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Sony has revealed more about its long-term strategy for the games market. Despite issues with some live-service projects, the company does not intend to abandon that segment and still plans to invest in titles aimed at long-term support. At the same time, the president of Sony Interactive Entertainment hinted that the future of the PlayStation brand could include new handheld devices. The comments have attracted considerable interest, as many players have long been waiting for a successor to the PlayStation Portable. It appears Sony is indeed preparing for the next stage in the development of its platform.
Live-service games remain an important part of PlayStation's strategy
The president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Hideaki Nishino, confirmed in an interview with Famitsu that the company still intends to develop live service games. It's a surprising statement, because Sony has had significant problems with some of these projects in recent years. Titles such as Concord and Marathon did not meet expectations, yet Nishino says live-service games still have huge potential to attract players worldwide. The company wants to develop both first-party titles and work with external studios. Sony also plans to support older titles for longer rather than focusing solely on new releases. Later this year MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is due to launch and will be another title developed as a live service. Nishino emphasised that the segment is still evolving, so the company intends to experiment and look for the best solutions. The head of PlayStation also commented on platforms. Live-service games will arrive simultaneously on PlayStation 5 and PC so as many players as possible can play together online. The situation is completely different for story-focused titles. Sony intends to continue treating its biggest single-player games as a key part of the PlayStation console offering, although over time some of them will still come to PC as well. The company believes that high-quality story-driven games remain its biggest advantage in the market.
PlayStation Portal could be the start of bigger plans from Sony
The future of PlayStation hardware turned out to be the other major topic of the conversation. Hideaki Nishino pointed out that the way people play is changing with users’ lifestyles, so Sony wants to offer more ways to use games outside the traditional TV. In this context the success of the PlayStation Portal device was mentioned, which, according to the president, was only the first step in pursuing this strategy. Although Nishino did not officially confirm work on a new handheld console, his remarks were taken as a clear hint toward a portable PlayStation 6. Sony says it will continue to experiment with new forms of play and devices tailored to different ways of gaming. The company is also working on monitors and speakers designed to make gaming away from the living room easier. Everything suggests the next generation of PlayStation will not be limited to a single classic console. The industry increasingly talks about ecosystems that include both home and mobile devices. A further challenge, however, is rising component costs, which affect the expense of producing new electronic devices. Sony will therefore need to find a way to reconcile new technologies with the growing costs of manufacturing them. Official information about PlayStation 6 is still lacking, but additional comments from company representatives show that work on the brand’s future is underway. Gamers can expect the coming years to bring a much greater variety of devices and ways of playing than before.
Sony has confirmed it does not intend to abandon games-as-a-service despite earlier problems in that segment. At the same time, comments from the PlayStation CEO suggest the company is working on new portable devices that could become part of the PlayStation 6 ecosystem.
source: wccftech
