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PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan Discusses Metaverse, Possible Further Acquisitions, Live Services Expansion, & More

Lunatic_Gamer

Gold Member
PS5-Logo-e1652164895675.jpg


Ryan was asked to comment on the Metaverse, and he mentioned that nobody really knows what the Metaverse will look like in the future but he does not believe that it will directly replace the existing ways in which people play games. It will appeal to some individuals and to some portions of the market but many will prefer enjoying games in the way that they have played them in the past 30+ years.

He thinks that the Metaverse may lead to some form of incrementally in the business, but nobody knows yet to what extent that will be meaningful. Sony considers it to be an opportunity for additional growth for now.

Ryan then mentioned that PlayStation Studios have a great track record of delivering great, narrative-driven, and graphically beautiful single-player games, but he admitted that Sony may have restricted itself to a rather narrow segment of the gaming market. By expanding to PC and mobile and live services, they have the opportunity to expand outside that narrow segment and be present everywhere in the gaming market. If executed right, with intelligence, and excellence, Ryan believes this is potentially an extremely large opportunity for significant growth in the number of people playing Sony’s games and spending money on them

If Sony is successful in making a portion of the 12 live services games expected to be active by March 2026 enjoy critical and commercial success, the impact will be “completely transformational” to the company’s business structure.

Ryan explained that gamers want great games. That’s the first and most overwhelming perspective. How they are delivered is “a rather secondary concern.” In that perspective, PlayStation Studios have never been in a stronger position than now and Sony expects that such a position of strength will only continue and grow.

Sony is in a “virtuous cycle” in which success has allowed investment which is generating more success, which is allowing for further investment, and in turn, will generate yet more success. The company feels that if they moved to a different model which involved putting its AAA games into a subscription service on day 1, there is a significant risk that the virtuous cycle would be compromised and potentially broken, and that is not in the best interest of the PlayStation gamer.

We also hear that right now Sony is investing a lot in partnership with independent and other third-party developers to secure a “considerable pipeline of attractive virtual reality content” at the launch of PlayStation VR2. That investment will continue to grow as the installed base of the headset grows.

Ryan then talked about acquisitions and explained that Sony is “not at all finished with its strategy to grow PlayStation Studios.” On top of that, they will have to spend a lot of management time and energy ensuring that the large number of studios acquired are properly integrated and managed.

To the extent that potential targets fit with Sony’s strategy and allow to accelerate the way in which the company delivers on its strategy, they will “certainly consider further M&A activities “(Mergers & Acquisitions) to add to its business portfolio.

Sony anticipates that the 15% ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) differential that the PS5 enjoys over the PS4 will increase over time. First of all, the quality of the games that Sony sees coming to PS5 is “only going to increase with time” and they “already have visibility of some wonderful and very exciting games that show a relatively great increase in quality” compared to what was seen during the same period in the lifetime of PS4.

Secondly, the move to a great percentage of live service games is likely to stimulate the increase in ARPU. Great live service games have an ARPU in the many hundred dollars compared to $60-70 of single-player games. Not all live service games manage that, but if Sony is successful in achieving this kind of results in a meaningful percentage of the 12 live service games that are being developed, that will move PlayStation’s overall ARPU to levels never seen before.

Lastly, Ryan explained that it’s too early to draw conclusions but the very initial market reaction to the new PlayStation Plus offering is “extremely positive.” If Sony executes well as it implements the service worldwide, the possibility of significantly growing the subscriber game is very real, especially as the sales of PS5 consoles start to accelerate.

On top of that, the potential of the service goes beyond the increase of the absolute number of subscribers. If many join the second or third tier of the service to access their “really attractive features and gaming propositions,” this won’t just grow the number of subscribers, but also the ARPU for each subscriber.





 
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Keep the quality single player AAA games coming and I couldn't care less if they have 12 or 120 GaaS on the way.

Destiny, MLB, GT, Factions... I don't doubt that Sony can do well in the GaaS market.

Jimbo at least seems to know that it all comes down to quality and great games.
 
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I was gaming on PC recently and didn't follow console gaming news for a while. I'm astonished to know Jim Ryan is still PlayStation CEO
 
Sony is doing what fanboys said Microsoft would do with game pass.

Flooding the market with 12 (!!) GaaS by March 2026.

You can't make this shit up :messenger_poop:
They have more SP games in development at PS Studios than at any other point in their history. They have more SP games in development through XDEV now than at any other point in their history.

In addition to that they’ve got more MP games in development (PlayStation studios and XDEV) now than at any other point in their history.

Sony’s largest investments (outside of Bungie) have all been at improving the scale of their own teams. Many are now multiple games studios with hundreds of employees.
 

Andodalf

Banned
You left the purple warriors because they wouldn't cancel Jim Ryan only to come to Gaf in hopes cancel him? Joke post?

12 games is in addition to usual content and this is not bound to a service.....so how is this point relevant?
they definitely have studios making Gaas that didn’t used to. Factions is an obvious one. I’d rather have a new ND game myself, but i’m sure factions will be good. but it’s silly to say that all 12 are simple additions.
 

Unknown?

Member
they definitely have studios making Gaas that didn’t used to. Factions is an obvious one. I’d rather have a new ND game myself, but i’m sure factions will be good. but it’s silly to say that all 12 are simple additions.
They also have a bigger team and can work on multiple games. That said, other than a constant stream of new content for years, I don't see how Gaas is different from their previous multiplayer games tacked onto their single player games.
 

mortal

Gold Member
I think the extra revenue generated from live service titles and PC ports will ultimately prove beneficial for PlayStation Studios as a whole.
Gamers often want bigger games, with increasingly better visuals and performance; expanding into those markets will make fulfilling those demands more viable and consistent.

There is undeniably a growing audience for GAAS and PC ports, and Sony would be foolish to ignore them going forward.
 

AJUMP23

Gold Member
FUCK Jim Ryan after his stance on women's rights.

We don't provide a platform for PlayStation here on NeoGAF.
He said respect people that have different opinions. WE talk about video games, and political opinions may sneak in from time to time, but not talking about PlayStation would be dumb. You can not talk about PlayStation and we would probably all be better for it.
 
There needs to be a balance, which sounds like Jim knows not to mess with. Instead, Sony is now trying not to leave money on the table for people who are into online/gass games. Sony was once big into online gaming during the PS3 days with home/resistance/ killzone/ warhawk/ motor storm...etc
As long as Sony can strike a good balance with what they are doing with single player games, I don't think anyone will complain.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
Ryan then talked about acquisitions and explained that Sony is “not at all finished with its strategy to grow PlayStation Studios.” On top of that, they will have to spend a lot of management time and energy ensuring that the large number of studios acquired are properly integrated and managed.
I think it's good they're still looking for studios to buy, but I also think it shows why they won't be going after a big publisher with thousands of employees like Capcom or Square.

It's a massive job to integrate companies of that size under your banner, and it's something I think MS is going to find in a big way, if it hasn't already with Bethesda.
 

yurinka

Member
Jimbo et Hermen clown talking about Gaas more than Japanese games is kinda worrying
5pzp9Lu.jpg
I think the extra revenue generated from live service titles and PC ports will ultimately prove beneficial for PlayStation Studios as a whole.
Gamers often want bigger games, with increasingly better visuals and performance; expanding into those markets will make fulfilling those demands more viable and consistent.

There is undeniably a growing audience for GAAS and PC ports, and Sony would be foolish to ignore them going forward.
In the graph they shown that in FY2025 compared to now they will invest more both traditional games and gaas than now. So they will invest more in traditional games than now. In the same way invest more in console games than now, even if they will invest more in mobile and PC than now.
I was gaming on PC recently and didn't follow console gaming news for a while. I'm astonished to know Jim Ryan is still PlayStation CEO
As he shown in this presentation he's the most successful CEO of a console maker in gaming history. With PS5 is achieving way better numbers than PS4 in the same period, console that back then was the most successful launch ever for any console. They are also super successful with their game subscription, PC ports, mobile and the first movie they did with their IPs. They release more first party games than before, they sell better than ever, get great reviews and earn tons of awards.

There's no reason for him to leave or to be fired, this is why he continues being the CEO.
 
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jaysius

Banned
Keep the quality single player AAA games coming and I couldn't care less if they have 12 or 120 GaaS on the way.

Destiny, MLB, GT, Factions... I don't doubt that Sony can do well in the GaaS market.

Jimbo at least seems to know that it all comes down to quality and great games.

Reality is going to be really hard when it hits you.

Those "AAA" games will be the GaaS games.
 
Reality is going to be really hard when it hits you.

Those "AAA" games will be the GaaS games.
Will they? I doubt it, seems like something you are just hoping for. Will Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine be GaaS?

Why would Sony be afraid to invest in those games if they keep making so much money? They don't need to sabotage their single player AAA games to invest in GaaS, that's why they bought Haven, Bungie, made deals with devs like Firewalk/Deviation and are expanding some internal teams to have separate multiplayer projects.
 
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mortal

Gold Member
In the graph they shown that in FY2025 compared to now they will invest more both traditional games and gaas than now. So they will invest more in traditional games than now. In the same way invest more in console games than now, even if they will invest more in mobile and PC than now.
I think that's all great news tbh. I genuinely don't see the downside here. It's just smart business imo, why pigeonhole yourself, right?
If anything that should alleviate the fear that some of us seem to have of Sony abandoning AAA single-player, narrative driven titles in favor of chasing the GAAS crowd, as some other publishers have.

More PS5 exclusives (both 1st & 3rd party), new PS+ offerings, PC ports, PSVR2, there's a lot to look forward to from PlayStation imo.
 

yurinka

Member
I think that's all great news tbh. I genuinely don't see the downside here. It's just smart business imo, why pigeonhole yourself, right?
If anything that should alleviate the fear that some of us seem to have of Sony abandoning AAA single-player, narrative driven titles in favor of chasing the GAAS crowd, as some other publishers have.

More PS5 exclusives (both 1st & 3rd party), new PS+ offerings, PC ports, PSVR2, there's a lot to look forward to from PlayStation imo.
They basically are growing in all areas and investing more in everything. Even regarding movies and tv shows they are working on 10 projects, mentioned Horizon and Gran Turismo.

Jimbo said in the past they plan to have more exclusives in PS5 than they ever had in any previous console. They will invest more in traditional games, in new IPs, in GaaS, in PC ports, in VR games, in mobile games, in partnerships with other studios, in acquisitions, in their game sub, in movies and tv shows etc.

I don’t believe Sony will abandon single player games to be honest, GaaS will become a bigger part of their business but we will still have those typical single player games from them.
Sony said that in FY2025 they will invest more in traditional (no GaaS) games than now. So if don't like gaas you'll have more tradional games than now.
 
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They basically are growing in all areas and investing more in everything. Even regarding movies and tv shows they are working on 10 projects, mentioned Horizon and Gran Turismo.

Jimbo said in the past they plan to have more exclusives in PS5 than they ever had in any previous console. They will invest more in traditional games, in new IPs, in GaaS, in PC ports, in VR games, in mobile games, in partnerships with other studios, in acquisitions, in their game sub, in movies and tv shows etc.


Sony said that in FY2025 they will invest more in traditional (no GaaS) games than now. So if don't like gaas you'll have more tradional games than now.

Basically I don’t expect Sony to throw away single player games. Many of their studios are extremely good at making them and I expect that to continue in the future.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
Ok jim when are you going to reveal Capcom /SE/ FROM acquisition?
 

yurinka

Member
Basically I don’t expect Sony to throw away single player games. Many of their studios are extremely good at making them and I expect that to continue in the future.
Sony said that by FY2025 they will be investing more in traditional games (so single player) than before.

Which makes sense because these single player games are selling better than ever, getting better reviewed and getting more awards than ever.

Hermen said months ago they will continue pushing both single player and multiplayer games, big and small games, traditional and gaas games.

There is no reason to think they will scale down their efforts in single player games.
 
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Sony said that by FY2025 they will be investing more in traditional games (so single player) than before.

Which makes sense because these single player games are selling better than ever, getting better reviewed and getting more awards than ever.

Hermen said months ago they will continue pushing both single player and multiplayer games, big and small games, traditional and gaas games.

There is no reason to think they will scale down their efforts in single player games.

Basically it’s almost as if some people want Sony to make really dumb decisions so they can fail.
 
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