A turbulent week is behind us. A week who, through the planned acquisition of Publisher and developer Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, the gaming industry and especially the balance of power in the console area will change the gaming industry. In this change, Sony PlayStation is involuntarily in focus, whose share price after notification briefly lost a good 10 percentage points, but has now recovered.
- Why Sony PlayStation has to be active at all
- How could a PlayStation offensive look
- Sony buys an industry giant like Square Enix, Banzai NAMC and Co.
- Sony creates the PlayStation Game Pass
- Sony integrates the Xbox Game Pass to PS4 and PS5
- Sony PlayStation goes the Nintendo WEG
- Sony makes VR in the console area to the mainstream product
- Which way can you best imagine?
While reactions to the stock market are quickly repealed, the effects for Sony from 2023 may be far more drastic. Already since the purchase of Bethesda and the fornication of the Game Pass to the Best Deal in Gaming, the scales tilts more and more towards Microsoft and Xbox, which now compares with giants such as Disney, Amazon or Facebook. Why Sony could be forced to strategic rethink earlier or later and what scenarios are in question, we just look at it more closely.
Why Sony PlayStation has to be active at all
Anyone who has occupied the past five years only little with the gaming industry, for those who have the first lines of this article surreal. Sony had with the PS4 in direct comparison with Microsoft and the Xbox One in many areas the nose. These times are more and more of the past.
PlayStation’s consoles were considered as a powerhouse for first-class exclusive games such as God of War, The Last of Us or Horizon Zero Dawn, which are for many players’ PS4 or PS5 for many players. However, this advantage is greatly softened by the acquisition of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard.
With blockbusters such as The Elder Scrolls 6 or brands such as Diablo, World of Warcraft or Doom, this exclusive advantage is tipping more and more towards Microsoft. In addition, a former PlayStation 1 mascot such as Spiro, Crash Bandicoot or even the Tony Hawk games with the planned conclusion of the Deal in Microsoft’s fiscal year 2023 in the future for Xbox the advertising drum stir.
But that’s not enough, even the future of many multiplatform titles is no longer automatically guaranteed on PlayStation consoles, they can appear delayed or released with advantages for players on Xbox. These include rows like Overwatch, Diablo but also a mega franchise like Call of Duty. In the case of COD, there is – after the recent statement from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer – slight all-clear, whether a Call of Duty will still appear in three years for PS5, which remains to be seen.
If Sony loses next to its exclusive feature in direct comparison, even more purchasing arguments per PS5, you will need to act, you want to offer the Xbox division in the long term.
About the author : Dennis sees the way from Microsoft under Phil Spencer, including the past, with a focus on the Game Pass, is very positive with his Xbox Series X so far. However, he also has the fear that exclusive ideals and increasing monopolization at the end produce a big loser: us as a player inside. Strong competition finally revives the business. He hopes that Sony and Microsoft act for a long time at eye level.
How could a PlayStation offensive look
Since I am not a sentence in this article to write a sentence like that needs to do now, we prefer to talk about thought games like such a PlayStation offensive. And here you will find five fascinating scenarios.
Sony buys an industry giant like Square Enix, Banzai NAMC and Co.
Compared to Microsoft, Sony has rather bought small developer studios in the past, so much had happened to House marque’s Return creators. Microsoft forms with Bethesda, Activision Blizzard and possibly EA (?) But Team America, Sony could target the Asian market. It is possible to buy a more PlayStation facing publishers such as Square Enix, which is allocated from the history through brands such as Final Fantasy more PlayStation consoles. Also, INAMI with Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid would be a conceivable option.
The Anime Way: By buying streaming providers Crunchy invests Sony has been investing in a stronger connection in the anime area for a long time. If you want to continue this path in the game sector, Publisher Banzai NAMC would have the option with licensing rights to Dragon Ball or One Piece. The focus on AAA anime games, as they want many (including me) so much, could lure fans in the PlayStation ecosystem.
The hardcore way: The still quite young Soulslike genre has enjoyed ever-increasing popularity since the past decade. Games The requests are increasingly in trend, such as Dark Souls and Co prove. If Sony wants to continue to drive this area that you have already hit with Blood borne and Demon’s Souls, a purchase of from Software would certainly beat high waves.
Away from the Asian market, however, there is another publisher and developer, who has been increasingly noticeable with negative headlines in Puerto’s working climate for 2020, which it is difficult to win new talents according to its own statement. The speech is from Ubisoft, which is equal to Sony with brands such as Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs or Immortals, attach great importance to Third Personal Action Adventures. What happens to a scanning giant, we have only experienced this week. Here, however, that Ubisoft with its most recent blockbusters such as Valhalla is far more successful than an Activision Blizzard, which were in conversation with Warcraft reforged or COD Vanguard either for massively negative headlines or comparatively bad sales figures.
Sony creates the PlayStation Game Pass
The merger of PS Plus and PS Now to a combined subscription model is probably before. After Sony has ignored the great success of the Game Pass, a competitive product with Day 1 releases in the service and a large playing library is now quite possible.
However, this theory comes from my point of view with two not too small hooks. On the one hand, Sony would have to go to full of a direct competition product. The Game Pass currently offers 440 games, the service will get a huge boost again by buying Activision Blizzard. Here Sony would have to complain pretty quickly in terms of quantity and quality. Whether this is feasible, Sony has not already watched the Xbox success for too long in this area, is quite in the room.
On the other hand, Sony – Possible great publisher and developer purchases should be except for exclusive deals with Third Party providers to make a PlayStation Game Pass. Alone smaller titles and a few annual PlayStation exclusives to integrate and offer with plenty of delay such a subscription model, I do not open as a good strategy.
Sony integrates the Xbox Game Pass to PS4 and PS5
For a long time Microsoft has been pursuing the strategy to establish the Game Pass as an independent platform. Be it Via Cloud Gaming or by the autonomous integration on smart TVs. Even though a little dizzy is a bit dizzy in the mere thought due to the history of the console range, the Xbox Game Pass on PlayStation would be a possible scenario to bring Games of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard to Sony consoles. For Microsoft, it would be the possibility to spread his best gaming deal even further, Sony would have compensated for the loss of brands like The Elder Scrolls and Co. a large piece wide.
And at the latest at this point, we should be aware that we live in very exciting gaming times, which also for us players in addition to enormous disadvantages, such as a felt increasing monopolization, certainly also advantages.
Sony PlayStation goes the Nintendo WEG
Let’s get another scenario that I should have mentioned at least. Also, the classification for why I speak here all the time of Microsoft and Sony, but not by Nintendo.
Nintendo, you know, for decades, has been a small island in the Pacific, who merge from colorful bustle around fragments. In order to formulate it more concrete: Nintendo enjoys a special position in gaming through exclusive brands such as Mario, Zelda or Pokémon, which also address a recent target group. While we move at recently successful PS exclusives such as Ghost of Sushi or Days Gone in terms of sales at approximately 10 million copies, successfully cracking Nintendo Exclusive Games Locker The 20 million border – by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have meanwhile incredible 38 million copies Sold by Animal Crossing: New Horizons within one and a half years almost 35 million units.
Sony could also try to put an even stronger focus on its AAA exclusions. Compared to Nintendo, however, the basic accessibility of Nintendo games is far higher, as larger (casual) target groups are addressed due to the topic per se. The fact that Nintendo games have been grown since decades and are an institution that has left a great cultural footprint is still soy. Therefore, I think this scenario for very, very unlikely.
Sony makes VR in the console area to the mainstream product
Finally, I still go to a scenario that could be an ace in the sleeve for Sony in the long term. One, but on which they have too few own influences on the answer to the answer to Microsoft’s expansion: the Virtual Reality area.
While Microsoft has given the Xbox Series console generation a clear cancellation in terms of Virtual Reality, Sony wants to further expand the success of the PSVR with the PSVR 2. The focus of the gaming industry on the VR area is now no longer coming and then ambiguous wave movement.
At the latest since the enormous success of Meta with the Oculus Quest 2, the virtual reality is part of our future – be it in gaming, business or social. According to recent news, Google wants to drive the AR sector further and with Apple lurks the biggest giant still in secret. Sony is a step ahead of Microsoft and at least on the console market of the VR industry Prius. An increasing focus could make current and future PlayStation generations more interesting.
Which way can you best imagine?
Whatever the future of Sony PlayStation looks, without response to the offensive buying rush of Microsoft, you can only maintain the current management position in direct comparison. The gaming industry and also the console market is in transition and the message from the past Tuesday will not remain follow-up.
Therefore, the question to you, which scenario can you introduce you for PlayStation?
Since it is understandably about a heated topic, I still ask you to be factual in the comments. We can discuss everything, but in a friendly sound.
So then, let’s hear, how will the industry change from your point of view and which scenario can you imagine Sony? Do you have any more ideas? Or do you think everything stays with the old?