DISCLAIMER:
I (43f) am not a medical professional. I don’t guarantee any of these self-realizations, tools, routines, notes, words of advice will work for everyone. I don’t claim my philosophy to be academically accurate. I have used what I have learned -or interpreted- from six years of psychotherapy (twice a week), three levels of DBT, my own reading, research on the endocannabinoid system, from the experiences of others and from observing MY patterns of emotion and behavior. Whatever seems to work consistently / dependably for me, I keep notes on. But what works for me or makes sense to me, may not, for you. Thank you for the gold✨!! It makes a huge, positive difference to not see ads for a while. Sincerely grateful ♥️
Please don’t grade this like a book report. Please don’t criticize me, or this in any way. It’s extremely triggering. Apologies for incomplete sentences, formatting, spelling errors, grammar, etc, especially since I’ve copy/pasted most of this text from my previous posts in cptsd and other similar subreddits. here are the guidelines that literally save my life on a regular basis.
My CPTSD is very acute, and needs to be monitored vigilantly. But, I’ve had no suicidal attempts since 5/17/17, my last Semicolon day. And I’ve found a lot of moments of genuine joy since then.
Keeping A strict routine.
I mean, waking up, working, Netflix-ing, lazy time-ing around the same times of day or same days each week. Including eating the exact same thing the same day of the week. Exercising the same time and days each week. Eventually my metabolism and digestive system got really predictable.
It’s a HUGE feeling of relief and self-management that at least
this part of my existence is steady and predictable. Controllable.
I’ve had to learn what kinds of meals and what size of meals work best for ME and sticking to it.
And by “working for me” I
do not mean foods that give me a sense of relief or comfort, because I don’t want to create (or continue) an unhealthy relationship with food.
I have to stay conscious about where I am getting my oxytocin / serotonin / dopamine supply, so eating is extremely intentional. Things that take a long time for me to digest, like gluten, heavy casseroles, most dairy, it interrupts my serotonin production in my gut, causing a deficit that leads to suicidal ideation. (This took me
years to figure out. I don’t have a gluten or dairy allergy, I have a sensitivity.)
It’s effort not to give in to my guilt when someone offers me something I know is going to fuck me up (office birthday cake, potlucks, etc). But I have just gone thru too many cycles of wanting to slit my wrists because of Debbie’s birthday sheet cake at work two days prior that I’m actually kind of afraid of certain foods now. Literally poison that could kill me slowly.
Recently I got braver about this when I’m out in restaurants. One of my symptoms of CPTSD is I don’t get hungry, really. I can go three whole days without actually feeling hungry and getting a craving for something. So instead of pressuring myself to eat lavish, celebratory meals when I have to go out for dinner with friends, I practice checking in with my body and mental state to see what kind of sustenance I
actually need in the moment. For example, if I go to a steakhouse, And I see they have baked potatoes for sides, I’ll ask for a single baked potato. Or if it’s a brunch spot, one single egg. I know by now what works best for my mind and body. Every time I’ve tried to do the three-meals-a-day thing it has exacerbated my anxiety, my digestive issues and is a trigger for when my meals were weighed out for me, or I was forced to eat. Maybe someone will think I’m fussy, but I just can’t care because........
Link to notes on how I figured out my diet was affecting my serotonin production, leading to severe ideation: http://www.reddit.com/CPTSDNextSteps/comments/jp1fg0/this_is_my_personal_guide_to_managing_my_cptsd/gbdgefx/?utm_source=share&utm;_medium=ios_app&utm;_name=iossmf&context;=3 I have stopped admonishing myself for having a “I don’t care” attitude. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s that I do not have the capability to care about about certain things to a certain degree anymore, because it’s detrimental to my mental health.
I have to be choosy about where I direct my attention.
Friend: Did you hear about all those protests downtown? Me: Yeah, I did. And it’s not that I’m not concerned, I just can’t care about that right now. I’m in survival mode. Dealing with Self-harm urges:
Ice water. In the throws of a panic attack, ice cold water to the face and hands redirects the brains attention. When we submerge our face and hands in ice-cold water (like in a kitchen sink) our brain thinks we’re drowning and an automatic survival mode starts up.
Hmm ... Isn’t that interesting. That the physical body wants to survive, even when our emotions tell us otherwise. Is it possible to live inside those split-second moments?
Let’s see.
I’m having a panic attack, but there’s no actual threat. I just know I want to hurt myself, or knock myself out.
Plunk into the water. Thoughts slow down. Suddenly my body responds to what it perceives
is an actual threat. And its response is to
survive. This is the strength they talk about in superhero origin stories. When all is lost, and something inside kicks in. It’s power. It’s courage. IT’S YOU. ♥️
Sometimes I yell and scream into the water, at everyone and everything who programmed me to flinch in this way.
[PERSONAL NOTE: I’m allowed to be angry at them, forever. I’m allowed to never, ever forgive the monsters in my life. Denying them my forgiveness has no bearing on my value, importance or worthiness as a person.
Nor does it impede my ability to love others empathetically and sincerely. I can hate my abusers and still be a good person. My hate for them is not going to rot me.]
Dealing with Panic attacks:
Grounding myself. From where I’m sitting, I try to name five things I can hear, four things I can smell, three things I can touch, etc. I change this up. Or sometimes, if I’m having a hard time switching from sense to sense in my panic, I’ll just count as many things as I can hear with my eyes closed. I say them out loud, to hear my voice outside of my skull for a change. My therapist and I made a self-soothe kit for me. It has something for each sense: a swatch of supersoft faux fur, a bottle of lavender oil, gin-gin ginger chews, a little music box thing, and a few really pretty clear blue marbles. I’ll go through each one mindfully. Remember holding marbles up to your eye as a kid? Neither did I until I tried it again. What would be in your Self-Soothe kit?
Exercise.
I got an elliptical machine on Craigslist for cheap. I don’t have to leave my house or deal with people when I need to burn off energy. 20 minutes of cardio helps me sleep through the night. And as I’ve posted in here before, I look and feel 15 years younger due to trauma and memory loss, so perhaps that’s the universe giving me a do-over! I want my physical health to keep up with how young I feel emotionally. My cat is my trainer.
Edit: My routine is more important to me than trying to top each workout with the next one. The other day I got on my elliptical machine for eleven minutes. Like, 0.3 miles. And I practiced being okay with that. I even made a point to post a victory post on IG about it with my ‘stats.’ 11 min / 0.3 mi / 170 cal. It’s important to me that I count these smaller steps as victories and progress, not just the big strides. It makes it easier to appreciate the tiny bits of progress in all other areas of my life.
Scaling down my social circle.
I used to work in theatre and performing arts, and was constantly trying to fit every party, every event and play, every coffee date, every vacation, every road trip, every camping weekend into every spare second of my life. I was a workaholic, topping out at about 80 hours a week sometimes. After my last suicidal attempt, I wasn’t well enough to meet up with anyone, or work more than 30 hours a week. 99% of my friends and family faded away, sometimes out of resentment towards me for being “flaky” or not reciprocating their friendship in a way I wish I could. Now that it’s been two years, I’m realizing that maybe I’ve gotten better
because I shouldn’t be working more than that. I feel a sense of stability
because I don’t socialize nearly as much as I used to. I have self-forgiveness for not being well enough or having the right programming to sustain many close friendships. SELF FORGIVENESS. The ones that stuck around are my fucking
family now. And it feels so good to understand what Family is
supposed to be, and that I have some. I’ve
had some all along. I wouldn’t have noticed the flowers, if I hadn’t gotten rid of all the weeds.
my timeline is unconventional.
At my age I’m obviously not going to have the traditional college-marriage-kids-career plan that so many of my peers do. Or ANY plan, for that matter. I’ve had to remove myself from friends, or social circles that cause me to have negative conversations with myself about this.
This includes social media accounts. It’s not that they are bad people. I just need to feel represented within my environment, and I realized that I get to choose that environment. Sure, I’ve had people not understand why I’m fading out of their group, but I
can’t care about what they think about me. It’s a slippery slope for me. (My truest friends have understood this, and do not write me off when I feel strong enough to hang out again. Unconditional love, yo.)
Dealing with feeling suicidal:
When I’m in the throes of it, I have to force myself into the reality of what is
really going on:
I have an illness that causes me to see and feel things that aren’t real, INCLUDING MY ASSESSMENT OF MYSELF. I am emotionally hallucinating.
I repeat this silently to myself. I’ll write it on something permanent, in Sharpie. I admit I’ve tagged bathroom stalls with this statement.
I think of people who are having a difficult night with their cancer, or lupus, or MS, or fibromyalgia:
god damn it- this fucking illness wants me dead. Fuck this illness. It’s the illness not me that wants me dead. This thought oscillates with
I fucking wish I was dead but the point is that it keeps oscillating. I fucking wish I was dead- no wait- it’s this illness that wants me dead and that should piss me off.
If I can move the feeling of deep shame into anger towards the things that’s making me feel the deep shame, I’ve leveled up. I’ve accepted it, but I’ve stepped just outside of it.
[PERSONAL NOTES] In moments when I’m violently suicidal, like, pretty much psychosis, I keep screens in front of me. Again, I know this is unconventional advice, lol. But I’m remembering back to when my ex husband first discarded me and how I literally couldn’t come out from under my bed for a week. I had my iPad playing twitch streams on one side of me, and reruns of Girls playing on my phone on the other side, at all times, for a week.
I must have texted someone to come help me, but I had no recollection of it until a friend of a friend who I barely knew showed up at my house with a small bag of groceries. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. If I tore my eyes away from tv for a second, the darkest most painful thoughts and images would creep in. I’d made this little fort under my loft bed that made it look like my room was empty, if anyone were to come in. I literally needed to disappear into a different space.
Before this last time, I would feel suicidal, but not to the point of being so physically drained. Before I could run to the bathroom and grab a box of pills, or get a box cutter and — before my suicidal moments had had energy. This last time, I felt like I had been in an MMA fight. I physically couldn’t move. I didn’t even make pee, I didn’t need to use the bathroom for days. I physically lost the ability to care for myself.
Like a baby. I had made myself a crib, complete with a mobile.
I needed to love myself like a baby. And you know what? THAT’S OKAY. It kept me alive. This was my first foray into self-forgiveness.
Because I got thru that, I knew it was very possible that it could happen again, and that if it did, I might not be as lucky. I’m only getting better and better at trying to die.
I need treat my urge to hurt or kill myself like it’s an addiction. This is why I sometimes say I’ve “been in recovery for three years.” The urges come up daily, and I have to acknowledge them without indulging them. It’s a conscious, step-by-step, one-day-at-a-time thing that is my priority.
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, etc etc etc. That prayer applies here too.
Prepare for those dark times.
Put things you’d genuinely want to do if you weren’t feeling so low on a wall calendar. Write them in when you think of them when you’re feeling well, so they’re there when you’re too dissociated or sad-sick to brainstorm ideas. Treat Yo’self! When I was fresh out of the hospital, one of the things my therapist suggested is planning fun things for myself and literally write them on a physical calendar, where I’d have to see it all the time. This was in May 2017, so I remember getting online and looking up what bands were touring in my area. I bought a single Thundercat ticket, a single Bonobo ticket, a single tickets to see some stand up comedy, etc. The shows were all in SeptembeOctober, so whenever I had really dark moments I’d inevitably think to myself “Ok well you can’t die because then you’ll miss Thundercat.” And it doesn’t have to be things that cost money or required me to leave my home. I’ve written “bring lunch to the park”, “make a blanket fort and watch Interstellar in the dark”, “bake cookies” on a calendar, and somehow the anticipation makes it feel like an official event when that day arrives.
Netflix
— Did you know you can still add dvds-in-the-mail like old school style? After the hospital and after I got into my new apartment, it was one of the first things I did for myself. Everyone loves getting mail. What better mail than a movie you’ve been wanting to see? And it’s automatic plans with yourself, a distraction if needed. The app that is used to queue the movies I want is now a detailed list of films, subjects, creative styles that I like. (More on the necessity of lists below.) I have to say,
it’s a great feeling to see that red envelope sticking out of my mailbox. It’s like having instant plans, with no pressure, no additional people needed.
Taking baths
-or a long hot shower at least once a day. Psychologically it feels like being hugged. Then you realize that this is a way you can hug yourself, and it’s kind of lonely and sad, but it’s also gratifying and self-sufficient. Remembering to shower seems like a given, but there are days when I don’t even have enough oxytocin to do that.
On that same note, making myself a cup of hot chocolate or tea with intention (like, drag the chair to the window, find the softest blanket,
then get the tea and bundle up with only the window to watch - oh what a good time for a grounding exercise. How many things can you hear? See?) If you had the perfectest mom or grandma, what would she do for you when you’re feeling small and sad? Do that for yourself. I am my own parent. I mean, I’ve been my own parent my whole life, I’m just not always mad about it anymore. Sometimes I’m grateful.
Making lists of things I like.
Just lists. Shows I’m currently into. Fashions. Books I should read. Movies I should watch. It helps so, so much when I’m dissociated. I just wander around my apartment, reading all my lists. My dissociation can often be so dense that I can’t remember any details about my own personality. I can’t remember favorite
anythings so my lists help bring me back to earth.
Making a permanent list of my favorite foods and keeping it on the fridge. Have you ever had to go grocery shopping while dissociated? Yeah. Super useful. Also great for when someone wants to help you out and shop for you.
Spotify.
Making different playlists for myself. For different moods or occasions or exercise, etc. I spent 20 years of my life having no idea what music I liked. I’d forget what bands or songs were my favorite. What was that album I played on repeat last month because I couldn’t get enough of it? Fuck if I know. Like with foods, I don’t retain this kind of self-knowledge about music.
And I’m a musician! Deep breath: SELF-FORGIVENESS. I can’t care that my brain doesn’t hold this stuff. That’s what post-it’s are for.
Accepting my depression.
I have friends who legitimately suffer from deep depression; some who (seem to) have ‘recovered’ from it.
I do not compare their progress to my own. At 43, I have accepted that I’m not going to recover from the kind I have. Mine is tangled in with CPTSD. So instead of beating myself up because my deep sadness is never really 100% gone, I just keep adding fun and happy things to my plate. I no longer spend so much energy trying to escape being sad. I just add more happy.
Accepting my depression in the moment.
If I’m sad, I let myself feel sad. I tell my work that I’m “sick” and call in, because I AM. If I had an autoimmune disease, I’d have to take extra measures to prevent getting a cold, because my cold could last weeks longer than an average person’s. So:
I have an autoimmune disease of the emotional mind. Therefore, I am prone to emotional illnesses more often than others, they can last longer than they do for others, and they can become lethal if not managed.
Explaining it this way to myself and to others has helped redefine my mental illness. I treat myself differently than I used to when my depression gets bad. I’m
kinder to myself, like when I have the flu. Trying to push through like normal is a definite trigger for shame becoming suicidal ideation for me. If I was in remission from a cancer that almost killed me, no one would judge me for not wanting to run a half-marathon.
SELF ACCEPTANCE.
I understand that i have a condition that literally keeps me from seeing all of myself accurately. So when someone tells me I’m amazing, I kind of have to believe them, even when I am in the depths of despair.
That feeling of worthlessness? Dispair? Self-hate? Wanting to fucking die?
I try to work on moving from feeling worthless to
being pissed off that i have a disease that makes me feel worthless. First I say it out loud, even if I don’t believe it yet. Then I think it internally, word for word. “I’m angry at this disease. I’m angry at my abusers for injuring me in this way. I’m angry.” That’s what
working on it means to me.
Shame has lethargy, but anger has
energy. Gets the blood pumping. I’ll go for a walk, clean my house, workout, or write a bunch, or take a sandwich to the park. I’ll go to a $5 movie alone (pre-pandemic). Or the library (also pre-pandemic). I’ll work an extra work shift. I’ll do some cardio. Something that uses physical energy. I use that energy in a positive way because that’s the ultimate revenge on my past abuse and subsequent illnesses. This might not be conventional advice, but the people who write the books of CPTSD usually don’t have it, so I’m dedicated to coming up with methods on my own.
Progress is not a straight line. Often, it’s not even a line, it’s a loopy-loop chutes-n-ladders path, and all my pieces are from candyland. But if I count one space at a time, and accept the setbacks as part of the journey, I know I’ll be okay.
For those with access to therapy, or similar I recommend DBT (dialectal behavioral therapy) courses to help sort out emotional reactions to past, present and future conditions. Originally designed for Borderline Personality Disorder, it has really helped me slow down my emotional “flinching,” and helped me prioritize my actual needs vs. my emotional needs. My reasonable reactions from my emotional reactions. For those who don’t, I started with free therapy programs thru the graduate programs at my local college. I discovered free trauma counseling through calling crisis lines as well, and I joined a few depression/anxiety groups on the MeetUp app. I also recommend the Mood Tracker app for self-observance and a great support system, and the Breathe Player app for focused breathing.
I will continue to add more to this as time goes by.
Please feel free to spread this around as needed. These are all things I wish I had started doing for myself decades ago.
I just add things to it as I come up with them, and I must be doing something right because at 43, I finally feel like I’m moving forward, I’m not stuck.
Kind of like.... I finally invented a bike that I can ride after having both legs blown off in a war. I’ll never be able to pretend I have legs, I’ll always look down and be reminded of my pain and trauma— if I decide to look down. The point is I’m moving forward, so I have to focus on that. And also,
i made the bike so I’m entitled to quietly feel like I’m a better at being a person than others who didn’t have to invent their own bikes. If that makes sense!
I hope this helps some of you find some love inside yourselves. I appreciate you guys so, so much, just for being able to relate. Just for being here and being you. Thank you ♥️♥️♥️
Due to current lack of notable news regarding the PlayStation 5 and how long it passed since a detailed overview on SIE's current and future line of games here, I decided to lump all them together and gather all notable information, confirmations, reports and rumors we've been hearing over the past 2-3 years.
There are so many repetitive question posts, console warring and the like. So consider this just a nice little ('little') post to go through until we'll have new stuff and interesting news in the coming weeks. I hope this will be informative and organized enough.
In case you have more sources, links, credible tweets and the like, don't hesitate to share them so they can be added to this list. SIE Worldwide Studios - Projects
Naughty Dog After over three years of anticipation, fears, doubts, delays and controversies, Naughty Dog finally released
The Last of Us Part II back in June to critical acclaim and high sales.
- Naughty Dog's next big project still seems to be lightyears away, and according to vice president and creative director Neil Druckmann mentioned in a June interview with him that at the time he is still unsure what will be Naughty Dog's next project; it could be a third installment in The Last of Us franchise, or it could be an entirely new IP - which would be ND's first new IP since the original The Last of Us in 2013.
- Naughty Dog has been reported (and later confirmed in a tweet) to be working on a successor to "Factions", the multiplayer mode of The Last of Us. The Last of Us Part II was Naughty Dog's first game since Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007) to not include a multiplayer mode at launch, partly to focus most of the resources into the single-player campaign, and partly to fully realize Factions' own ambitions as its own thing. Recently, we also had leaked footage of what appears to be the game in progress.
- Finally, and take this with a massive grain of salt given the source, a post originating on 4Chan and later getting reposted on both Reddit and ResetEra claims that Naughty Dog is already working on a new IP, tentatively called Stray's Cross. This game is rumored to be some post-apocalyptic, Steampunk title with first-person perspective, a departure from Naughty Dog's usual third-perspective style. The rumor also mentions that the two leads are a female scientist and a male fugitive. An even earlier rumor (dates to October 2018) by a man called Daniel Richtman (who is apparently correct with his leaks on entertainment stuff) mentions details of one of the leads' casting preferences, of a black/African-American man in his 40's-60's, with a picture of The Walking Dead actor Chad Coleman. Whether this casting refers to the new IP (whose 4Chan rumor came a year later), or something TLOU-related remains to be seen.
Insomniac Games At the time of this post's writing, Insomniac Games is the most recent member of the SIE Worldwide Studios, having been acquired in 2019 after decades of close relationship with Sony and the PlayStation. Having shipped 2018's
Spider-Man to critical acclaim and extremely strong sales, Insomniac Games was one of the first studios to have its rumored PS5 projects shown in June's Future of Gaming event.
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales were unveiled during the Future of Gaming event. The former has been either speculated or rumored for a while and is built around the PlayStation 5's SSD to allow its unique dimension-hopping design, and features new playable character in addition to series protagonist Ratchet. The latter is a standalone spin-off to 2018's Spider-Man and has been compared in scope and style to Naughty Dog's Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Miles Morales was also said to be a "complete story" and character arc, and offers a performance mode of 4K / 60 FPS.
- Miles Morales, however, is not the only Spider-Man game in works it seems. The first game left several open plot threads for a more proper sequel, and Insomniac Games recently promised that they have plenty to tell regarding Peter's story.
- Also just to clear some things about Sunset Overdrive and an hypothetical sequel: Insomniac Games stated they would love making a sequel for the game. As of 2019, Sony - having acquired Insomniac (who owns the rights for the IP) - is now the owner of the Sunset Overdrive IP. However, former SIE Worldwide Studios head Shawn Layden said that the IP is not a priority for Sony at the time of the interview. Whether this will change or has changed after Layden's departure is to be seen.
Guerrilla Games Guerrilla Games experienced some sort of new breakthrough with the PS4 generation, releasing the beloved
Horizon Zero Dawn to great success and creating the acclaimed Decima game engine which was used for
Until Dawn (2015) and
Death Stranding (2019) in addition to
Horizon and 2013's
Killzone Shadow Fall.
- Horizon Forbidden West was speculated & rumored for a while and was all but confirmed before its full announcement in the Future of Gaming event. It was rumored to have originally started as a PlayStation 4 project before shifting away entirely to Sony's upcoming console. It is slated for a 2021 release and will feature new Machines to take on.
- This might be a given, but another pre-announcement report claims that the IP has evolved into a trilogy and Horizon III is all but guaranteed at some point after the second game's launch.
- It also seems that Guerrilla Games is working on another project outside the Horizon series (or maybe related to them?); as early as May 2018, the studio has began recruiting for a new unannounced game, which was about to begin full production. It could very well line up with the aforementioned Forbidden West, but perhaps also with another IP. By October of the same year, Guerrilla amassed talent of Rainbow Six: Siege veterans, among them is director Simon Larouche, who previously worked on the universally acclaimed Killzone 2 (2009). The obvious identity of that game might be a new Killzone game, but some rumors claim the game in question is a revival of SOCOM (which otherwise is said to be developed by SIE San Diego).
Sucker Punch Productions Sucker Punch Productions just shipped its latest game
Ghost of Tsushima so it seems like their next project is still years away. In comparison to some of Sony's other studios, it's a somewhat smaller team, with less than 200 employees. Either way,
Ghost of Tsushima's ridiculously high sales and positive reception prove they're not going anywhere.
- The most obvious candidate to Sucker Punch's next game would be a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. There is little to say about it that is not speculation, but it is a very likely project to tackle after Ghost of Tsushima sold over 2.4 million copies in three days, becoming Sony's fastest-selling PS4 IP. It should be noted that the Mongol invasion of Japan resumed in 1281), which could be used as the setting of a sequel.
- Elsewhere, Sucker Punch renewing the domain of the InFamous site sparked some speculation about the studio returning to its previous series.
- Finally, perhaps Sucker Punch will choose to expand on Prophecy, the intriguing tech demo/unreleased game whose footage was leaked during July 2020 and was developed around 2014.
Polyphony Digital Sony's resident racing game studio, Polyphony Digital is dedicated to the
Gran Turismo series. And this isn't going to change any time soon in my opinion. The studio's latest release was 2017's
Gran Turismo, which despite being the lowest-rated title in the main franchise, was still a major commercial success and gradually received warmer reception as Polyphony added new content.
- Gran Turismo 7, obviously. Even before its official announcement, the game was heavily rumored and its logo was even accidentally leaked back in May 2020. Current release date is unknown.
PixelOpus This is gonna be a brief one. PixelOpus is Sony's smallest internal studio, and to this date only shipped two games since its inception in 2014. The latest one was 2019's
Concrete Genie, which got favorable reviews even if it wasn't a massive sales story. Whatever the studio is working on nowadays remains a mystery, as they finished support for their latest title.
Media Molecule Media Molecule is Sony's most unique studio in terms of its projects, aiming to push player creativity and interactions more than any other developer under its umbrella. After nearly a decade, the team finally released its latest project
Dreams in February 2020 as yet another critically acclaimed platform for creators and designers.
- It feels obvious that Media Molecule will primarily focus on Dreams for a while, which in the past was said to be designed for support for a decade and even more. They recently added VR support to the game and creative Mark Healey mentioned that a PlayStation 5 edition of Dreams is the "next big step".
- It's currently unknown if Media Molecule is involved in some capacity in Sumo Digital's continuation of its LittleBigPlanet franchise, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, announced during the Future of Gaming event. It should be noted that the studio was involved in LittleBigPlanet 3's early development, which was also primarily developed by Sumo Digital.
SIE Japan Studio SIE Japan Studio is Sony's biggest studio and its flagship development place. It is a wild card responsible for multiple games of different genres, styles and scope, and tends to collaborate with other developers just as much as it develops its own in-house productions. Some of its most notable games during the PS4 generation include
Gravity Rush 2,
Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and the
Knack duology, as well as co-productions on
Bloodborne,
The Last Guardian and
Shadow of the Colossus remake.
- Current known projects include Astro's Playroom (developed by ASOBI Team) as a pre-installed game for the PlayStation 5 and the heavily rumored Demon's Souls remake in co-production with Bluepoint Games, both were unveiled during the Future of Gaming event in June 2020. The former will serve as a presentation of the DualSense controller, and was recently shown by game presenter and gaming personality Geoff Keighley; the latter was said to offer two performance modes based on fidelity or frame rate. Astro's Playroom will launch with the PlayStation 5 during Holiday 2020; no release window for Demon's Souls has been provided.
- Due to the nature of this studio it's unknown what else they're working on aside from a few speculations and rumors. Back in January 2017, right around the release of Gravity Rush 2, creative director Keiichiro Toyama (Silent Hill 1, Siren, Gravity Rush) mentioned he'll begin a new project after GR2, while everyone's favorite smiling executive Shuhei Yoshida mentioned that SIE Japan is working on multiple games yet to be announced.
- The biggest rumor surrounding this studio is Silent Hill. The rumor apparently dates back to ResetEra, where user KatharsisT claimed that a new game is in development with the aforementioned Toyama as well as series artist Masahiro Ito and series composer Akira Yamaoka, a claim which was apparently verified by the mods there. A fellow 'insider'/'leaker'/whatever you like called Dusk Golem (who got himself caught in controversy recently but I'm sure the majority of you are aware of it) later claimed that it is internally developed by SIE Japan Studio as part of a licensing deal between Sony and Konami. Given Dusk's recent behavior, whether you want to continue to believe his addition to the rumors is up to you.
- While from the leaks it sounds like Toyama will be very busy for the coming years, he expressed his desire to make a third Gravity Rush game, though it will likely wait for the now-announced PlayStation 5.
- In December 2017, SIE Japan was noted to have trademarked something called Ray Space. What exactly this game is, is unknown. But apparently it's a very ambitious science-fiction game with rumors and hints dating all the way back to 2014.
SIE Bend Studio After over a decade of working on handheld titles, Bend Studio finally returned to home console AAA development with 2019's
Days Gone. It didn't get the rave reviews some other big Sony games got, but players absolutely loved it and the game proved to be a surprise hit with pretty solid sales for a new IP by a somewhat obscure team.
- Days Gone ended with a sequel hook, so it's likely that their next project would be a sequel. As of October 2019, the studio was already working on pre-production of their next title and began recruiting new talent. By April 2020, the studio was still recruiting new talent for their next project.
SIE Santa Monica Santa Monica Studio stands as one of Sony's most acclaimed teams, and is responsible for
God of War. After a very uncertain time between 2011 and 2016, including the disappointing results of 2013's
God of War: Ascension, lay-offs and the cancellation of an ambitious sci-fi IP, the studio found its footing again with 2018's reimagined
God of War, ushering a new dawn on the once-troubled studio.
- Let's get this out the way; a fifth God of War game is inevitable. The game has a few open plot threads and is ripe for an even grander sequel after the smashing success in reviews and sales. Hell, director Cory Barlog even said he has ideas for five more games. Cory also suggested he would NOT direct the next game, and a tweet by him from January 2020 mentioned Eric Williams; is he gonna be the director of the next game?
- As for other projects, it's been hinted that an entirely new game is in works at SIE SM. Cory already mentioned that he pitched (couldn't find the original tweet, it's buried under two years of tweets and retweets) a new idea to Sony, and since then we've been given cryptic tweets and other hints about this mystery title. Film director Duncan Jones tweeted about what's next for Barlog, and Barlog himself dropped some weird tweet that caused wild speculation. Either way, SIE SM apparently assembles a second team.
- Finally, could SIE Santa Monica ever revive their high-profile, cancelled sci-fi game Internal 7? Santa Monica's canned PlayStation 4 exclusive was in development for about three years before lay-offs hit the studio and Sony pulled the plug on the science-fiction game.
SIE London Studio SIE London primarily focuses on experiences revolving around the PlayStation brand's different applications and accessories. However, after years of being in the background, the studio got the spotlight upon delivering
Blood & Truth, a VR shooter that shocked everyone thanks to its quality and production values.
- SIE London already began recruiting for a new project by late 2019. As with Blood & Truth, this title is likely to be VR-based. Given the way Blood & Truth sets itself up (see the pattern here?), a sequel is very likely to happen.
SIE San Diego Studio Like Polyphony Digital, San Diego is best known for doing one flagship series,
MLB: The Show, though unlike the former San Diego Studio has ventured into other IPs in a more frequent rate.
- MLB: The Show 21 is obviously coming in 2021, though the most interesting aspect about it thus far is that starting with this entry, all future MLB titles will be multiplatform as a result of a new contract between Sony and the MLB association. So expect to see those future games on Xbox and likely the Switch as well.
- Also, remember that SOCOM title from Guerilla's part? There is some speculation that the actual developer of the title is not Guerrilla, but San Diego Studio. Given the studio's relatively recent relocation to a new building and a slight revamp to their logo, the studio might work on a new project separated from the MLB series; their last non-MLB games were released in 2017 as collaborations with third-party studios, so there is a notable gap here.
Sony's Secret Studio in San Diego More or less an open secret by now, Sony
founded a new development studio in San Diego circa 2018, within the Visual Art Studio Group of Sony. And for the past two years, it's been recruiting talent from various places, including ex-Naughty Dog environment artist
Zack Oliver and
Red Dead Redemption 2 senior animator
James Martinchek, with senior game designer
Quentin Cobb apparently leading the team.
- Their first game's identity is yet to be confirmed, though from what I've seen the chief speculation is an Uncharted continuation. The only things we know right now is that the game is probably a third-person action/adventure game and will be in collaboration with another Sony-owned studio.
External Developers - Confirmed, Announced Games
With the exception of
Wild, the following titles were announced during Sony's Future of Gaming event.
- Demon's Souls remake (TBC) - Bluepoint Games (Shadow of the Colossus remake) in collaboration with SIE Japan Studio (co-developer of the original game and the provider of the original pitch)
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure (TBC) - Sumo Digital (LittleBigPlanet 3): A successor to the LittleBigPlanet featuring protagonist Sackboy in a 3D platform style in contrast to the original series' focus on 2.5D levels. Will include co-op mode.
- Destruction AllStars (TBC) - Lucid Games (Travel Bug, PlayStation Vita Pets: Puppy Parlour): A vehicular combat video game with apparent focus on multiplayer. Trailer indicates arena fights in which the player can fight on foot in addition to using a vehicle.
- Returnal (TBC) - Housemarque (Super Stardust, Dead Nation, Resogun, Alienation, Matterfall): A third-person shootesurvival-horrorougelike title which features an astronaut on a hostile alien planet, stuck in a time loop that relapses every time she dies. The studio had a pretty rough time in recent years, with a decision to stray away from their traditional arcade shooters due to the genre's lackluster footnote in sales. The studio announced its plans to work on an AAA project and licensed the Unreal Engine 4 for the project, putting its other project on hold. It will make extensive use of the DualSense's features.
- Wild (TBC) - Wild Sheep Studio: Sony's ambitious yet uncertain survival game was announced all the way back to Gamescom 2014, but has been missing ever since. The latest we heard about the game was regarding some old art resurfacing this year a few months ago. Whether the project has been scrapped or moved to PlayStation 5 is unknown at the time of this writing.
External Developers - Confirmed, Unannounced Games
External Developers - Rumored Games & Other News
- Impulse Gear, developer of the VR shooter Farpoint, is hiring for its next VR project, said to "redefine AAA VR gaming". Whether this new project is partnered with Sony as a publisher is unknown.
- Kojima Productions which developed 2019's Death Stranding has secured enough funding for their next project thanks to their first project's commercial performance, though a recent project has been shafted. Studio head and game director Hideo Kojima expressed his desire to work on a horror game after Death Stranding, and was in talks with actor Norman Reedus (previously collaborated on both the cancelled Silent Hills and Death Stranding) for a future project. Kojima also expressed that he wants to work on a VR game, but at the time of that statement he was not free enough to pursue that project. It's unknown if Kojima's next project will be partnered with Sony as publisher.
------
- While Other Ocean Emeryville shot down rumors about a remake of MediEvil 2 (originally developed by the now-defunct Guerrilla Cambridge), the composer of the first game's 2019 remake noted that the game did well commercially. Whether it will manage to warrant a continuation remains unknown.
- Sanzaru Games expressed desire to work on a fifth Sly Cooper and finally resolve the cliffhanger of 2013's Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, though they confirmed in December 2019 that they were not working on the project and said that fans should let Sony know they want another game. If a fifth game will ever get made, however, it won't longer come from Sanzaru, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2020.
- Ready at Dawn likewise expressed their own desire to make a sequel for its 2015 polarizing game The Order: 1886. And just like Sanzaru, chances for a continuation by the developer are close to zero with the acquisition by Facebook in June 2020. It should be noted that rumors about a sequel to The Order IP formed in January 2020. If such project indeed existed, its current situation is uncertain.
- FromSoftware president and creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki said back in late 2019 that his favorite game to work on was 2015's Bloodborne. However he also more or less stated that Bloodborne 2 has yet to be materialized and he is "not the one to decide" about its future. It should be noted that Miyazaki is currently busy with Elden Ring.
Beyond what's written here, there have been many, many rumors, speculations and other stuff about other Sony-related projects:
Rumors about Sony acquiring the likes of Kojima Productions or Remedy Entertainment (
Max Payne,
Alan Wake,
Control). Rumors about an unannounced multiplayer-focused game by Remedy for the PlayStation 5. Rumors about
Bloodborne and
Dreams coming to PC alongside
God of War and the
Uncharted PS3 trilogy. Rumors about
Horizon Forbidden West including a co-op mode. A fake 'leak' about
Spider-Man 2's plot and gameplay details. Rumors about Kojima making up with Konami to revive
Silent Hills. Rumors about Sony acquiring Konami's top three IPs. Etc, etc.
I did like the
rumor about Castlevania getting a Bloodborne-esque revival.
That's it for now. If you guys have any other substantial or reliable information to add to the post; some worthwhile rumors or leaks, don't hesitate to share so I can update, correct and improve this list.
