Zipper Interactive’s series of SOCOM games were synonymous with the PlayStation brand for the better part of the 2000s. After a string of highly successful releases, starting with 2002’s SOCOM: U.S Navy SEALs for the PlayStation 2, the franchise established itself as a grounded third-person shooter experience. But, for some reason, the PlayStation-exclusive shooter never saw the light of the day against following 2011’s SOCOM 4 for the PS3.
Now that Sony is in danger of losing one of the best-selling PlayStation games in Call of Duty following Microsoft’s acquisition, talks of a new SOCOM game have started to gain traction.
The main source of the report is Colin Moriarty. The former IGN Senior Editor popped up on Discord to answer questions. One particular user asked him if SOCOM is coming back, to which he replied by saying that “SOCOM will come back.” Of course, this isn’t to say that the forgotten PS-exclusive franchise is coming back for sure. You could take his word as a personal belief that Sony might bring SOCOM back now that Call of Duty might leave the platform forever in a few years.
If we assume that Colin’s words are true, bringing SOCOM back for the PS5 makes a lot of sense. The PS5 doesn’t have an exclusive multiplayer shooter like Killzone, Resistance, or SOCOM. You could argue that Sony’s close working relationship with Activision helps explain this, but now that Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard, it’s the best time for Sony to go back and work on proven franchises that it owns.
For now, all anyone can do is speculate and wait for more official news. If it’s any consolation, Sony did confirm that it’s working on at least 10 live-service games that will be released by 2026, which could include the unannounced SOCOM game. Even with Bungie in tow, it wouldn’t hurt for Sony to hedge its bets and release multiple exclusive shooters in the coming years to fill the massive void that Call of Duty’s inevitable departure will leave behind.
