PS5 video reveals Sony's new PlayStation Studios brand

(Image credit: Sony)

Sony consoles live or die on their exclusive titles, and it looks like the PS5 will be no exception. A brand-new logo for an organization called PlayStation Studios will unite all of Sony’s first-party developers — aesthetically, at least. This simple piece of artwork will be accompanied by a short video that showcases some favorite Sony characters, including Kratos, Aloy, Ratchet, Clank, Ellie and more.

Information about the new logo comes from GamesIndustry.biz, which shared Sony’s animation and interviewed Eric Lempel, senior vice president and head of global marketing at Sony Interactive Entertainment. The impetus behind the new PlayStation Studios brand and its corresponding animation is simple, according to Lempel: Sony wants consumers to understand just how much weight the company puts behind all of its first-party developers.

“We’ve never had any problem getting people to play these games,” he said. “But for the average consumer it’s not always clear what games come directly from our Worldwide Studios.”

In other words, gamers who live and breathe online discourse are well aware that Sony is directly responsible for God of War, Ratchet & Clank, The Last of Us and similar titles. But for new PlayStation converts — of whom there might be many, come this holiday season — the difference between a first- and third-party title might not be immediately apparent. This intro, and its associated logo, will hopefully help differentiate a PS5 exclusive from a game that you can get on any platform.

The logo itself is pretty low-key, and in this writer’s opinion, not nearly as striking as its leaked Xbox Series X counterpart, but to each his own. There’s a black PlayStation logo on a white background, and an all-caps “STUDIOS” caption in white underneath it. For an organization calling itself PlayStation Studios, this is about as straightforward as it gets.

On the other hand, the animation is a bit more interesting, particularly since it looks almost exactly like the opening logo animation from a recent Marvel movie. (In case you haven’t seen a Marvel movie in a while — slightly washed-out character clips, transitioning into one while letters appear, then zooming out to show the logo as a whole.) This is by design, as it turns out.

“We’re all huge Marvel fans,” Lempel said. “One of our biggest games of all time has a Marvel character in it with Spider-Man. But this is really about doing something specific for our games and our industry.”

The only question, then, is which game will be the first to employ the PlayStation Studios animation. At present, Sony hasn’t announced its lineup of PS5 launch titles, nor do we have a clear idea which big series (God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, etc.) might be getting continuations, or when. 

In any case, Sony probably wouldn’t introduce the new logo unless it had a title in mind to go with it, so stay tuned over the next few weeks. A reveal event for the PS5 and its games is probably not too far away.

Marshall Honorof

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.