Founded in 2020 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Studio was created by Sony to work alongside PlayStation's Visual Arts group on character models, visual assets, animations, and motion capture. As they're solely a support studio, they work on nearly every PS Studios game. For example, they contributed to Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part 1 and 2, and San Diego Studio's MLB The Show. However, their contribution to each game is small, especially as MS only has around 100 employees.
With TLOU, MS worked on hints the player receives upon death to get past the obstacle and/or combat scenario they're stuck on. For MLB, they worked on art assets that only need to be updated for the next yearly iteration, not created from scratch. Most recently, MS supported Ghost of Yōtei and Saros with art, animation, and QA.
Malaysia has recently become a popular country for support studios to form, providing more opportunities for developers in a region with historically so few. However, as these studios are built to support, don't expect MS to develop their own PS5 game.
Support studios are also not immune from layoffs due to the weak economy. Around 20 MS staff were let go in March 2025, including artists and managers, explicitly to save money. It's therefore currently impossible for MS to hire up and make their own games.
Economic issues may not last though, and Malaysian talent already extends to Larian, Bandai Namco, and others. With a better economy, MS could expand to make their own PS6 title. The intent is there - Studio Head Hasnul Samsudin stated: 'There's nothing that can be done in... AAA games that can't be done in Malaysia'. It's an initiative the Malaysian government is also backing. Until then, you can enjoy MS contributions in most first-party PS5 games.
