Developers pick the PlayStation Store games that surprised them most

OFFICIAL Written by GPN · Nov 3, 2026, 12:29 AM ET · PlayStation Store · Gaming

PlayStation has marked 20 years of the PlayStation Store by asking developers which games from the past two decades caught them by surprise. The answers, published on the PlayStation Blog on November 2, are not necessarily all-time favourites, but the titles that won their pickers over in ways they did not expect. The eight picks span the store's history. Final Fantasy VII Remake series director Naoki Hamaguchi chose the poker-inspired Balatro, Santa Monica Studio's Jonathan Burke picked Dragon Quest XI, and San Diego Studio's Ramone Russell went with 2018's God of War, praising its shift toward fatherhood, grief and identity over pure anger. Naughty Dog's Arne Meyer selected Inscryption for the way its card systems and hidden layers reward persistence, while Insomniac's Marcus Smith chose Playdead's Inside, a game with no interface and no dialogue that he calls a masterpiece. Santa Monica's Bruno Velazquez picked the musical Sayonara Wild Hearts despite not usually gravitating to rhythm games. Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet chose the 2005 original Shadow of the Colossus, and Housemarque's Gregory Louden closed the list with Uncharted 2, which he says delivered even more than its famous stage demo promised. Alongside the reflections, PlayStation points readers to a 20 Years of PlayStation Store Showcase going live on November 2 at 11:00am local time, with deals and a curated selection of hand-picked hits.

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PlayStation Blog

Developers pick the PlayStation Store games that surprised them most

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