Five non-Sony franchises anchor the model against the wider licensed-merch market: Resident Evil, Final Fantasy VII, Elden Ring, Persona, and Metal Gear Solid.
| Franchise | Ownership | Overall | Raw demand | Momentum | Collector behavior* | Licensing difficulty | Competition† | Confidence | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helldivers 2 | PlayStation-led | 86.0 | 88.3 | 9.5 | 8.0 | 5/10 | 1.5/10 | High · 85 | Priority |
| Ghost of Tsushima | Sony-owned | 85.9 | 86.0 | 8.8 | 8.2 | 4/10 | 2.0/10 | Medium · 80 | Priority |
| God of War | Sony-owned | 85.1 | 87.2 | 8.0 | 8.8 | 4/10 | 3.8/10 | Medium · 78 | Priority |
| Astro Bot | Sony-owned | 83.5 | 81.6 | 8.0 | 7.2 | 3/10 | 0.8/10 | Medium · 79 | Strong Pursuit |
| Horizon | Sony-owned | 83.2 | 82.8 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 4/10 | 2.5/10 | Medium · 77 | Strong Pursuit |
| Resident Evil | Capcom | 75.8 | 81.0 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 7/10 | 6.4/10 | Medium · 77 | Selective Pursuit |
| Final Fantasy VII | Square Enix | 75.5 | 81.2 | 7.4 | 8.7 | 8/10 | 6.6/10 | Medium · 73 | Selective Pursuit |
| Persona | ATLUS / SEGA | 74.5 | 78.2 | 7.0 | 7.8 | 7/10 | 5.0/10 | Medium · 69 | Test or Monitor |
| Elden Ring | FromSoft / Bandai Namco | 72.8 | 79.7 | 7.1 | 7.6 | 8/10 | 7.9/10 | Medium · 75 | Test or Monitor |
| Metal Gear Solid | Konami | 72.5 | 76.0 | 5.6 | 8.1 | 7/10 | 4.0/10 | Medium · 64 | Test or Monitor |
* Pricing-power criterion used as the collector-behavior proxy. † Competition shown as 10 − whitespace. Shaded rows are the non-Sony benchmarks.
Squanch Games (founded 2016) is the counter-example to every big-publisher franchise on this page: an independent studio that owns its IP outright and runs no broad licensing program. High on Life reached 7.5M+ unique players off the biggest third-party Game Pass launch ever, and High on Life 2 (February 13, 2026; Switch 2 July 1) has the franchise at peak activity. Its earlier title Trover Saves the Universe shares the same adult-animation design language.
Talking-gun characters and alien creatures are literally characters-as-products — plush, vinyl, and novelty apparel fits that big-publisher IP rarely leaves open.
One rights holder, no licensing bureaucracy, no incumbent licensee network — the practical opposite of bidding against Disney or Capcom's programs.
Game Pass reach inflates player counts vs. paying fans, comedy ages fast, and the brand carries baggage from its founder's 2023 departure. It enters at rank 28, Test or Monitor.