Sony Clarifies the Difference Between First-Party, Second-Party, and So On

For ages, there’s been a heated discussion among gamers about what exactly constitutes first-party, second-party, and so forth.

As a dedicated gamer for years now, I’ve come to understand that when a game is developed in-house by the platform owner, we call it a first-party game. On the other hand, if the game is created by an external studio but still published by the platform owner, we refer to it as a second-party title.

To be honest, for about a decade now, Sony has left many dedicated fans like myself scratching our heads when they categorize titles such as Death Stranding as first-party productions.

So, what gives?

In an interview with Sacred Symbols+ (which is paywalled), the former head of PS Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, largely resolved the debate by providing a comprehensive explanation.

When a game is created by an independent studio and then released by Sony (PlayStation), we refer to it as a ‘first-party game’.

Previously, Housemarque operated as an independent developer, but our team handled the relationship management. However, we financed the game and marketed it under our own label, despite the fact that it was created externally.

Yoshida explained further: “We refer to ‘second-party’ when an independent studio develops and finances a game, retaining ownership of the intellectual property. An example from recent times is Rise of the Ronin by Koei Tecmo, which was published by PlayStation. This is why we label it as second-party.

He explained: “Those games not developed by us but released exclusively on our platform, we refer to as ‘partner titles.’ For instance, Final Fantasy 16 initially appeared only on PlayStation, making it a third-party exclusive.

During his time as head of PS Studios, Yoshida mentioned that he approved numerous external game developments for our first-party titles. However, he also admitted that second-party collaborations are increasingly common nowadays.

He mentioned that during his management tenure, we heavily relied on external first-party developments, and PlayStation continues to do so as well. However, he pointed out a significant rise in the production of what we refer to as second-party work within the past few years.

“Initially, I recall the first instances being Nioh and Nioh 2. These games originated from Koei Tecmo in Japan and Asia, but for regions outside Asia, such as the US and Europe, they were distributed by PlayStation under a secondary publishing agreement with us.”

In simpler terms, although it’s still complex, this provides a bit more clarity about Sony’s viewpoint on the specific terminology they use. To put it another way, we can say that this offers a glimpse into their understanding and interpretation of these terms.

First-party: A game published and fully funded by Sony. Usually owns the IP.
Second-party: A game published by Sony with partial or full funding coming from an external company. Usually doesn’t own the IP.
Partner title: A game published and developed by an external company launching first or earlier on PlayStation platforms.
Third-party: A game published and fully funded by an external company.

The situation becomes quite intricate, as you can understand that there might be some instances where rules don’t apply uniformly due to varying contractual agreements. For instance, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a game financed and published by PlayStation, but they don’t actually own the intellectual property (IP). So, it occupies a sort of middle ground between first-party and second-party games.

Despite everything, it’s really intriguing to listen to Yoshida explaining these details, and it provides us with a clearer structure to build upon in the future.

2025-02-21 15:36

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