PlayStation has been making some big moves in the acquisition department. Over the past few months, the Japanese gaming giant has acquired the likes of Bluepoint Games, Valkyrie Entertainment, Housemarque, Firesprite, Jade Raymond’s Haven Studios, and Destiny developer Bungie. This is all in addition to significant investments in Discord and Devolver Digital, among others.
In a recent business briefing session, head of SIE Jim Ryan said that the company has been really active in the area of M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and investments so as to grow the strengths of PlayStation Studios in an inorganic fashion and expand its areas of expertise.
“We’ve been extremely active in the area of M&A and investment,” he said (as transcribed by VGC)
“The purpose of these investments is to increase our core strength at PlayStation Studios, but also to acquire expertise in areas of game development where historically we have not had a significant presence. The planned Bungie partnership is a great example of the latter,” he added.
Furthermore, he also said that the Bungie acquisition will help propel Sony’s position as a key player when it comes to live-service games.
Most importantly, however, Ryan reiterated that the company isn’t finished with its spree of acquisitions and that it is looking at potential targets that align with Sony’s strategy, which will probably be followed up by acquisition offers to further grow PlayStation Studios in an inorganic fashion.
“As we transition from our historic game development strategy to a much broader and much wider market reach than we enjoy today, it is very likely that inorganic stimulus will be required to help us to realise these dreams. And to the extent that potential targets fit with our strategy, to the extent that potential targets allow us to accelerate the way in which we are able to deliver on our strategy, we will certainly consider farther M&A activity to add to our business portfolio,” he added.
This comes shortly after Sony published a job listing for a Director of Corporate Development, who will actively seek out opportunities for inorganic growth through acquisitions, investments, or joint ventures- read more on that through here.
