PlayStation has a secret weapon up its sleeve: the Hero Project

The video game industry is changing. As financial growth stagnates, companies like PlayStation have experimented with ways to adapt as markets and trends change. Where it was once able to rely on its first-party blockbusters to build and maintain an audience, it is looking more likely that it will need to invest in new strategies to prepare for the ways the industry is shifting. We see this with a bigger push into live-service and mobile games, but there’s another initiative that isn’t going to pay dividends in the near future but could set the groundwork for future success: the Hero Project.

Sony’s Hero Project isn’t a widely publicized or highlighted initiative — even by PlayStation. Still, it’s something every PlayStation owner should be aware of. It has the potential to be its secret weapon in the long run.

The world needs heroes

PlayStation’s Hero Project is currently in its fourth iteration. Beginning in 2016, it kicked off with three rounds of the China Hero Project and has currently expanded to include the India Hero Project. The goal of these initiatives is to allow game developers from said countries to pitch their games directly to a special PlayStation committee. If accepted, Sony will then offer the team support with finances, technologies, marketing, and occasionally publishing.

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A few notable titles to come out of these projects include F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch and Anno: Mutationem, and the upcoming Lost Soul Aside. The five titles chosen from the India Hero Project were just revealed last month as Meteora: The Race Against Space Time by Big Boot Games, Fishbowl by imissmyfriends, Mukti, by Underdogs Studio, Requital: Gates of Blood by Holy Cow Productions, and Suri: The Seventh Note by Tathvamasi.

One look at these latest titles — or any