Sony To Focus More On Live Game Services & Multi-Platform Titles

The recent years have been a mess for most giant corporations like Sony due to the dreaded pandemic and the recent Russia-Ukraine war. Video games have been equally affected, with companies struggling to reach the expected thresholds. The consequences of current events have affected the developers and players alike.

There were some notable achievements, but most of the presentation iterated the side-effects of the recent world scenarios. The most positive news to come out of the recent report include PlayStation 5 selling more than 100,000 units since last year, adding on to the staggering sales despite all the shortages in stock it faced.

The rising inflation and the policies to fend against it have resulted in shortages of stock, a decline in sales, and a drop in player engagement and gameplay time, to name a few. Sony’s recent report regarding the first quarter of 2022 revealed the particulars of its performance. 

Consolidated Financial Results of Q1 FY2022 discussed the expected decrease of sales in “non-first-party titles including add-on content, partially offset by the impact of foreign exchange rates.” The expenses to fuel Sony have also increased more than before, primarily due to the acquisitions.

The presentation cites an “expected approximately 13 billion yen increase in expenses* associated with acquisitions, from approximately 44 billion yen to approximately 57 billion yen. This expected increase is mainly due to the acquisition of Bungie, Inc. being completed earlier than the assumed timing.”

The report also discussed strategies to curb the decline. Consolidated Financial Results of Q1 FY2022 iterated some interesting strategies by Sony to bring up the overall sales of third-party and first-party games. The increase in sales of add-on content and player engagement was also discussed.

Sony will focus on increasing engagement with “Live Game Services” and “Multi-Platform Titles.” Another method discussed is to create whole new IPs. Moreover, the giant company is looking to enhance its content development capability.

The financial results state, “In addition to enhancing the content development capability of our existing studios, we are working to strengthen our first-party software by creating new IP and accelerating the roll-out of live game services and multi-platform titles through synergies with the studios we have acquired.”

Sony has also jumped on the bandwagon and is targeting to bring more PlayStation exclusives to PC to increase the player base. This non-conservative attitude is also adopted to rival Microsoft, which will grow PlayStation games’ overall popularity outside of consoles.

That’s not all; Sony is seeking to increase user engagement in the second half of the fiscal year. The strategies discussed include increasing the supply of PlayStation 5, an issue that has been lingering since the inception of next-gen consoles. Furthermore, the renovated PlayStation Plus service will also be promoted.

The official statement mentions, “Taking this situation into account, we intend to take action to increase user engagement in the second half of the fiscal year, during which major titles including first-party software are scheduled to be released, primarily by increasing the supply of PlayStation®5 (“PS5™”) hardware and promoting the new PlayStation Plus service.”

All in all, these are the discussed methods that Sony will adopt to fend off the unfortunate decline in sales and gamers’ interest. What are your thoughts regarding these strategies? Do let us know your opinions in the comments below.