Top 5 PlayStation Exclusives (That Need To Make A Comeback)

Everything thats old is new again and we have seen studios take chances on new IP’s lately with middling success. The thing about bringing back a dormant IP is that it already has a built in fanbase of varying sizes but nonetheless, there is less marketing and risk bringing back an older IP. In our three part series we are going to look at PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo and list the five dormant exclusives that need to make a comeback. Here are the top five PlayStation exclusives that needed to make a comeback.

Firstly, there should be some guidelines for what should make the list and there are five major points.

• Needs to be a minimum ten years since the last entry

• Nothing official about development of a new title

• our list, which means some popular games might be left off the list, your list will be different

• Mobile titles not included

• fits into portfolio

Dear PlayStation, Bring These Games Back,

MotorStorm (Arcade Racer)

We have talked about Motorstorm before and how it burned too fast. The game had strong commercial success as it managed to sell over a million copies in its first six months which was a feat for 2006, especially considering people were broke after purchasing the PS3. More than just commercial success, Motorstorm also fared well critically with an average review score of 82.  

Sony took noticed and bundled in the title with hardware which would technically make it a system seller but Sony also acquired Evolution Studios in 2007. The company followed up with a great sequel: Pacific Rift, which was a lot more of the same with some new bells and whistles but mainly new destinations. Once again the game performed well in both commercial and critcal aspects with over a million copies in the first few months and another solid review average of over 82. Both great for an arcade racing title.  

The major gap this fills is that Sony wants to have 12 live service games by 2025 which would be around 20 years since the release of Motorstorm. PlayStation is also lacking an arcade racer that is accessible to all. If Motorstorm incorporated some type of Motor Pass and seasons that did things the right way with cool customizable elements and new tracks then it’s easy to see Motorstorm come back in a huge way. It also provides PlayStation with an arcade racer that could compete with Xbox and Nintendo as they have Forza Horizon and Mario Kart.

Sly Cooper (Family Friendly Stealth Platformer)

Not only is PlayStation lacking stealth games but they are lacking family friendly games. Last of Us, God of War, Days Gone, Bloodborne are all amazing games but they are all speaking to a very specific demographic. It makes sense, if they sell well make more but sometimes having a variety can reach new players. Sly Cooper and the Theivius Raccoonus came out over 20 years ago.

The most recent entry was Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time which came out at the beginning of 2013 and was the first game in the series not to be released by the creators of the IP, Sucker Punch. This time around Sanzaru games took the lead as Sucker Punch moved onto other things. The fourth entry in the series was the first to review below 80 and the series has been dormant since. Sly Cooper had a specific look with its cell shaded art style that still holds up over 20 years later.

Most stealth games are targeted towards a more mature audience like Hitman, Dishonoured and The Last of Us but when it comes to exclusive stealth games, Sly Cooper checks off many boxes.

Socom: US Navy Seals (Online Multiplayer Shooter)

There are great reasons for all the other titles to make a return but Socom: US Navy Seals was ahead of its time on the PS2. Not only was it a very solid mil-sim but it was also one of the first games on the PS2 that took advantage of the network adapter and headset, which is why the headset came packed in.

Shooters are still as popular today as they were in the early 2000’s and it’s easy to see how Socom could integrate live service elements to become one of PlayStations 12 live service games by 2025. Today there is a huge market for mil-sims and extraction based games. The trend of Battle Royale is slowly shifting towards extraction type games like Escape From Tarkov, Vigor, The Cycle, and even smaller Indies like Zero Sievert. There has also been the integration from AAA publishers to include Tarkov-Lite modes into their huge shooters. We saw Battlefield 2042 try it with Hazard Zone that didn’t capture the magic and got shuttered as well as Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 with their mode DMZ.

These modes lack the realism and risk that Tarkov provides but prove that there is becoming a much bigger market for this style of game. If only PlayStation had an exclusive IP that was much more realistic than these mainstream shooters and already had a strong fanbase. PlayStation could easily bring Socom back to its glory days on the PS5

Syphon Filter (Mature Stealth Action)

Metal Gear Solid was once the crown jewel of PlayStation that would eventually become multi-platfrom and eventually vanish when the relationship between Kojima and Konami fell apart. Metal Gear Solid has left a massive gap in the stealth genre. What about the Kirkland version of Metal Gear or the we have Metal Gear at home?

Syphon Filter was created by Sony Bend and took a more action based approach to the stealth genre with the hero Gabe Logan. Bend has developed all six entries in the series. The first entry was met with superb reviews as it sits around 90 average and sold close to a million copies in its first year. The last entry in the series was in 2007 with Logan’s Shadow.

It would also be easy to incorporate both single player and multiplayer elements into a new Syphon Filter. Just like we talked about with Socom, there is a massive demand for extraction based games like Tarkov. If you used this formula but incorporated Syphon Filters world into the game with espionage and, bioterrorism then the mode basically makes itself. You never know who you can trust and who is working for what side.

Sadly, Bend is “working on a new IP that includes multiplayer and builds on the open world systems of Days Gone” so it doesn’t sound like its a new entry in the Syphon Filter universe but its not out of the question.

Resistance (Prestige First Person Shooter)

If PlayStation is concerned with Call of Duty going Xbox exclusive eventually, they should start planning on having some exclusive shooters. Obviously, there is Bungie who could make an exclusive shooter for PlayStation since Sony acquired the studio, but it would seem to make the most sense to keep Bungie making multi-platform games.

This basically leaves two options if you are going to awaken a dormant IP from the vault as it would likely be more effective than creating a brand new FPS from scratch. Killzone and Resistance. Both are good options but Killzone is still pretty fresh with that last entry being in 2014 when the PS4 launched. The last time we saw mainline Resistance was with the third entry in 2011 on the PS3.

There is no reason that PlayStation couldn’t apply the Call of Duty approach to Resistance and have multiple teams develop. I could easily see Resistance getting the Battle Royale treatment just like how Respawn took the imaginative world of TitanFall and made Apex Legends. The hope would be that it would be similar to Call of Duty with their single player, multiplayer and co-op offerings in each package.

The only downside is that it would likely have to be developed by a different studio than Insomniac, who did the first three mainline entries as they are busy with SpiderMan 2 and Wolverine. The studio is quite large and has always had the ability to develop good games in surprising amounts of time.