With the end of the eighth generation of consoles coming to a climactic close soon, a major player in the console industry is looking to acquire studios as soon as possible in an attempt to gather the best talent and provide the most content once the next generation of consoles come.
In an interview with the Japanese publication Nikkei, as translated by Gematsu, President and CEO Jim Ryan of Sony Interactive Entertainment has stated that the video game industry giant is looking to into acquisitions of new game studios.
Ryan has stated that with the new generation of consoles comes more competition, and therefore more motivation and incentive for each company to acquire and collect content in an age of exclusive releases. It's not just Microsoft and Xbox either, as Ryan cited companies such as Google entering the video game market with Google Stadia coming this fall.
Notable competitor Microsoft has also been making moves of their own as they prepare for their planned PlayStation 5 killer, Project Scarlett, which is dated for a Holiday 2020 release. A slew of recent acquisitions include developer studios like Playground Games, Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, and most recently the creators of Psychonauts, Double Fine Productions. An in-house studio called The Initiative has also been formed along with the intent of buying developers based in Japan.
Ryan noted that "content is becoming more important than ever” and having access or exclusivity to the IPs of a dozen or more studios is essential to the success of their next-gen console, similar to Microsoft’s success during the Xbox 360 era.
Although the arrival of these next generation consoles is still far off, it is clear that Sony Interactive Entertainment holds a huge edge in the market. Its 25 years of experience in the video game industry, along with a plethora of IPs and successful franchises to its name such as The Last of Us, God of War, and Uncharted is nothing to scoff at. This doesn't mean that they can relax, because Microsoft will probably be back with a vengeance after its poor showing in terms of first-party exclusives compared to the PlayStation 4.
