Sony says it has ‘many more acquisition moves to make’
Jim Ryan says the industry should “absolutely expect more” buyouts from SIE
Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan has confirmed the PlayStation firm intends to make more acquisitions, following the $3.6bn deal to buy Bungie.
Sony announced its intention to buy the Halo and Destiny creator on Monday, and confirmed that the studio would continue to create multiplatform games.
The move follows the company’s recent acquisitions of Demon’s Souls studio Bluepoint Games, Returnal developer Housemarque, PC port specialist Nixxes Software, and Firesprite, a UK-based developer established by former members of SIE Studio Liverpool.
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PlayStation now has 17 internal developers, and SIE president and CEO Ryan suggested that there’s more to come.
“We should absolutely expect more,” he told GI.biz. “We are by no means done. With PlayStation, we have a long way to go.”
He added: “I will personally be spending a lot of my time with Pete [Parsons, Bungie CEO] and the team at Bungie, helping make sure that everything beds down right and that autonomy means autonomy. But elsewhere in the organisation, we have many more moves to make.”
Outside of studio acquisitions, Sony has been investing in PS5 exclusives through partnerships with several promising independent studios.
The company is funding an original IP from a AAA start-up studio established by former Stadia games boss Jade Raymond.
It has also signed an original multiplayer project from Firewalk, a new studio founded by Bungie veterans, and will publish the debut title from Deviation Games, a studio headed up by former Call of Duty veterans Dave Anthony and Jason Blundell.
Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation studios, said Bungie’s technical expertise and experience building communities would be shared among SIE’s other developers.
“Over the past year we have expanded to a total of 17 studios across the globe. New additions will help us extend the reach of our IP, develop exciting new games, and further leverage the technical capabilities of PS5 through knowledge sharing and collaboration,” he said.
“Bungie’s technical expertise, coupled with their track record of building highly engaged communities, make them a natural fit for collaboration with PlayStation Studios. We are excited to make plans to share skills and expertise, and to unlock the potential in having the brilliant minds at Bungie under the PlayStation roof.”
