Despite the whirlwind acclaim granted Elden Ring upon its release, single-player games in the eyes of Sony will be its second major strategy in light of more live service experiences going forward. During an investor presentation held Thursday evening, Maym26, Sony head Jim Ryan highlighted these key aspects, driving the future of PlayStation Studios, most prominent among them being forwarded via Destiny developer Bungie, which Sony acquired in January for $3.6 billion.
At the time, it was rather unclear what Sony's goal was in its hefty purchase of the Destiny maker, but its most recent Bungie integration segment proves the studio is onboard in aiding PlayStation with the development of 12 live service games by 2025. Destiny 2, now coming on five years in age this September, is arguably among the most well-known and profitable live service iterations on the market, making Bungie a ballparked $100-$500 million in annual revenue.
PlayStation's part will see the brand pumping nearly half (around 49%) of its development budget into this very pipeline. It aims, through the help of Bungie's live service knowledge, to bridge both old and new IP into the fold, projecting a potential 55% development budget increase by 2025 for the sector, in line with its slate of a dozen new live service games.
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"The strategic significance of this acquisition lies not only in obtaining the highly successful Destiny franchise, as well as major new IP Bungie is currently developing, but also incorporating into the Sony group the expertise and technologies Bungie has developed in the live game services space," explains Sony's deputy president and CFO amid a previous investor presentation following Bungie's acquisition.
This new strategy only makes sense in light of PlayStation's long history of developing compelling, narrative-focused single-player experiences over the past several years, the likes of which have made Sony an absolute killing in sales. To prove this point, look no further than the five mainstays of PlayStation, including Spider-Man (over 20 million units by Nov. 2020), Death Stranding (over five million by Jul. 2021), The Last of Us (over 20 million by 2018), 2018's God of War (19.5 million by Aug. 2021), and Horizon Zero Dawn (over 20 million by Feb. 2022).
Thus, Sony is looking not only to leverage these beloved characters in future sequel experiences, like the upcoming PlayStation games of God of War Ragnarok and Death Stranding II, but also in new forms that can capture fans' attention for much longer than the intended playtime. One such live service game touted as among PlayStation's most anticipated is Naughty Dog's forthcoming Last of Us II multiplayer standalone experience, coined like its predecessor's online mode, Factions. Others remain unclear.
In its presentation on Thursday evening, of major note for Sony in terms of bridging its existing IP into the live service mold are the obvious contenders, such as Horizon Forbidden West, Uncharted, God of War, Spider-Man, and the aforementioned Last of Us. In addition, PlayStation already has the existing Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima and its online mode called Legends, a multiplayer title on the horizon via Insomniac Games, Jade Raymond's unannounced multiplayer game out of Haven Studios, and two more multiplayer experiences from London Studio and Deviation Games.
It's clear live service multiplayer experiences in the guise of Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto Online are key to PlayStation's structure moving forward. Still, that doesn't mean that Sony is giving up on the single-player aspects behind its brand's identity, given the plethora of such titles coming, most anticipated among them being that Wolverine game.
Sony will also be focusing its guise on alternative revenue schemes, including merchandised retail, expressed via the Horizon x Lego collaboration, as well as both movies and television, like the recent Uncharted blockbuster and the announcement of TV shows in the works, including Horizon, God of War, and Gran Turismo.
