After working on theInfamousfranchise for almost a decade, Sucker Punch Productions took quite a departure on its next project, a samurai open-world action-adventure game titledGhost of Tsushima. While it may not have won the most coveted trophies at the2020 Game Awards, it did walk away with both the award for the Best Art Direction, and the Player’s Voice award, showing just how popularGhost of Tsushimaended up being by the end of its first year.
Ghost of Tsushima’s popularity has only continued to grow since its 2020 debut, and though an official announcement is yet to come, fans are desperate to see some form ofGhost of Tsushimasequel appear soon. If recent rumors and Sony’s recent track record for its first-party franchises are anything to go by, thenGhost of Tsushima 2could be a lot closer than some fans might think, with a golden marketing opportunity ahead of itself in the form of a live action movie.
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Ghost of Tsushima 2’s Golden Marketing Opportunity Can Help it Find Success
The firstGhost of Tsushimahad a bit of an unfortunate release window. After its official announcement in 2018,Ghost of Tsushimawas set for a June 25, 2025, release date, but following the pandemic, it was delayed a few more weeks to June 14, 2025. Unfortunately, this landed the game just one month afterThe Last of Us Part 2’s launch. While the two games are very different both in terms of gameplay and narrative, there was simply no escapingThe Last of Us Part 2for a while before and after its release date, with loud discourse hanging around the game for the rest of 2020.
Because of its close proximity toThe Last of Us Part 2, and Sony’s limited marketing for the game,Ghost of Tsushimadidn’t quite make the impact it otherwise would have on launch. Despite this,Ghost of Tsushimastill managed to garner positive reviews, and gradually over the course of the rest of the year, it gained a great deal of popularity. By the time the Game Awards rolled around in December 2020,Ghost of Tsushimahad become many fans' underdog contender. Thankfully,Ghost of Tsushimahas only continued to grow in popularity over the last few years, with the Director’s Cut on PS5 and the Iki Island DLC playing a major part in its continued success.
Now, in 2023,Ghost of Tsushimais widely considered to be one of the best open-world action-adventure games in recent years, boasting an incredible art style, a compelling main story, and extremely satisfying combat mechanics. And though it may feel likeGhost of Tsushimawas only released yesterday, it’s actually been out for almost three years, and it’s about time Sony and Sucker Punch made a sequel. Whilea potentialGhost of Tsushima 2would already have a great deal of fan hype behind it, Sucker Punch and Sony have a unique marketing opportunity that they can’t pass up on.
Announced just a few years ago,Ghost of Tsushimais getting a live-action movie adaptation. Set to bedirected by Chad Stahelski, the main director behind theJohn Wickfranchise and an avid lover of classic samurai cinema, the movie seems to be in good hands, and according to recent reviews, it seems as though Sony is letting Stahelski make some bold filmmaking decisions.Ghost of Tsushima 2has the perfect opportunity to market itself around this new movie, and vice versa, with both projects being able to build hype for each other. The only downside to this is that theGhost of Tsushimamovie is allegedly still a ways off, with it not having left pre-production just yet, which means thatGhost of Tsushima 2would also have to take its time to release alongside it.
Ghost of Tsushimais available for PS4 and PS5.
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