“We never retire any franchise,” says Yoshida.
Zipper Interactive closed roughly a year after the release of SOCOM 4 and some felt that was it for the shooter franchise. Not so, says Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida who when asked about their never being a never SOCOM game said “never say never.”
Speaking to OPM, Yoshida was asked flat out if SOCOM was “done as a franchise”. His response was “It’s not done. We never retire any franchise” and noted the recent Sly Cooper rebirth while saying, “it’s sometimes good to have a fresh look at the franchises we have.”
Zipper Interactive, which had been in existence for over 15 years and owned by Sony for more than five, was closed in March 2012. Yoshida described the situation as “a very difficult decision and thing to deal with”.
