Sony Interactive Entertainment’s two leaders talked about Sony’s short-term plans.

Jim Ryan, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) was interviewed by Nikkei, and Sal Romano, the founder of Gematsu, translated it from Japanese to English on ResetEra. Ryan emphasised that in this console cycle (the PlayStation 5), they aim to release more exclusives than ever before, not ruling out any further acquisitions and mergers either.

„We have been quietly, but steadily investing in high-quality games for PlayStation, and we will make sure the PlayStation 5 generation has more exclusive software than ever before. We have engaged in mergers and acquisitions several times in the past, such as with Insomniac Games. We will not rule out that option in the future,” Ryan said. He also mentioned the cloud strategy, and remember: Sony is working on the technology together with Microsoft! „The conversation of exchanging ideas (with Microsoft) is ongoing. It’s some extremely interesting stuff, and I hope to announce our cloud strategy when the time is right. While we could use the cloud for our technical infrastructure, the cloud game experience we offer will be unique to PlayStation,” he added.

Meanwhile, SIE confirmed that they will publish a PlayStation 5 console-exclusive multiplayer game (which will then also be on PC…) from Firewalk Studios, a startup developer, which is nearing three digits in staff. It’s lead by creative director Ryan Ellis and producer Elena Siegman, both of whom worked on Destiny. Other team members have worked on games such as Apex Legends and Mass Effect. Firewalk is part of the ProbablyMonsters collective of indie studios, all going for „people-first” work environments.

This is somewhat of a shift in Sony’s strategy (who mostly focused on single-player titles so far), and Hermen Hulst, the head of SIE Worldwide Studios (or PlayStation Studios…) explained this in an interview with Gamesindustry: „I am very interested in creating a diverse slate of titles. The shape or form that they come in is less interesting to me than the fact that they are differentiated, diverse and distinctive. We tend to work with teams that do have something in common, which is the ambition that the Firewalk team has. But also the fact that [Firewalk] is a very strong, autonomous and, I would say, fiercely daring team… culturally, that’s a really good match. So I seek those factors before I go into narrowing it down to genres or gameplay modes. It is more about the experience being differentiated and unique

I think that the games that we make are as distinct and diverse as they can be. From Sackboy to Astro Bot to Dreams to this kind of games that you’re referring to, like The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghosts of Tsushima. And you can bet that we will carry on making these games because they are the heart and soul of what we do here at PlayStation studios. But at the same time, we are just as committed to making these quality experiences as we are to experimentation and to coming up with fresh ideas,” Hulst said.

So Sony’s and PlayStation’s change that has been felt for a while will continue.

Source: WCCFTech, WCCFTech