It's been no secret that Sony is pumping all the money it can into supporting the PlayStation 5. Earlier this year, a report revealed that the company had spent $329 million on third-party deals alone throughout the fiscal year and it certainly hasn't been neglecting its first-party studios either. So it's no surprise to hear the company say that it intends to continue doing exactly that for the forseeable future.
During a conference call with investors, as transcribed by VGC, Sony's chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki stated that the company, in order to enhance its software offerings, it will be "aggressively" investing in both its internal studios and third-party partnerships with other studios. Totoki even provides some numbers, saying that development personnel and other in-house costs will be increased by roughly 20 billion yen, which is about $183 million.
While no future partnerships were revealed during the call, he did mention some of the deals already made, such as with Jade Raymond's new studio Haven and its $200 million investment in Fortnite studio Epic Games. Basically, PS5 owners can expect to see even more third-party titles that will release exclusively on Sony's platform.
It's always been apparent that Sony is using exclusives to drive up sales of the PlayStation 5. So far, these include titles like the Demon's Souls remake and upcoming releases like Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Horizon Forbidden West. This is the direct opposite of Microsoft's strategy with the Xbox Series X/S. While Microsoft's console lacks any real exclusives, it has found considerable success with its Game Pass service, which offers a massive range of first and third-party games available not only on the Xbox Series X but Xbox One as well.
The PS5 has certainly been a massive success for Sony, even in spite of stock shortages that have persisted since it released in November. However, the company itself has drawn plenty of ire from fans as of late for some of the decisions it's made. For instance, the announcement that it would be shutting down the digital storefronts for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation Portable proved to be incredibly unpopular, though it did u-turn the decision (at least with the PS3 and Vita stores).
There is also the restructuring of its Japan Studio, which resulted in many key staff members leaving. The studio has been responsible for many beloved IPs like Ape Escape and Gravity Rush, and its restructuring has reinforced some peoples' beliefs that Sony is attempting to move away from Japanese-developed games and trying to appeal to the Japanese market as a whole.
Source: VGC
