Sony just held a corporate strategy meeting in an attempt to outline its plans for the company’s future – but it’s a separate interview with PlayStation Productions boss Asad Kizilbash that really caught our attention. You may remember Qizilbash from a couple of PlayStation events that took place a few years ago — an apparently charismatic speaker who has since led the business’s foray into film and television.
In the interview, Qizilbash is asked what he thinks the future looks like for PlayStation and gaming in general – and his thoughts are actually quite insightful. Right off the bat, he says, “In terms of the future of gaming, I foresee games becoming more personalized due to advances in technology and AI, enabling personalized experiences for each player.”
Essentially, Qizilbash believes that video games will become more and more about grabbing people emotionally, through improvements in storytelling and design that tries to speak directly to the player.
“Technological advances will enhance the emotional depth in games by allowing characters to be much more emotional and expressive, encouraging more evocative storytelling. It’s going to help a whole generation of creators be able to just create a lot more emotion in stories,” he predicted.
He continues, “The focus will shift from graphics or visuals to immersive narratives that resonate long after the controller is turned off.” interesting.
Qizilbash also believes we’ve drifted a bit when it comes to adapting games in his work, into film and television: “I truly believe that some of the most imaginative worlds and creative stories come from video games. there’s a sea change happening where all the great creators are really leaning towards video games because a lot of them grew up playing games themselves.”
We guess it’s hard to argue with that point of view when shows like The last of us have been such a huge success. But how does all of this ultimately tie into the gaming side of things?
It sounds like Qizilbash thinks the two media are already intertwined and it’s only going to get harder to separate them: “I believe technology will democratize storytelling, making it more accessible and affordable for creators, and Sony is in a unique position to facilitate this. With the level of fidelity in video games now, there is an opportunity to repurpose game assets for live-action animation and film using Sony’s volume and virtual production capabilities.”
He explains, “Game engines like Unreal are expanding beyond games and being used for virtual production, allowing creators to focus on storytelling rather than logistical constraints.”
