PlayStation Lays Out Mobile, Live-Service Plans

Sony released a document this week outlining its plan for 12 live-service games, $300 million in PC game sales and an "aggressive" mobile games strategy over the next few years (H/T GameIndustry.biz).

The document, titled "PlayStation: The Road to Profitable Transformation," formed part of a larger strategy presentation for Sony. It broke Sony's investments down by business model, with "traditional" games representing around 88% of that investment, with only 12% going toward games-as-a-service.

That won't stay the case for long. Sony estimates live service investment will hit 49% by the end of fiscal year 2022, and hopes to reach 55% investment by fiscal year 2025. It plans to push that growth using its first-party live games portfolio, which, at the moment, only includes MLB: The Show. This is a major reason the company is acquiring Bungie in a $3.7 billion deal that has yet to close — its experience on Destiny 2 will be invaluable in building out the rest of Sony's live service portfolio.

The company also plans to up the amount it earns from digital add-ons and digital software sales. In 2021, it made $15 billion from digital add-ons, $9 billion from digital console software and $11 billion from physical console software. For 2025, it's predicting $24 billion from digital add-ons, $10 billion from digital console software sales, and just $7 billion from physical console software sales.

Sony plans to grow its audience beyond its first-party platforms, with PC sales earning $80 million in revenue for the company in fiscal year 2021. That number is expected to balloon up to $300 million the following fiscal year, thanks to the combined releases of Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone and God of War on PC. Those titles have already raked in $108.9 million for Sony.

That expansion beyond PlayStation includes moving further into mobile games. Sony plans to "leverage partnerships to build leading mobile development and publishing capabilities within SIE," perhaps by "establishing [a] network of internal studios and projects," per the presentation.

Also possible: co-developing titles with mobile development studios on projects featuring major PlayStation IP; and "[publishing] external games that fit within the broader PlayStation Studios portfolio" on mobile, then moving those games cross-platform where it makes sense.