Sony is investing multiple billions to foster new content from the ground up, aiming to expand its foothold in video games, films, and anime, as revealed by its CFO, Hiroki Totoki, to Financial Times.
While Sony has successfully leveraged existing popular franchises, Totoki believes in creating content from scratch and its importance in the company’s growth and higher returns, and he does make an excellent point.
Sony has created and fostered numerous game franchises since their inception. But many of these IPs have remained dormant for years, and for a good reason—they don’t sell particularly well. It’s not like Sony hasn’t tried either. Sackboy: A Big Adventure and MediEvil were all decent attempts that failed to move the financial needle.
Further complicating the situation are the new priorities of Sony’s first-party studios, the very same people who created the franchises that many feel Sony has abandoned over the years.
Insomniac Games, once known for franchises like Resistance and Ratchet & Clank, is now heavily invested in developing PlayStation’s version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Guerrilla Games has shown little interest in reviving the Killzone series, instead focusing on the Horizon franchise. Sucker Punch Productions, creators of Sly Cooper and Infamous, have found greater success with Ghost of Tsushima.
Sony’s new focus on original content creation is a positive step towards breaking the cycle of remakes and remasters that has dominated the industry in recent years, which Sony itself isn’t immune to after being accused of milking The Last of Us franchise for what it’s worth.
By investing in new ideas and taking calculated risks, Sony might discover the next big franchise that could define the PlayStation brand for years to come even if it might end up with a couple of broken eggs, like Concord, for example.
The company’s recent acquisitions and partnerships with indie developers such as with the China Hero Project and Stellar Blade, demonstrate a willingness to explore fresh concepts and gameplay experiences. They represent a necessary step in Sony’s quest to diversify its portfolio and create new, culturally significant IP.
Perhaps this is Sony’s way of learning and putting itself in a much better position in the future. Many of the more popular characters associated with PlayStation belong to another company. The Final Fantasy franchise, which has been synonymous with the PlayStation brand for years, is owned by Square Enix, and they’ve been looking to divest and make more of their games available on Xbox going forward.
Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, mascots of Sony’s PSOne era, now belong to Microsoft, who wasn’t afraid to tell everyone that Metal Gear Delta: Snake Eater, for example, is also coming to Xbox.
Ultimately, this multibillion-dollar investment in original content creation represents a significant gamble. The company hopes to discover the next generation of beloved characters and stories that will captivate audiences across games, films, and anime while also finding ways to reinvigorate dormant franchises.
Who knows? With Sony’s penchant for doing “half-sequels” in the same vein as the likes of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sony might see an opportunity to revisit these older franchises.
