2021 was a busy year for PlayStation where acquisitions are concerned, with Sony bolstering the PlayStation Studios lineup with five additions to the team, and it seems 2022 is going to be just as busy. Sony is currently in the process of acquiring Bungie, and recently announced the acquisition of Jade Raymond’s Haven Studios– though as many would have expected, more similar deals are in the works as well.
Speaking during the latest official PlayStation podcast, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan said that the success Sony’s first party portfolio has enjoyed in recent years has enjoyed the company to invest heavily in its output, which includes both expanding first party studios and acquiring new ones- and when it comes to the latter, Ryan says Sony has “more planned”.
“We’re in a really good place with PlayStation Studios and have been for the past few years,” Ryan said (via VGC). he critical success and the commercial success of the games that they’ve been making… that has given us permission to invest heavily in content creation.
“We’re growing our studios organically and we’re growing through acquisition. We acquired five studios during the course of 2021, we’re in discussions with Bungie and we have more planned. This is getting us into a virtuous cycle where success begets success.”
Of course, this doesn’t come as a surprise. That Sony has aggressive plans for the growth of PlayStation’s first party studio is not news at this point, and the company has made it clear time and again that acquisitions are going to be a key component of that growth. Just earlier this year, Ryan said we should “expect more” acquisitions by PlayStation in the near future. Exactly that those deals are going to end up being remains to be see.