If Shuhei Yoshida cast doubt over the potential of SOCOM 2 rappelling onto PS4 in the aftermath of PSX 2015, then Sony’s Worldwide Studios President has effectively ruled out the shooter’s hopes of making the leap to a new generation for the foreseeable future.
Word comes by way of PS Nation, who quizzed Yoshida on the status of the dormant IP, along with its impassioned fan base.
I appreciate the passion and their [fans] dedication. Every time there is a chance to voice their opinion or things they want to see come back. The latest that I understand had over 10,000 people signed up? So there is high expectations and when there is a rumor we are bringing back some of the PS2 games, they are like oh!…SOCOM was one of the PS2 titles, they want to see it and it wasn’t there. I thought I had to address that because there was such a high expectation. I said we had nothing that we can talk about and we don’t have plans for a new SOCOM game anytime soon.
When SOCOM 2 wasn’t included in the preliminary batch of PS2 titles available to play on PS4, Yoshida was “bombarded with angry messages,” though the executive points to Sony’s ability to gauge interest in franchises as reason for the lack of development.
We have to gauge the interest and what they are saying and what they really want to see or play. We have to balance that with what we can do with the number of people who will enjoy that and we don’t have a good answer to that.
Zipper Interactive’s tactical shooter made its bow as a PS2 exclusive in 2002, spawning a number of sequels and handheld spinoffs. It’s yet to debut on PlayStation 4, though judging by Yoshida-san’s comments, don’t hold your breath for its arrival anytime soon.
[Source: PS Nation]
