PlayStation ‘is open to further studio acquisitions’ beyond Insomniac

Sony Interactive Entertainment is open to further studio acquisitions, a key exec has suggested, as the PlayStation firm seeks to grow its first-party content ahead of PlayStation 5.

The company announced the acquisition of Spider-Man studio Insomniac Games in August, following a 20 year relationship with the studio.

And during Sony’s second quarter earnings call on Wednesday, senior EVP and CFO Hiroki Totoki implied the company could look to grow PlayStation Worldwide Studios, which currently consists of 14 development houses across the US, Europe and Japan, with further acquisitions.

“At the investor relations day [in May this year], we mentioned that Sony’s strength lies in our first-party content and IP,” he said.

“With the aim of strengthening these, in August we announced the acquisition of Insomniac Games, the game developer for Marvel’s Spider-Man, which sold 13.2 million units worldwide.

“Through this acquisition, Insomniac Games will become Sony Interactive Entertainment’s 14th studio and will contribute to further enhancement of our first-party software development organisation.

“Going forward,” Totoki added, “we will continue to pursue growth investment opportunities that will enhance our own content IP.”

The exec’s statements echoes that of Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan, who said prior to the Insomniac acquisition that the company was considering studio purchases in a bid to grow its first-party development capabilities.

“Content is more important than ever before,” Ryan told Nikkei in July.

PlayStation 5 is set to launch in late 2020.

Sony shipped 2.8 million PS4 consoles during its second fiscal quarter, taking the system’s lifetime total to 102.8 million, the company said on Wednesday. PS4 has now outsold Wii and the original PlayStation.

Sony also said on Wednesday that its PlayStation Now game streaming service has reached one million subscribers as of October 2019.