Sony is planning to release “more than 10” live service games by 2026, the company announced in its financial earnings call today.
“Through close collaboration with Bungie and the PlayStation Studios, we aim to launch more than 10 live service games by the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026,” said Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki.
Bungie, the makers of one of the most successful live service games in Destiny 2, was acquired by Sony earlier in the week for $3.6 billion. It appears that one of the driving forces behind the purchase was Sony’s desire to use Bungie’s experience in live service games to bolster its offerings elsewhere.
“The strategic significance of this acquisition lies not only in obtaining the highly successful Destiny franchise as well as major new IP that Bungie is currently developing, but also in incorporating into the Sony group the expertise and technologies that Bungie has developed in the live game services space,” Totoki said.
Live service games are games like Destiny, Overwatch, Apex Legends, and others that launch either at a premium or for free but are then constantly updated with new paid content for several years, which is when they make the bulk of their money.
First-party Sony titles in the past have traditionally been focused as single-player titles, such as The Last of Us, Uncharted, God of War, Horizon, and many more. A shift toward live service games is a big one for PlayStation, but one that the company feels confident in moving forward.
“Catalyzed by the acquisition of Bungie, we intend to accelerate the growth of our first-party game software revenue, aiming to more than double the amount by FY 2025,” Totoki said.
Published: Feb 2, 2022 10:25 am