Whatever Media Molecule is working on in secret for PlayStation 5, studio director Siobhan Reddy says its heart will be in your hands.
“On the PS5 it’s all going to be about the haptics. It’s all going to be about the controller,” Siobhan told 9News.
Dreams — Media Molecule’s latest release — arrived on the PS4 in 2020 and is still being updated, with no pressure on the studio to change its style to match 2022’s blockbuster releases of Horizon and God of War.
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“I love that it’s celebrated. That it’s not homogenised,” she said.
“This when you really get to celebrate those PlayStation Studios.”
Moving from Australia to the UK at just 18, Siobhan got her break at Criterion Games, the makers of hit arcade racer Burnout.
“Games are a little bit like albums. There’s a moment when a classic album gets made and it’s about more than the songs and the studio,” the 42-year-old said.
“It was actually almost overnight to turn things up to 100 — there was too much everything but it was sort of amazing.
“You can’t really replicate it.”
What Siobhan is trying to replicate, however, is the support she received as a woman entering a traditionally male-dominated industry, creating work experience initiatives for girls interested in gaming.
“I want to see more female voices in the industry,” she said.
“There’s too few female creative directors out there. There’s too few female technical directors out there. I see that as an opportunity.”
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At a time when allegations of harassment and bullying are being levelled at others like Activision-Blizzard, Siobhan says supporting women entering the industry is critical.
“My career was kind of unique for that time to work for women in that industry at that time,” she said.
“I’ve worked in the industry since ’99 and it’s changed a lot.”
“You bring in new voices, you get new experiences.”
“If we think we know what games are now, we don’t.”
Media Molecule has been on a hiring spree of late to help work on multiple projects at once but for now, the focus remains on improving and broadening access to its creative classic.
“We’re building the team to be able to meet the needs for Dreams… we have been a very small studio for a very long time.”
“When you bring in one person who has that skill that you’re missing, it’s like a force multiplier.”
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Dreams is out now on PS4 and PS5.
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You can watch 9news.com.au’s full interview with Siobhan Reddy above.
Source: 9NEWS