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[IbizaPocholo]

Sony says it will ‘aggressively’ invest in first-party studios and partnerships this year | VGC

PlayStation parent plans to invest $184m extra for in-house software…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Speaking to investors in a conference call on Wednesday, transcribed by VGC, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki provided more details on the company’s plans for game software investment, telling listeners it intended to enhance its software offering via both internal and external investment.

Sony recently announced partnerships with the new studio from former Stadia games boss Jade Raymond, as well as investment in a multiplayer game from Bungie veterans, and Totoki suggested there could be further deals in the pipeline.

“We intend to increase development personnel and other in-house costs by approximately 20bn yen [$183m] year-on-year, as we further strengthen our in-house software,” the exec said in the conference call.

“To enhance our software offering, we intend to continue investing in partnering with external studios, in addition to aggressively investing in our in-house studios.”

He added: “As I just mentioned, we aim to strengthen the PlayStation platform through actions such as the recently announced partnership with Haven Entertainment, which was established by Jade Raymond, creator of the famous game Assassin’s Creed.

“In our additional investment of Epic Games, along with the rest of the Sony group we will also work to enhance the social and platform capabilities of games.”

 

[Zatzuken]

I'm happy Sony are trying to get some positive news out there after the last month or so!

 

[GHG]

More studio investment and less "partnerships" ideally.

I'm happy Sony are trying to get some positive news out there after the last month or so!

It's their earnings date, they have no choice.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

Sony says it will ‘aggressively’ invest in first-party studios and partnerships this year | VGC

PlayStation parent plans to invest $184m extra for in-house software…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Speaking to investors in a conference call on Wednesday, transcribed by VGC, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki provided more details on the company’s plans for game software investment, telling listeners it intended to enhance its software offering via both internal and external investment.

Sony recently announced partnerships with the new studio from former Stadia games boss Jade Raymond, as well as investment in a multiplayer game from Bungie veterans, and Totoki suggested there could be further deals in the pipeline.

“We intend to increase development personnel and other in-house costs by approximately 20bn yen [$183m] year-on-year, as we further strengthen our in-house software,” the exec said in the conference call.

“To enhance our software offering, we intend to continue investing in partnering with external studios, in addition to aggressively investing in our in-house studios.”

He added: “As I just mentioned, we aim to strengthen the PlayStation platform through actions such as the recently announced partnership with Haven Entertainment, which was established by Jade Raymond, creator of the famous game Assassin’s Creed.

“In our additional investment of Epic Games, along with the rest of the Sony group we will also work to enhance the social and platform capabilities of games.”

 

[odhiex]

Aggressive Jimbo is the best Jimbo.

 

[Zatzuken]

More studio investment and less "partnerships" ideally.



It's their earnings date, they have no choice.

News like this makes good headlines for your fanbase, that's why Phill Spencer is never not in an interview, Sony are in a strong place but feel really faceless right now.

 

[GHG]

News like this makes good headlines for your fanbase, that's why Phill Spencer is never not in an interview, Sony are in a strong place but feel really faceless right now.

While I'd say they could definitely be more vocal at times there's definitely an element of allowing results to speak for themselves and actions speaking louder than words.

Some people like to talk a lot as a method of compensation and to be honest, considering the position they are in at the moment they don't need to do that.

When there is something to talk about they will talk, it's very much the Japanese way of doing business.

 

[kretos]

more blockbusters please

 

[Zatzuken]

While I'd say they could definitely be more vocal at times there's definitely an element of allowing results to speak for themselves and actions speaking louder than words.

Some people like to talk a lot as a method of compensation and to be honest, considering the position they are in at the moment they don't need to do that.

When there is something to talk about they will talk, it's very much the Japanese way of doing business.

The PS5 sales numbers are amazing at the moment, can't imagine what it would have been like without the shortages of chips and covid

 

[Thirty7ven]

183m year on year across all those studios isn't that much when by default teams would already need to increase in size to proper leverage the possibilities of next gen development. This is also the generation of hollywood talent coming to get their share of the pie.

It's a shame to see them continue being so conservative and showing such lack of balls for the future. You just know some of these old timers running the show are bothered by the fact that PlayStation is Sony's Michael Jordan, as they are acting like fucking Jerry Krause. Lame asses need to realize that PS going up means every division at Sony can go up and up.

 

[GHG]

The PS5 sales numbers are amazing at the moment, can't imagine what it would have been like without the shortages of chips and covid

It's difficult to say because covid has resulted in gaming interest (and spend) rocketing while having a negative impact on manufacturing and supply chain.

It creates a scenario where the scarcity effect is at a maximum. If someone sees a PS5 in stock somewhere at the moment and they have the cash on hand they are likely to buy it just because they know how difficult they are to get hold of. Whether they keep it for themselves or not is another thing entirely but until the chip shortage ends and the news hits the general populous this will be the trend.

 

[Spukc]

more blockbusters please

 

[Physiognomonics]

So plenty of timed exclusives and money spend to prevent the games to be released on Gamepass. Yep we already guessed that Jim.

 

[Azurro]

So plenty of timed exclusives and money spend to prevent the games to be released on Gamepass. Yep we already guessed that Jim.

Didn't Xbox fans loved MS for buying Bethesda?

 

[Eliciel]

It's getting heated up!

 

[Dabaus]

Look I don’t want to THAT guy but, 184 million is like, one AAA first party game with marketing. Maybe 2. The words “ aggressively investing“ to me, don’t match the description of what they are offering but then again I don’t know how much these things can actually cost.

 

[Plantoid]

183m isn't low? Doesn't a single AAA game costs 100m+?
Either way whatever sony is doing is working so no need to worry

 

[reksveks]

Have we ever got a good idea of how much timed exclusives cost? Something like final fantasy 7r or 16?

 

[Cert.in.Death]

So soon? You haven’t even seen the NSFW models.

 

[odhiex]

183m isn't low? Doesn't a single AAA game costs 100m+?
Either way whatever sony is doing is working so no need to worry

Per year, that's an approximate numbers.

 

[quest]

Hopefully that means spending a billion on new studio purchases and not more wasteful timed exclusives that just line the pockets of executives.

 

[Renozokii]

Look I don’t want to THAT guy but, 184 million is like, one AAA first party game with marketing. Maybe 2. The words “ aggressively investing“ to me, don’t match the description of what they are offering but then again I don’t know how much these things can actually cost.

184 million isn’t likely budget for those studios it’s setting up new teams and expanding.

 

[Renozokii]

Hopefully that means spending a billion on new studio purchases and not more wasteful timed exclusives that just line the pockets of executives.

I mean even as a PlayStation fan I hope they don’t aggressively buy studios just to keep them off Xbox forever no one wins there. Only acquisitions that make sense like insomniac did. Housemarque, I think remedy would fit in almost perfectly with Sony, and maybe a mp studio.

 

[Thirty7ven]

183m isn't low? Doesn't a single AAA game costs 100m+?
Either way whatever sony is doing is working so no need to worry

It's an increase of 183m per year.

 

[Bryank75]

That's not aggressive enough!

 

[akaFullmetal]

They're making money, I'm enjoying games, waiting on Returnal and Ratchet. We're all good.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Look I don’t want to THAT guy but, 184 million is like, one AAA first party game with marketing. Maybe 2. The words “ aggressively investing“ to me, don’t match the description of what they are offering but then again I don’t know how much these things can actually cost.

According to another GAF thread, Sony has invested $4B in internally growing studios since 2019. If that's true, I think they have already built the foundation for next-gen game development.

This $185M is the amount they have set aside for further hiring personnel over the next 12 months. I think that's fine. They can easily build one big studio or 2-3 big teams with this money. And again, that's just for this fiscal year. Next year's budget, if any, will be in addition to this.

 

[xShaun]

183M is heavily aggressive?
Wonder what they would call 7.5B then

 

[quest]

I mean even as a PlayStation fan I hope they don’t aggressively buy studios just to keep them off Xbox forever no one wins there. Only acquisitions that make sense like insomniac did. Housemarque, I think remedy would fit in almost perfectly with Sony, and maybe a mp studio.

I rather Sony buy small studios and grow them or studios who are in financial hell. Rather Sony buy them them instead of going under or getting money from tencent. Sony could have a arm of small studios for creativity like in the past. Or get one RPG studio ffs instead of timed exclusives.

 

[pasterpl]

Look I don’t want to THAT guy but, 184 million is like, one AAA first party game with marketing. Maybe 2. The words “ aggressively investing“ to me, don’t match the description of what they are offering but then again I don’t know how much these things can actually cost.

They are saying that this is the amount by which they will increase YoY investment. We dont know what is the base amount to which they will add that 184M

 

[Umbasaborne]

Im glad to hear it, i hope it means they can get out a decent amount of first party titles every year. I think the problem is less money, more time. A console cycle lasts what, 7-10 years, in a world where tripple a games take five years yo make, i think the cycle needs to last longer so these devs can release more than one major game per generation

 

[NahaNago]

Hopefully that means spending a billion on new studio purchases and not more wasteful timed exclusives that just line the pockets of executives.

not gonna happen they already said "We intend to increase development personnel and other in-house costs by approximately 20bn yen [$183m] year-on-year, as we further strengthen our in-house software,” the exec said in the conference call."

I mean even as a PlayStation fan I hope they don’t aggressively buy studios just to keep them off Xbox forever no one wins there. Only acquisitions that make sense like insomniac did. Housemarque, I think remedy would fit in almost perfectly with Sony, and maybe a mp studio.

You see, I think Capcom and Squarenix would fit just as well.

183m isn't low? Doesn't a single AAA game costs 100m+?
Either way whatever sony is doing is working so no need to worry

It's not a lot and it's not a little at the same time. You can hire a lot of people with that money. Plus I doubt Sony first party games cost a 100m+ to make, probably nearly half that and the rest would go to marketing.

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

183M is heavily aggressive?
Wonder what they would call 7.5B then

Betheseda games will also release on PC, so it's 7.5B down the drain for Xbox.

 

[lh032]

183M is heavily aggressive?
Wonder what they would call 7.5B then

would be funny if the game produced by bethesda ends up underwhelming

 

[CAB_Life]

183 million is like 3 AAA titles at 60m a pop (which is conservative for a AAA title). Words don't match the reality of the investment.

 

[odhiex]

Approximate increase year-on-year

 

[Elios83]

183 million is like 3 AAA titles at 60m a pop (which is conservative for a AAA title). Words don't match the reality of the investment.

More like you haven't read what they're talking about.
This is a yoy increase in the money spent for their workforce.
It's not the extra budget for full games.
How many people can you hire with 200 million dollars in a year?
A LOT.
Those extra people equal more teams or bigger teams and ultimately many more games over the years.

 

[Greggy]

Didn't Xbox fans loved MS for buying Bethesda?

I would argue that there's a difference between making an acquisition, which means taking over the financial destiny of a company including the inherent risk, and pre-emptively buying off access to a game that is almost guaranteed to be a surefire sucess. That being said, both MS and Sony have used both approaches in the past, so i agree that the outrage should not be selective.

 

[NahaNago]

More like you haven't read what they're talking about.
This is a yoy increase in the money spent for their workforce.
It's not the extra budget for full games.
How many people can you hire with 200 million dollars in a year?
A LOT.
Those extra people equal more teams or bigger teams and ultimately many more games over the years.

If they hired folks at a $100,000 an employee that would be like 1,800 extra developers a year and would nearly double what they have right now. This is all wishful thinking of course.

 

[Azurro]

I would argue that there's a difference between making an acquisition, which means taking over the financial destiny of a company including the inherent risk, and pre-emptively buying off access to a game that is almost guaranteed to be a surefire sucess. That being said, both MS and Sony have used both approaches in the past, so i agree that the outrage should not be selective.

I'm not sure there is a difference, as in what you said, the next Doom, Fallout and Elder Scrolls, unless something catastrophic happens, should have been guaranteed successes on PS5, and MS paid a lot more to guarantee that never happens.

Regardless, we agree that the outrage shouldn't be selective.

 

[SNG32]

And this is why I don't understand why Sony Stans were doing doom and gloom. Even though Microsoft has the money Sony has the userbase where it's hard to deny third party developers not putting there games on their platform. Hell even Microsoft knows this that's why you will see a few Bethesda games on a Sony game console maybe not all but you will see a few. Sony will continue to have the edge over Mircrosoft gamepass or not.

 

[Thirty7ven]

I would argue that there's a difference between making an acquisition, which means taking over the financial destiny of a company including the inherent risk, and pre-emptively buying off access to a game that is almost guaranteed to be a surefire sucess. That being said, both MS and Sony have used both approaches in the past, so i agree that the outrage should not be selective.

Yeah the difference is that one locks a userbase out forever, and the other doesn't.

 

[Loope]

I'm not sure there is a difference, as in what you said, the next Doom, Fallout and Elder Scrolls, unless something catastrophic happens, should have been guaranteed successes on PS5, and MS paid a lot more to guarantee that never happens.

Regardless, we agree that the outrage shouldn't be selective.

They bought the whole company. Nothing more to see here. You can play it on their hardware (i know the thought makes you physically ill) or just play on PC.

 

[LisaMariaMartin]

They kind of have to now that Microsoft removed like 7 studios from the equation

 

[Shelookdlvl18]

And this is why I don't understand why Sony Stans were doing doom and gloom. Even though Microsoft has the money Sony has the userbase where it's hard to deny third party developers not putting there games on their platform. Hell even Microsoft knows this that's why you will see a few Bethesda games on a Sony game console maybe not all but you will see a few. Sony will continue to have the edge over Mircrosoft gamepass or not.

Good thing you're not a fortune teller.

 

[xShaun]

Betheseda games will also release on PC, so it's 7.5B down the drain for Xbox.

You do know Xbox is not just a console but also part of PC, Phones, Other places too, right?

Also, isn't that a mute point when Sony are also releasing games on PC? So by your logic that measly 0.2B is going down the drain too.

Not need to be upset

 

[SNG32]

Good thing you're not a fortune teller.

I don't need to be the track record and sales speaks for themselves. Developers have said that alot Microsoft's exclusives won't be ready in the next 2 years. Meanwhile Sony has exclusives this year and i'm sure they have quite a bit ready for next year.

 

[Shelookdlvl18]

Appears that Sony has seen the downside of having all your developers work closely with each other, sharing tools, feedback, etc... Hopefully a chunk of that 183 mil goes towards a dev group that will work with one of the groups involved in those 3rd party deals.

This has the potential to lead to very good things down the road.

 

[Stuart360]

Betheseda games will also release on PC, so it's 7.5B down the drain for Xbox.

Xbox is just as much PC as it is the console these days. You need to get out of the console war mode.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Sony says it will ‘aggressively’ invest in first-party studios and partnerships this year | VGC

PlayStation parent plans to invest $184m extra for in-house software…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Speaking to investors in a conference call on Wednesday, transcribed by VGC, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki provided more details on the company’s plans for game software investment, telling listeners it intended to enhance its software offering via both internal and external investment.

Sony recently announced partnerships with the new studio from former Stadia games boss Jade Raymond, as well as investment in a multiplayer game from Bungie veterans, and Totoki suggested there could be further deals in the pipeline.

“We intend to increase development personnel and other in-house costs by approximately 20bn yen [$183m] year-on-year, as we further strengthen our in-house software,” the exec said in the conference call.

“To enhance our software offering, we intend to continue investing in partnering with external studios, in addition to aggressively investing in our in-house studios.”

He added: “As I just mentioned, we aim to strengthen the PlayStation platform through actions such as the recently announced partnership with Haven Entertainment, which was established by Jade Raymond, creator of the famous game Assassin’s Creed.

“In our additional investment of Epic Games, along with the rest of the Sony group we will also work to enhance the social and platform capabilities of games.”