio evolve from PS2 era games to Ghost of Tsushima the trajectory looks to be heading upwards

TOP 5

Team Asobi

If there is one studio on the list that most people would disagree with their placement, it would be Team Asobi. However, the recent dissolution of Japan Studio, it seems that Team Asobi seems poised to carry the flag for the beloved studio that was known for creating some iconic experiences.

Team Asobi has proven themselves to be more than capable and extremely agile from Astro Bot Rescue Mission on PSVR and the fantastically fun Astro’s Playroom that was packed in the with the PS5. Not only was it great to harken back to the early days of gaming when systems came with a game, but Astro’s Playroom was much more than just a technical showpiece for the PS5, it was also full of passion from people that clearly have a deep love for all things PlayStation. With the impending release of PSVR2, there is a strong chance that we will see the return of Astro Bot and what new tricks Team Asobi has up their sleeves.

Astro’s Playroom (83x1.1) + Astro Bot Rescue Mission (90) = Team Asobi Rating 90.65 (5th)

Insomniac Games

I said it before and i’ll say it again.It’s hard to argue that any Sony first party game development studio is on a hotter streak at the moment than Insomniac, who seem to be producing excellent games at an unbelievable rate. Insomniac also doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon with Marvel’s Spider Man 2 scheduled for release in 2023 and Marvel’s Wolverine also in development.

With a studio of over 400 people, they have the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously to keep their release cadence high and their quality even higher. Then there is also what happens after those two games. If Spider Man 2 is due out in 2023, then Wolverine would be 2024-2025, which asks what the studio is doing in 2025-2026? A new Ratchet title or another Marvel title or possibly a revisit of their older IP like Sunset Overdrive or Resistance.

The second team on the shortlist to fill the void if Call of Duty becomes Microsoft exclusive would be Insomniac. They have shown their ability with the FPS genre with the Resistance series and could either do a revival of the IP or something completely new.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (88x1.1) + Spider Man: Miles Morales (85) = Insomniac Rating 90.9 (4th)

Guerilla Games

The biggest shakeup on the rankings for 2022 was Guerrilla Games moving from 5th to 3rd and just missing second by fractions behind Sony Santa Monica. With their latest release Horizon: Forbidden West performing better than Killzone Shadow Fall the studio was able to move into the top 3.

Forbidden West feels about as safe as you can make a sequel. With a blueprint as good as Horizon Zero Dawn, Guerilla refined what made the original such a great time. A bigger and more expanse world to explore plus more robot dinosaurs.

The third and final team for PlayStation that could fill the Call of Duty void would be Guerrilla. Back in 2004 they released Killzone on the PlayStation 2, that was tasked with trying to be the Halo killer. Although Killzone, never quite became the Halo killer that Sony would have liked, Guerrilla was still able to make some excellent and at the very least visually stunning games along the way. Here we are again, almost two decades later with history repeating itself and Killzone being on the very short list of IP’s that make the most sense to become a flagship PlayStation FPS.

Killzone would have a much greater chance of success this time around due to the pedigree that studio has shown after developing the Horizon series. It will be very interesting to see where Guerrilla Games goes from here.

Horizon Forbidden West (85.5x1.1) + Horizon Zero Dawn (89) = 91.53 (3rd)

Santa Monica Studios

It seems all but set in stone that Sony Santa Monica will be in the top spot on next years PlayStation Studios rankings with the upcoming God of War: Ragnarok on November 8. Ragnarok only needs to score an 89 to be the highest rating studio based on our formula. With God of War 2018 scoring a 94 and 4 years of development plus the strong base that Ragnarok looks to build from, things look good.

As much of a sure thing as Ragnarok looks to be, there are big shoes to fill. God of War 2018 was a revolutionary change in the series that had previously had its main focus being on epic scale and combat. God of War 2018 primary focus was on a father/son narrative with a Norse setting that featured all of the scale and combat that the series became known for.

The revolution of Kratos did not go unnoticed as God of War 2018 easily became the best selling game in the series over 10 million copies in its first year, which has led to anticipation levels for the sequel God of War: Ragnarok to be though the roof.

God of War 2018 (94x1.1) + God of War: Ascension (80) = Santa Monica Studios Rating 91.7 (2nd)

Naughty Dog

Still holding the top spot for the second year in a row is Naughty Dog. After the release of The Last of Us Part 1 scored slightly lower than Uncharted 4, the studios overall rating slipped a little but still high enough to remain on top of the list. Even though it was a remake, it still showed enough new additions and work to qualify as a new release.

All that we know right now from Naughty Dog is that they are working the multiplayer mode from The Last of Us Part 2, which Neil Druckman said they would share more about later. It could be likely that game releases in 2023 but the studio is somewhere between 500-600 people, so there has to be something else in development. One theory was that since Sony didn’t green light Bend developing the Uncharted Sully origin game, it must have been because Naughty Dog was already doing something similar.

The Last of Us Part 2 was released over two years ago, so a tease about what the studio is working on might happen at The Game Awards 2022 or sometime in 2023.

The Last of Us: Part 2 (93) + The Last of Us Part 1 (89x1.1) = Naughty Dog Rating 95.45 (1st)

Ratings Outcome

It’s not a huge surprise that Naughty Dog remained at the top spot in Sony’s stable of developers. Its also a good place to be when the lowest rated studio on the list is Housemarque with a 83.25 coming off Returnal. Some more shifting will be expected next year with Ragnarok due out at the end of 2022, PSVR2 likely launching in Spring 2023, and Insomniac likely releasing Spider Man 2 sometime by the end of 2023. 2023 looks to be a very busy year for Sony and PlayStation Studios.

Full Ratings

HouseMarque Rating 83.25 (9th)

Bungie 2022 Rating 84.75 (8th)

Polyphony 2022 Rating 85.35 (7th)

Sucker Punch 2022 Rating 89.35 (6th)

Top 5

Team Asobi Rating 90.65 (5th)

Insomniac Rating 90.9 (4th)

Guerilla 2022 Rating 91.53 (3rd)

Santa Monica Studios Rating 91.7 (2nd)

Naughty Dog 2022 Rating 95.45 (1st)